1989 YJ Wrangler with 4.2L......new project for Zak

[Zak.Taylor]

I picked up an 89 YJ off of a guy here in town for relatively cheap.

It had no seats, but mikey gave me his old ones. It gets no spark, but I have a new HEI distributor on order and its black so will look legit.

I am going to put carpet in it, throw a bikini top on it, and sell the hard top and doors to recoup some of my original investment. It has 33x15.50x15 TSL's on it, that are old, but hold air and have surface cracking. They'd be great for trails and sand. I have some 33x12.50R15's and some black steel wheels for street use. It has factory A/C (we'll see if it works) and the paint is decent. It is a Laredo package and came with a hardtop and full doors originally.

If anybody knows any tricks for the 4.2L YJ's....feel free to pass them on. I already did the Nutter Bypass on it, but that won't matter with the HEI distributor setup. (No more Ford ICM on it).

Any feedback or tips are appreciated.....

Hopefully within a month or so, she'll be up and running and ready for sale.

[chrisrigby]

just curious pm if you want but whats relitevly cheap? i keep an eye out for a jeep to kick the zuk down the road but people think there sitting on a pile of gold and want un realistic prices. ive got a buddy with a late 80s early 90s wrangler with the motor and trans pulled but there wanting 2500 to me thats just nuts. i told him i would give him about 600 since its a basket case and was quickly shot down and laughed at.

[Zak.Taylor]

If I left the hard top and doors on it....I'd be looking for like 3500.....
If I sell the top and doors....more likely 2500 to 3000 depending on how much i put into it.

2500 for a non running yj is ridiculous....unless everything else on it is pristine

[Zak.Taylor]

So......Jesus(the 89 YJ) has risen from the dead! After 10 years of sitting, a new ignition system (HEI conversion) and a new fuel pump.....it lives! Now for the carpet kit and a final decision on the front seats. Then, clean her up a little and test drive!

[CJNewbie]

What kind of tips or tricks are you looking for? I have a 4.2l in my CJ7 and the best improvement you can make from what I am told is fuel injection. There are a few kits out there like the Howell TBI which you can essentially do with junk yard parts, and then there is the MPI kit that is very pricey. You can relatively easily swap the 4.2l head for a 4.0l HO head that makes about a 30 hp gain in most cases. The easiest this to do is get rid of the carter carburetor if its still on there. The webber and motorcraft carb are both a step up. I have looked into lots of mods to the 4.2l if you want more info let me know.

[Zak.Taylor]

The fuel injection is out.....it'd be cheaper and easier to swap in a complete xj drivetrain and have an auto with od, but I am looking at weber and motorcades carbs. It will all depend on how it runs with the stocker. I'm not building this one as my own, just bringing her back from the dead to pass on to another wheeler as a solid platform to start on. So far I've done the HEI conversion and it was nice and easy. Do you have HEI on your CJ?

[Desert Dog]

Damn, what is this, your 10th Jeep this year

[Zak.Taylor]

I think 5th this past year but 10th lifetime....lol
Sweet of you to notice

[CJNewbie]

I haven't done HEI on my CJ. I have done what is called the Teamrush upgrade which is basically installing the later I6 for cap spacer and larger cap for the ford dizzy and different plug wires. I have heard that the after market HEI dizzies tend to chew up the stock cam gear. I definitely don't plan on keeping the 4.2l but might as well make it last till I can get a 4.0l in it. The only "problem" I know of on the Webber carb and Motorcraft carb is the fact that they "can" fail the visual emissions check. I would love to get rid of all the vacuum line on mine but afraid it wont pass smog visually.

[Zak.Taylor]

I got a liberal smog guy....if u need one. The distributor fixed my no spark and eliminated weak parts... We'll see about the cam gear issue. If I kept this jeep, I'd go 4.0L head, tbi and Cherokee trans but we'll see what happens.

[CJNewbie]

A liberal Smog guy is always nice to know. I would like to strip down the emissions crap and use them for paper weights. Which dizzy did you get? As soon as I can find a good donor vehicle I would like to get a 4.0 head and the MPI setup off of it.

[Zak.Taylor]

I used the CRT one. It was made in USA (according to their ad) and came with wires for $150 shipped, with no tax. I could have gotten it for like $100 if I wanted Chinese, but I figured I'd go American this time.

The dizzy fixed the no spark issue and a fuel pump and some new rubber fuel line fixed the no fuel issue. She starts and runs now. As soon as I get a seat mounted, we'll see how it drives. Its been 10 years since Jesus has been on the road, but its been resurrected from the dead and so far all the gauges and whatnot work. I think a Motorcraft carb may be in the works for it, to eliminate the vacuum garbage and the idle misfire issue these 4.2's have.

Any suggestions so far? Any insight is appreciated.

[Uncle Cracker]

you call this jeep "jesus"? or "heyzoos"?

[Zak.Taylor]

"Jesus" or thinking maybe "the zombie". Because it has risen from the dead.....ten years without moving.

[Zak.Taylor]

Hell yeah!!! Got the zombie fired up and drove her around the block tonight! Shifts smooth, steers fine, TSL's will be offroad ONLY! But that's ok, I have some 33's outside for the street and some black steelies to mount them on...sure would be cool to put sand paddles on the 15x12 wheels the TSL's are on. Anyway, I got to drive it for the first time....which is always good when u buy something that doesnt run. Tomorrow I'll put a new steering stabilizer on the TJ and find a ZJ tie rod for it so I can have my HiLift handle back. Next up for the YJ is taking a wire wheel to the floor to get all the old carpet pad and adhesive out, install the power XJ seats I got from Mikey's Cougar (thanks buddy) then work on carb tuning and find either a motorcraft carb or weber to replace the stocker....or maybe junkyard tbi if anybody wants to give me some pointers on how to do it.

She's coming along!

[Zak.Taylor]

Little update on the old YJ....

I got 99% of the carpet residue out, just black floor paint left now. I'll probably leave it that way for a while until I figure out whether I'm going to keep it long term (lol) or keep the TJ, but I'll be keeping one of them regardless. I actually prefer the YJ because I can take a sawzall or krylon can to it without feeling like I'm killing it's value.

I got the seats I bought for $40 bucks off craigslist mounted. I had to make some adapters because apparently there are a couple different styles of YJ seats. These came from a 94.

I'm happy to report that all of the gauges work, with the presence of the fuel gauge needle that jumps all over. Anyone have a cheap fix for that?

So, I bought some 37" old-skook MTR's from Jason (had the cherokee on 42's) and they are on 15" Champion bead lock wheels. I have them on the TJ now, and they did not cure the death wobble, which tells me that its the alignment or suspension and not tires. So I'll probably put the beadlocks on the YJ and the black wheels and X-terrains on the TJ for it to sell. (read: I don't like X-Terrains)

I dropped the front axle on the YJ and moved it forward two inches and remounted it. Before you any nay-sayers say it will ride shitty, limit flex, cause a curse upon me, take into consideration that some vehicles come factory with their axles mounted off center in the leaf springs, so I'm going to try it before I buy longer springs and change my mounting points. So at this point, it has a 2" stretch and I need a new front driveline.

I put in the HEI distributor and am happy to report that she revs smoothly up to 5k rpms. The new motocraft carb should be here any day and that should be my last need before I take her to the smog shop and get her on the street. I'm looking forward to driving the old beast. I need some tube doors either used and cheap, or I may make some, and I'll be looking at top options too. I may go with the TJ family cage and get the bowless soft top for that or just run a regular bikini top on it til it gets cooler.

Also, just realized it has the Peugot trans which is junk, so I'm on the hunt for a cherokee trans and possibly 4.0L high output head. Debating on buying a complete cherokee or ZJ and swapping or just the parts. Maybe a 5.9L ZJ and do engine and trans and t-case???

Here are a couple pics. She's coming along.
The side pic is before I moved the axle forward. I need some more clearance for the tires in the back, so I believe I'll probably do some "minor trimming" (3 inches of rear fenderwell gone with sawzall)

[EJ21]

Looking good Zak! Coming along nicely.

[Lake_v2]

the hei distributors wont chew up the cam on the 4.2L's the gear on the cam is hardened machined on the 4.2l engine. the only issues with hardened dizzy gears come from the 401/360 engines, on those just need a bronze or soft gear on the distributor.

the 4.0 head really wakes these 4.2 engines up. when i started on mine i did the chevy tbi and team rush upgrades first. that made it liveable, when i put the 4.0 head on it made it drive like a normal car and smooth throughout the rpm range. i did change over the distributor to an hei after that, just wasnt satisfied with the "team rush" mods.

oh and offcenter spring perches wont hurt you one bit zak, ive ran mine offcenter for a couple years now, spring under and now spring over, no ill effects to date.

a little suggestion for cheap easy stretch, move the spring perches on the frame rail and run the longer shackles to get them at the right angles \. had mine at 97ish wheelbase doing that and redrilling the spring perches when i was on all 4 leafs.

another easy option is waggy springs, 2" offset pin in the leafs already, if you run a set all around should be around 98-100 wheelbase.

[Zak.Taylor]

Great news!!!
I got the new carb swapped on. That and the HEI distributor make this thing run smoother and feel like it has more balls than my 4.0L TJ. They are both on 37's and the old YJ has what I believe to be stock gears. It'll light up the 37" MTR (one legger) off the line and drives great. Plenty of power for cruising around town, although it needs lower gearing for the trail I'm sure. Before I go that route, I'll put a Ford 8.8 under it.

So far though, she runs great. I couldn't be happier with my $1500 YJ. Best part is, I'm going to cut the front fenders, enlarge the rear ones, put TJ flares on it and then see how it goes.

Anybody ever thought of using the "missing link" shackles on a YJ? I had a set on my Sami and it kicked ass. That thing flexed out like I couldn't believe. I was thinking of making a set for the YJ, at least the front and putting them on... Thoughts??

So, who wants to get a pool going on how long the D35 lives under this thing before I break a shaft with the 37's???

[Beck*A*Poo]

you'll break it first round with 37s lol but then again the front will break before the back

[Zak.Taylor]

Idk, my d30 front is holding up to 37's now on my TJ, and has been for years....and I think the rear will live without a locker, but that won't cut it for long. I really like the yj better than the TJ. Im looking forward to fixing it up. Maybe a TJ grill conversion later and cj7 tailgate swap

[AJ99]

Looking good zak. let me know if you ever need a hand.

[Zak.Taylor]

I appreciate the offer. I'll take you up on it when i need a hand. It looks cool on 37's...buri have to do some fender cutting to give it some flex

[Lake_v2]

a 3" highline cut on the hood and moving the front fenders up works great on those and is unrealisticly easy to do.

when i had the stock fenders on, it was barely noticeable.

[Zak.Taylor]

Matt, I think that might be in the future for me. I don't think it'll be on the trail until I can get an 8.8 swap on it, but I'm hoping to get it smogged and tagged this week so I can cruise it around town at least. The D35 is completely open so it spins the tire if I gas it around a corner....pretty hilarious. Haven't had a one legged vehicle before.