87 wrangler

55-willys · 12-13-2002, 08:45 AM

friend of mine just picked up a 87 wrangler with the 6 cyl. and a 5 speed stick. he would like to start doing some four wheeling and wants to know the pros and cons about the jeep. id like to hear some opions from all of you on this year and model of jeep. best lift, best mods, and so on. thanks in advance.

rrclimber · 12-13-2002, 08:57 AM

I have this same type of jeep. I can list some quick cons for you:
1. It doesn't have the ax15 tranny, it's got the peugot
2. It has a different transfer case as well not the 231. I think it's the np205 but I'd have to look that up again to be sure.
3. It's carburated, and the carburateur sucks.

55-willys · 12-13-2002, 10:46 AM

tanks,ivesen quite a few posts about problems with one of the carbs on the six cyl. engine but couldnt remember which one. i want him to go rock crawling with me and i dont want him to break down. how does the carb work on steep inclines. are next run is going up in elevation quite a bit on steep trails and some off camber situations.

pfco3 · 12-13-2002, 02:51 PM

ill agree that the carb sucks. however id double check the t-case, my 87 came stock with an np231. also mine has the peugot tranny its a pretty cranky tranny. however im in the process of swapping to a 4.3 vortec and 700r4 tranny (actually its an 4l60e) but its really a 700r4 in disguise!

dcbeer · 12-13-2002, 06:47 PM

Not to dispute anyone but I believe the 87 came with a NP207 case. May be wrong but do not think so. Well, the peugeot is a weak unit, this I do know and am willing to bet everyone that has one will agree with. Tell your friend to be gentle with it and it will be ok for a while. (that is a nice way of saying budget for a stronger unit). If the carb runs good, leave it alone. It is not that bad of a unit, there are better, but this should be ok if he does not have any of the common problems already.

55-willys · 12-14-2002, 11:37 AM

is the carb that diffacult to rebuild. my friend has bought a kit for it, he says that he gas mileage has gone down and figures thats the problem. carb looks good to me, just a little leaking around the top bowl gasket.

puddle jumper · 12-14-2002, 12:18 PM

Not a suggested rebuild for someone with little patience. It takes quite a while to get the adjustments right . Rebuilt carb costs around 140.00, or if he plans on drivine the YJ for a while and has the money go for the Webber swap, have mine ordered, have heard nothing but good things about he Webber carb.

Price on Webber is between 350.00 and 400.00.

55-willys · 12-14-2002, 02:53 PM

thats what seen, that the weber carb is the way to go. what about this nutter bypass, i understand it bypasses the computer, is this a good thing to do to a 87 wrangler, or does it apply.

Buzzard · 12-15-2002, 03:50 AM

I've got an 87, it does have an NP207, but some people have NP231s in their 87s, probably either late production or it was swapped in at some point. My transfer case seems fine with 110,000 miles on it but I don't do any serious 4 wheeling with this Jeep, and I don't think it was beat before I got it, it was 100% stock but not really welll maintained. It also has an auto tranny so I don't have any problems there. I have done the Nutter bypass on this Jeep, I think it made a big positive difference, feels like much more power.

I'm running a Carter BBD that I rebuilt myself, following the adjustment instructions that came with the kit very carefully. I got it from someone who swapped it out for a Weber because it ran like crap. This BBD was a one year old reman that he bought at the local auto parts store and it never ran right. The reason it didn't is the rebuilder did a lousy job with the internal settings. It runs great on my Jeep now while the guy who gave it to me is still trying to get his Weber dialed in. I think the weber air cleaners are mechanically a POS and if you get one I'd get the adapter to use the stock air cleaner or one of the adapters to use an aftermarket 4bbl air cleaner. I've also heard that you need to get fuel pressure regulators with the weber because they are sensitive to that, it can help. I'd take a shot at a $15 rebuild kit first if you have the patience, before dropping all that dough on a Weber kit. Don't beleive all that hype about a 12-18% HP increase out of the box, because that ain't happening, especially on a stock engine with 100K miles on it, I think you might get a few HP tops. I'm guessing the hp boost from the low restriction air filter is probably greater than any boost from the carb. I heard that the Webers can run good on the 4.2, usually right out of the box, but to get the maximum benefit you might have to play around with it and may need to rejet it. I put one on a Mitsubishi Montero and it never lived up to the hype, the stock carb was far better in that case, from both a drivability and performance standpoint. JMHO

dcbeer · 12-15-2002, 07:20 AM

I run a weber on my 88. I can say that it is a good carb, I had some issues with jetting when I first put it on and have now got it to run fairly good. The bypass worked good for me as I did it at the same time as the carb. All I can say about the carbs are , the stock is not bad when it runs, the weber is better. If I had to do it over I would have gone injection. I do not know about the fuel Pres. Reg. as I did not instal it, it may have helped or may not have.