Canadian, Eh?
 

I bought a 1991 cherokee laredo for the simple fact that I was looking for a unique project. Here is the story of this beauty, somehow it was made for canada but also has the CA emissions control package. A 1991 Laredo with power transmission switch, overhead console and all the amenities but no tilt steering wheel. Bendix ABS delete replaced with WJ double diaphragm. Would appreciate your guys' thoughts about this thing. How could it have CA emissions but be made for Canada?

Last registered in 2013 with 125,000 miles (kilometers?) this thing was on craigslist for $1000 and 90,000 miles. Looking for a reliable 4.0 HO as my first priority I picked this thing up. it ran great, sounded great, but looked terrible. Owned by someone that didn't know how to wash their hands, this thing was covered in grease throughout the interior. Sitting in the central valley CA sun for its entire life the paint is beat.
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So where does the canadian play into this? The door jamb stickers and every info panel on this thing includes 'MANUFACTURED FOR EXPORT' or the french language. All instruments are in metric. Preview attachment IMG_1411.jpg
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After taking the entire interior apart and shampooing all upholstery, painting rust on the floor pans (very little) I decided to try my luck on passing CA smog. I passed!!! Preview attachment IMG_1479.jpg
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661 KBOnce I passed I decided that I'd get more serious about fixing the leaking oil and determining the mileage of the vehicle. No daytime running lights and just 90,000 miles didn't quite make sense for the general condition. I got the car fax and found out that it had never been to Canada, and it's odometer rolled up to 300,000 (miles or clicks?) in 2012 before it was mysteriously dropped to 125,000. Determined to find the health of the engine I performed a compression test. Aces, everything checked out within spec although cylinder 6 was a tad lower than the rest. good enough for me so I continued on.

Once I crawled underneath I saw that the jeep was leaking from many places including the classics; valve cover, rear main, and filter adapter. The big leak was what shocked. it wasn't oil, but coolant. Whipping out the inspection mirror and flashlight I determined that the freeze plugs were leaking. Not just the 5 on the side of the block but also the 2 in between the engine and transmission. I'd never done serious work to an engine before so here was an adventure. Priority number one was pulling the transmission so that I could get to the freeze plugs.

I bought the transmission jack from harbor freight and read all that I could on this forum about removing the AW4 tranny. I used 3 ft. of 3/8th drive extensions on my cheap craftsman ratchet along with the e12 socket and a cheater bar made out of tube I was able to get it removed. once the transmission was dropped and separated (my motor mounts were completely shot) I was faced with the flex plate. With the help of a friend we determined that a tie down with ratchet could be threaded through the holes of the flex plate to hold it in place while the nuts were backed off with a breaker bar. After the flex plate was removed, we found the best surprise ever.
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The engine was bought as a reman'd long block from MOPAR in '98. This explains the great sounding motor and compression with passing smog.
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As a happy man, I gladly proceeded to replace the freeze plugs and exhaust manifold as well as the engine mounts and the mopar transmission mounts while I was down there.

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Although that was the major work, I've also done the following:

-replaced turn signal arm
-shampoo'd all upholstery
-gear oil replaced in diffs
-replaced radiator hosed
-water pump
-toyo open country A/T II's 235/70 r 15's
-tail light housings
-wipers
-outer window wipes
-glass division bar seals
-liftgate struts

In plan: "Everything stock, and WORKS"
-Patina protection (how? Linseed? Wax? let me know)
-Air conditioning repairs
-overhead console computer repairs
-rear liftgate trim replacement
-fog lights (oem?)
-refresh suspension (sags, upcountry?)
-refresh all suspension bushings
-roof top tent
-drop in durango steering box