


RockAuto parts list - full disclosure, I found the calipers local for a little cheaper in Canadian dollars
2 x DYNAMIC FRICTION 33147009
2 x DYNAMIC FRICTION 33147008
2 x CENTRIC 90848009 OE Grade
4 x DORMAN H380280
Some M10x1.0mm banjo bolts from Amazon
I went all new, but remanufactured is also an option.
For reference, I used these as vehicles:
1994 Geo Tracker for disks, calipers, and pads.
1998 Chevy s10 for flex lines.
I mean, I'm working towards putting the brakes on, however there are building blocks to get there.
Evidently it's been a while since I've fired up an update.
Life and winter, but mostly winter, really cut into my garage time. I wasn't in the mood to work on damp days in the garage.
Being said, I'm back at it now that the weather is improving. So here's a quick update on where things sit.
The TJ blew it's last hardline, and I had to deal with that. So it's now has a full set of all hardlines all around. I don't particularly like doing brake lines, but I'm oddly pretty good at it. Being said, my ancient flare tool has seen its last flare, and I was forced (buying tools, forced, HA!) to buy a new flaring tool. It's spectacular. SO much nicer than my old one.Fortunately I also have a bleeder tool, and that just makes swapping the lines out easy enough.
I also finally got an oil change in. Having not done one since before the pandemic, the lack of driving has resulted in a 4 year lull where I've only managed a hair under 5000kms/3100mi in that time. Still under what the Royal Purple is rated for, but time is no friend to sitting oil.
I've also been making may way through the four corners on the m38 to convert it to disc brakes. Repacking berrings as I go, and taking note of what needs replacement. I am hoping to have an order in for the remainder of the parts this month, and have brakes on in July.
In any case, there's where it stands, and welcome back to anyone who pops on to read along.
Rust Never Sleeps, right?
In the on-going saga of dealing with rust on a 24 year old Jeep, this project was dealing with a gas tank skid plate that had rust, no, rotted out completely. I have dubbed the skid plate "Hopes and Prayers", mostly because all that was holding my gas tank in the Jeep was hopes and prayers.
If you're reading this, you may be well aware that Jeep TJ gas tanks are all held in place by the very skid plate designed to protect them. Meaning that if the skid plate fails, the tank falls out. I had noticed a crack in my plate last year, but it was minor and not something I was too concerned about at the time. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago. I was sitting on the lawn waiting for my sons bus to arrive, and I see this under the Jeep. A quick Amazon search and I had a "Amazon Warehouse Deal" (aka - small scratch on it) skid plate and strap kit on my driveway.
I became a bus rider to work for a few days while waiting for the weekend a some nice weather to tackle the "one hour job". Well, it took six, but you know how these things go.
To start, up on jack stands the Jeep went - note to self and anyone reading, get taller jack stands. Both rear tires came off, and then the fuel filler cup to free the filler from the body.
From the drivers side, you should be able to reach in and disconnect the fuel line, vent line, and electrical connections. I was lucky enough that the rust hadn't destroyed the lines, and I was able to get everything apart relatively easy. For a great tutorial video I highly recommend this video from Taboo Customs on YouTube.
The Jeep TJ has seven bolts holding the skid plate on the Jeep. Three in front over the track bar (rest assured they can be reached with a ratchet and long extension) and four in the back. The confusing part in the back is that there are six bolts. Two of those hold the tank straps in place, they're the longer ones, usually with rubber covers on them. The bolts coming down from the Jeep are carriage bolts, and should be captured by the mounting frame. I had to cut two off ultimately, but they were easily replaced with new hardware from the local hardware store.
Now onto the "Hopes and Prayers". Once I had the tank sitting on the driveway, and had freed it from the straps (had to cut them off) I discovered just how bad the skid plate was. Basically the tank was being held up off the road by two flaps of rust. A solid bump may have dropped the tank out.
Given my incredible intelligence (ha) I was stuck with a nearly full tank (about 45L/12gallons, or 73lbs of gas - give or take). I had to lighten that load or there was no way I was going to be able to manhandle it back into place under the Jeep. Fortunately I have a couple spare fuel pumps, and no fear of death (ha), so I "wired" up a pump with one of those lithium ion jumper boxes (you should get one they're handy). I ended up pumping the gas out into whatever spare gas cans I had to make putting the tank back as easy as possible.
And that's when things went south. The bolt broke off flush with the water pump. So now I had to move to remove the water pump. I drained out what was left of the coolant and and went to remove the other three bolts.... and broke another. Two did come out, so there's that. When I tried to get an extractor on the broken bolts, one did come out it was the other one that decided to break again flush with the block.
I centre punched the broken bolt and started with the smallest bit I had, slowly working up to 1/4". Once there, the remains were still firmly embedded in the threads. I managed to use a small punch to pull up an edge. With that done I moved up to regular bits (1/4" reverse was my largest) and managed to get the remains to release. Once that was done I was able to run a tap through.
Despite just being a week, the Go Devil that wouldn't go is now going.
In a testament to the Jeep community, I put out my troubles to my group of Jeep buddies and had a bunch of excellent suggestions. The key being that timing appeared to be off, and most likely it would be 180.
![]() |
Forgive the quality - Taken from a video |
On a Go Devil, this puts the rotor in approximately the 5 o'clock point. If timing was 180 degrees out, it would point at 11. Since I couldn't find the timing marks on my engine, I had to rely on trusting the previous owners to have not mucked with it.
I pulled the plugs and got out my trusting TDC tool, my thumb. By placing my thumb over the spark plug opening by turning the engine over I was able to get a feel for the four strokes, with the "burp" past my thumb being compression. At the same time, I had the distributor open, and was watching the rotor. What i discovered is that the engine wasn't 180 degrees out, but it wasn't firing spark plug 1 at 5 o'clock, it was more like 7. I attribute that to the non-stock distributor on the engine.
In any case, once I moved the plug wires to their new location on the distributor cap, and double checked EVERY electrical connection, I was ready to try again. I fed some starter fluid through and it started. It surprised me, and elicited a very large laugh from me. I got out my gas squirt bottle, and went at it, and well, this video says it all. It started, and it's safe to say, the Go Devil engine is going.
Despite my best efforts, the little Go Devil engine, just doesn't want to, er, go.
Since the last instalment (Here) I've been busy trying to get the engine do more than "pop". I've been trying to actually get it to run. Ultimately, I discovered that the rebuild I did on the carb just wasn't up to snuff. It was leaking out of places that it had no right to leak out of, and ultimately it was literally pouring fuel into the intake manifold, flooding out the engine.At this point, stay tuned. I need to go dig out Grampa's timing gun, and pray that the distributor will come lose. I will get this thing running!
I managed to get the engine to pop a couple times, and it was about that time that I realized that I had not yet hooked up the oil pressure gauge. So the positive is that the engine makes oil pressure, the negative, is I squirted some oil out the side of the engine. I have an oil pressure test kit that I need to hook up before trying that again.
Taking a break from the engine (I had actually forgotten that I owned the oil pressure test kit) I decided to start into the dash itself. I finished running the hand throttle and choke controls. Found the nut that holds the steering wheel on, and mounted all the gauges in the dash panel. That was pretty uneventful, but did require a trip to Princess Auto for some terminal connectors. Not that I need much excuse to zip on down to Princess Auto.If you've been around a while, you may have read my last update from April. (Right here)
I wound up purchasing a stud remover, and asking the stuck stud to come out nicely with it. Which it did, so that's a win, and I did get the head removed. Much to my surprise, the pistons looks great, the block had no surprises, and everything was generally in order. Well, except when I drained the oil.
The drain opened and started with green, followed by milkshake brown, then some actual oil, and then sludge. Lots of sludge. As much as I didn't want to, the oil pan was coming off. In it, I found a 1/4" of goo. It took a bit of time and some brake cleaner to get it to come out. Followed by cleaning up the pan and getting it spotless.I had to order in some more gaskets (note to future shade tree engine rebuilders, order the full gasket set at the start).
Ultimately, the oil pan went back on, the valve cover got a new gasket, and the head went back on with it new copper coated Fel-Pro gasket.I have a set of new spark plugs, and we're just about down with that easy head gasket replacement. Next I need some high-zinc oil, some engine flush, and that should be it. Hopefully.
The tunnel is a long one, but I can see some light twinkling at the end.
I had a few minutes out in the garage this weekend. My son was hanging around with me on Saturday, and he enjoys playing in the Jeep. Anyone with a kid will understand that keeping them occupied is the secret to getting things done.
The agenda item was pulling the fuel pump and replacing it with a new unit to see if I can fix my fuel issues that I encountered during my attempt to start the Jeep.
![]() |
Yeah. Not good. |
![]() |
So Pretty. |
So there you go, some freebie advice for the day, always make sure it's in neutral before bumping the starter.
Why was it 2022 before I learned about how great these are? |
The carb took a bit of work, being 70 years old and all. The metering valve and needle did not want to come out. It involved a lot more drilling than a carb rebuild should require.
I put a bit of two stroke fuel into the carb, and used some starting fluid to get it to pop off once. It was enough to convince me that we have a viable engine. It needs some work to button it up, and probably a head gasket (coolant in the oil), but it turns over, has spark, and enough compression to pop.
And without further ado, a VERY short video of me pulling the trigger... so to speak.