Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler YJ shifters

1994 Hunter Green SE “Back to Stock” Thread

Made a tiny bit of progress. Finally got the flywheel bolts, but the day they were finally delivered I had a killer headache, and the next day I was busy. I have another headache today but not bad enough to not work so I got the flywheel and clutch hung.

Even though it hasn’t been long at all, I am always unpleasantly reminded what a non-fun job this is. The flywheel is just uncomfortably heavy for how you have to handle it and since the trans is in the way, I pretty much end up working one handed. It also takes a while because the bolts want lube on the heads and loctite on the threads. Doing that per bolt takes forever and holding the engine is also tough. I use a breaker bar on the crank pulley and it catches the frame on the left side. Works well enough.

Glad that stuff is on now.

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I'm thinking I'll save the rest for tomorrow unless I decide later in the night that I'm bored enough to go back out there. Otherwise, tomorrow morning should start reassembly, and hopefully I get it all done by noon or mid afternoon.
 
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machoheadgames said:
Made a tiny bit of progress. Finally got the flywheel bolts, but the day they were finally delivered I had a killer headache, and the next day I was busy. I have another headache today but not bad enough to not work so I got the flywheel and clutch hung.

Even though it hasn’t been long at all, I am always unpleasantly reminded what a non-fun job this is. The flywheel is just uncomfortably heavy for how you have to handle it and since the trans is in the way, I pretty much end up working one handed. It also takes a while because the bolts want lube on the heads and loctite on the threads. Doing that per bolt takes forever and holding the engine is also tough. I use a breaker bar on the crank pulley and it catches the frame on the left side. Works well enough.

Glad that stuff is on now.

View attachment 123550
View attachment 123551

I'm thinking I'll save the rest for tomorrow unless I decide later in the night that I'm bored enough to go back out there. Otherwise, tomorrow morning should start reassembly, and hopefully I get it all done by noon or mid afternoon.
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I have used a length of chain from the rear head bolt stud to one of the pressure plate bolt holes. I use a longer bolt in the pressure plate bolt hole and the chain keeps the engine from turning while torquing the bolts. Still have to get the flywheel up on and bolts started, and that sucks.
 
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ytradio said:
I have used a length of chain from the rear head bolt stud to one of the pressure plate bolt holes. I use a longer bolt in the pressure plate bolt hole and the chain keeps the engine from turning while torquing the bolts. Still have to get the flywheel up on and bolts started, and that sucks.
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That’s a good idea and I may use that next time. At least this time it wasn’t the Centerforce heavy flywheel. That thing was insane to get up there and lined up. 41 lbs. (stock is 27).
 
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Last night I did get bored enough to go back there and try to do some install. Installed my dowel bolts and got it up there, but the last inch or so didn’t want to go. Finally got it to go and was about 1/4” out all the way around due to the dowel sleeves that line up the bellhousing and engine. For that last 1/4”, I feel it’s safe to use the bolts to pull it all together, although many will disagree with me on that. You can’t be that close without having the splines engaged, so I wasn’t too concerned.

However, I should have been more gradual and only done a thread or two per bolt at a time. I went too hard on one and got the whole mess crooked. Had to remove all the bolts and pull it back out and start over. Gave it a rest at that point last night.

This morning, with a fresh kind and strength, I gave it another go and got it to the same 1/4” point. Using the bolts and some up and down with the jack, I easily got it fully installed. Bolts are tight, starter is back in, crank sensor is back in, and now I’m starting reassembly. Light at the end of the tunnel!

It’s a bit cold and rainy so I’m not sure I’ll be finishing up today. Maybe in an hour or two I’ll feel like it again lol.
 
Good news! Got the important stuff hooked up starter, CPS, exhaust downpipe, O2 sensor, and fired it up. It starts perfectly!!

Cold and rainy out (I’m in a garage so the rain isn’t that big a deal but makes it more depressing IMO), so I’m working slowly. T-case is back in, need to install the trans mount, fully connect the downpipe (loose currently), plus in everything and hook the hose up, shifters, etc. Still got a job to do, but getting close. So satisfying that it starts how it should now that I got a properly made flywheel.
 
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machoheadgames said:
Last night I did get bored enough to go back there and try to do some install. Installed my dowel bolts and got it up there, but the last inch or so didn’t want to go. Finally got it to go and was about 1/4” out all the way around due to the dowel sleeves that line up the bellhousing and engine. For that last 1/4”, I feel it’s safe to use the bolts to pull it all together, although many will disagree with me on that. You can’t be that close without having the splines engaged, so I wasn’t too concerned.
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I've done this multiple times. Never screwed anything up. If I can move the flywheel with the transmission yoke, I'm using all the help my skinny butt can take by drawing it up with the bolts. And yeah, just a turn at a time, alternating like I'm torquing lug nuts. Glad you are in the home stretch. Haven't been driving mine much due to temps being in the teens after work, so the FSJ has been pulling daily duty for 4 out of 5 days. This week, I should be able to rock the YJ all week again.
 
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dodgerammit said:
I've done this multiple times. Never screwed anything up. If I can move the flywheel with the transmission yoke, I'm using all the help my skinny butt can take by drawing it up with the bolts. And yeah, just a turn at a time, alternating like I'm torquing lug nuts. Glad you are in the home stretch. Haven't been driving mine much due to temps being in the teens after work, so the FSJ has been pulling daily duty for 4 out of 5 days. This week, I should be able to rock the YJ all week again.
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Yeah, I never can get it that last 1/4” or so. I’ve always had to use the bolts to some degree. I’ve never broken anything. Where I’d see screwing it up (pun intended) would be you’re an inch or more out, clearly not even into the splines yet, and you use longer bolts that pull it from way too far away. That will probably screw up the clutch bad because it would be too hard to control alignment.

Shifters are back on, fluid topped off, still need to work on the downpipe which is a total pain. I don’t like this Banks header. The gasket style is loose which makes assembly difficult. I like it better when the donut goes on the header firmly, then you just pull the downpipe up and bolt it on. I might actually order a Dorman or similar and go back to stock and sell the banks.
 
Got the downpipe hooked back up. Something is screwy. Since it had been a couple hours since the first start, I started it up again and all went well. Cranked up powerfully, idled normally, etc. Shut it off and cranked it up again. This time, it hard started again and idled super low, like 3-400 rpm. WTF??

Shut it off again and cranked it back up. This time it hard started worse than the time before, but once running it idled okay.

Guess I’m not quite out of the woods yet…


My plan at this point is continue putting it back together and get it to where I can drive it. If there’s a problem, enough time will make it show itself. I don’t have time to keep trying to make guesses after 30 second idling sessions in the garage.

At least the flywheel was actually bad, so that job wasn’t all for nothing…really disappointing that it started up so strongly 2 different times though and then completely fell on its face again.
 
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Hooked up the fuel pressure gauge to make sure my newer Bosch pump wasn’t putting out too much pressure (or more correctly, make sure the regulator wasn’t failing on the new pump supply). Nope, 31 psi even.

Started it up 5 times in a row and it started and ran pretty much normally. What an odd problem. Gonna have to keep my eye out.
 
machoheadgames said:
Got the downpipe hooked back up. Something is screwy. Since it had been a couple hours since the first start, I started it up again and all went well. Cranked up powerfully, idled normally, etc. Shut it off and cranked it up again. This time, it hard started again and idled super low, like 3-400 rpm. WTF??

Shut it off again and cranked it back up. This time it hard started worse than the time before, but once running it idled okay.

Guess I’m not quite out of the woods yet…


My plan at this point is continue putting it back together and get it to where I can drive it. If there’s a problem, enough time will make it show itself. I don’t have time to keep trying to make guesses after 30 second idling sessions in the garage.

At least the flywheel was actually bad, so that job wasn’t all for nothing…really disappointing that it started up so strongly 2 different times though and then completely fell on its face again.
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Hmmm. Almost like the PCM got reset and was trying to 'learn' idle speed.
I have no experience yet with the 4.0 relearn procedure, but that is the way LS motors behave when they lose 12v connection, even briefly.

That is similar to how mine behaved during the fuel pump repair and having to purge the air out of the fuel system.

Mine did do something like that for a few days after everything was buttoned back up. Testing showed immediate fuel pressure drop when shut down. So, when I went to start it, I would cycle the key twice and let it prime to build pressure and crank. It has now stopped giving trouble. Dunno if the check valve in the sender got stuck or what.
 
dodgerammit said:
Hmmm. Almost like the PCM got reset and was trying to 'learn' idle speed.
I have no experience yet with the 4.0 relearn procedure, but that is the way LS motors behave when they lose 12v connection, even briefly.

That is similar to how mine behaved during the fuel pump repair and having to purge the air out of the fuel system.

Mine did do something like that for a few days after everything was buttoned back up. Testing showed immediate fuel pressure drop when shut down. So, when I went to start it, I would cycle the key twice and let it prime to build pressure and crank. It has now stopped giving trouble. Dunno if the check valve in the sender got stuck or what.
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I’ve had wonky idling issues almost the entire time I’ve owned the jeep. Over the years there have been many occasions where the idle will drop down to 400-500 rpm and rattle the jeep and feels like it will almost die. It has never actually died in those scenarios. Fuel pressure was always perfect, all sensors have been changed with both Mopar and aftermarket parts. I bought a second pcm in 2016 off of rockauto and it did the exact same thing. That PCM died this year and so I’m back to the original. But anyways, I still have no idea why it used to idle like that.

This year, I was cranking it up a bunch of times back in May. Testing it out and such. I was on the spare pcm at the time. It hadn’t died yet. Cranking the engine, when it would start it would go immediately to about 700, which is weird because it used to idle up to 1200-1500 or so and then drop down to normal 700 or so. PCM went bad so I put back in the original. Exact same behavior, again.

Bought another new Mopar IAC, installed it, and things idled perfectly. It started up to 1200-1500 again, dropped back down to normal levels, etc. I didn’t really drive it much at that time though. But briefly, it did feel like I had finally solved all the issues. This was with the Centerforce flywheel by the way.


Then I went through the whole engine swap, Luk flywheel, and now Sachs flywheel debacle. We’ll see if the weird starting those couple times were just a fluke or what. I sure hope so. I want this thing to drive normally because the way it has always idled is super draining. You can just tell something isn’t right but after all these years I never could figure it out and had to live with it.
 
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Great build thread and YJ story. I am about to be a grandfather in May, its a boy, I hope I live long enough to see him grow up and pass this YJ down. You've been all over your YJ, modded and returned to a more stock appearance. I appreciate your experience and time talking Jeep with me.
 
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PCS said:
Great build thread and YJ story. I am about to be a grandfather in May, its a boy, I hope I live long enough to see him grow up and pass this YJ down. You've been all over your YJ, modded and returned to a more stock appearance. I appreciate your experience and time talking Jeep with me.
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Thanks. Grandpa would have absolutely frowned at so much of what I’ve done to it, lol. But he’d also smile and like a lot of it. I think he’d like the back to stock kick. I just wish I had left it alone when I got it, then it’d still be as pristine as it was. There is no doubt that I have messes with every aspect of that thing. I think the only part I haven’t removed at this point is the body or the charcoal canister.

Congrats on your soon to be grandfatherhood, I’m sure that feels nice. It would be neat to pass the Jeep down someday for sure.
 
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