NewKindOfClown

The quality answer I expected from you, and very reasonable

sycoglitch

Lol. That is an awesome answer. Right on

Basslicks

I was wondering the same thing - thanks for asking, Clown. And of course, thanks for the answer Dukie.

Definitely looks beefy

at05gt

Just took me 3 days to fully read this thread and I must say, damn fine lookin Jeep Sir. Gives me a lot of ideas on how I want mine to look when I get the parts together. Subbed.

dukie564

thanks!

dukie564

Tackled another big project i've had sitting on the sidelines this past weekend...or rather a few of them at once.

Replaced the stock cracked exhaust manifold with my new APN header, prepped and installed a WJ power steering pump and a new high-pressure line, and removed the a/c compressor to install a bypass pulley.


Started early on Saturday by removing all the crap in the way. Air box, throttle body, injector rail, power steering pump, and vacuum lines need to be removed




Next the intake comes off to expose the rusty exhaust manifold




Here we see the issue - big crack in the collector. It's been like this since I owned the truck but got worse lately - got big enough to throw a o2 sensor lean code every time I drove the truck.




Old n' busted vs New hotness. New manifold is APN (Auto Parts Network) Stainless Header. Much better design (3 to 2 to 1 collectors instead of the stock log-style manifold) - should cut down on heat and thermal expansion damage due to the way the exhaust gases as scavenged. The graphic kind of shows the principle behind it.






Also took the time to clean up the intake manifold while it was off. Started to scrub it with a wire brush and the grime came right off! So after a hour or so of wire brush work and about a half gallon of Purple Power (that stuff is amazing), the manifold looks almost brand new! Also scrubbed as much as i could inside the intake runners and below the throttle body, and made sure all the vacuum ports were clear.

Before (you can see where i started scrubbing):



After:




I had also purchased some heat tape (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QFN3DU), which I applied to the bottom of the intake to cut down on heat soak from the manifold below




So with that done, on to reassembly...degreased the side of the engine block to remove the baked on power steering fluid and oil, and hit the gasket surfaces with a wire wheel.



I went with a Felpro gasket instead of the one APN sent with the manifold since i had no idea about the quality. I've alsways had great success with felpro and it was worth it not to have to tear it all apart again when the other one decided to not seal. Hit the gasket with a liberal dose of copper sealant before installing. Also used it on the bolt threads since it also acts as a high-temp anti-seize agent.



And installed the manifold. Fit like a glove. Beautiful.




And reinstalled the intake. The old exhaust manifold was easy to access the bottom bolts with because of the shape..the new one was much more difficult. I started the bottom bolts a few threads, then dropped the intake onto them from above. A combination of a swivel with my sockets, and a ratcheting wrench set (a MUST for every DIY mechanic IMO) made short work of tightening the bolts despite the clearance issues. Torque specs are given for the bolts, but it is impossible to get a torque wrench anywhere near the bolts, so just tighten to one grunt on the man scale.



The reinstalled the fuel rail, throttle body, and all the vacuum lines.

dukie564

Onto part 2: V8 WJ power steering pump for a truck with the hydraulic cooling fan

I didn't take as many photos of the individual steps for this one, but the tasks were basically this:

1) The pulley needs to be swapped. Instead of fighting with swapping the stock pulled, i grabbed a new one from RockAuto (Dorman #300301). I'm glad i did because the stock XJ pulley has no holes for access to the mounting bolts (More on that later). Auto parts stores will rent you the puller and install tool.

2) The orifice fitting for the high-pressure line needs to be swapped with the one from the XJ pump. This is probably the hardest part of the swap due to having zero room to get a wrench on the fitting without removing the tank, which I didn't want to do. I managed to find a thin-wall socket at Lowes that worked perfectly (it was sold as a "universal socket" for both metric and standard) - size 22mm is what you need. Unscrew the WJ fitting (leaving the spring and piston inside the box), and install the XJ fitting in it's place. The difference is the hole in the bottom is a smaller size on the XJ and could cause cavitation in the WJ pump due to the single return fitting the XJ uses.

3) The XJ pump uses short bolts from each side though smooth bracket holes that thread into the pump body. The WJ is opposite - it has smooth holes in the pump body, so no way to attach the pump to the XJ brackets! There were a few solutions i found online to this issue, non of which I liked by themselves, so I combined them. For the two bolts that are the "adjuster" bolts in the slotted holes in the back of the bracket, I picked up (2) 5/16"x4" long bolts with washers and serrated nuts. These will get installed though the pulley at the front (remember the holes in the pulley? This is where they come in) and through both sets of pump holes and out the back. The middle bolt hole cannot have a bolt that passes though due to the bracket being in the way. So for this location I tapped the hole with a 3/8-16 tap, and used a 1" long bolt and washer.



4) The pump reservoir has provisions for a return line from the hydraulic cooling fan used on the V8 WJ. This needs to be plugged for use on the XJ. I simply took a short piece of 1/2" ID hose, and a 1/2" dia bolt that i cut the head off with about 3/4" of the smooth shank attached, and used a couple clamps to hold it together. Simple.




Here is is installed with the new HP line



And this is why i made the return port block-off so short. It juuuuust clears the lower rad hose (i.e. sits on top without pressing down)

dukie564

And part 3, this simplest part of the day - the A/C bypass pulley.

I had already removed (cut) my lines prior, so i just needed to unscrew the 4 bolts holding it down, and attach the new bypass pulley. I used Dorman #34237 (the 4 bolt model). Worked great with no adjustments necessary.

sycoglitch

Ok screw this. I'm flagging this thread for removal by a mod. You're doing too much work on your jeep and making the rest of us for left out. My to do list keeps growing like my debt lol

dukie564

SO the test drive went amazing. The engine is soooo much quieter without the exhaust leak and the value noise coming from the cracked manifold. Runs super smooth. Good power and even better exhaust tone now. Still have a bit of a warble in the exhuast at idle, but not as bad as it was. But dammit, check engine light came right back on!

Sooo, tired of the trouble i'd been having with o2 sensors dying, i went a different route. I've been though about 4 Bosch o2 sensors, which I credit partly due to the cracked manifold, and the leaking power steering fluid that coated the sensors and burned on every time I drove the truck. But i'd heard of others having the same issues with them not lasting.

So i went with a NGK/NTK sensor this time around. Supposedly this is what the truck came with stock. So far so good! Check engine light is off now, and it seems to run better. We will see how the gas mileage comes out next fill-up. I have an appointment to get the emissions re-tested so hopefully all is well now!

dukie564

i accept your challenge to un-flag your flag on my thread

dukie564

And the best part is.....

NO MORE LEAKS!

Not bad for 302,000 miles - I can't express how awesome it is to look under the drivers side and not see everything bathed in power steering fluid anymore.

my driveway thanks me...

sycoglitch

Touche

NewKindOfClown

Wow, dukie really spoke to your soul, huh?

sycoglitch

Bwahhaahhaha. Well he is the legendary dukie