XJ Mods VSB 14

[swampy]

Good Luck Alex I hope it all goes well

[bruggz351]

Originally Posted by swampy

Good Luck Alex I hope it all goes well

Ditto.
Good luck man...

[alexbrown64]

Thanks for the wishes fella's. Well, she is all booked in for Tuesday, 2nd Aug.. which is close on 2 years since i first posted about the XJ issues i had.
The engineer i am driving it up to has a website... http://www.southam.com.au/ and does individually constructed vehicles, inspections etc..

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Thought i would give the XJ a tart up, so i sprayed the underbody with bitumen sealant and gave her a polish. Checked it all over ready for tomorrow, as i have a movement permit and can drive her the 30k's to the engineer. Started her up and got a puff of white smoke from the overhead console ambient temp/compass... and then all the gauges went dead. Someones winding me up..... Pulled a hundred fuses and found the 7.5 amp ignition fuse was burnt out. Got it all going again minus the temp/compass. I read online that that's how they finally go out...in a puff of smoke. Seems there are a few capacitors that burn out. All the overhead console lights are OK etc but no more overhead display. I may rip it out at a later stage and have a go at a repair which is described here.. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthrea...1057433&page=3

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Drove the old girl up to the engineers this morning. He checked it all out, run a radar gun on me, did a sound check, lots of pics..etc.. he passed everything except the exhaust. Ages back i stuck one of those mufflers with the bypass flap in it. At 3000 rpm it was too loud. Its booked in tomorrow for a new SS muffler, then he needs to run another check and all should be thumbs up!!

I did run into a few problems though. Drive line vibes are terrible since i changed the suspension up. Under load it sounds like i have a noisy set of mud tyres on, but coasting it all goes quiet. I may take the rear drive shaft off tomorrow and drive up to the engineer on front wheel drive to pin point the problem. Might need the angle re-setting with wedges, and/or new uni's. The front has a little bit of vibe as well so i need to look at both end.

When i was driving home from the engineers, i hit the freeway and got up to speed and smoke started billowing out everywhere. Pulled over and the underneath of the Jeep was covered in oil...the smoke was from the oil hitting the exhaust. I had only just topped up the tranny oil and added a bit too much... i believe it was coming out the AW4 vent and going everywhere. I could not pin point where it was coming from and wasn't even sure if it was Dexron 3 or motor oil. I made the kids smell both dipsticks and the leaking oil and they couldn't decide either. Anyway, i dropped the auto drain bolt and tried to drain a half liter. Could not get the drain bolt back in properly as it was stripped. It was getting dark and my XJ was parked so that my GC was stuck behind it. My boy was waiting to go to BMX.. far out man... i jumped into action... drained all the oil out, run in the shed and grabbed my 10 x 1.5 tap and tapped the sump. Grabbed a new 10mm bolt and some locktite. Got it in nice and tight and refilled the tranny oil minus 500ml. Got the old girl running and out the way and got the boy off to BMX in time.

So the plan in the morning is get the new muffler fitted, drop the rear drive shaft (i use a front double cardan on my rear with a SYE), and take the run up to the engineers to get signed off while my 48 hour movement permit is still valid. I can check the vibes and the smoke while on the road. Whew.........

Has anyone changed all the unis and stuff on the double cardan shafts. Ie, price, part numbers, degree of difficulty, Mine is a 1995.

Cheers,

[alexbrown64]

Well, she is engineered. Passed the winch/lightbar/bullbar combo, 4.88 gearing with ARB lockers, rear tyre carrier, ACOS, adjustable control arms with johnny joints, extractors, long range fuel tank, modified suspension and shocks, sunroof, speedo recalibrator, bushwacker flares and everything else bolted in, on and around the XJ. Wasn't cheap.. cost was $700 for inspections, tests, pics and reports and finally passing. I also had a win with the oil leak...as it was the tranny being overfilled and now it is fine. When i got home i popped it into full time 4wd and now i am going to check drive line angles and rip the rear drive shaft off. Last spin before the permit runs out with only front drive shaft in. Next stop is wait for engineers report then book her in for Dept of Transport inspection and licensing. Punch list is also growing.. bleed brakes, service LPG system, sort drive line...

Cheers,

[Billnick]

Ben Hur comes to mind.