Build Thread 1986 CJ7 Build

[CJ]

My registration is due. But, in the Commie Colorado Front Range, I have to get an emissions test every 2 years. So, I went to the local testing station this afternoon and they said “Can’t test it”. Nearest place was 3 towns and a county away. Fu$k !!
I did it at this same local station 2 years ago !!

I bit the bullet and drove to the next nearest station. About 30 miles later, I’m waiting in a “special test” line for about another 25mins. The kid attempts to drive the Jeep on the dyno, but the test goes for all of 20 seconds. What a joke! They gave me a “Passed” grade and took my $25.
I said thanks and tore out of there.

Guess I got a good test drive out of it, for all the new stuff I’ve done. Jeep ran great, except for 1 thing I noticed.

View attachment 103571

Good job on the cert but getting more difficult by the day huh?

 

[Belizean]

Here we show them our license and insurance info and vehicle mileage and pay $10 for a year or $20 for 2 years and that’s it. Out the door with a new sticker

 

[CJ]

Good job on the cert but getting more difficult by the day huh?

Here we show them our license and insurance info and vehicle mileage and pay $10 for a year or $20 for 2 years and that’s it. Out the door with a new sticker

 

[KRUPP]

Yup. Really sucks here along the Front Range of CO.
Most other areas of the state are dark RED though.

 

[Belizean]

Yup. Really sucks here along the Front Range of CO.
Most other areas of the state are dark RED though.

I hear that term. The Front Range. Is that the west side of the Continental Divide ?

 

[KRUPP]

After the long drive yesterday (70 miles), I took the opportunity to inspect for any leaks or adjustments needed.
I did find a "wet" area around the rear of the throttle body. Funny that it's there, because I haven't touched my fuel system lately. Took the air filter off and saw a puddle of oil inside. Sh$t !!
It appears I'm getting a bunch of blow-by and it's getting sucked into the air filter through the hose from the rear of the valve cover. I have a 10" round Edelbrock air filter, old school type.
There was probably 2 Tablespoons of oil in there and although the air filter assembly is fairly air-tight, it isn't oil-tight and it was seeping out and down the back of the throttle body.
Last time I changed the air filter was exactly a year ago and I didn't see this then. My guess is that this original motor is getting a bit tired and the rings are shot. I'll replace the PCV valve though, but I don't think it's the culprit.

 

[Belizean]

Sounds like where my brother lives in Oregon. Up and down the North/
South I5 there.

 

[KRUPP]

-Applied for the "Collector Vehicle" license plates for the Jeep. Made sense, because instead of having to do an emissions test every 2 years, I only have to do it every 5 years now.
Also, turns out the registration was cheaper, by about $200. There's some fuzzy math in there, but if you pay upfront for 5 years you get the discount. I'll take it.

-I've had the purged T-5 Transmission for sale locally for a couple weeks now. Had a few bites but sounds like a buyer is coming by tonight or tomorrow to buy it. Throwing in the bell housing too. The sale will offset the Collector Plate cost. Sounds like it's gonna replace a smoked T-5 in a Scrambler.

 

[N9VIW]

Just spent an hour or so reading through this from start to finish. What an ordeal, but such awesome work! Thanks for sharing. I especially liked your results from clocking your Dana 300 . I have a Novak kit in the T18a in my Scrambler, but I bought it close to 20 years ago, before clocking was a 'thing'. Not sure if there's material on their adapter to drill it. I'm also going with Scout II D44s under it, I like how you did the narrowing on yours so you didn't have to outboard the springs. Nice job all around.

 

[KRUPP]

N9VIW,

Appreciate the kind words.
The build threads are a cool place for people to tell a story with lots of great info for others.

 

[Scottyp1134]

Great write up! Just finished reading the whole thing as I recently purchased my new to me CJ7 . I also have the HEI distributor and wondered how you got the stock tachometer working with it. What did you have to do? Mine does not seem to be working anymore.

 

[KRUPP]

Scotty,

Thanks for the compliment.
As far as the tachometer goes, it’s been a couple years, but I seem to remember that I put in a wired connector at distributor. On my HEI distributor (Summit Racing), there's a plug at the cap with the power wire and the tach wire. I simply hooked the tach up to this wire and it worked fine. I have Howell TBI and there is a tach wire from it's ECM, so that might be the difference though.
Did you do something similar?

 

[KRUPP]

Found my order from August of 2022...

Items Purchased on This Order: Item Status* Price​ Qty.​ Total​

SUM-890148 Wiring Pigtail, HEI Power With Tach, Each (Mfr. #: SUM-890148) Ready to Ship Ground $9.99​ 1 ​ $9.99​

​

SUM-850047 Distributor, HEI, Magnetic Pickup, Mechanical, Vacuum Advance, Black Cap, Jeep, 232, 4.0L, 258, Each (Mfr. #: SUM-850047) Ready to Ship Ground $179.99​ 1 ​ $179.99​

​

TAY-84249 Spark Plug Wires, ThunderVolt, Spiro-Wound, 8.2mm, Red, 135/180 Boots, Jeep, 4.0L, L6, Set (Mfr. #: 84249) 1 TAY-84249 is expected to ship on 08/15/22. Backordered Ground $47.99​ 1 *​ $47.99​

​

 

[N9VIW]

Great write up! Just finished reading the whole thing as I recently purchased my new to me CJ7. I also have the HEI distributor and wondered how you got the stock tachometer working with it. What did you have to do? Mine does not seem to be working anymore.

Scotty,

I installed a 4.0 in my wife's CJ7 Laredo last year, and wondered how to get the tech to work. According to a note I made following a thread over at Pirate4x4 (I think), if you cut the solid grey wire that goes from the ECU to the coil and wire the ECU side to the red tachometer wire and the red/white tachometer wire to the other side of the grey wire, the factory tach will work. I haven't done it myself yet (lazy boy) but that's how they had it. A Goog for "five wires to fire" should bring you to the thread that mentioned it, or just Goog "factory CJ tach 4.0".

 

[KRUPP]

Scotty,

I went back through my file folder and I did have to search out for some tachometer wiring help.

I referred to another site’s thread about using the Red with tracer wire to power the HEI. This 10g wire originally powered the ICM from the firewall connection.
Here’s the link I printed off and had in my file…

Original Tach with HEI

Getting parts ready for the swap to HEI (thinking DUI). One of my goals is to clean up the engine compartment. I am planning on powering the HEI form the large red wire that is currently feeding the factory ignition model. What will I have to do to get the factory tach to continue to work...

www.jeepforum.com

Look at post #22. Picture from the post.

 

[KRUPP]

May 25, ‘25:
-Been enjoying a few days in Moab with family. Always a good time.
CJ is running great with all the new drivetrain installations. Been switching off driving with wife and kids. A lot different when you’re a passenger or a spotter for your own rig.

 

[Belizean]

Looks like a great time !

 

[KRUPP]

10-100 stop along Onion Ck.


Caves along Dome Plateau.

 

[KRUPP]

Finally got around to getting new glass yesterday. First time removing this windshield and there was some surface rust on both the frame and the hinges where they interface.
Wire brushed the spots and shot some paint on the areas before reassembly. Always nice to have new glass!






Really glad I elected to just take the frame down to the glazier, because it rained and hailed like crazy for a couple hours. Would've been a terrible drive in a topless Jeep.

 

[Belizean]

That hail hurts. What seal was used around the glass ?