Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler YJ shifters

1995 Sahara project

Well, the Jeep has been running great. Daytona Beach winter is such a great time to be driving the YJ and I have been doing that quite a bit. I just love driving this thing as much as I can.

So a few weeks back, I was driving and the Jeep just felt different to me going down the road. I figured out that the front CAD was engaged even though I had the transfer case in 2 HIGH. To get it to disengage the front axle, I wound up removing the vac connection and turning it 180*. That immediately disengaged the front axle so I knew I had a vac issue. I realized that my 4x4 light in the dash wasn't working properly, so I figured that out and got it working so that was a big help lol.

I figured I had either an issue with one of the vac lines leaking or the vac switch on the transfer case was the problem. Upon removing the vac switch on the transfer case, I figured out that was my issue. The ball on the switch was very sticky and didn't move much. When the replacement arrived, it was very obvious that the old switch was the issue.

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You can see the difference in how far the ball sits out on the new switch vs the 30 year old OEM switch. Tossed in the new one and the 4WD system works as it should again. Definitely helps having the 4x4 light working properly too. Always nice when it's the least expensive and least labor intensive fix.
 
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I haven't had much to update as the Jeep has been running great and I've just been driving it.

When I bought this Sahara, the previous owner included all the OEM carpet. It was all piled in the back with some other miscellaneous parts. At the time I had no intention of using the carpet so I put it all into a big plastic bag and stored it in my home office.

Fast forward about two years and I started thinking about putting it back into the Jeep. The tub gets hot in the summer with the exhaust and I know the carpet might add a little bit of help with that. Thankfully it was all in pretty good shape but a little dirty so I laid it all out and pressure washed it.

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All the factory velcro was rotted and most of it was gone. I removed the rest and then added some industrial strength velcro, glued with E6000 on the carpet side. Just laid it all in the old stock locations.

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I had forgotten that this Jeep was an automatic when I bought it, so I needed to cut the carpet a bit to fit the manual shifter.

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With the OEM, I know it's all going to fit like it should, so installation went well. It's in pretty good shape and looks good overall. Now we'll see if I decide to keep it in there or not.

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I still have a Ford 8.8 rear axle sitting here in the garage for it and one of these days, I'll get off my behind and buy a welder. That is a project I still want to do, maybe on the list for sometime this year. Until then, I'll just keep enjoying this old Sahara.
 
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The Jeep only has 61k on it and the engine was running and sounded pretty good but was leaking oil all over. I started to go through the engine, the valve cover bolts were all finger loose and two were missing in the back. This whole thing turned into "while you are in there" pretty fast. I had already been planning to replace the valve cover and oil pan gaskets, most likely the rear main, water pump, thermostat, all the usual stuff when no maintenance has been done. The engine mounts were shot and I swapped in the Brown Dog mounts I had in my previous YJ (should have waited to do that a little later lol).

I started tearing all the accessories off the engine. It was one caked, oily mess.

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While I was cleaning all up the block/head I was gently using a wire brush on the core plugs

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The next morning I had a little puddle on the garage floor. I realized the plugs must be pretty rusty on the inside. Great. I drained the coolant and found that the PO had been using tap water for coolant. I flushed it several times to try and get the crappy, rust water out.

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Yeah, just what I wanted to see.......

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I was actually glad that it leaked through one of the plugs, I may not have realized how bad they were until I had put everything back together. Much easier to replace them with it torn down.

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This is an excellent teaching thread! Great pics.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler YJ shifters