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How to replace early XJ AC control sliders with 97+ dials

xeroOTG

NAXJA Forum User
Location
floater
So I got tired of fumbling with my sliders on my jeep and decided it was time to replace them with something a bit more modern. While I was in a JY looking for a 98 TCU I spotted a set of AC Controls in a 97 that had a mechanically actuated blend door. Without delay, I snagged the knob set and about 1 foot of both harness and vacuum. The cluster sat on my desk untouched for almost 6 months, till the blower speed switch on my 92 XJ finally shorted and melted most of the factory wiring harness.

After many beers and some studying the factory service manual diagrams I figured out that the vacuum setup between 1997 and 1992 was exactly the same, with some minor color differences.

Description | Old | New
(up to 96) (97-01)
Recirc Door | Orange | Green
Panel Door | Brown | Red
Floor Door | Yellow | Brown
Defrost Door | Green | Yellow
Part Defrost | Blue | Blue
Vacuum Sup | Black | Black

So I went to O'Reilley's and bought a spool of heat shrink tubing. With some patience you can get all 6 spliced in about an hour without burning any fingertips.

Next is the wiring nightmare, In the old setup, everything was positive switched at the switches, and in the new setup, everything was negativity switched. Prepare to spend some time with a soldering iron and 5 relays. I used crimp style female spades as a platform to solder on in the case I need to replace a relay down the road. It takes a while.

Wiring%20Diagram%20AC%20Relays.png


Here is the final wiring result:

2012-06-16%2017.29.00.jpg


After that , you need to either use a blend door cable out of a 97 (no modification necessary) or thin down the C loop on the end of your <96 cable with a Dremel or other sort of sanding/grinding tool. A nut and bolt will be necessary to hold the C loop in the door actuator lever arm.

Now to make the whole thing fit into your dash, you need to hack off the 1/2" lip between your middle vent and the factory AC controls, and 1/2" - 3/4" off the bottom of the 97+ AC control. Call it clearancing if you will...

At this point , use your imagination to figure out how to soundly mount the new control in the dash, I used 4 1" self tappers with spacers and washers to allow me to control the backspacing and put the face of the new controls right where they need to go. The relays should also be thoroughly electrically 'isolated' with wire tape and or liquid tape. I used heat shrink and liquid tape to seal everything, then tucked the cluster of relays behind the glove box inside the dash.

Here is the final result, and I must say three weeks after I am really liking the new knobs. I'm betting gloves + those knobs = easy.

2012-06-16%2018.06.14.jpg
 
please host your pics on something other than dropbox, it's a little picky when it comes to hotlinking images.

I am really interested in seeing the end result of this, it's a pretty big undertaking. sounds like nice work! (but only the first pic works for me :()
 
I'm so sorry about the issues with the images! I cant edit the post unfortunately, so picture 1:
Wiring%2520Diagram%2520AC%2520Relays.png

Wiring rats nest
2012-06-16%252017.29.00.jpg

Final:
2012-06-16%252018.06.14.jpg

Again, I'm so sorry about the drop box issues. Maybe a mod can help me with editing the picture links in the first post?
 
is the late model directional control vacuum driven like the earlier one? if so, does the vacuum plug from the early one plug in with no modification?

edit: nevermind, I read your first post again and saw you covered this. looks good!
 
Yes, the vacuum solenoids serve the same purpose, and even the same polarity. The connectors however, are completely different, hence the reason I spliced every line. The chart for each function, and its color is listed in the first post.
 
Been wondering if this was possible for some time now lol. I am curious though, I have an 88XJ (well mostly 88...) and have yet to do any digging into if this may be possible to do on that, happen to have any idea? Not the slightest clue if that was one of the changes between Renix and HO in 91... Thanks and AWESOME writeup!

Paint
 
From what I can tell the AC is the same. If you don't have an AC, there is a part number in the parts manual for mechanical blend door without AC. My old controls were stamped AMC. Does anyone want the part numbers for what I used in the conversion?
 
From what I can tell the AC is the same. If you don't have an AC, there is a part number in the parts manual for mechanical blend door without AC. My old controls were stamped AMC. Does anyone want the part numbers for what I used in the conversion?

SWEET!! I DO have AC and do plan to keep it and all, so not too bad an issue there... Happen to know the years of compatibility to get the donor control panel from by chance? Thanks again,

Paint
 
I would have sworn that the jeep I grabbed mine out of said 98 on the dash, cause it had the revised intake manifold, but there are two different part numbers for 98. You are looking for a 97- early 98 by the looks of it. Knob control part number for with AC is 5011343AA and the cable is 5003393aa, you will need the 5011341aa vacuum harness as well. The knobs part number is 4882861. Now, I have personally seen many knob controls in xj's with vacuum, which is included in the 2001 FSM, so any cluster will work, if you find the mechanical blend door knob/rheostat. It is separate from the blower/vacuum controls. Sorry I cant give more specific info. Ill pull my dash off on the 4th to take a picture of the back of the mechanical blend door rheostat so you know what to look for. I want to fix my radio anyway...
 
I would have sworn that the jeep I grabbed mine out of said 98 on the dash, cause it had the revised intake manifold, but there are two different part numbers for 98. You are looking for a 97- early 98 by the looks of it. Knob control part number for with AC is 5011343AA and the cable is 5003393aa, you will need the 5011341aa vacuum harness as well. The knobs part number is 4882861. Now, I have personally seen many knob controls in xj's with vacuum, which is included in the 2001 FSM, so any cluster will work, if you find the mechanical blend door knob/rheostat. It is separate from the blower/vacuum controls. Sorry I cant give more specific info. Ill pull my dash off on the 4th to take a picture of the back of the mechanical blend door rheostat so you know what to look for. I want to fix my radio anyway...

If you are referring to the "horseshoe" intake manifold, they redesigned that for 99+. No worries on the specifics, I have plenty of time till I even need to think about the dash stuff I will be doing, got to finish under the hood first and get all that back together, then get the floor stuff done and will be good to go on to the dash stuff and seats lol. Pics would be awesome if you have the chance! Thanks again,

Paint
 
hey, I know this is an old link, but if OP is still around, can you let me know what kind of relays you used? just standard 12 volt? I'm doing this exact change -- 1988 slider ctonrols to 1996 knobs --- I recently dropped a DD Head unit in, had to relocate the HVAC controls where the vent now lives, and the current slider controls are too deep and don't clear one of the HVAC doors behind the vent...
 
Sent you an email, I'm doing this over the weekend... Anything speciifc I should plan for? I bought vacuum connectors, extra. Vacuum line, and relays, anything you ran into that I should be prepared for? rive had the dash out of my xj fur times in the past three weeks, so I'd like formsnips to be as straightforward as possibl... You just removed the bezel, right? No need to pull the dash?
 
My apologies, hate like hell to dig this old of a thread out of mothball, though tried to send a PM and your pm box is full lol.


REALLY hoping you are still on the forum here, and realizing this is probably a bit of a longshot here, but am looking for help on this swap lol. I had posted in this thread quite a few years back about doing this swap on my 88 and am only FINALLY now getting to do it lmao. Ran into a few issues though and am hoping you (or someone maybe...) may be able to lend a hand or some input at least haha.

Anyways, I am pretty sure I figured out the vacuum connector part at least, differences seem to be the color codes were tracer stripes on mine vs solid colors on the ones in your writeup.

Cutting the dash part, I'll figure that one out easily enough too but the electrical stuff is bugging the hell out of me!

There are 2 connectors on the backside of the 88 Control Panel, a couple of the colors are a bit different (THINK I can figure those out) though any way I look at it, I end up with extra wires, WTF am I missing here lmao?? Also, if I am reading your diagram right, it looks like pins 86 and 30 on all the relays are wired together to one pin from the XJ harness, am I reading this correctly? Just wanted to make sure on there one.

ZERO idea why this is screwing with my head so bad, been staring at WAY too many diagrams over the last few weeks I guess working on this project, finally getting around to finishing everything up and I'm just at my limit I think at this point lmao. ANY help or input you (or anyone again) can provide would be HUGELY helpful and GREATLY appreciated thank you!!!

John
 
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