Oh, last night I pulled off the idler pulley. It spins freely, and spins for awhile, so I'm sure its not bad. But I know its been working, so I'm gonna toss that in my box of spare things to take along on road trips.

In said box I have a spare coil, alternator, serp belt, and a few other things. Now added, a working idler pulley!

I have always just put hesco housings on mine. they're not that expensive, and you don't have to deal with rust.

Finally got the new idler pulley from Advance. They took awhile, got it wrong once.

Almost done, I guess I'm doing it little at a time. I've been bored on my hour long lunch, so i run home, mess with it a bit, then go back to work.

Its been making my days go fast.

This is one hiccup.

The top bolt hole for the power steering pump is stripped.

I honestly didn't know it until I tried putting the bolt back in. I kept spinning my wrench, but it wouldn't get tight. Pulled it right out with my fingers.

I am gonna try running a bolt thru and put a nut on it. Hopefully that works.

If not I pull out the tap and die set.

If that doesn't work, I just find a new bracket.

awesome build very interesting and alot of great info thanks for posting it

Just read all 35 pages, good looking build man!

Thanks for the kind words!

Not much of anything real fancy yet, but its an ongoing project.

casey, a bolt through with nut will work just fine, or tapping deeper than the bolt, or drilling and tapping both.

Thanks for coming over yesterday. It was a good time, even tho we mostly messed with Liberty stuff.

After you left I stayed out in the garage awhile longer. Most of the cooling system stuff is done, but I may tackle the valve cover tonight.

No problem Casey, my pleasure. Glad we figured out driveshaft stuff for your KJ, and more than happy to get to use a hammer to straighten shtuff out!

when you do the valve cover, RTV the new gasket (don't buy cork one, buy more expensive rubber one) to the valve cover so it comes off with the cover every time you need to take it off!

Yep, that's what i had planned, just like the water pump haha.

Good stuff guys. I love reading local stuff. I'm out in Oconomowoc. Just got a 96 XJ less than a week ago to "restore". Or just getting it running would be nice.

We should meet up sometime! There are a few guys in this area.

That would be awesome. I'm sure I'll be needing help at times as I try to figure this stuff out. Dealing with a rounded bolt at the moment that has halted my progress.

Here's a link to my "Build"