It is to bad you don't live out here. We have to many guys up-grading their rigs left and right, so you can often pick up one that is geared the way you want it. Last summer I picked up a set of axles Danna 30/35 with 4.10 gears in them ($100 he did not want to separate). The intention I had was to use the front axle with the Ford 8.8 I had. I ended up coming across a set of axle with ARB lockers for a pretty good price, so I gave the axle to a friend that found a Ford 8.8 with 4.10 in the yard on a half price day. There are pick-n-pulls all over Denver if I needed anything I could get it on any day off. I have a yard 1 mile away that doesn't charge any fee to enter (just an age limit unless accompanied by an adult). Unfortunately you would have to dig deep to acquire a Dana 44 front axle around here. They are the most common up-grade for Jeeps.
I hope the XJ gods find favor with you and it falls right into your lap.

 

Saw that you are having a problem with your O2 sensor. Why is it soaked with oil? is there a bad oil leak in the area or is it just from years and years of accumulation?

 

Very bad oil leak. Actually many oil leaks. So many, I don't even know what isn't leaking (if anything). Once I pop the old front axle off, I am going to reseal everything on the engine. I figure its easier to drop the oil pan when there is nothing below it.

 

Alright, the radiator showed up this morning. So now on to the other thing I am going to replace while I am working in that area. I honestly don't know where the engine is leaking from, so I might as well do all important gaskets. If anyone else thinks I should replace anything else at the same time, let me know!

- Radiator
- Both radiator hoses
- Thermostat and seal
- Front timing cover gasket
- Front balancer seal
- Felpro oil pan gasket
- Rear main seal
- Valve cover gasket
- Oil filter mount seals
- Belt
- Water pump
- Water pump gasket
- Coolant
- Oil and filter
- NGK o2 sensor

 

Well I ordered a good chunk of the parts this morning and they are already here. Cant beat that! So looks like I will have a busy night tearing in to the beast! I got a whole gallon of Superclean and expecting to use it all.

Here - Radiator
Here - Both radiator hoses
Here - Thermostat and seal
Here - Front timing cover gasket
Here - Front balancer seal
Here - Felpro oil pan gasket
Here - Rear main seal
Here - Valve cover gasket
Here - Oil filter mount seals
Here - Belt
Here - Water pump
Here - Water pump gasket
Waiting - Coolant
Waiting - Oil and filter
Ordered - NGK o2 sensor

 

Started tearing in to it last night. Got the radiator out, water pump and t-stat swapped out. The radiator was leaking from the bottom corner as expected. I am pretty sure the timing cover on these things were aluminum. Mine is so covered in who knows what, that I cant even tell. Dont even know where the bolts are haha. Literally the junk is so thick that the belt was rubbing on it as well as the balancer. I started soaking it with the Superclean, so I should be able to blast it off tonight. Hopefully....

 

Hit it with some brake clean and a wire brush. Should do the job.

 

That would do the job for sure. But I am lazy and trying not to have to do any scrubbing... So the plan is, soak all nastiness in Superclean, let sit, then take the pressure washer to it. Not looking to make it spotless, just able to see the bolts I need to take off. Same goes for the oil pan and oil filter area. The engine is going to get pulled down the road to do a stroker and that will be the time I make everything spotless.

 

Cleaning went good tonight! I can finally see bolts. Now back to replacing gaskets....

 

Not much to post about today. I got the new radiator back in. Valve cover gasket swapped out. The old one was siliconed on and the gasket itself was like plastic. New water pump and thermostat are in. Just waiting on a belt so I can button everything back up. Good'ol AZ gave me too short of a belt the first time. For future reference, its a 6k950. After that, I am going to fire it back up and try to find the leak before pulling the pan. The engine looked nice and clean inside though!





Well the Dana 30 I was told was headed my way has not showed up. So I guess it is back to searching for another one. Great. I am swapping my rear gears over sometime next week and the D30 is going to be the one and only thing I need to be done with the 4wd conversion. I still cant believe how hard finding one is. A few years ago it was not like this.

 

Wow this is dedication to the stick for sure. def adding this to my must follow list. very impressive.

 

I feel kinda bad about your D30 situation. I sold my stock d30 that had 3.55's and only 68k original miles on it for 100 bucks lol.

 

Thanks!

Ya sucks pretty bad. I cant even find one on Flebay let alone CL. I am to the point where I am going to go on car-part.com and find someone who will ship and just deal with whatever I get. Its either that or I can get a bare case and piece it together. I just think that way would end up costing double. I would be willing to spend a little more on one that comes as "reconditioned" but the one place I found wanted like $1200. So yes, at this point I am pretty screwed unless I fork out way more $$$ then I want to.

The sad thing is that I can find low pinion D30s for cheap. Do I just go that route instead and deal with it?

 

Well no update for the Jeep since I am still trying to figure out the whole front axle deal. Its just going to sit until I figure it out. So back to working on the Bug it is. After 4 long months of waiting, JE finally got my custom pistons done for the Bugs engine! Ceramic coating on top, Tuff skirt coating on the sides, and set up for a perfect 9:1 compression. I also had valve reliefs added since my piston to valve clearance was too close last time. They are a thing of beauty!

 

nice ive always wanted an older beetle

1963 to be specific