Build Thread 3rd time down the rabbit hole...

[Project86]

I also added some extra security to the Transmission mount by adding two 3/8" bolts to each side.

So the big question, when is it gonna be ready to fire up? I'm thinking maybe Monday depends on how much trouble I find with the throttle cable. The guys at the exhaust shop are also an X factor. Today I dropped off the radiator at the shop to change orientation of the steam line nozzle/neck. Expecting a good day tmrw unless my top radiator hose doesn't fit. The list is getting shorter need to finish:
radiator, fan, top rad hose and steam line
throttle cable
wiring on the harness, I'm about 85% done
put header on and dipstick in
tighten down the battery trey
put right fender on
put hood lift supports back on
install the seats
exhaust shop
then the real magic happens

 

[Project86]

One more thing I fixed today.

 

[Project86]

Got back from Del Rio again Sunday. My oldest son came down and wanted to go out there and see momma and me before he heads off on his next outta state project. Last time I talked with him he was thinking about getting married to his Girl. So I figured he'd spring that on momma, but he fooled me and never mentioned it. I got some more stuff scratched off the list. Tmrw sometime I'm off the muffler shop...then on to engine start up and tune.

 

[Project86]

not quite done yet, but close

 

[Project86]

Jeep is at the exhaust shop. will not be able to get in to the final set up until maybe Wednesday. I'm gonna start loading up tools and shop equipment tmrw and head to Del Rio by Friday sometime. See ya'll later.

Wait a sec, where do I find the PM box. I have message saying I'm 90 percent full and need to delete some. Regards,

 

[Belizean]

PM box is up in the top right side Looks like an envelope Mine says 90% also but I haven't been able to figure out how to delete them yet

 

[Peanut Butter]

Click the box that says "selected", check the ones you want to delete, then select the action "delete".

 

[Belizean]

Click the box that says "selected", check the ones you want to delete, then select the action "delete".

That has been the problem Not seeing the delete button Probably right there in my face, just not seeing it

 

[Peanut Butter]

Sorry, use "leave conversation" to delete in the actions button at the bottom of the page.

 

[CJ]

Moved

 

[Project86]

Good 'ol CJ! What a stud, got my thread back online. See what I did there? I need to organize the events and pix to match, but I'll get the updates coming tomorrow. Been a long day today. Thanks CJ.

 

[Project86]

As you can see from the picture, it was bad when I cranked her for the first time. I did 5 or 6 crank cycles and oil just poured every time. Engine lost 3 quarts of oil. You could tell it was pressurized not your friendly every day leak. No sir, that wouldn't be how its done here. Go big or go home. So... out came the Transmission and other. I had a video (8 whole seconds), but I can't load here because it's to big. My engine builder is giving me grief about how I didn't tighten down the DD sensor and so on. I was like KMA I know better and sent him a picture. He has a retard tax he'll put on you if come back at him with some issue that you have created not him. So we went round and round mostly in a good spirited way. No name calling or angriness just good natured fun. I mean we all know how anything mechanical can be. So loaded the jeep on a trailer and off to his shop we go. We thought about cranking it on the trailer, but decided against because he would have to be in the hole to replace the rear main seal and didn't want get overly nasty. Frankly I don't blame him. When we pulled off the gasketed plate that goes with the seal nothing really jumped out and said "here I am the problem your looking for". We measured bolt lengths to make they weren't to long, double checked the rear main for being in backwards (which it looks like) but its not. When he originally put the plate on he used a tiny bit of RTV. What we found was when he squirted out some on the sealing surface a bit of the hardened stuff found it's way to the sealing surface. Consequently, it didn't seal and ta' da'. Problem found. Another seal set and tiny bit of RTV later and a crank cycle on the trailer and it was time to head back for a Transmission install.

 

[Project86]

Transmission went back in and road testing started. Every time I'd come in and park there would be oil drips on the card board in the morning. So it went like this for about 3 days. I'd clean, drive, it would drip and then start all over the next day. Probably bought a case of brakleen from NAPA. There would always be oil hanging on to the starter bolts or clinging to the front of the Transmission . So guess what? I pulled the Transmission again 2nd time. Back to cleaning again. During the clean I found a pocket of oil I had missed the first time. I was eating lunch off cleaned parts I spent most the the day wiping down. Transmission went back in and road testing started again. Alrighty then, guess what leaked next? For those of you who said the Transmission you get extra recess time. Now that I was able to really roll some miles and get the ATF hot and thin. The damn gasket (cork) started seeping. So back to NAPA and got a better gasket. That issue has now been resolved. Maybe some of this Transmission stuff wouldn't have been so bad but working mostly by yourself and 95% of your tools are in Del Rio could be a problem. Not to mention the wife is getting irritated with the entire process. She's out there and I'm still here. That was not the plan. But wait... it gets even better.

 

[Project86]

So what happened next? any guesses? Pretty dang hot down here around the Houston metroplex. Yep, my electric cooling fan didn't have enough <-BAD WORD-> to cool the engine. This is absurd. It goes something like this. Remove original fan. Order Derale 2 speed high CFM fan. Install. Do some road testing everything seems OK. At this point, I need to tell ya' I added a small run indication light in the dash so I would know when the fan was running. Heading over to the hot rod shop for a road test and BS session. About a block away I look at the coolant temp and it was 225. What! Check run light, well it is not on. WTF? Roll into the parking and open the hood. Found a blown fuse. OK, pull out a new one. Jack some jaws with the guys and decide to head back. About 15 miles down the road the F'n fuse blows again. But I was ready this time. Pulled over and jammed in a new one. That bastage popped before I get back on the road. A little good luck intervenes, so it was that day we had a hard South wind into which I was driving. So I just kept on driving the coolant never went over 205 on the way home without a cooling fan. So at the haus, I open the hood and use my finger to spin the fan and felt kinda rough. Not smooth and easy as it was before. So I take it out, sure enough you can smell that weird electrical smell. Got on the phone, and arranged for a warranty exchange. Well in case ya'll didn't know there is a virus scare going on and shipping isn't so easy anymore. So I reinstall the old original fan to keep on road testing but no city driving. Finally the new fan shows and out with the original again and in with the new warranty fan. Back on the road, you say? My buddy Lee C would say "not so fast". He'd be right.

BTW, that 3 dollar LED light probably saved my entire project and life. If I had burned the engine I probably not be going to Del Rio.

 

[Project86]

Well class what failed next? The correct answer would be fuel pump. MSD2225. Should have known those things were cursed when the first one broke by simply slipping outta my hand and dropping on the work bench. Not like it fell 3 or 4 feet, more like 3 or 4 inches. OK, so it was more like 9 or 10, but it did just break off one of the ends where the hose barb is. Let's road test. Seemed like a good idea. After all the HE double L so far I'm about 500 miles into this reliability testing. I didn't get maybe 2 miles from the haus and dang thing started acting like I was outta gas. So I opened up the aux tank to drain into the main. Not any better. So I'm sitting in the middle of road with no shoulders to get on. Just straight ditches full of water on both sides. I'm torqued, F'n MSD , should bought Walbro, rant rant rant. I need a drink. Called in the posse for a pull back to the haus. Jumped on eBay for another. What I found was a knock off branded as PowerCo. So I ordered one 50 bucks. uh...so how much for the all high and mighty bad <-BAD WORD-> MSD brand, like 130. KMA MSD. I you not, if I took the MSD decal off and laid 'em down side by side you couldn't tell the difference. So it came in, got it installed and life is good. Doing some mileage for testing and jeep is doing OK. But could be better. Went back to eBay and ordered 2 more pumps as spares. Yes, they are in the jeep with tools to do a roadside change out. All this sounds good but we still got one more hurdle to clear. Coming up next, there's a shifting issue.

 

[Project86]

Now at this point we need to remember why we went with the TH350. It is the shortest Transmission . so it creates the least amount of problems (IMO) for all the other stuff. Say...like driveshafts and their angles. So during the road testing I keep noticing that it just seems as if I'm down on power. There's no go, no speed, no zip, it's like kicking a dead dog. During my road testing I finally notice in the side view mirror when I get into it there is some black smoke from the exhaust. Hmmm.... let's review. Engine, by now its not leaking oil and runs and sounds great. Transmission . Well, sometimes it shifts really good then other times not so much. Is it my driving style that needs adjusted? I think F'n not. So it has to be related to the over fueling and pc tune. Get a hold of the engine builder and we do a test drive. He's scratching his head. We talk about a shift kit and this and that. I showed him a pict of one the O2 sensors to prove my point on over fueling. He says let's get Joe back here and tune again. So Joe shows up with his laptop of magic trick and guess what? That SOB pulled the biggest rabbit out his laptop I ever saw. Abracadabra! Just like that I'm driving a beast. Oh hell yeah, this is what I'm talking about. Joe and I come back from our tune session and he tells me go get Richard. Rich and him make a tuning run. When they pulled back into the shop Rich has the biggest chit eating grin you ever saw. That is the picture I needed to get. Right now, I'm still kinda taking it easy with the throttle and shifting but I think I can pull the tires off the pavement during the 2 gear shift. We tuned it for 87 octane, but with a higher octane tune and timing change it may be more dangerous. For sure, I'd be breaking something in the driveline. It's been about a week since the tune and test drives are now at the point of about AMC 150 mile round trips. Another test run tomorrow to Houston and back. Then one on Friday and I'm gonna call it done. so far this week no cooling problems, no leaks of any kinds, no bad fuel pumps, no problems of any kind. It was worth all the BS and extra work to make it right as possible.

 

[Belizean]

Glad you got it figured out. Was thinking ghost in the machine. A lot of lonely fence line between out to Del Rio until running good. Make it Great again !

 

[Project86]

Been goofin' around with some paracord. Hadn't really decided if I like the cup holder or not. I got another idea that will take the cord to the bottom and back.

 

[Project86]

So, I finally have come back around to feel like tying up all the loose end on my ride. The "to do" list looks a little like this. 1 fix the labels so they match for wipers, lights, dimmer, inside leds, outside leds, etc. 2 Order a defroster kit for the windshield. I actually attempted the install in late October. Alas, as fate would have it I managed to jack it up. I tried wiping down the glass from moisture on the inside and the grid lines hadn't cured to the windshield. Thus, when I wiped near to the edge where they go under the buss bar I broke a couple of 'em. I should have did the install in the summer months so the grid lines would cure properly. Lesson learned. 3 Fix the wiper knob AND install a gadget for intermittent. The little screw down locking nut that seats up in the bezel is bad. So when I turn the wipers on the entire switch is moving behind the dash until it bumps against the dimmer switch then the wipers come on. 4 My dash tray lining is wanting to come unglued, so I need to put some trim around them to keep them in place. So while I was dickin' around in the jeep with the DD I found that this thing is/has kept all kinds of data. The pictures shows and keeps up the time for the 1/8 and 1/4 mile, seconds, blah, blah, blah. It also keeps up with top speed. Uh....not really sure when I did it, but 92 mph is rolling on pretty good for a CJ. I always tell people I can scare the out of you more so in the CJ under a 100, than in the Corvette over a 100.
So the enquiring minds here are the links for the defroster and wiper fix.

https://frostfighter.com/

https://store.qkits.com/wind-shield-wiper-timer-module-mxa041.html