1993 XJ here we go again

back story

my daily driver blew the trans and engine so i needed to find something quickly and cheap since i have to drive 90 miles a day for work. so i picked up this 1993 XJ 4.0L with a header and mustang injectors, AX15, 3" lift, 30/8.25 with 3.55 gears, new 33" tires, previous owner built front and read bumpers and "sliders" for it. Surprisingly it cruised good on the freeway and got 17.5MPG, but its hot inside, loud, hot, and hot, and it wasn't even summer yet. So i look around and find a new daily driver, a 2006 Jetta TDI getting 50MPG, i can make the car payment on the fuel savings difference alone.

The jeep must have known its days were numbered because when i went back to the dealership to pick the jeep up the driver door wouldn't open from the inside or outside.Everyone says to hold the handle and kick the door open or soak the latch mechanism with solvents or lubes... ya none of that worked. So the jeep has basically sat for the last 4 months, i would mess around with it here and there when i had time but driving 90 miles a day, taking care of a 7 yo, and taking care of our farm doesn't leave much else.

With renewed vigor from my 7yo persistantly wanting to go for rides, i have started ordering parts. finally found a NOS door striker bolt (these things are non existent for pre 96) and a new latch mechanism so come hell or high water the door will open again. Then today i ordered a Dirtbound high clearance steering kit and a M.O.R.E steering box brace. i need to pickup some steel to make a winch mount to add to the previous owners bumper, i already have a 9500LB winch with synthetic rope from my old 4runner.

the day i picked it up



the rear is welded but it came with another open rear axle, the raiders stickers were the first to go.





well this could be why the rear hatch wouldnt stay open





both front seats need replaced, they got the Cherokee lean going on



after loading it on the trailer i knew it had an oil leak, figuring its the valve cover or oil filter adapter i bought gaskets for both, come to find the previous owner removed the adapter and just put a spud shaft in the block, there was a wiring tab and bolt that had put a dent in the oil filter and it was leaking.

holy picture size, and i dont see where to edit the post

some of my parts showed up, i didn't realize when ordering my steering that they had to build it so that's 10-15 days out plus shipping. my steering box brace showed up and is pretty beefy. my door latch and striker bolts didn't get delivered even though USPS said they did, and when i did finally get them i was shorted a striker bolt.

after getting the new latch in the mail and having a chance to look it over i found a bar that when pushed released it, so i go out and lay across the seats, reach up in the door, lift the bar and the door pops right open. So i pulled the jeep over under a tree for shade (true shade tree mechanic style) and got to changing parts.

since i was planning on the worse option of having to cut the striker bolt, i might as well install the new one anyways, as you can see there were some flat spots in the old one.





installing the latch is fairly straight forward



while working on it before i drilled out the rivets in the arm rest bracket so i could get more room to work, not having big enough rivets to replace them i chose to bolt it back on with allen head bolts and lock nuts. then i used some double sided tape to put the vapor barrier back up.



the center screw that holds the interior handle and latch was not the right one for the screw clip so it would only go in half way and destroyed the clip. so i ran to Ace hardware and picked up a new clip and screw for it.

and then our final product with a working door again

nevermind the dust and cob webs, she has been sitting for a couple months.

i just figured i would take some overall pics of it, i started disassembly of the front clip to be able to weld the door hinge supports in.





not a huge fan of the previous owners bumper, but for now i am just going to modify it to hold my winch. later down the road i will build a new one.



i will also be modifying the rear bumper, i think they built it just a little too close



and the "rock sliders" they built, just a little thin for me



and now were all caught up, i got the front fascia off last night and the top bolts out of the fender. i ordered up an adjustable rough country track bar with double sheer mount.

got the rest of the front body torn down to get it ready for the door hinge brackets.







the nut clips broke on both the bottom bolts




driver hinge, definitely needing repaired, the door drops about 3/8"







the passenger side is starting, but not near as bad. this side doesn't drop when opened.



quality pieces from Hooligan off road





today my rough country track bar and new bracket showed up, still waiting on my dirt bound steering.

why do engineers insist on putting steel bolts into aluminum brackets? snapped one of the a/c compressor bolts last night trying to remove it so i can install the bypass pulley.

warrpath4x4 said:

why do engineers insist on putting steel bolts into aluminum brackets? snapped one of the a/c compressor bolts last night trying to remove it so i can install the bypass pulley.

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Because they'll never have to f*** with it. All things considered, the XJ's seem pretty good about NOT doing that sort of thing. Or if there is an aluminum part, the bolt goes THROUGH it instead of being threaded INTO it so the threads strip out...

last night i finished removing the A/C, it didn't work anyways. While it does get hot here, most of the time i will be driving it in the summer i will more than likely be door less or tube doors.So i went and bought a A/C compressor bypass pulley, yesterday while cruising the forums i ran across where some people have relocated their alternator to where the A/C compressor was and then also deleted a couple of other pulleys (fan clutch and idler), so that's what i was working on last night. It was too dark for the pictures to come out but all i did last night was remove everything, my local Ace hardware didn't have the flap disk i needed for my grinder so i will pick one up today and get it back together.*

when i bought the jeep the mechanical fan was gone and it just had the secondary electric one, the PO said the radiator was fairly new and it looks like it. But.... i ordered up a new 3 row aluminum radiator with aluminum shroud and three 9" electric fans yesterday.

Got the brackets all ground down last night and bolted together, bolted to the engine and the alternator mounted back up. wrapped some bailing twine around the pulleys to find my belt length, looks like 73" but i have some room to adjust shorter so i am going to try a 72.5" belt tonight.

one thing that sucks about doing stuff in the dark, now i have a ring terminal with a short lead coming out of the bundle of alternator wiring that i dont remember where it came from.

so to start off with i figured out that my "extra" wire was the ground wire for the alternator, so i got that fixed.

When i got the jeep the mechanical fan and clutch were non existent and while it didn't get hot driving down the road it also was not summer. i picked up an electric fan to install but the studs that the fan clutch were supposed to be on were in the way. original plan was just to change them over to button head allen bolts, but the size i had was the wrong thread and i stumbled onto other posts where people had gotten rid of their A/C and moved the alternator up higher so that's what i did.



pile of stuff removed



i got rid of the A/C pulley, idler pulley, and the fan clutch pulley. since i didn't have a puller to remove the fan clutch flange, i cut around the bearing then used the shop press to push it out the front, and cleaned it up with a flap disk. you can also see i had to clearance an unused bolt hole on the timing cover.





72.5 inch belt and everything lines up nicely



i finished that early Saturday morning so i could load the jeep up and take it an hour away to my parents place where my welder and plasma are so i could weld in the hooligan door hinge braces. fitment wasn't the greatest, i had to bend the passenger side one to fit and there were some fairly big gaps to fill in, BUT the doors don't drop anymore when opened. (looks like i didn't take any pics of those)

Once those were welded on i moved on to adding the winch mount to the previous owners bumper. down the road i plan on building a different style bumper but at least now i can mount the winch.



i still need to paint the bumper and door braces and put the front sheet-metal back together, my new radiator/shroud/fans are supposed to be here tomorrow along with the Renix upper radiator hose to go around the back of the alternator.

and i am still waiting on my DirtBound steering to show up.

goal was to work on the jeep both days this weekend and of course that wasn't happening, Saturday was shot with family issues. Sunday morning was bringing in 4 tons of hay but i did get to work on it some Sunday afternoon.

before shot



when relocating the alternator, the original upper radiator hose wont work



using an upper hose from a renix engine moves the routing behind the alternator



with the radiator removed here is a good straight on shot of the new belt routing



new 3 core aluminum radiator with aluminum shroud and 3 electric fans









i had to clerance 2 places, 1 being behind the fill spout so the cap would turn. 2 being in the middle of the supprt



finally getting some sheet metal put back on it.





i still need to finish the sheet metal, and then rip into the steering and install the rough country double sheer track bar and the dirt bound steering.

I'd set my sights a little higher than anything RC !!!

wasnt working on the jeep but prepping some metal and building a stand for the bead roller.







and ya, next time he needs on long pants lol.

my daily driver is having issues so its a good thing i have this, i hurried Sunday night and hooked up 2 of the electric fans for the radiator and finished putting the front end sheet metal back together. the middle fan is hooked up to ignition power, the driver side fan is hooked up to the original wiring for the stock electric fan, and i will hook up the passenger fan to a switch, but for right now the one fan and 3 row aluminum radiator is keeping it a lot cooler than it actually needs to be.

now if i can just get the trans tunnel insulated it wouldn't be so bad to drive. at 70 MPH i am turning 1700 RPM's*

warrpath4x4 said:

my daily driver is having issues so its a good thing i have this, i hurried Sunday night and hooked up 2 of the electric fans for the radiator and finished putting the front end sheet metal back together. the middle fan is hooked up to ignition power, the driver side fan is hooked up to the original wiring for the stock electric fan, and i will hook up the passenger fan to a switch, but for right now the one fan and 3 row aluminum radiator is keeping it a lot cooler than it actually needs to be.

now if i can just get the trans tunnel insulated it wouldn't be so bad to drive. at 70 MPH i am turning 1700 RPM's*

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That RPM to MPH combination seem a little low on the RPM scale. What transmission, tire size and gear ratio combination does the XJ have? I think the 4.0L power band is about 2300 to 2500 RPM and should yield better mileage.

What bran radiator did you install? I need to get one very soon.

techno1154 said:

That RPM to MPH combination seem a little low on the RPM scale. What transmission, tire size and gear ratio combination does the XJ have? I think the 4.0L power band is about 2300 to 2500 RPM and should yield better mileage.

What bran radiator did you install? I need to get one very soon.

Click to expand...

AX15 with 33x12.50x15 and 3.08 gears, i get 17.5 MPG on the freeway and my speedometer is corrected. it has plenty of power to go on up to 85, havent pushed it past 85 yet.

the radiator is an ebay special but it is a good quality and fit was good except for having to clearance the upper bracket where the filler neck is so the cap has room to turn.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/For-1991-0...471360&hash=item4d5bfc109c:g:fPEAAOSwGXtXhdW2

since the day i bought the jeep, it wants to pop out of second gear unless you hold it. it was real bad when i first bought it, then i changed out the detent springs for the shift rails and it helped a little bit. i ordered up new detent ball bearings the other week, what a hassle. UPS lost the first order, then they shipped the replacements ground again and i get a package with 3 ball bearing packages (all beat up) and only 2 ball bearings, the next day i received another package with 3 nicely packaged ball bearings. so looks like UPS lost them, found the package open and repackaged them (outside package was in good shape) and delivered them, then the replacements showed up a day later.

​​​​​​​so a month after i placed my order i finally installed the new detent ball bearings, it helped a little bit more but it still wants to pop out upon either letting off the throttle or if i down shift at too high of an RPM.

Is the console keeping it from going all the way into gear?

smccollamjr said:

Is the console keeping it from going all the way into gear?

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it doesn't feel like it or look like it but i am planning on pulling the console to do some insulation work and will drive it without the console.