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What did you do to your ZJ today?

4M views 55K replies 2K participants last post by  98ZJ 
#1 ·
This thread is to serve as an inspiration to others modifying their ZJ's. Pretty simple, just post what you did to your ZJ today!


Today I shamefully took my Jeep to get the oil changed because it was to hot to change it myself.
 
#20,461 ·
Donor Jeep:
Removed Transfer Case and Exhaust system from donor jeep. Finally was able to remove the DriveShaft from the front axle. I ended grinding the bold off, ds came off, and took vice grips to thread the rest of the bolt out. Same goes with the two remaining LCA on both axles where the bolts would not budge..

Current 5.9:
Bought 6 new speakers plus a new deck. Installed 4 speakers last night, the last 2 that goes on the ceiling in the back, I will have to figure out to wire that to the rear bottom speakers. Also I forgot to write down the wire colors on each door... now I have to take it apart again and write it down..

Got a pink hard hat when I was at Rona and made a donation. Dope



 
#20,462 ·
Why did it need a rebuild in the first place? Also, I really don't think someone's ethnicity has anything to do with their ability to fix a car.
Didn't need a rebuild, it had a blown head gasket. Blown head gaskets happen, especially where it gets 110 in the summer. The guy decided while he had the car apart he'd rebuild the engine. And he did a bad job.

You must not know many Mexicans, and if you do, they're probably not in Texas. Of all the cars I've bought or considered buying, it's the ones owned by or repaired by Mexicans that have the most problems. Same for all my contemporaries. It's not racism, it's data. That's not to say all Mexican-owned cars are put together poorly, but that the most poorly-put-together cars I've seen have been Mexican-owned. It's not even all latinos, just Mexicans. Salvadoreans and Puerto Ricans do great work.

Why are some Jeepers so smug?
 
#20,463 ·
SchizophrenicMC said:
Didn't need a rebuild, it had a blown head gasket. Blown head gaskets happen, especially where it gets 110 in the summer. The guy decided while he had the car apart he'd rebuild the engine. And he did a bad job.

You must not know many Mexicans, and if you do, they're probably not in Texas. Of all the cars I've bought or considered buying, it's the ones owned by or repaired by Mexicans that have the most problems. Same for all my contemporaries. It's not racism, it's data. That's not to say all Mexican-owned cars are put together poorly, but that the most poorly-put-together cars I've seen have been Mexican-owned. It's not even all latinos, just Mexicans. Salvadoreans and Puerto Ricans do great work.

Why are some Jeepers so smug?
SchizophrenicMC said:
Bought its replacement as a daily driver

Points if you know what it is.

Seriously, though, the ZJ doesn't work and I didn't have money to fix it, so it's going to be parked tomorrow when the donor is scrapped, and I'm gonna use this new car to get places. The motor was rebuilt literally 1 mile ago by a guy with access to a full shop. It smokes profusely. Looks and smells like the semi-synthetic he used. New rings, honed cylinders, new valve seals, installed by a guy who drove to the large shop he works at, in the 383 Camaro he built himself. So I trust the engine is probably fine, and I'm betting it's just the super-thin semi-synth is blowing by the oil ring instead of sealing and seating the ring properly. This man is probably the most genuine guy I've bought a car from.

Only other problem is it needs to be timed, but that's not an issue.
I thought you said the guy did a good job and you trusted his rebuild?

I'm not the all knowing on motors but from my understanding high rpms will spin bearings. But I'm sure you knew that allready? I sure hope you weren't beating on a motor with a fresh rebuild.
 
#20,464 ·
Didn't need a rebuild, it had a blown head gasket. Blown head gaskets happen, especially where it gets 110 in the summer. The guy decided while he had the car apart he'd rebuild the engine. And he did a bad job.

You must not know many Mexicans, and if you do, they're probably not in Texas. Of all the cars I've bought or considered buying, it's the ones owned by or repaired by Mexicans that have the most problems. Same for all my contemporaries. It's not racism, it's data. That's not to say all Mexican-owned cars are put together poorly, but that the most poorly-put-together cars I've seen have been Mexican-owned. It's not even all latinos, just Mexicans. Salvadoreans and Puerto Ricans do great work.

Why are some Jeepers so smug?
Smug? Why are you so ignorant?
 
#20,466 ·
My guess is that Texas Mexicans are probably poor, and therefore buy cars that already have problems, and dont have a lot of money to fix them when they break down further. Just a guess. Then again maybe you are right and your sweeping generalization about Mexican-ness equaling ****ty car maintenance is correct.
 
#20,467 ·
Doesn't matter what race owns the car. A ****ty rebuild is a ****ty rebuild. I wouldn't trust a motor built by ANYONE that had 1 mile on it. Even a professional engine builder untill it has been broken in on a engine dyno or a run stand. Any car owned by anyone that Dosnt know what they are doin is gonna be junk.
 
#20,468 ·
Got an oil change, changed a fog light bulb, swapped the Platinum grille for the Deep Slate grille. Not sure which one I like more...

Didn't really do anything significant but it seems to be running better/smoother after the oil change.

Just a quick question: is it possible for these ZJs to have a misfire without triggering the CEL?
 
#20,469 ·
I thought you said the guy did a good job and you trusted his rebuild?

I'm not the all knowing on motors but from my understanding high rpms will spin bearings. But I'm sure you knew that allready? I sure hope you weren't beating on a motor with a fresh rebuild.
Ring-seating procedure calls for high cylinder pressure. Nissan motors call for runs up to 6500 RPM under load, then coasting back to 2500. Repeat for at least 5 runs. Once the rings seat and the smoke stops, don't run the motor hard again for at least 200 miles. If you do run the motor hard after that, it'll still work, it just won't have the same kind of longevity. If it was assembled properly, a bearing would not have spun.

That's advice given to me by a man who's been building Nissans since they carried Datsun badges. I trust him because I've seen his work firsthand. Man has 11 Datsun 510s, among a collection of 38 cars at the moment.

I trusted the PO's rebuild until it spun a bearing. Then I realized he cut corners and used procedures specific to Chevies when putting this DOHC Nissan motor back together.
My guess is that Texas Mexicans are probably poor, and therefore buy cars that already have problems, and dont have a lot of money to fix them when they break down further. Just a guess. Then again maybe you are right and your sweeping generalization about Mexican-ness equaling ****ty car maintenance is correct.
Texan Mexicans don't have pride in their work is the problem. The difference in cost between a bad fix and a good one isn't that much, but if you have any pride you'll do it well regardless. "Almost good enough" is a philosophy you see often around here.

For that matter, Mexicans aren't the only ones steeped in poverty, but not everyone that poor does as bad a fix to their car. Just comes down to pride in your work. Call it a cultural thing I guess.

Anyway, I'm not really concerned by the bad build. These motors are cheap, the head is remanufactured by Cylinder Head Exchange, and the clearance to get it in and out is plentiful. I'll just put the reman head on a slightly newer motor and drop it in. Plus I'm familiar with Nissans and I've pulled these motors from these cars. All in all if I end up with a different motor in there for $500, that puts me at $1700 for a stock 240SX which is still half the going rate these days.

Eat me and don't call it a Nissan thing. That's like saying snapped front axle shafts are a Jeep thing.
 
#20,470 ·
When did this become a Nissan forum? :rofl:

Move on with your lives already.

I washed the 5.9 in the yard then ran over dog crap. Painted the steering, front axle, and rear drive shaft. Stuff is starting to turn orange. One thing I miss about Nevada was no rust. I noticed that my Bilstein 5100's got tarnished on the cans from the salt crap they use. It also corroded my JKS disco's on the threads, nut, and cotter pins.
 
#20,472 ·
Changed the oil it had like 2400 miles on it but was pretty dark and almost a quart low. Put a better oil filter on her again this time and gained a couple psi oil pressure. My guess is maybe the anti drain back valve on this filter is helping build a little more pressure.

Kind of odd I added 6.25 quarts of oil when I refilled and its measuring 3/4 quart lower than the max line on the dipstick. I let it drain for like 20 minutes til it wouldnt drip any more on a slight incline but every other time I put 6 quarts in its full. Hmm

Either way shes a little quieter at idle with the fresh earl in er and couple more psi.

Hooked up the secondary battery in the rear again.

Drove around for a half hour or a little more.

Shes running great with fresh o2 sensors...

For now... It is a ZJ.
 
#20,473 ·
98GCLimited said:
Changed the oil it had like 2400 miles on it but was pretty dark and almost a quart low. Put a better oil filter on her again this time and gained a couple psi oil pressure. My guess is maybe the anti drain back valve on this filter is helping build a little more pressure.

Kind of odd I added 6.25 quarts of oil when I refilled and its measuring 3/4 quart lower than the max line on the dipstick. I let it drain for like 20 minutes til it wouldnt drip any more on a slight incline but every other time I put 6 quarts in its full. Hmm

Either way shes a little quieter at idle with the fresh earl in er and couple more psi.

Hooked up the secondary battery in the rear again.

Drove around for a half hour or a little more.

Shes running great with fresh o2 sensors...

For now... It is a ZJ.
Never put in to much oil... It's Terrible idea.
 
#20,474 ·
PolkaPower said:
When did this become a Nissan forum? :rofl:

Move on with your lives already.

I washed the 5.9 in the yard then ran over dog crap. Painted the steering, front axle, and rear drive shaft. Stuff is starting to turn orange. One thing I miss about Nevada was no rust. I noticed that my Bilstein 5100's got tarnished on the cans from the salt crap they use. It also corroded my JKS disco's on the threads, nut, and cotter pins.
Clean up the shocks and clear coat them.

Sent from my iPhone 6 using JeepForum
 
#20,475 ·
Clean up the shocks and clear coat them.

Sent from my iPhone 6 using JeepForum
Yea looks like I am going to have to pull them and lightly sand them down the like you said apply clear coating. PITA lol I'm lazy. Maybe I can just take the tires off and finagle it that way.

I told myself that I was going to hose the undercarriage after driving in the winter but it's just been to damn cold and ain't nobody got time for that!
 
#20,476 ·
Never put in to much oil... It's Terrible idea.
Ya I know. I used to work at a Mobil 1 Lube Express.

I added the 5.25qt jug and a bit of the other quart before I started it up then checked the level it was a good 1/4" below min on the stick so I added the rest of the quart about 6.25 total according to the jugs and its a 1/4" over min on the stick.
 
#20,477 ·
mine dose that too^^^^^ whats the deal ?

not level surface or mabey clogged passages , idk

o.t. though , i took her in to the shop today for sway bar links , $25 each and 60 for labor

i tried yesterday but i dont have the tools or the patience after trying to fix 3 things last week and only got 1 (the speakers) done , i dont feel so bad though after seeing how hard it was to break the tq on those retarded torx bolts

it handles way way better without that driving on 7 wheels feeling any more

i asked the dude to break the tq on the axle nut then tq it back so it would make it easyer on me when i do it , he was like ''no omg i cant do that , it'll mess it up and it could break something!''

he just didnt want to deal with the same crap i was cussing over yesterday and slipped me some lie like i was a snot nosed noob

finding a new shop now after that ****
 
#20,478 ·
I replaced the RH front hub/ bearing this afternoon. It went very well, everything is torqued to spec, Loc-tite added, greased all the front end zerks with Valvoline Synthetic. A couple of the zerks needed to be persuaded, one puked muddy looking grease. None of the joints deflected with the fresh grease/ pump pressure! Amazing how quiet it is!
Huge amount of thanks to the FAQ tips!! I used my spare tire to keep the hub stationary; my ½” IR impact zipped the hub nut off dang near instantly. I used a 3/8” impact and spline sockets on the hub mounting bolts, zip & done! If you turn the tire by hand and not by the steering wheel, be prepared for air in your PS System!
I did notice that the disc brake pad mounts on the spindles had groves cut into them by the pad backing plates. I’ll have to run a weld bead on them and re-machine that area.
A quick note on air impact tools, they can only be as good as your compressor. A Ingersoll Rand middle to top of the line impact needs a lot more than 4 – 6cfm (as noted in a previous post). Most Impact’s (the butt kickin, nut bustin type) need a minimum of 7 – 11cfm @ 125 – 150 PSI or more. If you want a high quality, powerful shop tool, skip HF, and spend the money. You’ll have no regrets, less aggravation and perform better work. There are a lot of very good electric/ corded impacts. If you want a cordless, rechargeable, Snap-On’s 18v is awesome. Breaking suspensions down is easy with that brute!
My $0.02
 
#20,479 ·
I replaced the RH front hub/ bearing this afternoon. It went very well, everything is torqued to spec, Loc-tite added, greased all the front end zerks with Valvoline Synthetic. A couple of the zerks needed to be persuaded, one puked muddy looking grease. None of the joints deflected with the fresh grease/ pump pressure! Amazing how quiet it is!
Huge amount of thanks to the FAQ tips!! I used my spare tire to keep the hub stationary; my ½” IR impact zipped the hub nut off dang near instantly. I used a 3/8” impact and spline sockets on the hub mounting bolts, zip & done! If you turn the tire by hand and not by the steering wheel, be prepared for air in your PS System!
I did notice that the disc brake pad mounts on the spindles had groves cut into them by the pad backing plates. I’ll have to run a weld bead on them and re-machine that area.
A quick note on air impact tools, they can only be as good as your compressor. A Ingersoll Rand middle to top of the line impact needs a lot more than 4 – 6cfm (as noted in a previous post). Most Impact’s (the butt kickin, nut bustin type) need a minimum of 7 – 11cfm @ 125 – 150 PSI or more. If you want a high quality, powerful shop tool, skip HF, and spend the money. You’ll have no regrets, less aggravation and perform better work. There are a lot of very good electric/ corded impacts. If you want a cordless, rechargeable, Snap-On’s 18v is awesome. Breaking suspensions down is easy with that brute!
My $0.02
X2 on the tools we run an 80gal Ingersoll compressed and their air tools and it's fantastic. But my 5 gal comp on the jeep doesn't do **** lol

Probably sent from under my broken heep
 
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