Donski
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- San Leandro, Ca
Hi,
So I finally got my daughters 98 XJ smogged and running great, and wanted to say thanks to all who've posted threads about their work. Being able to come here for information has been great. I doubt I could find all of the posts that I've read recently, but they've all been useful, and I appreciate it.
A quick rundown;
It's a 98 Limited 4wd Black with Gray leather, 135000 miles. 4.0 automatic. Stock ride height
It failed smog with high NOx here in California, so I flushed the cooling system, installed a new CSF radiator, water pump and thermostat to bring the combustion temps down, Aired up the rear tires to 65psi to reduce rolling resistance, found some 103 octane race gas, and mixed about a pint of Acetone to 4 gallons of gas with a splash of "guaranteed to pass" additive, all for better combustion, Welded the connections in the exhaust to eliminate air leaks. It brought the NOx down from the high 700's to the low 500's.
I'd been bothered throughout all the work by a knock that I couldn't locate, and was afraid that it was a rod bearing about to go. After reading last night I found out about the torque converter to flywheel bolts, and sure enough that was the problem. It took 1.5 hours to do the repair including putting it up on jack stands. 2 bolts were loose, and so I removed them and installed them with red loctite. I put a 13mm wrench on them to tighten them up, and torque'd them down using a torque wrench on the vibration damper bolt.
Everything I've done so far;
Full tune up with new O2 sensor
All new rubber suspension bushings
New KYB shocks which were junk, got Amazon to take them back and installed Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks all the way around. (This was an amazing upgrade, rides like a Cadillac now)
Poly sway bar bushings F&R
New 1.25" front sway bar (another huge impact on ride quality)
New late model Dorman factory copy intake manifold
New Gibson headers
New 4 hole pintel fuel injectors
New U-joints on the rear driveshaft
2" receiver hitch for $25 from Pick n pull
New door seals all the way around.
New front window regulators
Used front door latch solenoids
JVC HD radio head unit with Bluetooth that streams music
Alpine 4 Channel amp under the passenger seat
Alpine 5.25 Type R speakers in the rear
Alpine 5.25 type R components in the front with custom mounted tweeters in the Infinity pods
JL Audio JX/5001D mounted in the Infinity amp location.
Dual Kicker 12" subs in a box strapped down in the back
I wish I could get better than 14mpg, but it does have a ton of power.
Thanks again for all of the help,
Don
So I finally got my daughters 98 XJ smogged and running great, and wanted to say thanks to all who've posted threads about their work. Being able to come here for information has been great. I doubt I could find all of the posts that I've read recently, but they've all been useful, and I appreciate it.
A quick rundown;
It's a 98 Limited 4wd Black with Gray leather, 135000 miles. 4.0 automatic. Stock ride height
It failed smog with high NOx here in California, so I flushed the cooling system, installed a new CSF radiator, water pump and thermostat to bring the combustion temps down, Aired up the rear tires to 65psi to reduce rolling resistance, found some 103 octane race gas, and mixed about a pint of Acetone to 4 gallons of gas with a splash of "guaranteed to pass" additive, all for better combustion, Welded the connections in the exhaust to eliminate air leaks. It brought the NOx down from the high 700's to the low 500's.
I'd been bothered throughout all the work by a knock that I couldn't locate, and was afraid that it was a rod bearing about to go. After reading last night I found out about the torque converter to flywheel bolts, and sure enough that was the problem. It took 1.5 hours to do the repair including putting it up on jack stands. 2 bolts were loose, and so I removed them and installed them with red loctite. I put a 13mm wrench on them to tighten them up, and torque'd them down using a torque wrench on the vibration damper bolt.
Everything I've done so far;
Full tune up with new O2 sensor
All new rubber suspension bushings
New KYB shocks which were junk, got Amazon to take them back and installed Bilstein Heavy Duty shocks all the way around. (This was an amazing upgrade, rides like a Cadillac now)
Poly sway bar bushings F&R
New 1.25" front sway bar (another huge impact on ride quality)
New late model Dorman factory copy intake manifold
New Gibson headers
New 4 hole pintel fuel injectors
New U-joints on the rear driveshaft
2" receiver hitch for $25 from Pick n pull
New door seals all the way around.
New front window regulators
Used front door latch solenoids
JVC HD radio head unit with Bluetooth that streams music
Alpine 4 Channel amp under the passenger seat
Alpine 5.25 Type R speakers in the rear
Alpine 5.25 type R components in the front with custom mounted tweeters in the Infinity pods
JL Audio JX/5001D mounted in the Infinity amp location.
Dual Kicker 12" subs in a box strapped down in the back
I wish I could get better than 14mpg, but it does have a ton of power.
Thanks again for all of the help,
Don
