1962 j-200 Thriftside Father & Son 4.0 AW4 D300 Project

[66stepside]

Before:



After:


We painted the interior and the firewall back to stock colors for the J200: Spruce Tip Green, the dash is back to Amber Poly. Once the dash is installed with the ignition switch, then the engine swap can start for real. Scary territory for me, but slow and steady wins the race.
My hope is to pull the engine, transmission, and harnesses intact once I strip the unnessary wires. But, we'll see how those plans go.

[66stepside]

I scored one of these today at the junk yard:



It's a Highliner Headliner. I did a quick and dirty mock up (it's for a dodge D series pickup) and it's too big- meaning I can trim it down to fit the 62! It has a few spots for cutting out storage. I think I can even graft a GW overhead console to it if needed (I have two of those left over from the FrankenJeepster build).

[localfiend]

Looking good. I like that green.

What paint did you use for the dash? I've been searching for the amber metallic color code with no luck.

[66stepside]

Thanks! How you been?

I have the picture of the code on this build thread. The code for Amber Poly somewhere around the house, too. If all else fails KC Auto Paint has it now as I went through them to get it- an obsolete code that required a while for PPG to dig through their archived files and come with the code. I snuck a pic of the code and posted it.

How's your Thriftside coming along?

[localfiend]

Thanks! How you been?

I have the picture of the code on this build thread. The code for Amber Poly somewhere around the house, too. If all else fails KC Auto Paint has it now as I went through them to get it- an obsolete code that required a while for PPG to dig through their archived files and come with the code. I snuck a pic of the code and posted it.

How's your Thriftside coming along?

Been busy. Apple harvest went long and I've been doing bookwork to get everything ready for the end of the year.

Found your paint code post. That'l make life a lot easier thanks.

Thriftside progress has been slow. Been daily driving one of them up until last week:

No more 327.



Plan on getting the new chev 350 installed tomorrow, pull the dash, and finish up the AC install. We'll see what actually happens.

[66stepside]

Very cool. It's good to have a bountiful and busy harvest. We're you able to get enough workers? I had heard through some friends at work harvest this year was a bit more brutal due to the scarcity of pickers.

I missed the info- why are you ditching the 327? Too obsolete? I can understand that, the 66 had one and it was difficult to find parts for all those years ago.

Here's the can o' paint:


Here's the dash:

[66stepside]

This came in the mail when I was at work:

[66stepside]

The coldness of winter is back after so many unseasonably warm spells. Despite the cold, here we are working with the garage door open.

We're thinning the XJ harness. Jumping hands first into the thick of it all.

My plan is to wiring up the dash-style ignition first (so it know it's all running and still operational) and then thin it all out from there.

Is the ignition switch self-grounding?



That pic is the backside of a spare switch from a 72 wag all cleaned up. I noticed the "GRD" embossed on it- but no real place to have a ground.

I searched da Net and came across some cool threads on ignition and found these pics:





So it's pretty straight forward as far as wiring it it to the XJ's ignition- BUT (don't you love big buts?), is the ignition self-grounding?

[jaber]

Yes, the housing will ground to dash once installed, but there is no need for a ground to the switch. Its just sending the power to where you direct it.

[carnuck]

It's the open hole that used to be hooked to ground to keep spark feedback from ignition coils from reaching the person turning the key or in a lightning storm. Somewhere I have a writeup (hopefully not in the old car books I got rid of already) that explained how the old magneto systems would back feed to the ignition switch and give people a zap.

[66stepside]

Alrighty, thanks guys! I set up the starter wiring this morning. I went with standard jeep wiring colors.





Using a bit of improvisation for the two colors needing the "white stripe" (not to be confused with the band).





So, I cut a thin strip of white electrical tape and wrapped it around the green and red wires to keep it close to stock.





I used gold plated connectors on the starter housing:



This is reality, though:



I had to have two wires for the constant hot- the battery itself and the two thin constant hots on the XJ.



I used water proof quick disconnect-style connectors male and female to ease minimize problems connecting it all to the XJ's ignition.



So that's as far as I got before the big game today- go Hawks!

Next up, create a bracket to mount the starter switch to, wire it up and keep our finger's crossed it all works.

[66stepside]

After hours of research on the Net to no avail (no one seems to want to tackle the OBD II 4.0 swap?), then more hours pouring over the 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ w/ AW4 auto tranny's technical service manual's wiring schematics, I tied the two systems together like I thought they should go and got it to turn over, but not run.



It wasn't getting gas- I had mis-wired the electric fuel pump. I changed mounting locations and she now purrs like a kitten.

[Stuka]

Good to hear!


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

[66stepside]

Good to hear!


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

Yes it is! The way I look at it, it's all down hill from here.

We spent the day thinning the harness- the windshield and dash are out and everything is getting cut except what's needed to start and run the jeep. Slow and steady wins the race.

[jaber]

Awesome progress. Good to hear its running.

[66stepside]

Awesome progress. Good to hear its running.

Thanks Jaber. I just hope it stays that way!

Here's the harness as I am thinning it in the cab:



This is where it gets hairy. I am using the 1996 XJ pinouts but it's pretty tedious. I am labeling each wire as I go.

Meanwhile, the firewall of the 62 is ready for the engine swap:



I put 62 to work, as usual, doing some metal work:

[66stepside]

I came across an X/D Waggie tilt column at a wrecking yard, it needed a new steering wheel (the existing one was beat up during shipping).

So we are prepping it for Amber poly paint- including the 7.00 wheel we scored locally.



So instead of the caddy column, this will get swapped in.

[66stepside]

The stock heater unit has been painted and put on the outside of the firewall. I opted to use a 76 blower motor- there's more air flow with it (still one of the best and easiest mods to make on the older rigs!).

The plenum on the inside is giving me a bit of trouble, though. No matter what I do, the paint wrinkles! Arg.



Yeah, I sanded, cleaned and painted it three times, but the result is the same. So, I've moved on to another unit:



It's disassembled, de-greased (that bottle is pro-strength wax and grease remover). It will get painted inside and out, moving parts will be re-lubed once the paint cures. All factory seams and unneeded holes will be sealed prior to paint, too. There are quite a few places on this stock beast for the air to escape and reduce the effectiveness of it's heating capacity. This is the last step needed prior to putting the dash in, then, on to the engine swap (the harness is almost done).

[66stepside]

The seam/joint where the two pieces meet can be sealed with body seam sealer for a permanent seal, or painter's caulk for a good seal that isn't going to be so permanent.

At the top and bottom of the plenum are two fairly large holes where to two pieces meet. You really want to plug those two spots.

[Nikkormat]

What's the 76 blower motor mod? Should it be applicable on my 74? The blower is slower than molasses right now... Is the only difference that one was designed for the metal box and one for the fiberglass plastic one?