XJ Rehab - What parts would you pick?

[GMan]

Little by little getting to understand how to use this board. Very glad it is available, enjoy the XJ Talk Show and hope to learn alot too. Looks like the Talk Show is alot of work and it is very much appreciated, especially the videos. Very good axle bearing videos, thank you!

My XJ is just plain old tired, pretty, but tired. The garage has been renovated, have most tools necessary and my Snap-On tool guy knows what he is talking about - what a treat. Now I am hoping to open discussion about parts choices. I am finding it difficult to judge parts quality. Got replacement side mirrors from Quadratec and they are not even close to the OEM, the replacements vibrate as you drive :mad:. There seems to be wide variance in lift kits, Brakes, etc. Pre bent brake lines are no longer available from Jeep. Making them up is no big deal, but time consuming. Any ideas?

This weekend I will do a complete rebuild of the rear drums, would prefer to do a disc brake conversion with ABS but have found only one supplier and no independant person with experience. Not all that happy about the parts from NAPA, ok but I see lots of room for improvement. The front will get slotted and drilled rotors, but I cant seem to find calipers that improve performance over stock, dual piston, etc. Any ideas.

Any advice on how to recondition/improve appearance of the intake manifold? Bead blast, soft wire brush, any ideas? Is the 1999 intake manifold a straight forward swap? What are the problems? Where do you get them? I will be installing a 63mm throttle body (red powder coat if I am lucky), and new fuel rail. Injectors seem to work fine, would you upgrade? to what? Seems the Rugged Ridge Cold Air intake at $187 is a good buy, looks good, and like that it has no oil in the filter. Any experience with it?

There is a range of $140 - $500 dollars on exhaust manifolds. A chrome header is nice but cant see much of it on the 4.0, Banks? OEM, which exhaust header would you choose and why? Would you put the Magna Flow Cat back or other make to the header?

Will post a very embarassing pic of the rear brake drums and the finish in the album section and will do the same for the throttle body, air intake, manifold and follow up with performance information. Your ideas, points of view, and experience are meaningful and glad to share the final results and problems. Look forward to hearing from you. This XJ is going to 500K - at least, and is going to preform and look great along the way. Even if I have to pull the motor for a rebuild... and paint it Blue with a chrome valve cover. Thanks, and look forward to your input helping to build a great XJ. GMan

[4.3LXJ]

Gunnar, a popular swap/upgrade on the brakes is the ZJ rear disc set up which will bolt to the D35/44. Not sure on the ABS part on that though. Another upgrade is the ZJ dual diaphragm vacuum booster. I will be doing that in a week or two and will post pics and instructions then.

As far as lifts go, you get what you pay for there. You need to set a target height first on that one

[Pookapotamus]

wow! um, where to start.....

Every ones opinion on parts will vary, same with lifts, tires and everything else, take it all in with a grain of salt and try to choose something that you are comfortable with. I know that's not much help, but when someone says "this one is the best" ask why and have them explain it.

I have done the disk brake conversion from teraflex and am very happy with it, as for the ABS, most people don't like it on the trail. I have performance rotors on the front and they did make a big difference, as for calipers, there is one company, Vanco, they make a big brake kit for the front but its pricey and hard to get up here.

I have also done the intake swap, and in my opinion, the swap and 63 mm throttle body are a waste until you go to a better exhaust and possibly head design. plus its not a straight forward swap, brackets for the power steering are different. i have not yet run with new injectors and cant comment on those. I ran a K&N cold air intake and it was a better upgrade than a bored throttle body on a stock engine, in my opinion it was a great buy.

The exhaust manifold is not the problem on stock xj's, its the piping itself, stock has a lot of restriction at the bends. save some coin and get all new pipes and you will notice a big difference, and since the stock manifold is basically a header just make sure its not cracked.

hopefully that helps with some of your questions, keep asking and good luck with your build.

Pook

[NW99XJ]

Little by little getting to understand how to use this board. Very glad it is available, enjoy the XJ Talk Show and hope to learn alot too. Looks like the Talk Show is alot of work and it is very much appreciated, especially the videos. Very good axle bearing videos, thank you!

My XJ is just plain old tired, pretty, but tired. The garage has been renovated, have most tools necessary and my Snap-On tool guy knows what he is talking about - what a treat. Now I am hoping to open discussion about parts choices. I am finding it difficult to judge parts quality. Got replacement side mirrors from Quadratec and they are not even close to the OEM, the replacements vibrate as you drive :mad:. There seems to be wide variance in lift kits, Brakes, etc. Pre bent brake lines are no longer available from Jeep. Making them up is no big deal, but time consuming. Any ideas?

This weekend I will do a complete rebuild of the rear drums, would prefer to do a disc brake conversion with ABS but have found only one supplier and no independant person with experience. Not all that happy about the parts from NAPA, ok but I see lots of room for improvement. The front will get slotted and drilled rotors, but I cant seem to find calipers that improve performance over stock, dual piston, etc. Any ideas.

Any advice on how to recondition/improve appearance of the intake manifold? Bead blast, soft wire brush, any ideas? Is the 1999 intake manifold a straight forward swap? What are the problems? Where do you get them? I will be installing a 63mm throttle body (red powder coat if I am lucky), and new fuel rail. Injectors seem to work fine, would you upgrade? to what? Seems the Rugged Ridge Cold Air intake at $187 is a good buy, looks good, and like that it has no oil in the filter. Any experience with it?

There is a range of $140 - $500 dollars on exhaust manifolds. A chrome header is nice but cant see much of it on the 4.0, Banks? OEM, which exhaust header would you choose and why? Would you put the Magna Flow Cat back or other make to the header?

Will post a very embarassing pic of the rear brake drums and the finish in the album section and will do the same for the throttle body, air intake, manifold and follow up with performance information. Your ideas, points of view, and experience are meaningful and glad to share the final results and problems. Look forward to hearing from you. This XJ is going to 500K - at least, and is going to preform and look great along the way. Even if I have to pull the motor for a rebuild... and paint it Blue with a chrome valve cover. Thanks, and look forward to your input helping to build a great XJ. GMan
WOW....'Lot of questions here, I'll do my best to get to them all as best as I can.
Fist let me say thanks for the kind words on the podcast. Tony & I appreciate the feedback.
Lift kit discussions are long and can get quite in depth. You'll want to start with what tire size you want to settle on, and what kind of wheeling you want to do. Also what your budget is, and how willing you are to cut some of the body (fender trimming.) - Also, dont forget about things like drive line length, pinion angles, and the Slip Yoke...all issues that have to be addressed when you lift. (depending of course how high you go.)
Your brake line issue refers to what i'm assuming are the actual hard-lines that are installed from the proportioning valve/master cylinder assembly and go to all 4 corners. These usually dont need to be replaced unless they have been smashed or corroded thru. In which case you have a couple options. Buy a length of line and straighten/bend as you go making new lines, or find some from a local junkyard. <-- the second may be a more viable option for a lit of things. The lines that go from the hard lines to the calipers are another story and there are a ton of options, from oem style from other vehicles (I think f150 lines work for the fronts in a pinch - and a TJ rear line works as an extended in the rear.) or you can go with aftermarket, like braided steel lines. - There's a ton of options and price ranges there.
Your rear brake conversion can be done with disk brakes from a Grand Cherokee, if I'm not mistaken. You'll need to use the baking plates, which may have to be modified to fit on your axles. There are a bunch of write ups on this throughout the web, as well as other ways of accomplishing rear discs on the XJ's.
You wont have ABS unless you already have an ABS System on the Jeep.
Slotted rotors are fine, I would avoid drilled too, unless you're reallying doing high speed racing. Save yourself some money and just buy good slotted rotors. (The purpose of the slots are to reduce gas pressure build up between the brake pad and surface of the rotor. - the drills are to reduce mass - and can sacrifice structural integrity in offroad applications.)
Use EBC pads - pretty much the best you can buy, and offer something like 30% better stopping power over most anything else.
Swapping out the actual proportioning valve in the brake booster for one from a V8 ZJ can also improve braking performance. Not sure if this can be done on ABS systems though.
The intake manifold (or anything else in the engine bay) can be cleaned up with "elbow grease", varying degrees of stiffness of wire brushes, and SIMPLE GREEN. <-- good stuff!
As far as the swap, I cant speak on that too much....I'm sure there will be hurdles to overcome, and problems that will arise...it IS a Jeep afterall.
The 63mm throttle body is a great idea, and it sounds like you may be getting a deal on it. Just remember you really wont notice much of a difference until you address the rest of the exhaust/intake system.
The intake will need to be able to draw in more cold air, and the exhaust will of course need to be able to breathe better. Otherwise the increased opening of the new throttle body will be a moot point.
I'm running the DynoMax cat back system and couldnt be happier.
The header, ...dont waste your money on a $500 set. Honestly most of the $250 range ones will perform far better than the stock manifold.
Just remember....engine mounts and tranny mounts (if worn) will destroy headers/manifolds faster than anything. So spend the money you save and buy yourself some decent motor mounts (Ironman 4x4 or browndog are really great) - This will protect your investment.
I did this recently - Check out my build thread to see all the write-ups and pics.

I'm sure there will be many more questions that will arise along the way.
....but you're in a good place here on XJTalk.com.
I hope I've answered some of your questions well, and addressed some of your concerns.
Take care!

[GMan]

Dana and Steve,
Thanks, yeah no kidding where do you start. Agree completely that the exhaust manifold is a bad design, and to do get to it kind of makes doing all the rest at the same time logical. Did you increase the exhasut diameter? What manifold did you go with?

Planning the jobs seems harder than the job itself. EBC has nice slotted rotors, but no caliper to go with it! I am going to search out both of your suggestions ie teraflex and ZJ (does ZJ stand for anything? where did you find them?). Steve, did you put a small block in the XJ? Dana, the storker looks like it is powerful, 6" etc a big rig. are there pics here?

[GMan]

Thanks Josh!
Ok, now I get ZJ-duh. Thanks for the engine mount comment! I was debating that, will do them for sure. Agree on the systems approach, will go with Dyno Max. What manifold did you use?

I like simple! Simple Green - great.

I figured I would have to make the brake lines, they are rusting through, patched twice. The local Jeep dealer has a "coated" line alternative that looks good. I have flare tool etc and can make them near stock. Any suggestions on calipers/rotor manufacturers? Agree on design. Will go with EBC Pads - what do you think - red, green or yellow? I will focus on all your brake suggestions and reply before a final purchase.

Focused on intake/exhaust and brakes at the moment. Have a nasty cold engine knock I am hoping is just caused by the exhaust pressure loss, keeping my fingers crossed. Once that is behind, then to suspension and the list you point out. What do you think of the Quadratec bushing set? Are thicker sway bars available?

I use the XJ everyday, frequently at 75mph. I am nervous about even a 3" lift as it relates to center of gravity. I spend alot of time in the mountains during the winter and want more latitude for exploration. Warn/Warrior bumpers and winch and 3" lift seem to fit that bill. So 30 or 31" tires with a more on road than off tread is what i am thinking. Does that seem reasonable to you - 3"/75mph? I have many more questions but can wait till later. Your Red XJ looks great, hated to see her on the flat bed, but as you said, better than on the hook. As a result, I may do the wheel bearings when I do the Rotors just for fun. Thanks again. Gunnar

[GMan]

Josh
How do I find the motor mount and pics you mention? Gunnar

[Pookapotamus]

click on the link in my signature to check out my build, i am currently replacing brake lines at the moment, best advice for this is to make sure you have a good quality flare tool, the $40 partsource one will not work! Ask me how I know!!!

[NW99XJ]

Browndog Motor Mounts: http://browndogindustries.com/jeep-motor-mounts-2.aspx

IronMan 4x4 Motor Mounts: http://www.ironman4x4fab.com/Products/MM.html

[XJ Wheeler]

On the rotors and pads for the front. I do have the EBC rotors and yellow stuff pads, however, i haven't had much time with them so i really can't talk on performance. I can say they seem of good quality when i inspected them, minus a bad powder coating on the pads. Like Josh mentioned, i don't like drilled rotors either for the removed material creates weakness and leads to cracks when under a lot of heat. The good thing about EBC's rotors is they are slotted and dimpled, instead of drilled.

A caliper upgrade i have heard of is swapping on WJ (i believe) knuckles with everything attached. I don't know much about this.

Rear disc swap. A member on here MSMoorenburg is a wealth of knowledge and has done this swap and says to use Jeep Liberty parts. For more info you'd need to talk with him.

Braking. I haven't done this yet either (do plan on both though) but the dual diaphram booster is suppose to be the best upgrade for more braking power.

Exhaust is one of those things that no one agrees on. I personally don't like the sounds of the Dynomax, my brother had one and it sounded really like a ricer. Although it might have made a difference that he just had the replacement muffler and not the whole catback. The 4.0l originally came with 2 1/4" exhaust tubing and it really appreciates a slightly bigger tube. 2 1/2" is the typical upgrade and really works best. I just went down to my local exhaust shop and had them bend up a 2 1/2" tailpipe with a Magnaflow muffler and stainless tip. It was just over $200. Although if i had to do it again i would go with a Flowmaster. That's what my brother replaced his with, a 40 series. But i would go with the 44 as its a bit quieter and his gets annoying with the endless drone on the highway.

With that cold engine knock, try running a thinner viscocity oil. Mine was doing that on start up when it was cold and i switched to 5w-30 for the winter and it hasn't happened since. I normally run 10w-30 in the summer.

3" lift is a good choice for highway and getting more capability. Its also is a bit easier on the wallet as well. That will allow you enough room for 31s with minimal trimming. A great company for a nice riding kit is Old Man Emu, i'm not sure if they offer a 3" but its somewhere right in there.

[GMan]

Good Comments Jake. Just did the oil idea, put EBC into the plan; USR906 Slotted Sport Rotors - $164, and the EBC Green Stuff 7000 pads at $109. Still searching for calipers, choice seems pretty limited.

You might get something out of this link: http://www.lunghd.com/Downloads_and_Links/Downloads.htm

The AW-4 Trasmission repair manual is very good. Stay tuned, I will post choice and cost once I am close to a final plan. Thanks for your thoughts. GMan

[GMan]

Up Date:
Have a 1996 XJ w/252,000. She is tired and needs some serious attention. Planning and parts selection is the hard part, and any help/point of view would be great. This XJ is a daily driver with 60 miles per day of commute, is also a ski truck and in deep snow conditions in the winter and tows a 2000lb. sail boat in the summer.

Your ideas, devil advocates, experience would be a big help. Any ideas on the stuff labeled TBA would be a very big help. You may get something out of this link for upgrading and repairs: http://www.lunghd.com/Downloads_and_Links/Downloads.htm

Here is where I am at
Intake and exhaust:
Rugged Ridge Summit Racing - $209.00
63mm Throttle Body, w Red Powder Coat - Leigh Performance Machine - 196.00
OEM - Fuel Rail - $209.00
OEM - Forward Fuel Line - $78.00
L&R Motor Mounts/Bolts - Brown Dog Offroad - $104.00
Transmission Mount - TBA
Exhaust Manifold - TBA
2.5 inch Exhaust - TBA

Front Brakes:
Caliper - TBA
Rotors - EBC USR906 Slotted Sport Rotors - Summit Racing - $164.34
Pads - EBC Greenstuff 7000 DP71022 - Summit Racing - $109.34

Any well done vehicle rehab starts with a plan! It seems no dual piston calipers are available. The new exhaust manifold and head pipe connection can be a head ache. Picked up from Tim at Brown Dog that transmission mount should be changed with motor mounts. May do wheel/axle bearings with the rotors just because I am there - what do you think. Lots more to go, suspension and 3" lift etc. ... with wheels/tires seems like it is going to be pushing 5k to have everything ship shape for another 250k miles. Thanks for your help. Will post pics and report on experience as it gets done.

[01xjcny]

i like using a hard line that is a nickel copper real easy to work with, the garage i work for swears by it and wont use anything else and we do alot of brake lines up here in the north east

[GMan]

Thank you to everyone that has helped get me going in the right direction. Have learned a whole lot about the XJ! I have quiet an Excel workbook on my XJ rehab and a good handle on costs and parts quality. Thinking that even if I have to the head gasket or rings in time, the XJ is going to make at least 500k miles.

Last night removed all the brake lines. Today they get packaged up and will ship to a company called Classic Tube. They manufacture OEM brakelines witht the spring sheath! The cost will be $199 and take 10 days to return. Don is excellent, the quality is first rate. Rear drums are all rebuilt including cylinders, NAPA parts and not at all happy with the quality. Later I will get into the idea of a disc conversion. Spoke with an engineer at Wilwood, asked he put the XJ on the caliper wish list, he said not out of the question and to check back in six months. Send Wilwood email that you want XJ calipers, they just may start to make some dual piston ones for us.

Have settled on the Borla part number 17039 exhaust header. O2 sensor is placed just below the collector and it comes with a head pipe that goes directly to the cat converter. $488 for both pipes, but seems necessary considering the 63mm throttle body and Rugged Ridge cold air intake.

Recieved the new motor mounts from Brown Dog. Very well made, chose the poly bushings. Good set of directions, cant wait to get to it. Tim is pleasure to deal with, very helpful and detailed with lots of experience. And the mounts are bright yellow to boot and look great.

If you have any ideas on front brake calipers please send them along. So far all I can find are so so remanufactured Bendix.

Thanks for your help. Josh, Can you post an excel spreadsheet on this board directly? GMan

[NW99XJ]

Thanks for your help. Josh, Can you post an excel spreadsheet on this board directly? GMan

Glad to help man, cant wait to see pics of all this as you install it!
As for the Excel Sheets, I think you can just take a screen shot of it, and post it as a pic that way....

[Mudderoy]

Thanks for the comments on the video. That will encourage me to make more. You know there's always something to do on a Jeep. ;)