What did you do to your ZJ today?

Ordered another set of gaskets and bolts for my intake manifold, as the rear seal strip didn't stay seated right after I did the plenum and now I have an oil leak. :brickwall

Changed out the paper towels wedged behind the intake manifold catching my oil leak.

Sadass - My dad will be in Hopewell junction today. If you see a guy in a green-ish Camry with tinted windows, go ahead and wave.

The 4.0 and V8 both get similar mileage if you drive efficiently. If you're hard on it, however, the V8 will do a bit worse.

For all city, 13 is about right. Those getting notably better are doing less true city driving.

In all city driving, I can get about 12.5 - 13 from Mom's WJ 4.0, and 12 - 12.5 from the 5.9.

XJ90 - Being 2wd probably gives you about a 1mpg advantage. With that kind of mileage, it sounds like you've got the efficient driving thing covered!

On topic, I installed the new water pump and took it for a test drive.

Changed the oil in it last night, and got some new tires this morning. 245/70R16 Firestone Destination A/Ts. I'll get a pic later or tomorrow (about to leave to get my wisdom teeth pulled). New front LCAs and alignment will happen tomorrow morning.

Got it aligned after the LCA swap. Drives like a dream now. Of course, now that my front LCA bushings aren't fubar, it follows the crowing in the road like crazy. I'm pretty sure it would be possible to take a road course with only mild turns, and between banking the road and a series of carefully placed dips, get a ZJ to follow the course on its own with the cruise control set and no driver input at all. The steering on the highway is definitely better though, and between that and the new tires, no more 50mph shimmy.

Dropped it off at the body shop to get the hatch swapped out. No more rust! I'll have it back this afternoon, then it will be done for now. The Jeep and I are off to Rochester for college tomorrow. We'll see what kind of gas mileage I get over the 360 mile trip. I'm sure it'll be 20+, hoping for 22 (gonna have to try really, really hard for that). I'll post up tomorrow night or Wednesday morning and let you know what mpg I got, as well as what my Mom gets doing the drive in her 4.0 WJ (if I do better, I'll really have to laugh).

Somehow, my Mom's meets that definition. Unfortunately, mine doesn't quite

Blew up my t-case shift linkage yesterday when the ziptie holding it together snapped. With the intermediate linkage bushings now out of place, I get 2wd and 4PT, and that shift takes the full throw of the shifter. I can't get any other modes. Being that the linkage brackets are too rusted on, I'll be sending it in to have this fixed in a week or 2.

If it's got skids and hooks, it should have upcountry.

Installed the new Silla All Aluminum radiator yesterday. Gotta reconnect the e-fan wiring today, as I ended up cutting it to get the fan out of my way.

Drove it, and remembered why I still love it. Yeah, I've got a lot to fix when I'm home on break next week (needs a left front axle shaft due to bad CV boot, tranny output seal is leaking, need to rebuild t-case linkage while case is out, metal bushing is shot, so I'm stuck in 2wd). However, despite all of that, it still runs like a champ, fires right up every time, and is a ton of fun to drive.

Nothing yet today, but a few things over the past week. On Saturday, I drove it home from Rochester (the long way, due to dropping someone off elsewhere in CT). On the first 330 miles, I got 21.3 mpg, and 19.4 on the last 140 miles. Total average over 470 miles of 20.7 mpg (all hand calculated). In a 5.9 ZJ! This came from spending the first hour or so drafting at 65mph, then setting the cruise to 59 for the rest of the trip.

On Monday, I washed and waxed it, and conditioned the leather. Filled it up on Wednesday, and remembered why I hate city traffic (12.2 mpg).

Tonight, I should be replacing my left front axle shaft, fixing my leaky transmission seal and fixing the t-case linkage. Then, on Sunday, it's back to Rochester.

Not today, but I rebuilt my alternator on Friday, after the rectifier fried (one diode actually exploded) and shorted the output Wednesday night.

Forced it to start and drive despite its hatred for single digit weather. Later on, once it was nice and warm and happy, I had my glass of V8 for the day and pushed the skinny pedal down hard.

Took it down to Watkins Glen for opening weekend yesterday with a local group of car guys. Ran 3 laps at a reasonable pace, and then another 3 where they paced us a good bit faster. I pretty much beat on it through the last 3 laps, didn't get the rpms below 2500 at all, mostly 3k and above (in manual 2nd and 3rd). It did pretty damn well though, especially for having very worn rear shocks. Got some good tire squeal in one corner, and had lots of fun.

The beast has been running great since then too. I was definitely pushing it on the last few laps though (saw 4800rpm at WOT a couple times), as it was running about 212* by the end of the last one, and it was only about 45* outside.

Put new shocks on it earlier this week (Procomp MX6). While it's certainly possible to change all 4 shocks on a ZJ in a college parking lot with all 4 tires still on the ground, I don't recommend it (absolute PITA, took almost 6 hours to do all 4).

I had sensatracs up front when I got my ZJ. Way too soft, IMO. I put in MX6s all around about 1.5 months ago, and it's worlds better. The sensatracs are similar to MX6s on setting 1, maybe 2. I run the fronts at 3, rears at 6. Ride is firm, but not harsh, has that highly damped feel like a German car. Handling is much improved.

Drove it, and enjoyed my freshly remounted driving lights, and upgraded aux reverse lights. "What do you mean it's dark out there?"