1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

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elbartek83
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1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by elbartek83 »

I recently acquired a 33yr old Jeep wrangler, to which I just replaced the weber bbd carb by a refurbished by myself TBI.
I am planning on running it with RUSEFI.

This is an old but in shape powerful low end torque 258cc 4.2L inline 6 engine. No engine mods.
The engine has been nuttered of the emissions system, but I am putting a new EGR + solenoid...

Any questions / suggestions, I want to hear!
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Re: 1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by AndreyB »

Is it orange? Only a picture would tell for sure.

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kb1gtt
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Re: 1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by kb1gtt »

I have a 1995 YJ, 4cyl which I bought for the VIN. Do you have any suggestions? I dream of making it a direct injection diesel, with tube frame and new tub. What are your dreams for yours?

Is your mostly stock?
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elbartek83
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Re: 1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by elbartek83 »

Ok, first of all, here in Canada, maybe to the contrary of Russia, Orange is not a color one should drive in, for reasons of persecution...
I am joking, but no man, it is darker green but matte, someone put new body parts over the original old rusty body parts and, for an unknown to me reason, seems to have put Bondo all over the place? and painted it with what seems green (army kinda) spray can paint... so you can imagine the monster little tank!

This spring I will do a job over the bondo, I am looking for fiberglass/carbon fiber from aerospace / cesna type of craft + epoxy + vacuuming possibly.. The problem is the painting over... I will think about it... However, it doesn't look trash as it is, it looks pretty rought and nice; but I want to completely fix up the body.

I am currently developing / working on a few things:

1. A rusefi modified pcb for my engine with parts more commonly available here in Canada. (a few mods)
2. I nearly finished but still testing a powder coating gun I made + Infrared heating lamp (made from ebay 1000w GE infrared bulbs).

3. The powdergun is because I just removed and scrapped off and am polishing the alu valve cover... which the previous owner decided to paint with a spray can with some cheapo red paint... I nearly finished polishing it, it looks absolutely amazing, now I need to powdercoat some clear coat over it.

4. I am also replacing pretty much all the sensors needed.

5. replacing some gaskets.. yeah the previous owner thought red RTV is good enough for everything, I am buying high end silicone gaskets at 40$ a pop... there is a difference. ( previous owner had a vacuum issue (hah, really, don't ya say?) )

6. Getting a cnc fabricated trigger wheel from 5mm steel, installing with a reluctance sensor. 60-2 vs. 36-2...? I have a guy in UK, I still am not convinced 60-2 is really worth it. It will be coupled to the harmonic dampener in the front, but I have heard that best results are with back-coupling (flywheel/flexplate) at the rear of the engine vs. vibrational distrortion.

7. I am working on the design of a magnetic crank position sensor with a special chip (more on that some day... I will use the designed crank wheel instead, but I ordered a chip and am ordering a special magnet [samarium for high temps, diametrical magnetization cylindrical]) This YJ amc258 does not have a crank/cam sensor, it is based on an old distributor design (distributor which I am replacing with HEI) coupled to the cam..

8. installing and testing a detonation / knock sensor on this engine... there is none..

9.
..... and more


Hey kkb1gtt, did you already exchange the ECU ? are you running rusefi or some third party ECU ?
I have been reading tons and working on my new/old jeep for about 1.5 months, so I am pretty much a Jeep newb... I think 95 4 YJ must be electronic injection rail to the manifold? or is it TBI? 95 is recent for TBI... I am wondering why would you go with diesel ? I am pretty sure these older engines can take it, but to my extend of engine knowledge, knowing that diesel is a less refined fuel, I am wondering if it will not have adverse effects on an engine like that not designed for it? petrol is cleaner no? Did you read about converting to cleaner propane ? I would rather think propane if I had to, but I am keeping petrol... please let me know the reason for diesel. Or are you/do you want to be swapping the engine?

My frame has been fixed up on the right points (re-welded, welded over), I however, this spring, will clean up rust from below and weld extra plates and then paint all the road facing body with rubber like anti-rust paint... or something of sorts.. I don't plan on changing the body for now, as I will use the vehicule for light road travel, it's days of 4x4 trails are over I think...

I have some 1/4" diamond steel plate which I will powdercoat and make a new back bumper (which is missing), I will also put some diamond plate all around... (after my fender job)

To make this trail jeep road savvy here in Canada, I need to do the following:

1. extend the fender covers by a few inches (yeah it's got 35" wheels, it is illegal to have wheels which extend over the body on the sides) (about 300$ for a nice really wide set)
2. design, fabricate mud flaps for back wheels from hardcore rubber + steel. (to be legal, the rear mud flaps shall be max 30cm from the ground)
3. put a new back bumper (it is not legal to drive without a real bumper)
4. a few small fixes (replace one mirror)

My dream, be driving that little tank on a new injection + rusefi this summer... However I have a GM ECM that I grabbed with the TBI and all the sensors/harness, that I might install if I can't make rusEfi work well enough .. I might test that first as well.. its from an 1990 Astro 4.3L V6... so it fits.

...

kb1gtt, do you know anyone running an old jeep on RusEfi ? If so, let me know, if not, let's start a thread ok? I really want to create a custom pcb layout for this purpose and adapt RusEfi to our jeep Yj's ... I am a computer engineer and have a home lab for electronics and a half decent garage... A lot of knowledge in electronics and quite decent lab with equipment. I've been doing research on many ECM's for the past weeks... but I lack real life knowledge on testing them, and don't have a dynamo handy lol.

Photos to come soon to prove I am not driving an Orange car as requested by Andrey.







I will send pictures very soon!
elbartek83
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Re: 1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by elbartek83 »

Also, forgot to mention, my extended dream would probably to swap an engine into it like some monster v8 with > 300hp from a corvette, but hey.. no need for now.

On the engine side, the head seems fine. I will, probably this summer, remove the head, have it magnafluxed and clean it, hone valves / cylinders.. flat it out to spec (sand it straight) ..

Perhaps do an engine rebuild ?

Check out the timing chain and gears and if need be, replace. A guy is selling a replacement for the chain to make it gears, I will think about that (250$ worth it?)

Replace the head gasket and timing cover gasket.

...

A fellow guy is selling me an amazing performance cylinder head for 1.5k ... think about it.
...

As you can see, I am deep into the project.. for now, since I acquired the vehicule which I towed, I drove it only for about 1.5 hours ... lol
I set up a kind of tempo/tarp cover over it in my driveway that gives me the ability to work on it during the winter season here in Canada, I will send pictures.
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kb1gtt
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Re: 1987 Jeep YJ - Wrangler - i6 amc258 4.2L

Post by kb1gtt »

He asks if mine runs..... It probably would have a couple years ago. It's just a VIN to me. A project some day, and it has the little bits which I can transfer over. Things like tail lights, fiberglass top, windshield, etc. For now it's just yard art. I plan a tube frame, new tub, etc.

I do not know of any rusEFI Jeeps yet.

I'd suggest an adapter plate, to make PNP kind of setup. Our boards are very flexible and very small. It has been common place to use those to keep a standard platform for the software guys to work from then a PNP board to adapter to an OEM harness. This simplifies the solder and such, as you only have to solder what is unique to your setup.
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