85 XJ 2Door Pioneer

Hi everyone, Gday from New Zealand and new to the forum. Ive been an owner/restorer of WW2 ****** MB and Ford GPW Jeeps for 25 years and have three as well as other military vehicles, but my latest project is that just a month ago i baught back an 85 Cherokee Pioneer 2 door i previously owned about ten years ago, and she is now in a sad state re rust and mechanical maintenance (or lack of) compared to when i previously owned her, so it will be a long process to carry out alot of restorative work on her with my low budget to return her to original condition when i previously owned her.
One of those things is the insessant oil leak from the valve cover which gets onto the starter and eventualy shorts it out. I fixed this when i owned it previously by replacing the cracked plastic cover with a new plastic one but even though the new one i fitted back then has not cracked it too has failed again in the usual place along the passenger side of the engine (Mine is a LHD where as cars are normaly RHD here).
My XJ has the original 4 Cylinder engine in it so is there available a steel version of the cover rather than the plastic one which gets brittle, warps etc and just leaks all the time. If so who would be the best place to source one and will ship to New Zealand as the 4 cylinder XJs were never imported commercialy to New Zealand and mine is one of only two that i know of imported privately from the US.
Alternately is there some other fix that seems to work. Cheers Colin

BlueRidgeMark

Hi and welcome, Kiwi!

I just spent about 10 minutes searching and I could only find plastic.


On a positive note, I did find this interesting discussion:


Might be worth a shot.

Are your import tariffs still insane? Looong years ago when I was in school I worked for a small motorcycle shop that specialized in off-road stuff. One day we had a couple of Kiwis drop in and spend some very serious bucks on high-end performance parts, installed. They told us that it was cheaper for them to ship their bikes to America, buy the parts here, and then ship the bikes back (smuggling in the new parts that way), than to have them shipped and pay the tariffs. Crazy!

dave1123

Yeah, here in NY we have lots of Canadians come down here to race their cars and get race parts installed for the same reason.

Sad to say, some smuggle hard drugs inside V8 engines the same way but the US Customs & Border Patrol got wise to that.

85 XJ 2Door Pioneer

Cheers for those repys Dave and Mark

Yes tarrifs are still quite high but not as bad as they used to be. What ever valve cover i source it will have to come from a source in the USA as very few American cars came here for many years up untill the 90s when they finaly started importing Jeeps commecialy and some of he Chev or Fords in smaller numbers, before thats it was just private imports by enthusiasts. All Cherokee and Wranglers that came here were well after the 4 Cylinder days so all have the larger engines.
We never had Dakotas here (Other than the C47 airoplane during the war LOL) so who makes/made them and do you know a State-side parts supplier for them?

4WD4EVER

Here's an article I found with some likely applications listed:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/en...lve-cover-fix/

As far as sources, I believe I would try Amazon or eBay first. Any new OEM part is going to cost you more from an automotive dealership.

Otherwise, I would say Crown, OMIX-ADA, maybe Summit Racing or Jegs.

Sorry I can't help more but my knowledge of a Jeep that age and what may interchange is limited.

85 XJ 2Door Pioneer

Cheers 4WD4EVER
Yes ive used many Crown parts for my XJ when i previously owned it and for my WW2 era jeeps also. We have plenty of sources for the WW2 related stuff as there are many guys here restoring them that were left here from the War but very few XJ of my age and the guy who was bringing in relevant parts when i owned her before is no longer on the scene. Yes i expect Ebay may be a good avenue to try and just depend on where the seller will ship too.

RocketMouse

Cheers mate.... I just recently moved back across the pond to the US after years in Australia, but not before living in Auckland for a bit before coming back state-side.

I remember the hassle of importing vehicles between countries. So many rules, forms, possible modifications... as the main one I wanted to ship to Aus with me wasn't sold there, but was old enough to qualify not having to convert to RHD.... but then getting parts would've been a PITA, so I feel ya there. But since Jeeps have been imported all around the world, you may have an easier time then I did with mine.

85 XJ 2Door Pioneer

Gday Rocket, yea i am in Auckland myself although not from this city originaly. My XJ was imported back in the mid 80s well before i first owned her so ive didnt have to go through those hasstles and she had a LHD permit already, but i had to get a LHD permit for my 43 WillysMB and was not too much of a problem due to her age.