spankrjs's Biloxi, MS '83 Scrambler

[zr10054]

I did not feel like finding another grill and repainting it. The grill swap might get me another 3/16" clearance. What I decided to do, get the original radiator repaired, and find a slightly shorter fan clutch.

This picture clearly shows the major difference between an OEM radiator and a "replacement" radiator:

This was not cheap or fast. Cost me a little less then $500, and it took awhile to find the correct core. The radiator repair took around 6 weeks, so i was not able to drive this Scrambler to Michigan this year.

So, stalled out on the radiator, I jumped back to the fuel system.

Since Stump Jumper was my second Scrambler build and I had already learned all the lessons you have and are learning i realized after the first build that I had spent close to $500.00 on my cooling system is why I just went ahead and bought a nice Aluminum radiator for the Stump Jumper build. Like I say many times here, seems like every time I try to save $100 bucks it ends up costing me $500.00. So from now own anytime I have a cooling problem the first thing I will do is install a good aluminum radiator.
Here is a picture of a cooling sytem I am building for a 1957 Jeep FC with a 5.3L in it.

 

[FLCJ8]

Ray,
Thanks for taking the time to rebuild this post.

 

[spankrjs]

Since Stump Jumper was my second Scrambler build and I had already learned all the lessons you have and are learning i realized after the first build that I had spent close to $500.00 on my cooling system is why I just went ahead and bought a nice Aluminum radiator for the Stump Jumper build. Like I say many times here, seems like every time I try to save $100 bucks it ends up costing me $500.00. So from now own anytime I have a cooling problem the first thing I will do is install a good aluminum radiator.
Here is a picture of a cooling sytem I am building for a 1957 Jeep FC with a 5.3L in it.

No doubt I could have spent less on a good aftermarket aluminum radiator, but I wanted to keep an OEM radiator in this one, I was being stubborn

The Scrambler/FC are looking good

 

[spankrjs]

Ray,
Thanks for taking the time to rebuild this post.

No problem, glad you are enjoying it

These threads also help me keep straight what/when/where/how/why I did certain things, so a couple years down the road I have good reference material to look back on

 

[spankrjs]

And back to the fueling system.

This Scrambler is running MPI on a basically stock 258. The fuel rail is the "return less" style, so it only has fuel going in. The pressure regulator is built into the fuel filter, mounted back by the tank. I decided to leave the fuel rail supply line running down the passenger side frame rail, like a stock CJ. I did this for one important reason: I keep having "hot fuel/vapor locking" issues on my other fuel injected Scramblers. So, I figure it would be best to leave the fuel supply line on the opposite frame rail from the exhaust.

This is all fine and good, but the fuel rail is on the driver side of the engine, fuel supply line is on the passenger side. So, I need to get the fuel from one side of the engine bay to the other. I thought about several different options, and then realized there is an off the shelf solution to this problem on 258 engines. 1987 - 1990 carburetor equipped YJ Wranglers have the fuel supply line running on the driver side frame rail (exhaust runs down the passenger side), BUT the mechanical fuel pump is mounted on the passenger side of the block. So, the Jeep engineers came up with this nifty, pre-bent stainless fuel line, that runs under the oil pan, and allows the fuel to cross over from one side of the engine bay to the other:

This fuel line bolts to the oil pan using a few of the oil pan attaching blocks. From the passenger side, the line runs down, then turns to the front, runs around the front of the engine, turns back to the rear, then turns upward. I did not have any of the OEM attaching bolt/studs, so I made a couple:

Quick picture of the rubber fuel line I am using:

This stuff is super high pressure rated, multi fuel, and ethanol safe. I have been running this rubber fuel line for over 10 years now, have not had a failure or problem with it yet.


First mock up with the YJ fuel line:

With it bolted up, I think this end is too close to the exhaust manifold. From pictures I have looked at on the internet, this is how close it runs, but that is too close for comfort for me:

So, I slightly lowered the fuel line downward using some hex spacers:

Not the best looking solution, but it works. A "cleaner" approach would be to cut/re-bend/re-flare this stainless steel line. I have a spare line that I will probably modify in the future. Anyway, I now have about 3" of clearance from the exhaust manifold, much better IMO:

 

[spankrjs]

Like I said earlier, the spacers are not the cleanest looking approach:

Looks kind of blah, but it is secure, and it works. The picture makes it look worse then what it is. The line is still high and tight, so nothing will snag or hit it.

In this picture, I have a piece of rubber fuel line, covered in electrical tubing, connecting the fuel rail to the oil pan mounted stainless steel line. Nice sweeping bends, as far from exhaust heat as is practical:

And the other side, short piece of rubber line connecting the chassis mounted hard line to the oil pan mounted stainless line:

That completes the fuel system.

One last cooling system picture. With the rebuilt OEM radiator installed, with the 1981 CJ-7 clutch fan installed, a little bit more then 1" clearance:

I have new engine/transmission mounts installed, so I am happy with the clearance. The engine should not be jumping straight forward 1". A little bit of movement, yes, but not jumping straight forward. In the future, I will obtain/paint the correct year grill, and that should put me back to factory clearance. For now, it is way better then before, I am happy as a pig in $hit

 

[spankrjs]

One last thing to wrap up, the air cleaner system.

I decided to run the air intake tube over the valve cover to the passenger side of the engine bay. But, the air tube was resting on top of the aluminum valve cover. I wanted some clearance between he two, so I decided to install a throttle body spacer:

Besides giving me the necessary clearance, the spacer also doubled the HP LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

With it mocked up:

Still a slight problem: The weight of the thick rubber hose I am using causes the whole tube assembly to sag down and contact the valve cover:

So, using a piece of aluminum angle, and two pre-existing tapped holes in the top of the valve cover, I built a "support" bracket:

Problem solved. The completed "Redneck Ray cold air" air cleaner/CCV system installed:

Still sucking air from under hood, but at least it is on the opposite side away from the exhaust heat. In the future, I would love to install a 4.0 air box assembly, and use regular paper filters.

I decided to purchase another battery, I got tired of playing battery "musical chairs". Decided to try one of these new fangled batteries out, got a good brother in law discount LOL:

That pretty much finished it up.

 

[spankrjs]

Quick re-cap

I pulled the T5/Dana 300 out toward the end of January
I rebuilt them, plus cleaned a bunch of stuff, finished that around the end of March
Project sat still from end of March till the middle of May, when I got the engine back from the rebuilders
Installed engine/clutch/transmission/transfer case late May, then the site crashed
May, June, July, August - completed all the "minor" tasks (all this stuff was just re-uploaded this week)

Got the Scrambler running/driving again early September, after Sand Blast.

Anyway, pushed it out of the garage, overall engine bay shot:

Took awhile to purge the air from the fuel lines, but once purged, fired right up:

Ta-Da, FIN:

I have put a couple hundred miles on it since I completed all this work, a few random thoughts:

1) The rebuilt 258 with MPI is very peppy, much better then the tired 258 with the OEM carb stuff. This 258 pulls harder then my 4.0 Scrambler at low RPM, the 4.0 pulls harder at higher RPM. Anyway, the conversion to MPI on this stock Scrambler was well worth it, very fun to drive, fires right up

2) Took the new clutch awhile to break in, works/feels perfect now. Very light pedal pressure, pretty happy with the clutch.

3) The T5 felt tight/hair notchy shifting into all gears for the first couple hundred miles, if you tried to shift real fast. I guess the blocking rings needed to wear in a bit, shifts perfect now. it survives LOL

4) Internal fuel pump was louder then an external fuel pump for the first couple of runs. Now, the only time I hear it is when I first turn the key on. The new fuel system seems to be working perfectly.


Lots of work, but well worth it.

Scrambler is definitely not finished, its a Jeep after all

While I was working on it, I noticed the original rubber brake lines are all cracking, front wheel bearings still feel good but I have never repacked them, found some NOS chrome lock in hubs I might install, take the diamond tread off the top of the side steps, find a 1983 grill and have it painted to match, the tires all have very fine cracks starting to show (which sucks because they still have probably 95% tread), might swap on some different shocks (the Superlift shocks are valved pretty stiff), eventually remove bed liner crap off the floors and repaint, fix slightly loose hard top..........................................

That's it for now

 

[zr10054]

It feels good when a Plan finally comes together. Nice looking Jeep.

 

[MrBeep]

This means it's "Dune Ready" now!
Great job as usual my friend.

 

[spankrjs]

It feels good when a Plan finally comes together. Nice looking Jeep.

This means it's "Dune Ready" now!
Great job as usual my friend.

Thanks guys

It will need new tires before a Michigan trip

 

[kctango]

would you have a part number for the fuel line that runs under the oil pan and a source of where you got it?

 

[spankrjs]

would you have a part number for the fuel line that runs under the oil pan and a source of where you got it?

Sorry, no part #

The fuel line is the stock/OEM fuel line that came on all Jeep YJ's that came equipped with a 258, IIRC 1987 - 1990.

I got one of these fuel lines from a buddy that was swapping engines on a YJ, I got another one off of eBay. Pretty sure the line is stainless, so if you can find one second hand/salvage yard, they should be in great shape

 

[kctango]

Sorry, no part #

The fuel line is the stock/OEM fuel line that came on all Jeep YJ's that came equipped with a 258, IIRC 1987 - 1990.

I got one of these fuel lines from a buddy that was swapping engines on a YJ, I got another one off of eBay. Pretty sure the line is stainless, so if you can find one second hand/salvage yard, they should be in great shape

Thanks for the reply, I was able to find a used one on ebay and have ordered it for about $60 not too bad.

 

[spankrjs]

Thanks for the reply, I was able to find a used one on ebay and have ordered it for about $60 not too bad.

 

[spankrjs]

I have been working on another Jeep lately (a 7), but it requires cleaning everything first due to all the crud, and since it has been too cold to be getting wet outside, I decided to work on this one some more.

When I had the front fenders off a few months ago, I noticed how bad the front rubber brake lines looked, so I bought 3 new rubber brake lines (two for the front, one for the back). Finally got around to swapping them.

It may look nice and sunny, but the temperature was around 24 when I started working!!!!!!!!!!!

Front brake lines had some bad cracks/splits:

And the three old, probably OEM, lines removed:

While not "technically challenging", the lack of rust on the fittings made this easy. I was able to get all brake lines off and replaced without damaging the OEM frame mounted hard brake line/connectors.


The rear brake line was a bit of a PIA to get to, due to all my fuel pump stuff, but still only took about 10 minutes to swap:

And of course, you always find some other problem while working on the original problem. When I was swapping out the front brake lines, I noticed both calipers were loose. On the passenger side, I found this:

Not the best picture. On the passenger side, the rubber caliper bushings that go around the mounting bolts must have fell apart, so the previous owner wrapped the bolts in electrical tape LOL. Probably a good trail fix. Luckily, I had some spare bushings. When I got to the driver side, there was not tape, only a sticky/rubbery mess, I presume the bushings fell apart. So, a trip to the store for some more caliper hardware, and all fixed up, maybe........


Before I changed the brake lines, I noticed a small, weird brownish colored puddle on the garage floor, under the firewall area. I "hoped" it was the washer reservoir bottle leaking, but I wasn't that lucky. The master cylinder sprung a leak, which of course dripped right on to the bottom of the inner fender, stripping the paint clean off:

DOT 3 must be the best paint stripper in the world LOL. Good news, it only stripped the paint off the flat, triangle piece of the inner fender pictured. Fire wall, frame, and the rest of the inner fender are fine, so not going to cry about it too much.

I kept some old master cylinder lines off one of my many projects, cut them down to length, super great master cylinder bleeding tubes:

TA-DA, new brake lines and master cylinder:

I am going to presume the master cylinder must have had a slow leak for awhile, maily due to the stripped off paint on the booster. Also, when I pulled the old master cylinder off, the cavity between the MS and the booster was pretty wet.

 

[spankrjs]

While I had the tires off, I decided to change the shocks, since they would be easier to get too without the tires in the way. I had been running the Superlift supplied shocks, but they seemed to be valved kind of stiff

I am running Superlift 1" springs, so I figure stock shocks will work just fine, and they do, mostly. I bought regular old gas shocks from NAPA.

The front shocks fit perfectly, and were the same length as the Superlift provided shocks:

The shocks that NAPA gave me for the rear seemed a bit too short. When I fully extended them, with the shock attached to the upper mount, they only went about 1" past the lower shock mount. That's too short. So, I purchased two more front shocks for the rear, which are a more "correct" length, but there is a minor problem: On a '82-'86 CJ, the front lower shock mount uses a 1/2" bolt, so the shocks come with a metal sleeve in the lower bushing. The rear lower shock mounts (and the rear and front uppers) use a 5/8 diameter stud. So, I needed to get the sleeve out, which is a PIA. Even with the sleeve out, the bushing ID is too tight. So, drilled/melted out the lower bushings, and installed these bushings:

When installed, these bushings are about 1/8" wider then the NAPA installed upper bushing. No big deal, when you bolt them on, the bushing squishes in just fine. The are "hour glass" shaped bushings. You could use a more "correct" style bushing, but these were in stock, and seem to work just fine.

Rear shocks installed:

The ride with the new shocks is better, so a worthwhile improvement that only cost around $100 for the four shocks and bushings.

As for the rear shock length, different part stores list all kinds of different lengths for the rear shocks, so don't just go by the parts stores information.

A few years back, when I was looking to replace the blown out Rubicon Express shocks on my lifted Red Scrambler, I took a whole bunch of measurements, suspension travel measurements, etc. What I found, if using the stock shock mounting locations front and rear on a '82-'86 CJ, the shocks should be the same length. The four Rubicon Express shocks that I received with the RE 4.5" lift were all the same lenght, the Bilsteins I run now are all the same length, and they all work fine

That's it for now

 

[spankrjs]

I guess I will have to rebuild this thread, most of the pictures aren't working

Rebuilt thread, again

 

[bigwalton]

I guess I will have to rebuild this thread, most of the pictures aren't working

Rebuilt thread, again

Sorry man.

 

[spankrjs]

I decided to put air conditioning in this Jeep, so I have been working on that for the last few weeks. I bought a kit from JeepAir, it works great. I would just caution that this is a "kit", not 100% bolt in, but not that much fabrication work either. All in all, I am happy with it, just few minor "issues".

I will start at the beginning, this will take awhile, I think I have about 70 pictures

To start, I needed to remove some interior items. The original owner installed the sweet Alpine tape deck, which I kept, but I had to remove the Alpine EQ which hung under the dash, plus the ashtray, lighter, fresh air duct on driver side, and I also pulled out the original carb computer.






One of my HVAC cables broke, the one that controls the fresh air vent, moves this thingy:



So, decided to upgrade all the stock cables to the MTS cables, they worked great. The knobs do not look 100% factory, but I wasn't that concerned about it.



And, while I was under the dash, I added some new speakers:



In the picture above, I used some small plastic spacers (that I painted black) to space the speakers back from the grill, used the brass thumb screw things to secure the speakers, worked great. I was going to add "screen" in front of the speakerss to hide them, but decided not to, they don't look that bad to me:



You can also see the plain white face of the MTS knobs.

Anyway, that concluded the interior prep work. Fix everything behind the dash now, it wont be any easier once you bolt in the under dash unit