Ok, so here it is. I am a Pipeline Inspector, I specialize in welding inspection, but I do it all, coating, ditching, environmental. So, I need basically a street legal side by side, i.e. a Jeep. Enter one 1987 YJ, that has had many owners, some less than knowledgeable, shall we say. I may also fit in that category, somewhat....
Here we go:
Jeep was bought "running" and trailered home. Lights non-functional, no worries. My dad is an Electical R&D engineer, I can handle simple wiring tasks. 33" tires, old and some damage. Incomplete soft top (x3), full hard doors, seats needed replacing. Halogen headlights, and round trailer LED stop & turns, no reverse lights. MC2150 (?) with crap air cleaner. Adapter plate leaking bad (unknown as of yet). Boxes of old parts and hardware, soft top parts, fabric 1/2 doors in decent shape. Oh and the fenders were in the back seat, also.
SO, my idea was to basically have the mechanic go through it and check for mechanical soundness BEFORE we started fixing and modding and updating. Unfortunately, I was out of town, and this build happened backwards. After a year, it's on the road, and of course it won't do over 50mph. Jokes on me, right?
I replaced ALL the suspension bushings with new. I also upgraded the shackles to boomerangs, and all spring eye hardware is now greasable bolts. Tires would scrub the springs at max turn, and no spare. Backspacing was 5.25", so bought 5 rims at 3.75" backspacing, no tire scrub, and 5 new 33" tires. So now I have a spare. YAY! Axles were finally gone through, and were good except the vacuum on the front wasn't working. Got it fixed and now its fine for the time being. BA/10 trans (ugh) and the transfer case are good, also for the moment. I need it to work, and be stable and reliable, before I start all the crazy stuff lols.
Jeep came with an HEI distributor already, missing the trim cap. Got one free through a friend of a friend, wow! Wiring..... well, some NUT thought the Nutter Mod was to just hack apart the harness and chop out the computer with wire cutters. Nope, I am not kidding!! Ignition was direct wired so it would run, as the PDB went bye bye as well. Which explains why the gauges don't work. No lights work, not even the expensive and new LEDs and the halogen headlights. Heck the taillights were just stuck in the rubber grommets in the sheet metal, unconnected. So, I went through, pulled the engine harness and dash harness completely free and apart, and started to fix splices, hacks, cut bare wires, etc. Replaced the headlight switch, dimmer switch, turn signal wiring in the column, wired up the stop and turns. I have a PDB from an XJ Cherokee, and I plan to rebuild it and use it to run all power through, except the winch and the 3000 watt inverter for my laptop (work vehicle, remember?). Dual battery tray with Optimas and battery isolator. The second battery is one of their deep cycle ones. New seats and bumpers, fenders, winch, LED windshield light bar (hey it was on sale!). Found a hard top on Ebay, in Mass, and my friend's father actually lived 1 mile down the road. How cool was that!! New gaskets and seals for the doors and top. New steering wheel as the one on there was so small it just didn't feel right to me. Oh and someone also decided to spray the exterior with green textured bedliner, straight over the paint. No worries, except they didn't mask anything off, so still cleaning light overspray from the interior in places.
So, all this and more, and only 50mph on the hardball. So, I have to re-gear is what I am confronted with, basically. So I need new carriers to run 3.73 gears and up, which is what I am looking at. 3.73, or 4.10? Some people say 4.56.... Honestly, I am at the loss here. Gear selection is not my specialty at all. I can weld the Crack of Dawn, but this is outside my wheel house.
1) 4.2L I6 engine with MC2150 carb
2) HEI distributor
3) poor man's cold air intake for carburetor, stock exhaust for now...
4) 33" tires
5) Unknown lift @2.5"(it is not stock as the stock replacement bushings didn't fit the
smaller spring eyes) and boomerang shackles
6) Dana 30 and Dana 35 axles (yes I know the 35 is a poor axle)
7) BA/10 transmission and NP 207 transfer case (all stock for that year, and yeah they are not
ideal either)
GEARS: ???? I need to know if the 3.73 will do what I need, or will the 4.10 be a better choice? I know some have said in other threads and forums that 4.56 is the better choice, and 4.10 at a minimum. But, they were mostly looking at off road performance, and this will be a daily driver on the road, with intermediate off road and mud. No rock crawling. Maybe going over the water bars (dirt humps to control water runoff on the right of way), but that's about it.
***Please keep in mind that I am planning a 4.0 head swap asap, and also go to a Banks header and 2.5" exhaust, but that still wont fix my speed/gear issue. If anyone has driven around Atlanta GA on I-285, you know that 50 MPH is asking to get killed. I need something that I can do up to 70, and not be straining itself. Yes, I should probably have used a TJ or even newer. More on that Later. I want the hard top to protect my equipment and gear, and keep dust and thieves to a minimum. I have no computer to worry about, and no smog rules. This is basically more like a CJ as far as the engine goes right now. ***
So, I need help with the gearing question. And, if anyone has good clear wiring schematics of what engine circuits are present, and amps, I would appreciate this for the Power Distribution Box and install. I do have air conditioning also, looks factory and does work. All accessories and lights etc will go through fused relay system, and all power except the winch and inverter will go through main fuses. I want to do this "right". ullinghair:
Ok, now I am sure many of you are laughing along WITH ME so far, and that's good. Yes mistakes were made. Great learning experience. Like the fact that I never knew that Jeep made a modern version of the old CJ-8 Scrambler, the LJ Unlimited. Yes that is the ideal platform in my opinion. But, I need to get this one to do the job I need it for, for the time being. It's so close already, and the re-gear would happen anyways, even if I retire it to trail and weekend duties only (later).
I will try to get what pictures I have organized and post them, along with the specific parts I have used along the way. Thanks for reading this wall of text. I felt you needed to know my thoughts, and the process, so you can see where I am at and where I need to be and why. Thanks in advance for all your help and comments, and yes for your laughter also!!!:beerme:
Clay :beerdrinking::funnypost:
Here we go:
Jeep was bought "running" and trailered home. Lights non-functional, no worries. My dad is an Electical R&D engineer, I can handle simple wiring tasks. 33" tires, old and some damage. Incomplete soft top (x3), full hard doors, seats needed replacing. Halogen headlights, and round trailer LED stop & turns, no reverse lights. MC2150 (?) with crap air cleaner. Adapter plate leaking bad (unknown as of yet). Boxes of old parts and hardware, soft top parts, fabric 1/2 doors in decent shape. Oh and the fenders were in the back seat, also.
SO, my idea was to basically have the mechanic go through it and check for mechanical soundness BEFORE we started fixing and modding and updating. Unfortunately, I was out of town, and this build happened backwards. After a year, it's on the road, and of course it won't do over 50mph. Jokes on me, right?
I replaced ALL the suspension bushings with new. I also upgraded the shackles to boomerangs, and all spring eye hardware is now greasable bolts. Tires would scrub the springs at max turn, and no spare. Backspacing was 5.25", so bought 5 rims at 3.75" backspacing, no tire scrub, and 5 new 33" tires. So now I have a spare. YAY! Axles were finally gone through, and were good except the vacuum on the front wasn't working. Got it fixed and now its fine for the time being. BA/10 trans (ugh) and the transfer case are good, also for the moment. I need it to work, and be stable and reliable, before I start all the crazy stuff lols.
Jeep came with an HEI distributor already, missing the trim cap. Got one free through a friend of a friend, wow! Wiring..... well, some NUT thought the Nutter Mod was to just hack apart the harness and chop out the computer with wire cutters. Nope, I am not kidding!! Ignition was direct wired so it would run, as the PDB went bye bye as well. Which explains why the gauges don't work. No lights work, not even the expensive and new LEDs and the halogen headlights. Heck the taillights were just stuck in the rubber grommets in the sheet metal, unconnected. So, I went through, pulled the engine harness and dash harness completely free and apart, and started to fix splices, hacks, cut bare wires, etc. Replaced the headlight switch, dimmer switch, turn signal wiring in the column, wired up the stop and turns. I have a PDB from an XJ Cherokee, and I plan to rebuild it and use it to run all power through, except the winch and the 3000 watt inverter for my laptop (work vehicle, remember?). Dual battery tray with Optimas and battery isolator. The second battery is one of their deep cycle ones. New seats and bumpers, fenders, winch, LED windshield light bar (hey it was on sale!). Found a hard top on Ebay, in Mass, and my friend's father actually lived 1 mile down the road. How cool was that!! New gaskets and seals for the doors and top. New steering wheel as the one on there was so small it just didn't feel right to me. Oh and someone also decided to spray the exterior with green textured bedliner, straight over the paint. No worries, except they didn't mask anything off, so still cleaning light overspray from the interior in places.
So, all this and more, and only 50mph on the hardball. So, I have to re-gear is what I am confronted with, basically. So I need new carriers to run 3.73 gears and up, which is what I am looking at. 3.73, or 4.10? Some people say 4.56.... Honestly, I am at the loss here. Gear selection is not my specialty at all. I can weld the Crack of Dawn, but this is outside my wheel house.
1) 4.2L I6 engine with MC2150 carb
2) HEI distributor
3) poor man's cold air intake for carburetor, stock exhaust for now...
4) 33" tires
5) Unknown lift @2.5"(it is not stock as the stock replacement bushings didn't fit the
smaller spring eyes) and boomerang shackles
6) Dana 30 and Dana 35 axles (yes I know the 35 is a poor axle)
7) BA/10 transmission and NP 207 transfer case (all stock for that year, and yeah they are not
ideal either)
GEARS: ???? I need to know if the 3.73 will do what I need, or will the 4.10 be a better choice? I know some have said in other threads and forums that 4.56 is the better choice, and 4.10 at a minimum. But, they were mostly looking at off road performance, and this will be a daily driver on the road, with intermediate off road and mud. No rock crawling. Maybe going over the water bars (dirt humps to control water runoff on the right of way), but that's about it.
***Please keep in mind that I am planning a 4.0 head swap asap, and also go to a Banks header and 2.5" exhaust, but that still wont fix my speed/gear issue. If anyone has driven around Atlanta GA on I-285, you know that 50 MPH is asking to get killed. I need something that I can do up to 70, and not be straining itself. Yes, I should probably have used a TJ or even newer. More on that Later. I want the hard top to protect my equipment and gear, and keep dust and thieves to a minimum. I have no computer to worry about, and no smog rules. This is basically more like a CJ as far as the engine goes right now. ***
So, I need help with the gearing question. And, if anyone has good clear wiring schematics of what engine circuits are present, and amps, I would appreciate this for the Power Distribution Box and install. I do have air conditioning also, looks factory and does work. All accessories and lights etc will go through fused relay system, and all power except the winch and inverter will go through main fuses. I want to do this "right". ullinghair:
Ok, now I am sure many of you are laughing along WITH ME so far, and that's good. Yes mistakes were made. Great learning experience. Like the fact that I never knew that Jeep made a modern version of the old CJ-8 Scrambler, the LJ Unlimited. Yes that is the ideal platform in my opinion. But, I need to get this one to do the job I need it for, for the time being. It's so close already, and the re-gear would happen anyways, even if I retire it to trail and weekend duties only (later).
I will try to get what pictures I have organized and post them, along with the specific parts I have used along the way. Thanks for reading this wall of text. I felt you needed to know my thoughts, and the process, so you can see where I am at and where I need to be and why. Thanks in advance for all your help and comments, and yes for your laughter also!!!:beerme:
Clay :beerdrinking::funnypost: