It wasn't bad at all actually. Steering is slightly heavier but not enough to complain about though on some rocky terrain the wheel kind of wants to go where it wants if you don't have a good grip on it.

 

Upon a smoke test I did at a friends house, I learned that the throttle shaft was leaking out of both ends of the body. I contemplated buying another one but I wanted to find the source and fix it instead. So thats what I did. I pulled the shaft out and there were four original O rings inside that were practically turning to powder. I got them out with a pick. Sprayed the bearings clean with brake cleaner and repacked them after installing the new o rings. This time I stacked them against eachother on the inside of the bearing race as it was wearing away a part of the shaft. So far it seems to be fixed. Gonna go down and perform another smoke test to verify but so far everything looks good. Pretty easy to do. Only took me about an hour.

 

So my front vents stopped blowing from the front months ago and I got around to looking at it today. I quickly learned that the vacuum system in the engine bay was entirely disconnected from the cab somehow. and I spent some time searching the firewall and finally found a line hiding next to the one for the heater control valve I deleted. I still have no idea how it got disconnected. But I tried hooking it back up and accidentally pulled the main black line out of the dash. Sh**. I thought about running a new line but then it hit me that the line came out of the connector that two lines go to which is the main vacuum supply to the HVAC controls. So I hooked the heater control line to the main supply in the engine bay and blocked black ones and now the front vents work again. Changing modes is slightly slower but I do not care. It works and thats all I need. Now to find out why the blower motor keeps blowing its fuse randomly....

Black supply line connection point

Blocking the lines

New vacuum supply

 

When I installed this new exhaust header, it came with a manifold gasket as well and against my better judgement I used it. This of course came back to bite me as it blew out soon after installing and I'm just now getting around to swapping it out. Nice not hearing the classic exhaust leak tick when accelerating.

 

So the P.O or the one before him majorly butchered the radio harness in this Cherokee. They left part of the original connector hanging inside and random wires just laying about. It might as well have been a fire hazard. I pulled the connector from my old '93 months ago so I could splice it into this one and finally got that done today. Went as far as to also use the adapter connector that was on the first radio in my old Jeep and spliced the new harness for my touchscreen radio to it in case I ever go back to a stock radio. Also I figured out there is a short in my Climate Control Vacuum selector harness somewhere deep in the dash. So far I have it where it won't hit anything and shouldn't short out. So the blower motor works again.

 

So the short finally reared its ugly head again and I had enough. After poking around, I figured I could pull the entire harness out of the dash. After carefully doing that, I found the culprit. Im not sure what it was shorting on in the dash but it burnt some of the other wires. I clipped out the bad part of the yellow wire and crimped it together along with wrapping the damaged wires in electrical tape. Then I re-wrapped the entire harness as well. Had to fish the connector for the blower motor resistor through the dash with a string which wasn't fun. But its now back together and works. Thank God. Also got a nicer panel from the junkyard.

 

I've always been kind of fascinated with a vacuum gauge as it can tell you a lot of things about your engine. This gauge also has a Fuel Economy aspect to it which is more or less gimmicky. But it is cool. Got it plumbed to the vacuum system and even wired up the backlight to come on when I turn on the headlights.

 

I hit up my local junkyard today in search of sensors and a shifter **** for my mom's impala. I asked the guy at the counter about the XJs and he told me they had recently gotten an '84 in the yard. This was news to me as ive been interested in seeing a first year for a while to see the differences. (HINT: there aren't many). I finally found it and looked around inside. The 2.8l GM V6 already gone. Possibly to be used as a boat anchor. I walked around back to see what was in the cargo area and this thing still had its original tire carrier. I've only ever seen one in person and knew I had to take it. All the bolts came out with relative ease except for one. The threaded metal tab inside the bumper snapped so it was just spinning. After about 2 hours I finally broke it apart and the carrier was free. By this point I had totally forgotten about the sensors and shift **** I originally came for. $30 later and I was heading home. This is a pretty impressive find though these tire carriers aren't the best. I plan on restoring it and installing it on my XJ soon. What a day.

 

After a lot of eyeballing, I was able to get the tire carrier mounted on the rear. It looks very good. Always wanted one since 2020 and now I have it. Can't drive with it right now since I still need to relocate the license plate and get a light but at least I can see how well everything lined up.

 

So I found a console at my local yard. Picked it up along with the harness and temp sensor and threw it into my Jeep. Unfortunately the display doesn't work. Found a couple of caps that had blown but the corrosion basically destroyed the board so Im gonna be on the lookout for another one. I wonder if this display was used in other chrysler/dodge models from the time so Im not only limited to 95- Cherokees. The dome lights work at least. Plan on reupholstering it in the future.

 

Great OEM upgrades! I love the tire carrier but I don't know if I could drill holes in my unibody. Hopefully you can get the OHC working but even just having the extra lighting is a great upgrade IMO. I put some warm white LEDs in mine for even more light, but it does seem to cause some radio interference when they come on.

 

I headed out to the yard again today and found a module from a 1994 Dodge Ram and it actually works in the XJ. Just had to modify the plastic around the port so my connector would fit. Ordered some new buttons for it and plan on soldering those in along with new capacitors tomorrow and this should be good for the foreseeable future.



Edit: 02/06/2026
I soldered new buttons on the board and plan on replacing the capacitors tomorrow and this job is officially done. At least until I reupholster the console.
Finally reads out Temperature in Fahrenheit.

 

Yesterday I threw on a Throttle Body from a 1998 Grand Cherokee which now has the MAP sensor mounted to it instead of the firewall. Spliced in its respective connector and it just works. Cleans up the engine bay a little bit more and maybe helps with fuel economy though I'm not counting on it. Pretty easy swap/upgrade though. Surprised an OBDII sensor plays so well with an OBDI computer.

Before

After

Courtesy of Waemid IV

 

I've been toying with the idea of extending my range directly by modifying the stock 20 gallon fuel tank in my Jeep. I took inspiration from GoJeep's website and added some copper pipe to my vent tube yesterday to raise it up a bit to squeeze a few more gallons into the tank. I used 1/2 in. pipe cut under 3 inches. Or just a gap slightly bigger than my finger between the top of the pipe and the tank ceiling. Along with a 1/2 in. 90 degree elbow with respective flares on both ends. It slid over the vent tube snug and I threw on some jbweld to fix it in place. Then today I headed out on a 760 mile trip to a buddies place in Colorado. Trial by fire. It seems I'm able to add an extra 5-6 gallons on top of the normal 20 so my range is at least 420 miles now which is sweet. I can still fuel up normally as well without issue. I should've done this mod a long time ago.

GoJeep's Website: https://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoFuelTank.htm







Edit: 02/25/26
I made it to his place this morning and across the entire trip here, I filled up only twice. Normally on this drive it was at least 3 so even though it is slightly more expensive, its well worth it.

 

Nice work! I need to get a 23 gallon ZJ tank in my '99. There's been times when I'm road tripping up north that 3 extra gallons would have given me the range to be confident in driving another hundred miles, or having to stop for the night and wait for the gas station to open up. Not sure if I'll do the vent tube mod though.