I’m very happy right now. Like beyond the moon happy right now.

Well, to start, I got the driveshaft back from the shop yesterday, and installed it today. He shortened the driveshaft by I think 4 and 5/8ths, but I have to check again to make sure. He custom adapted the u-joint to fit the driveshaft and the yoke for the AX15.

After I got it installed, I attempted to put it into 1st and drive into the shop, but I completely forgot to install my slave cylinder, which is hilarious because I was under the damn thing installing the driveshaft and didn’t notice it. Lol.

I got the slave cylinder put in, and found another problem. The AX5 and AX15 have different shifters. The AX5 has an end that has a significant bend to where it goes into the transmission, and the AX15 shifter from the Dakota has a very slight bend to it. So, I wasn’t engaging the gears all the way. When I could get it into 1st, I had to hold it there with a lot of force to avoid it slipping out. So, I just swapped out the shifters and all was good! The only thing I have to complain about is the physical length of the shifter. The Dakota shifter is probably a foot and a half long, and it almost hits the handbrake when it’s pulled up and the shifter is in 4th. But, the way it feels shifting is unparalleled to the XJ shifter.

Anyhow, once I got it into the shop, I changed the oil and filter, which was a pain, surprisingly. First off, the compressor at the shop failed, so I couldn’t use a lift. Second, the AX15 is bigger than the AX5, and I couldn’t get the ****ing filter out to save my life. I had to pretty much pry the damn thing between the upper right control arm and the frame to get it out. But I got it out and the new filter in, and inspected my oil. It had no metal chunks, which is always good, but boy was it metallic. This is no surprise at all, considering the camshaft had to be broken in, as well as everything else. Keep in mind there was no actual mileage put on the engine, just 25 minutes of 2500 to 3000 RPM of no load.

I also changed out the tranny fluid, since there’s no telling how long that’s been sitting and when the last time it was changed. But I digress, the fluid wasn’t that bad. It had some glitter, but no where near the amount of glitter that came out of 10k miles worth of driving on the AX5.

Now, it was time to see if she would make it down the road and back. And boy, did she make it.

The first thing that I noticed right away was the torque. It honestly feels like it’s making more torque at lower RPMs than it ever made before. The second thing I noticed was the gearing. The AX15 has a lower gearing for 1st, and it was noticeable. Before, first gear would be done in a second, and now it feels more even and smooth in a way. The third thing I noticed was the power band as a whole. While it feels like it’s making more torque on the lower end, the engine keeps carrying out its power very evenly. Granted, I didn’t go above 3k because it’s a fresh motor, but it had more to give.

I also would like to note that the computer has done a very good job at compensating for the cam. When it first idled with the cam, it wouldn’t idle nearly at all. But now, it kicks up the idle a bit to make sure it doesn’t lope. It also seems to be adapting more every time I drive it, but I’m not for certain how long it takes for it to completely adapt. Good thing is, however, is that it’s not throwing any check engine lights or having any hiccups. I was worried that the computer would freak out when it learned that the camshaft was installed, but it took it like a champ.

And that’s pretty much it for now. I’ve still got to put the hood back on, modify the exhaust, fix some of the injector connectors (I might’ve forgotten to trim the excess wire off of the injector connectors), and find out why my rear right tire keeps going flat. I also really need new tires, but I need a break from spending so much money on this thing.

 

Oh, here’s a video of its first drive

https://imgur.com/a/XLMOKvp

 

My rear main seal is leaking

Ive been driving my Jeep here and there to try and put some miles on it, and after about 20 of those miles, I put it up on the rack to check it over. And there was a small amount of oil under the bellhousing and the oil pan. It’s not coming from the oil pan, so it looks like my rear main seal is leaking. I’m not too sure if I want to fix it at the moment, because it’s a very small leak. I know, it’s a fresh motor, but I just got the damn thing running and driving, and I’m not wanting to pull the tranny right now given how small it is. But then again, if it gets any worse, then I’ll go ahead and fix it. But if it’s only leaking a few drops of oil every 20 miles or so, then I’m not going to worry about it.

Something else I’ve noticed that wasn’t there before is the power delivery around 1-2k RPM. It seriously feels like VVT, and after about 2k it picks up like crazy. I’m thinking that computer might be struggling at the lower RPMs, because it feels like there’s no power being created at that RPM. I’ll keep driving it and see if it improves.

Other than that, I’m currently working on rebuilding the exhaust, so it doesn’t collide with the frame or the crossmember. I ran out of time today and had to back it out with the header open, and it’s absolutely incredibly loud. My ears were ringing after only 30 seconds of it being backed out of the shop

 

Congrats on getting it going

 

Much appreciated. I’ve learned a lot and there’s a feeling like no other when you drive an engine that was built by your hands

 

I’ve fallen back in love all over again.

I got a lot of work done this past weekend. I got the exhaust re-fitted and welded, I got it registered and tagged, and found out that I sprung a massive oil leak.

First things first. I had to re-fit my exhaust because the crossmember had to be moved back. I had to cut the old bend out and weld it further back, and it was not the easiest to do. I got it done though, with no leaks.

Next up was to drive it home. I was scared ****less, always afraid that I would loose oil pressure, overheat, throw a rod, etc. I was gentle all the way back home, with no issues. (Or so I thought)

I didn’t do my due diligence and check to see if I had any leaks after the 30 mile drive home. I parked it, went inside, and fell asleep. Fast forward to the morning, my girlfriend and I thought we should finally go buy a couch since we had something that could fit a couch in the back of it. Ours is old and falling apart (the leg rests literally fell off), and we took the Jeep to get a new couch, and get rid of the old one. We got the new couch put in, put the old one outside, and then went to grab a dining table that our friend gave away. I got there. Got the table loaded in, and THEN decided I should check my oil. And guess what? Nothing was on the dipstick. I still had good oil pressure, so I figure it wasn’t that low on oil. I then saw how my oil pan and the transmission were soaked in oil, and decided to make a pit stop at my work and change the oil and fix the leak.

Got up to my work and found that I had some of the wrong bolts installed in the wrong place. I had bolts that were supposed to go in the oil pan on the timing cover, and vice versa. Those bolts that I had switched around wasn’t clamping down on the oil pan gasket, causing it to profusely leak at higher RPM’s. Got the bolts switched around, “torqued down”, and no leaks.

I changed the oil while I was at it, as I had just driven about 100 miles since I broke the engine in initially, and I was also a quart low on oil. There wasn’t nearly as much metal in the oil, which is always a good sign.

Anyway, after that pit stop that left my girlfriend slightly annoyed, we got back home, got the table unloaded, and then took the old couch to the dump. I checked every chance I could for oil leaks, and it seems that the only thing leaking now is just the rear main, and it’s not making any puddles or coating anything else in oil.

As far as that goes, she’s doing amazing. Still very loud and rough on the road, but it’s much more powerful. I’ve really gotten a feel for the power band, and it’s moved up farther than I initially thought. It wants to make all of its power around 2k, and after that it just carriers out all of its power after that. I still haven’t gone past 3k because it’s a fresh engine, and I’ll wait until about 5k miles into the rebuild to hammer on it.

Im also loving the AX-15. It pairs well with the 4.10 gears in the rear, and makes the engine feel more smooth and balanced than before.

The only issue I have to complain about now is a slight whine when I’m on the gas. I’m not really sure where it’s coming from, but it only whines a little bit when I’m really on the gas. I’m hoping it’s not the transmission, but it doesn’t sound like it’s coming from there. Maybe it’s the rear end, cause I doubt it’s had pinion bearings done at all. That’ll come when I convert my rear brakes to discs.

And that’s it for now. I’m just gonna drive it to put some miles on it, and hopefully make sure I’m not gonna run out of oil.

 

 

Ahhhh!!!

My heater core is leaking!!

Yeah. So that happened today. Noticed a bunch of steam coming from under the dash onto the windshield, and found a puddle of coolant on the passenger side as well as out of the drain tube. So, looks like I’m gonna be removing my dash here soon and insulating everything. I’m gonna do my evaporator and expansion valve while it’s out, and maybe re-seal a few doors under there and put some insulation around where the box goes. I also have to replace that drain tube seal under the box because it’s leaking into my floorboard, and I’m also gonna clean the crap out of the HVAC box and fix a bunch of wiring that the PO did.

On a side note, I also found some really shoddy wiring. First off, the LED headlights were wired into the turn signal bulb to support the parking light function, with, get this, speaker wire just wrapped around exposed wiring from the turn signal bulbs. So, I got rid of that, because the wires kept touching and making my headlight flash orange when I turned my turn signals on.

I also removed both of the little spotlights that where mounted to my cowl, and they were both wired up with speaker wire, again. I don’t know why the PO used speaker wire, but it was terrible wiring coupled with the fact that he used speaker wire instead of normal wiring. I do also have to either weld up those holes from the spotlights or cover them up somehow, cause I don’t want excess water getting under there and into the cab from the fresh air intake.

Well, back to the heater core ordeal. That’s gonna come after I do my electric fan conversion, and then I’ll just buy everything I need plus some insulation, and hopefully not break the dash when I remove it

 

Can’t catch a break it seems like.

Today, about halfway to my work, the check engine lights come on. Nothing feels different, not misfiring, not doing anything weird. Get to work and do the key flip, and find code 23 for the intake temp sensor circuit. I did just replace that connector, but I got the 5v reference and a good ground from that connector, but when measuring the resistance of the IAT, I got an open circuit, meaning that the cheap little Chinese sensor I got **** the bed.

Although, I did notice that the Jeep was down on power. It didn’t quite feel the same, which would make sense if the computer doesn’t know the intake temp.

I also want to relocate it to the air box, but I’ve heard that it doesn’t do much, if at all. If anyone’s done it and noticed anything, let me know.

I also got the electric fan and controller delivered today, so that’ll be a project for this weekend. I might also cut my cat out since it’s starting to stink up everything, but it all depends on how much time I have left after installing the fan.

It also has occurred to me that I haven’t posted many pictures lately, and I should take some pictures of my pride and joy and share it with the world

 

Oh man. It’s hot as ***** outside, but I managed to get everything installed for the electric fan.

If I’m gonna be honest, the hardest part of installing the electric fan is actually mounting it. I had a time and a half trying to get the Mishimoto mounting kit to work, but everything kept breaking and not holding in place so I just zip tied it all.

The fan controller was easy to install, and I tried my best to make the wiring look decent.

Fan installed with zip ties. Doesn’t look the best but it holds really well

This was the test fitment of everything. Wanted to make sure everything worked as intended before making it permanent

And this is what I was left with. Still not pretty to look at, but it works

I had some trouble dialing in the temperature, as there’s no actual numbers to tell you where what temperature is. Eventually I got it to where it never climbs above 210 but doesn’t stay on all the time until the AC comes on.

That’s another thing too, my AC isn’t working too well. I’m pretty sure I need an expansion valve because the low side pressure gets really low when you raise the idle, which is typically an expansion valve. It also doesn’t really equalize after you shut the AC off, telling me my factory expansion valve is done for.

I also got the intake temp sensor replaced and got rid of the CEL, and cut my cat out because it was plugged. I actually found out it was plugged after I removed it. But now my exhaust sounds raspy as ****, so I think I’ll put a glass pack where my cat used to be to mitigate that raspiness.

I do have to say though, getting rid of the cat and the clutch fan makes this little 4 cylinder scoot. It seems to just want to rev out a lot quicker and just feels smoother.

Anyway, my next step with this Jeep is to get a glass pack welded up so I stop sounding like a clapped out Civic, and get the front lifted back to 3 inches. Thats the reason I haven’t posted pictures of what the Jeep looks like right now because it straight up looks like it’s sniffing the ground.

After that, I’ll tear the dash out to do the heater core and evaporator. I might actually end up having to do that sooner, but right now my heater core is only steaming and dripping once every minute. Just gotta find the time now to do it. I’ll also insulate everything with some dynamat knockoff and get a new carpet to get rid of the garage carpet that’s in my Jeep

 

I kinda hate my life right now.

Today was the first time I drove my Jeep in about 3 weeks, and I wanted to drive it because it was a nice day out. But, sitting at the light to my work (or about a quarter mile away because of traffic), someone forgot to stop and rammed the car behind me, which then slammed into me and me into the next person in front of me. I dented his bumper and broke my side marker, but the rear was a lot worse.

The lady who didn’t stop must’ve been going about 30 at the time of impact, because I got hurt pretty bad. I pulled a bunch of stuff in my back and my neck and have a bruise across my chest from the belt, and some bruises on my knees from the steering wheel cause of how short I am. I heard her tires lock up and squeal for a good 3 seconds before I got slammed into.

Anyway, my rear bumper is trashed. Most of the damage was below and on the bumper. My tank got dented, the mounting points for the rear bumper got smooshed, and it looks like my frame might’ve shifted from where I got hit.

I put it on the lift right after, and I looked around and found that the bottom leaf of the leaf springs shifted maybe half an inch on both sides. I’m not sure if it was like that before, but I’m worried that there’s some frame damage. I’m taking it to my friend who owns a body shop to see the extent of the damage. I did notice it drove weird, but I’m not sure if that was the high from the adrenaline or if it really is driving weird.



This is the lady who got rear ended and slammed into me because of that

Yeah, you can see the bumpers trashed. The taillights busted, the tailgates scratched, and what you can’t see is the massive dent to the fuel tank.

 

Yeah, the damage extends a little past the broken tail light and the mangled rear bumper. The fender got pushed out some, and the mounting point for the left tail light and the bumper bracket got smooshed as well. My bosses friend that owns a body shop quoted me out 3.4k in damage, which is more than likely going to total the Jeep. That doesn’t matter to me, because I’ll buy it back and keep the branded title, cause I’m never getting rid of it.

Aside from that setback, it’ll give me a chance to address some other issues, like the leaking timing cover and the leaking rear main seal, as well as the leaking heater core and the condenser that now has a hole in it.

She’s far from done, but she’ll start to come together in the next few months

 

I’m pleased to announce that ol’ Blue wasn’t totaled!

Insurance cut me a check for 2600, and I’ve already spent about 1500 on new tail lights, side markers, the head light bezels, new front coil springs, heater core, evaporator, higher flow water pump and a cooler thermostat, condenser and receiver drier, and some new carpet to replace the outdoor carpet that’s currently in my Jeep.

BTW, the carpet I had “custom” made from a shop called Factory Interiors, and I chose to have black carpet with a plush material for the carpet material and extra insulation for the bottom portion. I’ll install that when I remove my dash so it’ll be easier to line up everything.

I also want to patch a few holes in my floorboards, as opposed to just getting new pans. We have plenty of sheet metal laying around that I can use to patch up the bad parts.

As of now, I’m waiting on everything to get here. I’m not driving it because of how bad the heater core is leaking, and how bad the front timing cover is leaking.

All in due time

 

Great news glad it still is in your posession....Is the quarter panel buckled over the wheel well ?? It appears that way in the pic...And you've stated the frame might have got tweaked from the hit..Just a suggestion ... I'd at least get it on the frame rack and see if the rear is tracking correctly so you don't have trouble down the road with vibrations or tire wear back there...
You might want to do that first...If the frame needs pulled that will cost some cash ...

 

Congrats, it is hard to keep them from totalling old rigs, even with fresh engines