MOPWR Build

[Mitch502]

Well, got started on the intake gasket earlier than I planned...good and bad thing. Good because sooner is better, right? Well, I changed injectors and valve cover gaskets also...ended up with some issues...

Tore it down, easy enough, no real issues at all, only took a couple hours, including stopping to eat...



Then valve covers came off...out of the 20 or so bolts, about 10 of them I could unscrew by finger...probably a source of my leak?



Then I looked on to the intake manifold...

Intake plate taken off, this should be clean as can be...notice the busted seal on the upper left side

Also should be clean

Cleaned and new "fix" plate on

Factory vs. "Fix" width


then I put in the new injectors...


By that time is had been awhile. I spent some time cleaning stuff up, and ended up around 12:30AM putting stuff back together...the front and rear gaskets suck trying to get them to stay in place, but I finally got it....when I went to torque the new bolts on the manifold, I must have had a bad torque wrench...I should have used common sense, the wrench wasn't clicking, but felt over tight...I ended up snapping one of them (good thing I have an extra) and had to take the manifold back off and the broken bolt easily turned out. I decided to stop for the night and continue today...work is hard when you're tired!

 

[SilicaRich]

Wow! Hope she gets those MPGs back after this. I might have to take a peek down my throttle body too after this is done and over to find my culprit. Also, the LEDs look rad!

 

[Mitch502]

Haha, the 4.0 doesn't suffer from the same downfall there! 4.0 suffers from 20 year old technology being used forever, lol!

 

[Mitch502]

Finally got everything back together, but had an issue. I managed to get air into the cooling system, and the temp sending unit wasn't working. I drained all the coolant I could (including the plug on each side of the block) and plan to finish up today. I even drilled a hole in the thermostat as suggested by many since the after market thermostats don't have the factory passage to let air through in case of a situation like this.

Old (aftermarket)


New, same as old, but drilled a hole in the new one... (aftermarket)


My "honey-do" list from the wife is getting shorter and shorter (for now) so I'm hoping to get to do some real work soon.

 

[Mitch502]

Installed the JKS Quicker Disconnects. I LOVE THEM already. So easy. and, as I thought, my sway bar was under a lot of stress because the end links were too short. Jeep rides a lot better now. I didn't have the nylock-nuts suggested for use with the "tie-ups" so I have to run to the store and get those for when they are disconnected, but the hole has been drilled in the skid plate at everything. Shortly after the disconnects were done, I did the sway bar bushings, which helped a lot as well.




My list of "need to do" before taking the next trip is about over. Need to get the proper grommet for my valve cover for the PCV valve, and do the pre-trip inspection and I'll be ready!

Also, I checked the air pressure in my tires...for reference, I'm running LT285/75/16 Goodyear Duratracs, load range E. I was running 30PSI in them, and the ride was fine, but seemed noisy. Talked to my friend who works at Goodyear for a reference, and he said 30 seemed low (80psi is MAX) and said he originally filled them with 42PSI, and to try variations between 40-50PSI for best/safest ride on the highway. Sure enough, it rolls better so far. We'll see if my mileage goes back up to ~16MPG highway!

 

[Jeeper4life]

Looks good man

 

[Mitch502]

Thanks! Can't wait to take it out again!

 

[Jeeper4life]

Thanks! Can't wait to take it out again!

I bet, I have always loved the 5.9's!

 

[Mitch502]

Well, driving the other day I smelled gas (just filled all the way up) and thought maybe an injector was loose/o ring busted. Looked around, and nothing. After letting the Jeep sit for a few hours in the 90 degree weather I walked passed and caught a strong smell of gas. I looked at the gas tank and it looks like it's leaking from the top...oh joy. Gotta drop the tank (with almost 23 gallons in it) today and see if the nylon "nut" that screws down over top of the fuel pump is loose/off thread. I had a hard time getting it on in the first place...but this is the first time I've smelled it/see it leaking since I got it on.

 

[monte350]

Have you checked the cap vent or evap hoses? Maybe the fill up and evap self check created an over pressurized tank with no place for fumes to bleed off?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Well, driving the other day I smelled gas (just filled all the way up) and thought maybe an injector was loose/o ring busted. Looked around, and nothing. After letting the Jeep sit for a few hours in the 90 degree weather I walked passed and caught a strong smell of gas. I looked at the gas tank and it looks like it's leaking from the top...oh joy. Gotta drop the tank (with almost 23 gallons in it) today and see if the nylon "nut" that screws down over top of the fuel pump is loose/off thread. I had a hard time getting it on in the first place...but this is the first time I've smelled it/see it leaking since I got it on.

There was a trick a guy came up with a while back that involved cutting a hole in your floor to get to the top of the tank. I believe it was called the Swampy Bypass or something similar, should be some OLD threads on JU or NAGCA about it.

 

[Mitch502]

There was a trick a guy came up with a while back that involved cutting a hole in your floor to get to the top of the tank. I believe it was called the Swampy Bypass or something similar, should be some OLD threads on JU or NAGCA about it.

My dad has a lift in the garage, so it makes it a lot easier, and I prefer not to cut the floor pan, lol. Even if it's hidden, and doesn't matter at all.

 

[Mitch502]

So, about 4 weeks ago someone came and bought a spare tire carrier from me. It was a old full size bronco carrier that I was going to make tube doors out of for the Comanche I used to have. Well, the guy who came and got it was in an XJ, and was going to weld up a bracket for the XJ to use it.


Well, Thursday when I pulled in the driveway from work, planning to drop the gas tank, the guy who bought it called me. He was stuck in some mud right around the corner from me. I volunteered to come pull him out.

He said when he pulled in, there wasn't any water, and we had a torrential downpour come though, and this is what I pulled up to...


He was stuck good. I ended up tugging his back bumper off the Jeep...someone is probably thinking by now, why didn't the winch pull him out? Well, Murphy's law...first pull on the winch and it didn't want to go in. Come to find out the second battery had failed after under a year.
Since I pulled off his rear bumper, I moved to the front, and this was the result. I've never seen mud like this. I sunk sitting still, and first time the wheels spun I stopped and unhooked to re position, and was already stuck.
First Spin:


After trying to get out:


Didn't know his name until we both were stuck for about an hour...then it dawned on us we didn't ever know each other's names, lol.


My brother ended up coming to the rescue with his 5.7L Vortec swapped ZR2 S10 and pulled me out with ease. Another guy came from no where and helped us pull the XJ out (My 5.9L in 4Lo and a ~2010 Chevy 2500 on 35's or so in 4wd, both spinning all 4 tires barley pulled it out.)

So, no good deed goes unpunished, and I still haven't messed with my gas tank, lol.

 

[SilicaRich]

Haha sounds a good time to make new friends

 

[Mitch502]

Haha sounds a good time to make new friends

Lol, yea. I try to look on the bright side...the battery only failed under heavy load (still holds a charge, etc) so I would never have known the battery was bad until I went to use the winch. At least I found it before I'm in the middle of no where.