spankrjs's Biloxi, MS '83 Scrambler

[spankrjs]

I placed magnets inside the grill, near the "cut/drill zone" to catch most of the shavings:



Same procedure on the 2nd hole.

Original 1976 grill:



1983 grill:



Tape and transfer lines on the 1976 grill:



Another "squirrel" moment - note the driver side strut rod attaching tab on both the 1976 grill and my 1983 green grill. On my 1983's red grill, the tab is vertical, as opposed to at a 45 degree angle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Again, the existing hole almost fell exactly into where the larger hole needs to go:



Confusing, but I shifted my lines downward to incorporate all of the existing hole, then made an inner line to mark/drill so I would not go oversize:



This hole was a PIA due to the "stamped creases" that were in the way. But, a hole saw took car of part of it, a drill did some more:



Dremel cut off wheel took care of the rest:



And the magic of the internet, done:



Again, about 30 minutes with Dremel/files/sand paper, a nice beautiful hole!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[spankrjs]

Installing the snorkel hose plastic part to the grill:



Bad picture, it is NOT that crooked LOL!!!!!!!!

The stamped creases will cause an air leak:



Glued some foam inside the creases, so when I screw the plastic piece back on, the gaps are closed:



Also painted the raw/cut edges with a small brush:



Most people would not have to do all of this, but since I have a 1976 grill, all this was necessary.

I should be able to finish up this project in the next few days, the hard work is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's it for now

 

[spankrjs]

It only takes about an hour to remove the fender. In the future, if I install the Wolfe steering column bearing (amazingly the OEM lower bearing is still good) or upgrade to a Borgeson steering shaft (again, the OEM is still good) I will definitely pull the fender back off. It also makes intake/exhaust manifold work much easier!!!





Power brake stuff really gets in the way. Manual brakes allow way more room on this side.

Anyway, the new hole in the side of the grill for the front light harness worked out perfect.



The air intake hose hole appears good, too:



Back where I started:



Should hopefully be able to finish this little project up this weekend.

That's it for now.

 

[Ron84cj]

It only takes about an hour to remove the fender. In the future, if I install the Wolfe steering column bearing (amazingly the OEM lower bearing is still good) or upgrade to a Borgeson steering shaft (again, the OEM is still good) I will definitely pull the fender back off. It also makes intake/exhaust manifold work much easier!!!

View attachment 96952

View attachment 96953

So what you're saying is we should have done this to Bigwaltons when we were on the beach .

In all seriousness though aren't you more likely to have rust issues or doesn't the paint seem to be disturbed too much when you remove the fender? Every jeep I parted out had serious rust where the fenders bolt on to the tub. After seeing that I've always been scared to remove the fenders and/or grill unless I really needed to. Maybe it's just me in my northerner mindset paranoid about rust. It really is amazing how much rust is on mine in various areas considering I've never exposed it to salt. Very frustrating.

 

[spankrjs]

So what you're saying is we should have done this to Bigwaltons when we were on the beach .

In all seriousness though aren't you more likely to have rust issues or doesn't the paint seem to be disturbed too much when you remove the fender? Every jeep I parted out had serious rust where the fenders bolt on to the tub. After seeing that I've always been scared to remove the fenders and/or grill unless I really needed to. Maybe it's just me in my northerner mindset paranoid about rust. It really is amazing how much rust is on mine in various areas considering I've never exposed it to salt. Very frustrating.

YES, on BigWaltons "Beach Adventure", it would have been so much easier to reinstall the intake/exhaust manifold bolts WITHOUT that pesky fender in the way

As for rust between the body/fender/grill, no real worries

This Green Scrambler was repainted probably over 20 years ago. When they repainted it, they left the fenders/body assembled. When I did the engine swap a few years ago, I removed the fenders. They had never been removed, they still had some OEM body caulk at the top(s). If you look at the above pictures, some minor surface rust around the bolt holes, but no real concerns. Next time I pull the fender, I might brush paint some primer/paint over the bare metal, but not overly worried about it.

On my red Scrambler, I pulled the whole thing apart when it was repainted. When I reassembled it, I simply bolted all the painted metal components back together, nothing between the tub and fenders, or grill and fenders. When I pulled it back a apart a few years ago for it's engine swap, all the paint was still 100% perfect, no issues at all.

I guess it depends on the climate and the paint job?

It is humid down here, but no road salt. That being said, if I would have left that stripped air cleaner paint-less for a few days, the humidity would have completely flash rusted it.


Red Scrambler, 2016 when I pulled the engine, post #1422 :

Another Scrambler Purchase/Road Trip - UPDATE- BODY ON FRAME AGAIN

Distributor at TDC: Using a small metal straight edge to show that the leading edge of the rotor blade is aligned to the front edge of the cast in place "block" on the distributor housing: So, the "Redneck Ray" allen wrench pin works!!!!!!!!! Distributor installed at #1 TDC, from the...

www.cj-8.com

No issues with the paint. I pulled this same fender off a year or two ago to cut in the louver, no issues at all.

 

[spankrjs]

My air cleaner project has had a slight delay.

I was not happy with my paint job, there were some "bumps/excessive orange peel" from the first paint job. This was due primarily from painting it outside, fighting the wind.

So, did a light wet sand with 400 grit:



Used the Harbor Freight Trailer/Paint booth, to protect from the wind, much better:





I painted them Friday, so i should be able to get back on this pretty soon,

Started another project on this vehicle, but will not start posting about it until I finish the air cleaner install.

That's it for now

 

[spankrjs]

99% finished with installing the OEM air cleaner assembly back on the Mopar MPI equipped 258.

Some of the parts, did not use all of this stuff, but had to start somewhere:



The repainted OEM air cleaner assembly:



Getting rid of my "RedneckRay Cold Air Intake" set up LOL:



This was a key piece, BUT it ended up not working out for me, more on this in a bit:



The OEM valve cover mounted air cleaner mount:



Some old and new parts:



How I assembled it. I ended up removing the washer from in between the metal bracket and the blue plastic disc, it was not needed. I bought a new round rubber disc from McCaster Carr, drilled a hole smaller than 1/4" through the center. The rubber disc fits tight around the stud, so it does not want to slide downward. I will probably install a 1/4" "push nut/washer" on here in the future.



Installed on the valve cover:

 

[spankrjs]

I replaced the dried out original air cleaner lid seal with this, seems to work well:







When I bolted on the OEM air cleaner to the valve cover, you can see the "problem":



I do not have a stock 258 powered Jeep here (i.e. original intake and carburetor)to compare to, but two issues:

1) I presume the 4.0 intake is wider than the original carburetor, thus kicking the throttle body further outward
2) I presume the OEM carburetor is taller than the throttle body (and my throttle body has a 1" spacer underneath it)

Neither problem is insurmountable.

 

[spankrjs]

On the offset, easy enough. I built an "adapter plate" out of a piece of 1/8" thick aluminum to move the valve cover mount outboard by 1-1/4":



I drilled and tapped the plate (#10-32) on the three holes that will hold the air cleaner base mount to the plate. I slightly over drilled the three holes that will secure the plate to the valve cover to give me some "wiggle".



Mounted up:



I chose #10-32 as the attaching screw size for several reasons:

1) I had them in hand
2) With only an 1/8" thick plate to tap, the fine thread would give me more threads.

It is holding fine. I did "shorten" my in hand bolts by installing a nut under the head. The plate sits flat to the valve cover, so the bolts can not protrude through the bottom of it. Other ways to skin this cat, this is how I did it.



Air cleaner installed. The offset problem is fixed, BUT the vertical difference is not:

 

[spankrjs]

Back to the store, I bought (x2)of the 2.5"-3" by 2-1/4" tall silicone rubber hoses and (x1) 4" tall 3" plastic sleeve:



Cut the plastic sleeve down to 2-1/4":



the 2.5" to 3" "adapter" sleeve is around the throttle body, the 3" hose slides over it:



Slid the plastic spacer in, then the other hose, the throttle body is now connected to the air cleaner assembly:



The 4.5" height seems "high", BUT over 2" of that height is hose slid over either the air cleaner snorkel mount or the throttle body, leaveing less then a 2" gap between the air cleaner and throttle body.

I have a better solution to this already worked out, more on this later.

Mocked up:



I have a 1" spacer under the throttle body, AND the corresponding spacers underneath the throttle cable bracket. The air cleaner rests on top of it. Not a problem, not ideal either?



The problem with sliding the entire assembly 1-1/4" over:



I want to reuse the original pulse air ports on the base of the air cleaner. These two ports supply "filtered air", the only two ports on the original air cleaner that do.

I need " filtered air" for two things:

1) the PCV system fresh air intake hose
2) I want to discharge the vapor canister purge line into the center of the air cleaner so that the vapors are sucked up directly into the throttle body and not just discharged into the air cleaner housing somewhere down stream (no reason to filter this discharge)

I think I can solve this problem too, more in a bit.

 

[spankrjs]

Back to easy stuff, plugging the unused holes in the OEM air cleaner assembly.

Plugs I bought:



They all worked perfect EXCEPT the 1/4" plugs. Ideally, they would fit a bit tighter in the "up and down" range. The ones I purchased would work better on slightly thicker steel. You could use screws to seal these holes, too.

The 2" metal cap referenced above, used to seal this unused port (hot air hose inlet):



And rubber plugs everywhere else:







I installed a "dummy" bolt/wing nut/rubber gasket/washer" to seal the old "carburetor to air cleaner lid hole":



I also installed a nylock nut above the wing nut, just for safety sake. I do not think that if the bolt fell into the throttle body it could get sucked into the engine, but why take a chance?

 

[spankrjs]

Back to the old pulse air ports on the base of the air cleaner.

Bought this part:



Slid a piece of 5/8" heater hose over one of the tubes:



Voila, I can now easily hook up to one of the two ports.



Once I found the angle I needed, I tightened this down with a hose clamp.

I was concerned that sliding over a tight fitting hose over this 90 degree fitting COULD collapse the hole. So, I cut a piece of brass tubing, slid it in the hole, no more worries.



Marking and notching out my adapter plate to clear the port:





Works like a charm.



The other port is plugged for now, BUT I am 99% certain I can get to it when I do another mod, more on this later.

 

[spankrjs]

For now, I reinstalled an OEM "PCV breather assembly" into the air cleaner to connect the PC fresh air tube to.



A flat edge against a round wall does not seal well, note the gap in the picture above.

I installed some double sided tape to seal this gap. Not pretty, but it works.

 

[spankrjs]

99% installed, just need to hook up the PCV fresh air hose to the air cleaner housing (did not have 1/2" 90 degree fitting):



Out of curiosity, I put a level across the lid, pretty damn level:



I ordered the following part:

HPS 2-1/2" 3" 2.5" Black Silicone Offset Straight Reducer Coupler Hose High Temp Reinforced 3 inch Length

HPS High Temp 2.5" - 3" ID , 3" Long 4-ply Reinforced Silicone Offset Reducer Coupler Hose Black 63mm 76mm exceed SAEJ20 standards, ideal for marine and industrial use, custom turbo or intercooler piping fabrication, DIY intake or radiator cooling system.

hpsperformanceproducts.com

This will cure four major "issues" I have:

1) This single hose will take the place of 4 parts (two couplers, one reducer ring, one plastic sleeve) AND eliminate two hose clamps
2) It will look better
3) This 1/2" offset will allow me slide the air cleaner housing over just enough to gain access to the other pulse air tube port on the bottom
4) I can remove the throttle body spacer

This new hose is 6" tall, I currently have 4.5" of hose. BUT, when I eliminate the throttle body spacer, I will need 5.5". I can trim a 1/4" off each end of the new hose, perfect fit.

I have not started up the engine yet, but I am pretty confident I have not degraded the performance over my old open air K&N hot air intake system.

A bunch of work, some wasted money (on the currently installed silicone hoses, the new hose will work better, but I had to start somewhere), BUT I think it was worth it to improve the looks, and more importantly, I can run an OEM air filter.

 

[spankrjs]

One potential issue with the silicone intake hose:

Silicone hose is generally NOT fuel and oil safe.

Why is this important? Theoretically, only air will be flowing through this intake hose. BUT, it is downstream of the fuel vapor purge line. Is this purged fuel vapor that will flow through this hose enough to degrade? I seriously doubt it, BUT it is worth a note.

My vapor purge canister only purges while the engine is running. So, a small amount of air with fuel vapor will be mixed with a much greater volume of clean air, and it is all sucked down the throttle body super fast. So, not a lot of vapor, minimal exposure time. should be fine

Probably over thinking things But, I will monitor this hose for any signs of degradation over time.

 

[CJ7Pilot]

That's excellent!

I always thought the K&N setup was kind of a crude finish to an otherwise excellent conversion.

 

[RMNP CJ-8]

I love this! Do you think there is a way to fit a stock air cleaner on a 258 Howell conversion?

 

[spankrjs]

I love this! Do you think there is a way to fit a stock air cleaner on a 258 Howell conversion?

Anything is possible. I don't have a Howell set up here to mess with. The last Howell equipped CJ-7 I messed with was a power brake model, but it had an aftermarket open air filter on it.

IIRC, the OD of the throttle body is fairly large, not sure if you could neck down enough to adapt? Also, the TBI throttle body is fairly tall, so you might run into vertical clearance issues with the hood?

It might be easier to adapt a closed GM air cleaner assembly to the Howell, even if you had to reweld/rework the opening in the base to offset the cleaner over away from the master cylinder?

 

[spankrjs]

Bought this pack of vacuum fittings (it originally had four pieces inside, I used two of them):



Used the 90 degree fitting on the PCV filter port:



Used this fitting on the valve cover fitting:



And finished, for now:



This is just temporary, I hope to hook up this line to the other old pulse air port on the bottom of the air cleaner housing, once I obtain/install the new offset silicone hose.

Fired it up, took it for a drive, worked/performed perfectly. A few observations, all subjective:

1) engine seems quieter at idle
2) engine is definitely more quiet when accelerating hard ( the old set up made a cool sucking sound when you nailed the gas)
3) did not hurt the engine performance at all

Took a little work, some head scratching, but I am happy with this conversion. Looks better, probably provides a cooler air intake charge, but more importantly, I can now use a regular easily obtainable air filter, and just toss the old one when it gets dirty.

My red Scrambler has a 4.0, but it's valve cover does not easily lend itself to this conversion (no tapped holes for air cleaner mount, and the oil fill cap is dead center). On that Scrambler, I will probably "punt", take the easy way out, and install a TJ air cleaner assembly.

That's it for now

 

[jpnmaine]

Very nice..I used a 97 wrangler air assembly on my 5. It goes over to the passenger side and mounted very nicely on the fender close to the grill.. Turned the snorkel from the filter box up, catches air just under the hood.