[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by sh3lby

That's a neat looking Merc you have there. Looks almost new, they did a great job!

W23 Era is one of the peak Mercedes quality and design periods in my opinion. Wish it was more feasable to own such older cars in India.

Thanks, yes it is very good nick. Probably amongst the best and most original W123s here in the Netherlands.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Yesterday I picked up my Jaguar from Gilbert, my new car spray paint guy.

He did a great job fixing the bumper. Just a spot repair, it is truly amazing how well that works on these small sort of areas.



Earlier this week I had encountered a Check Engine Light. Had not happened for several years on the Jaguar. Engine ran fine, I always carry my OBD analyser, so I checked for codes and found DTC P0171, which means bank 1 is running too lean.

I reset the code and drove almost 200 kilometers and it has not popped up again. Now bear in mind, when your CEL comes on, this almost always mean you have a problem. Resetting the codes does not solve the underlying problem. Sometimes resetting them might clear them and they pop right back on.

But the older cars get the more temperamental they tend to get, when it comes to throwing codes. Obviously, a specific code always has a number of possible different causes, all listed in the workshop manuals. My experience is that far more often the cause is very simple a small electric fault, e.g. wire chaffing, poor ground, loose connectors, corroded contacts and so on. That is the good news, the bad news, they tend to be more difficult to trouble shoot.

When problems are intermittent, it is nearly always one of the above!!

Anyway, since we are going to the UK for a couple of days I though I had best had another look at the Jaguar.

So back home I ran a complete full system scan. Everything came up fine. These are just a few of the (sub) systems that gets checked. It takes about 15 - 20 minutes for a full scan.



Next I started the engine and used my OBD analyser for some live measurements. When an engine is running lean it means additional air is being sucked in after the mass air flow meter. So it could be a inlet leak somewhere.

A good measure is looking at the short term and long term fuel trims. Also, looked at the O2 measurements. Everything looks fine!!



So I decided to at least do a few basic checks of maintenance, just to make sure.

First thing is clean the air filter. Mine is one of the K&N filters.

As I have shown many times before, I unclip the air filter box and the complete inlet air assembly comes of the engine.



Filter was dirty, but nothing too bad I think.



These K&N filters are re-usable. You need some special cleaning stuff which you spray on and let soak in for 10-15 minutes. Next you rinse the filter off under a running tap and let it dry.





I was in a bit of hurry, so I blew some air across the filter and used my heater to dry the filter.



Whilst the filter was drying I checked a few other things as well. Another possible problem is the crankcase vent restrictor. There is a special Jaguar instruction on how to check and clean it.



You need to use a 2,5mm drill bit, 45 mm long. Make sure you attach it to something, because if it slips and disappears into your engine, it is going to get very expensive and tedious!!





I did not notice any dirt on the drill bit after I poked it around a bit.

Next I checked all the electrical connections. And look at this: The connector on the mass air flow sensor had quite a bit corrosion!



I can’t say for sure that was the root cause, but it is certainly a possibility. Sprayed some contact cleaner and brushed it all clean..

This is the inside of the Mass Air Flow meter. (MAF).



I have ordered some very special cleaning fluid for the sensor as well, but it had not arrived yet. Never use brake cleaner, fluid, carburettor cleaning, EGR cleaner or anything like that.

And always let the engine cool down for a few hours. Some of these sensors have a heater and you will ruin it by spraying cold cleaning liquid on it.

One of the clips on the Inlet Air filter box had snapped off. Those of you whom are following this thread for years, might remember it has happened before.



But as memory goes I think my last repair held for some 3-4 years! Glue technology has been evolving ever since.



Ideally, I would have repaired it with my fantastic JB Weld. But that needs to dry for 6-8 hours and then fully cure for another 24 hours. So I used my other special super duper super glue.

Cleaned up everything and put it back on with a clamp for a few short hours.



By that time my air filter had dried completely. Time to re-apply the special oil. You spray it on and let it permeate into the filter for some 10-15 minutes. You spray it only on the “dirty” side, so the side facing toward the air intake. You might have to repeat this proces a couple of times until the “clean” side of the filter starts showing this sort or reddish colour too.



Put everything back on the Jaguar again and took it for a short test drive. So far everything looks good, fingers crossed. We will be driving about 1100 km in the next three days!!

Last night I was reading some messages on my Dutch Jaguar forum. Somebody had posted a message about a second hand for sale Jaguar X350 which he believed had the odometer rolled back.



I thought it was the old Jaguar from spanner mate Peter. So I checked with him. Sure enough it was. Peter sold it about 10 months ago and it had almost 500K on the clock. So it has been rolled back almost 300K. That is a lot of “lost” kilometers.

Several of us contacted the seller and the auction side. Nobody replied, but the add has been taking down!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

We have just returned from a three day trip to the UK in our Jaguar. Drove well over 1000 kilometers and no more Check Engine Lights! So for now, I consider this solved!

My wife is very much into period dress making, which means lots of events and markets year round, all over Europe. This time she wanted to visit a market in Coventry, so we made it into a little trip. Whilst my wife was looking at old dresses and things I went to a nearby aviation museum to look at old planes. I did a write up of the museum:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/comme...ines-more.html (Midland Air Museum | Coventry, England | Classic Fighter Jets, Engines & more)

After Coventry we spend a day in Hay on Wye. Mostly famous for its 20 second hand book shops and antique. Right on the border with Wales, gorgeous country side. On the last day we stopped at the Canal Boat Museum in Stoke Bruerne. Very interesting and nice to be near water again.



I am now officially retired and this is what old folks do, drive around in old cars, looking at old stuff!! It’s a fantastic life!!

We had dinner with our oldest friend Caroline and Philip, after which we drove on to the Stena Ferry at Harwich. Very nice and enjoyable little road trip. Stocked up on chocolate Easter Eggs for the kids and grand children.

Back home I have started on detailing the Jeep Cherokee.

First time ever I am using my brand new polishing machine. Decided to start on the rear door first.



Took some bits of for two reasons. Makes it easier to polish and I also wanted to inspect for rust behind it.



First bit done. Went pretty well. Wim was a very good teacher and also he provided with a very extensive and detailled manual to go with all the various products I have bought.



Putting the masking tape on is a bit of a tedious job.



Working on the roof of the Jeep requires stairs and steps. Eventually I got one of our garden benches and placed it along side the Jeep. Gave me the perfect and stable working height for polishing the roof.



Of course, I did not have to polish the freshly restrained panels at the front of the Jeep. Put the wax on straight away.



So far I am very very pleased with the result. But it is a lot of hard work, lots of elbow grease required. Being old also comes with some physical limitations. I have always had problems with my back, neck and shoulder due to RSI and a chronicle infection. But I have also developed a bit of a lingering tennis elbow which plays up quickly after repeated motions such as waxing/washing/polishing.

So I am going slowly with lots of breaks in between!

Of to Birmingham with best friend and spanner mate Peter for our annual trip to the Practical Classic car & Restoration show.

https://www.necrestorationshow.com

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

Very nice trip report. Happy to see the canal boats and the thatched house

Originally Posted by Jeroen

20 second hand book shops and antique.

My internal language engine had some trouble parsing this! English is often dependent on hyphens to determine meaning, and yet the hyphen is being dropped.

20-second hand book shops and antique.
20 second-hand book shops and antique.
20 second hand-book shops and antique.
20-second hand-book shops and antique.

[Jeroen]

Continuing with the detailing of my Jeep. I have done a lot of work already, but still more to do. I am not bringing this Jeep back to a “as good as new / factory status” by any means. But it is a remarkable transformation, I must admit!

Replacing and fixing a few things along the way. These rubber door stop on the rear door were completely perished, so I replaced them. New and old, not difficult to see which one is the old rubber stop!






I also took the rear light units of the Jeep. The right one had a bit of water ingress and I wanted to see if I could fix it. Also, I wanted to clean behind the unit and check for rust.

Looks pretty good once all the dust removed and a bit of polish applied!

I was not to happy with the wiring behind the light unit. For now I have left it, but I will need to sort it soon.



I had also taken off the third brake light. Same reason as the other lights. Again, no rust, other than in this case badly rusted screws and nuts/clips. So I replaced them for nice new shinning ones.



The third brake light comes with a special gasket, but you can’t get the gasket alone. So I just applied of my liquid gasket. Works really well.



All done, shiny rear third brake light, with new shiny screws!



By the way, my polisishing machine works really well on these sort of plastic light covers. Although I know some folks use polishing machines on the front light covers as well, be aware that you do polish away the UV protection!

I also modified the registration plate holder. We have these plates in the Netherlands where the dealer or garage can put their name/company logo on the bottom of the plate holder. According to this holder this Jeep was once handled by a company called Cherokee4me in Deventer. I once called them with a few questions, but was told they only provide services to owners who bought their Jeeps from them. So I decided I did not want to advertise their name on the holder anymore. I did like the two little Jeep logo’s. So I polished away their stupid company name!!



Looks good I think!!





You know your polishing efforts are beginning to show when you can take images like these:



One small set back though. Once I had the two rear light units off the car, I tried to open up the right unit to fix the water ingress. Turns out it is sealed or glued together and I broke a piece off. So a quick call to Jeep parts guy Edwin to pick up a new unit.

Only when I checked old versus new did I realise my Jeep has American lights and Edwin had provided me with a European. The American version is different, having only three light bulbs as the rear light and brake light are combined in one bulb. Also the rear, brake, indicator and reverse lens are positioned differently.



I am waiting for a call from Edwin whether he can supply me with an American unit.

Last Friday, spanner mate Peter and I went across the UK for our annual trip to the Classic Car and Restoration show in the NEC, Birmingham.

https://www.necrestorationshow.com

Was an early day for both of us. We were up at 04.30AM and we both arrived at Amsterdam airport by about 06.30AM for our 08.25AM flight to Birmingham.

Whenever, wherever I park my car, I always take a quick picture so I can find it back when I return. Here you see it at the parking at Amsterdam Airport, its control tower in the background.



I only took a few images of particular cars I thought were interesting to show. Bear in mind, this is not your usual Classic car show. This show is about restoration and working on your car by yourself. You won’t find the millions of dollars Ferrari’s, RRs or anything like that. This is hardcore dirty fingernail DIY classic car territory! Which also means by and large pretty ordinary and affordable cars on display. And lots of these cars are being worked on.

As always there is a big auction:



Here we have a Bedford CA Romay Dormobile. Love the name Dormobile. Estimate UKP 14-17000.



This year there was special emphasis on barn finds. This one here is pretty unique even as barn find goes: A 1976 2.0 Ford Granada Mk1 with only 197 miles on the clock. Apparently at some point in time, the rear half of the car caught fire. But it is all completely complete and original including a Factory PDI label on the engine





Lots of folks being busy spannering away.





This was an interesting demo on the Citroen DS hydro pneumatic suspension system. The rear fender is attached with a single nut. If you have a flat it needs to come off, but it also makes for a very good view of parts of the suspension.



Alfa Romeo has always had a loyal following by car enthusiast in the UK. Even though the cars had to be converted to right hand drive. One of the prettiest modern Alfa Saloon, no doubt is the 166. Gorgeous car and factory fitted with right hand drive.



This must have been one of the saddest, if not the saddest looking Alfa Romeo Spider serie 4 I have ever come across:



We spend some 6 hours at the show and then returned back to airport to head back home with the KLM. The NEC is adjacent to Birmingham airport, very convenient, you walk from the terminal into the exhibition centre or vice versa.

I bought a few more things for on the walls of my garage





This is the one thing with this particular event, as we are flying out in the morning and back in the evening, buying tools or so is simply not practical as we would be allowed to take them with us as hand luggage. But in a few weeks Peter and I are also visiting the famous Techno Classica in Essen, Germany. We can take a lot of stuff home then!!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Couple of days Mrs. D was complaining that her Fiesta was making the same horrible noises again!. Or as she put it; you have buggered my car!

So I quickly put it back on the jacks/stands:



I found out that one of the nuts had come loose. Only on the driver side. Did I miss torquing this one?? I am not sure, so I got my torque wrench out and checked all bolts. Everything was fine for just a few days and the noise was back!!

So up on the Jacks and the stands it goes again. Same nut has come loose again. I have retightened it and added additional self locking nuts.



So far so good! Fingers crossed!

I thought I would just show this. Whenever you take the hub caps off and put them back on, make sure you position them carefully. The little spring that holds it in place at the back has special indentation where the valve stem pokes through. If you position the hub cap incorrectly, the spring will touch the valve stem, possible damaging it! So be careful you put them on correctly.



I have been doing a lot of work on the detailing of the Jeep. Jeep part specialist Edwin called earlier, the new, correct American version, of the rear light had arrived. So I went over to pick it up. We opened the box and had a good look and thought it was fine.

That was until I tried to install it on the Jeep. Turns out it is a left unit.



Edwin checked, he ordered a right one, the shipping and invoice to him says right, but they shipped a left unit. We should get the correct one in a few days.

Other than the rear light, the Jeep is in perfect order now. Which is good news as Peter is coming tomorrow for the valuation of my three cars.

However, I did notice quite a bit of oil underneath the Jeep. I had a first look and it might be the rear crankcase seal. That is quite a big job to replace. I will first clean up everything around it and try and pin point the actual leak properly.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Ideally, I would have repaired it with my fantastic JB Weld. But that needs to dry for 6-8 hours and then fully cure for another 24 hours. So I used my other special super duper super glue.

Jeroen

Excellent as always.
I must find a way to copy all the posts in this thread for my reference - with all the images.

They have another JBWeld with almost the same strength (3400 PSI as against the 5000 PSI of the original JBWeld epoxy) but works faster - Jbweld KwikWeld.
I have a pack stored always in the car. It was useful when someone broke my ORVM and I glued it back. It took about 10 minutes.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Excellent as always.

They have another JBWeld with almost the same strength (3400 PSI as against the 5000 PSI of the original JBWeld epoxy) but works faster - Jbweld KwikWeld.
I have a pack stored always in the car. It was useful when someone broke my ORVM and I glued it back. It took about 10 minutes.

Thanks, that is very useful to know, I will be on the lookout for it!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

We met up the other day with out friends Bernd and Loes for a drink and dinner. Berndt owns and runs the Autodrome, the largest collections of model cars in the Netherlands (7000+ model) He is always buying and selling model cars and all sorts of other car-mobilia on the Internet.

He had bought this very nice Pocket model kit, of a Valve F16 diesel engine. These kits are quite rare this days, they were last made in the early 1990s.





I have a little “model engine museum shelve” in my garage.



So I bought it from Berndt and I will be putting it together in the weeks to come.







I finished detailing the Jeep. I will be doing a “special one year Jeep” in the next week or so. Also gave the Jaguar a quick wash, polish and wax.



Spanner mate and official Classic Car Valuator extraordinary Peter came round and put new values on all three cars. All cars have gone up in value, the Jeep the most.

Just a small job on the Mercedes. A couple of years ago the W123 participated in a Concour d’elegance. Until then the driver seat belt mechanism was missing part of cover. I searched and found another one and managed to fix it. But it had come undone again!



So, I thought I had better use my J&B Weld this time:



Kept it in place with elastic bands and a clamp whilst it was curing.



So far, so good!

Yesterday I drove over to Peter to continue our work on his 1972 Jaguar XJ6 S1 in the W123.



As you might recall we are trying to get it to start after a prolonged period of sitting in Peter’s garage.

Since last time, Peter had replaced the spark leads and that initially seemed to bring some life back into the engine. Lot of spluttering, but not catching. And then the spluttering stopped as well. So time for some more trouble shooting.

We used the Lancia Dedra to pull the Jaguar out of Peter’s garage. Note the mandatory red flag on the rope, safety first, even in your own driveway!



So the engine would turn, Peter replaced some leaking parts on the carburators, new plug leads and we had replaced the old traditional contact with a nice new electronic Hal sensor. She would turn over fine, but would not start.

We checked for fuel. Simply undo the fuel line near the carburator, put the ignition on, and lots of fuel!



Next, do the spark plugs get spark? I have this nifty tool to check for spark. You just put it in line between the spark plugs and the lead. I bought it in the USA in 2009 properly. Never used it, still in its original packing.





When we started the engine, the little light did not blink! But I decided to check the bulb of this nifty tool first, before drawing any conclusion. Sure enough the bulb was broken! Would you believe it, I have had this tool for 13-14 years and the first time I am using it, its broken! Back to the drawing board and just standard “remove spark plug”, re-attach lead and hold the spark plug with lead attached to a ground and start. Still no spark on any of the plugs!!

So we decided to open up the distributor once again. I pulled off the rotor too and I immediately spotted the problem.





The rotor attaches to the little shaft by means of a little stub inside the rotor. That had broken. Usually that means the rotor has hit the inside of the distributor cap. We checked but did not see any other damage. I did notice a slight axial play in the little shaft. I have had this same problem on my Spider many years ago, whilst touring in France. We had to replace the complete distributor at the time. But the play on this one, was a lot less and we could not figure out why the rotor had broken.

The only thing we could think off, is that somehow the distributor cap was not aligned properly. Strange, because there is only one way to mount it.

Luckily Peter still had a spare rotor. We popped that in, checked, double checked, triple checked the distributor cap was alligned properly.

Sure enough the engine fired up and died almost immediately. Same problem!!



We had to get a new rotor. Luckily Peter knew a guy, Dennis, who deals in Triumph spares and the distributor on his Jaguar is very similar. So we called him and he confirmed he had two of these rotors in stock. So we hopped into the W123 and drove over to pick them up.

Nice place, he also deals in classic cars, mostly Triumph.





We also discussed with Dennis what could have caused our problems. He showed us a couple of distributors and some modified ones too. It looks like the modification instructions on the Hal sensor were incorrect, or at least incomplete.

The original distributor had this spacer ring fitted between the body and the cap. It would not fit with the new Hal Sensor fitted.





We decided to modify it, so it would fit. It helps align the cap better and it also adds about 1-2 mm to the cap in comparison to the rotor.

Dennis had two different rotors for us. One original (black) and one new (red)



The original is NOS, so called New Old Stock. It also has a counter balance weight. Which we had never seen before. But given the wonky state of the shaft of the distributor might be useful.

We decided for our first test to install the new version though, just in case it got damaged again, easier to replace than the NOS one. Here you see if fitted, with the special modified spacer fitted as well.



We started the engine and it fired up immediately!!! Ran for about 10 seconds and died again. Progress definitely.

We checked again and the ignition was still working properly so it must have been something with the fuel supply. We decided to check everything again, including checking the float valve in both carburettor. Which means removing the float chamber, but of a fiddly job, with the carburettor still in place.



This carburettor is very similar to the one on my W123, also a Stromberger. We took the vacuum piston out as well.

Sure enough one of the vacuum membranes was torn:



We were also not a hundred percent sure on the inlet air filter base plate. It has some connections in it between carburettors, so we decided to bolt it back in place as well, just in case.





Even with a torn membrane the engine should run and start pretty normal. Cleaned everything and put everything back together.

Here the first attempt after all of this cleaning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhA9f2ifbvU

So it is running. However, it hunts from idle to full, with the accelerator fully depressed. Very strange. Usually that means some (vacuum) leak. So we did a lot of leak testing, but could not find anything.

The one thing we are not sure about is the fuel. It looked a bit yellowish. That doesn’t mean much, but it also 3 year old fuel. So it might be off. Peter is going to get some new fuel and see if that makes a difference.

Once we have it running there are still a lot of other jobs to do.

Detailing is on the list too, but is currently at position 89 on our list.

[Jeroen]

Update on the Alfa Spider engine:

This morning I drove down to Oosterhout, (https://specialcarcare.nl), to see Marc, who had already removed the engine from my Spider and was about to open it up.

They had in fact done some other jobs too. Notably clean up the engine bay! I am very happy with that. If you have followed this thread you might remember I drove my Spider a while ago having forgotten to put back the oil cap. Oil everywhere, and in all honesty, the engine bay was not to clean to start with, despite it having bean “dry iced blasted” a few years ago. Part of the problem is the rust proofing that was done, almost twenty years ago. It has been extremely effective, but it means everything is also covered in this Dinitrol stuff, which prevent rust obviously, but also catches all dirt and grime.



I am very pleased with this. I am getting more and more impressed with Marc and his team. They are extremely knowledgeable and thorough. Marc will replace all the electrical connectors as some of them have broken. Again, I know from first hand experience what that can do to the engine.

Wonky electrical connector

When I walked into the workshop this is what was waiting for me:



The sump had already been removed as various other parts as you see.

I watched how Marc and his crew removed the cilinder head. Interesting to see, they used a special tool to pull the head very gently from the main engine frame



We had a quick look at the pistons and the general state of the cilinder bushes.

Here is the good news. We were probably just in time, as most likely the cilinder head gasket was about to crack. In fact we could see clear evidence of some cooling liquid leaking in two of the cilinders.



Marc showed me the deformation of the head gasket. Another tell tale!!



Also, the cilinder bushes are completely worn. They look almost polished, can’t see the typical honing marks at all. So again, this is very strong indication that the oil burning was partly due to worn bushes and piston rings.

Can’t tell much about the state of the valves and the valve stem bushing. But Marc expects that the stem bushings are worn and need replaced. You can’t really tell until they have removed the camshafts.



Marc is a true fountain of knowledge. I learn more in talking and listening to him for half an hour than spannering by myself for a decade.

Apparently, I had no idea, my engine has been modified. These little bushing you see here are to restrict the oil flow to the cilinder head and keep more oil and pressure lower down in the system. They also hold the little O-rings in place. Never knew that.



Marc will remove every bolt and nut. Everything gets replaced if suspect, or it replacing it just makes sense, because an engine out and overhaul is a big job. You don’t want to have to redo it any time soon. We have already decided that the motor mounts are in pretty poor state and those will be repaired.

Marc will take the front cover off as well, to inspect everything and replace both distribution chains. Also, a new waterpump will be installed. I installed this waterpump about 23 years ago. It is a huge pain, with the engine still in the car as the pump get stuck behind the pulley.

Marc also showed me the debris in the bottom of the sump:



These were quite large particles and I had seen some on the oil pump suction filter too. He explained that the sump gasket was installed with some silicone grease. Over time that hardens and start to crack and bits fall into the sump. A regular oil chance won’t get it out. You really have to flush the engine or take the sump off.

Here you see the oil filter on the bottom of the engine (the engine is upside down)





The problem with these silicone bits is they can clog up the oil pump suction filter, and or worse prevent the relief valve from working properly. Irrespective, Marc will always remove the oil pump and relief valve for inspection. Fingers crossed!!

Marc is going to replace the piston, piston rings, cilinder liners and all the bearing in the engine block. These engine bearing don’t have dowel pins, so you simply can not re-install a used bearing accurately. Better to replace them.

Marc always gets the cilinder head re-surfaced too. Again, I am very happy for that. You just can’t tell if a cilinder head is slightly warped, might as well take a tiny bit off and you are 100% guaranteed a true flat surface.

Later this afternoon, Marc send me some more images. He had taken out the crankshaft. His initial thoughts were it needed quite a bit of work, grinding1





However, after carefully measuring it Marc concluded that the crankshaft is still within original tolerances, so it will just be polished.









Very happy to see all this progress and the high degree of attention to detail and knowhow being poured into my Spider!

I will pop round this Friday as Marc expect to have started re-assembly of my engine by then.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

It has been about a year since I bought my 1998 Jeep Cherokee.

I thought I would do a recap of what I have been doing to it over the last 12 months or so. Obviously a lot of driving. I did about 8000 kilometers. It only failed me once, because of a broken cell battery and problematic alternator.

I bought the Jeep for several reasons. At the time I was about to retire and that also meant handing in the company car. So we would have some more room in our drive for a new car. I always liked the Jeep Cherokee. We had one when we lived in Kansas City 2009 - 2012. Really enjoyed that car. They are also hard wearing and relatively easy to work on. Also, I can just throw my bicycle in the back and drive somewhere else to go for a bicycle tour.

I bought the Jeep for Euro 5000 (INR 448000), I have spend about Euro 6000 on it. Mostly in parts I have put on myself and a few jobs I could not do myself (some welding and some spraying)

The Jeep belonged to a young family and was used as their family car for the last couple of years. It was kept running with minimal maintenance. With hindsight as I learned, too little maintenance on some components. It was also very filthy, inside and out.

I always wanted to do a full car restoration, but I thought I would start with this project. Find a decent Jeep for not too much money and put everything right.

It has been an interesting experience and I have learned quite a bit along the way. I thought I would share this summary. It is probably a good example on what you might expect, if you buy a 25 year old car, that has led a hard life.

Although there are still some more small things to fix, I sort of rounded off the first year of ownership by a very very thorough wash, polish and wax job. I took a special workshop in car detailing and polishing. Never used a machine polisher before.

All in all I am very, very please with the result:











My good friend, spanner mate and also official classic car valuator Peter came around to appraise all of my cars. He put the value of the Jeep at Euro 15000 (INR 1345000). The value in an appraisal in used to insure these classic cars. In case of theft or total loss, the insurance will pay the full amount. The appraisal is a reflection on what the current market is of a similar car, in terms of its overal and technical state.

Here the first post and the introduction. first introduction of my Jeep

After picking up the Jeep I did several quick inspections of various bits and started ordering parts. I was lucky to find an excellent Jeep parts specialist (Edwin) in the next village from us!

With a new car I needed to invest in the proper car documentation. The previous owners had given me their Haynes manual, but I also found, online, a proper Jeep Cherokee 1998 Workshop manual. Bought it, downloaded it and had it printed, because I prefer paper to reading on a screen.

First job was identical to the first job I did on our USA Jeep. Replacing the Jeep hinge pins of the driver door. Stupid design, not very robust, the doors will start to sag easily. Hinge pins replacement

Next I tackled the stabiliser bars and various rubber bushings. Over time these just perish on any car. Anything over 15-20 years is likely to need replacements.



Stabiliser bar and bushing replacement

Next job was the brakes. The Jeep has a very traditional brake set up. Front are disc brakes, rear are drum brakes. Vacuum booster and a front/rear split system (so not diagonally as is common on most cars)

Brake work is always hard work, especially if the brakes had not been looked after. The previous owner told me the front brakes had been replaced not too long ago. But in fact, when I started to take things apart it became very very obvious that all brakes, front and rear, had not been looked at for a very long time. In fact, I doubt it should have passed its previous MOT in this shape, let alone its next MOT.





So I replaced both front discs, callipers, pads and brake line hoses. At the rear I replaced the drums, shoes and various other bit and also the rear brake hose (it has only one common line for left and rear brake) was replaced.



Front and rear brake replacements

When you buy an old car likes this, it is anybodies guess as to what the real maintenance state is. There is only that much that you can tell by looking at stuff. I have a simple rule. I will always do a full maintenance service, which will include at least:

- new distributor cap
- new spark plugs leads and coil lead
- new spark plugs
- new air inlet filter
- change engine oil and oil filter
- change transmission oil and filter
- Change differential oil on both front and rear differential
- Change Transfercase oil.





Plus a few other bits. Replacing some other bits and pieces and fluids

It made a noticeable difference on how the car drove and also on the mileage I was getting. These Jeeps with the ancient 4.0L six cilinder in line are never frugal when it comes to fuel efficiency. But I am getting about 1;8 these days, which is not too bad!

The next job was a BIGGIE!! Replacement of the AC evaporator. Which means the complete dashboard has to come out! Another good thing about the Jeep Cherokee; there are about a billion trillion YouTubes out there on every job imaginable. If anything the problems is sorting through a lot of crappy video’s till you find a guy that actually understands how to make a useful video that really helps the next guy doing the same job.

I knew the AC was not working, the previous owner had informed me up front. But he could not really tell me what had gone wrong, so I spend a lot of time troubleshooting the system first. All the electrical systems checked out, so my friendly local AC specialist Jack helped me pressure test the system and it was very obvious the evaporator was leaking. So I got myself some more special AC tools and a bunch of other parts. The evaporator is located inside the so called Heater and Evaporator box underneath the dashboard. So I decided to replace the heater as well for good measure. I did not want to redo taking the dashboard out again. Also replaced the dryer. At 25 years of age, it unlikely to be doing any drying!!



Dashboard out to replace AC Evap and heater core



It was a huge job, which kept me busy for days and days. I am a bit of an old git these days, things have slowed down for me, my memory isn’t what it was, so I spend half the time looking for tools that I have misplaced, to find I am holding it! Oh the joy of maturity.

Jack came around to pressure test and recharge the AC system. Cold air once again!!



But with the AC system working, the electrical fan kicked in as well. The engine’s normal fan is belt driven, so the electrical fan had not turned yet. It made a huge racket! So I decided to open up the e-motor, clean it out and replaced the bearings. Lost one of the springs holding the brushes in place, so I had to make a new one on my Mini Mill.



With the dashboard not yet completely back in place I also checked various electrical connections to the instrument pod. I had lots of lights flickering. The internet had suggested a good whack on top of it. Which did solve the problem, but it always comes back. The root cause is poor electrical connections at the back of the instrument pod, so those were inspected and cleaned too.



Poor electrical connections

In between the various big jobs, I also did various other little jobs.

- Fixed the cruise control buttons
- Checked for rust under the parafan and ensured all drains are open
- Replaced the indicator stalk
- Replaced all the bulbs in the dashboard and instrumentation pod
- Worked on several bits of rust in the door frames
- Replaced both front light units
- Had the driver seat fixed (seat was torn)
- Did a very thorough clean and shampoo on the interior (all seats out!)




By now the Jeep was ready for its first MOT or APK as we call it. I had discovered a local garage that has a lot of knowledge on Jeeps. The owner Martin is a nice guy and has helped me with several jobs and given me endless advise. He had checked over the Jeep a few weeks earlier. We had made a list of all the jobs I would do and what he would do.

Martin would do a bit of welding on one of the sills and also replace the rear shackles on the rear (leave) springs. I had done this job on my previous Jeep and it had been a huge pain. You really need to have the Jeep on the lift and you need to have a BIG torch. Because those shackles are rusted solid.



This is what came out of mine. And I can guarantee you it should not have passed its previous MOT with the previous owner. Martin fixed it all.

Next another pretty big job; replacing the radiator, cooling water pumps, thermostat, torsion damper and front crankcase seal.
Obviously, I also needed to buy some tools for these jobs.





The reason I decided to do all of these in one go is that I wanted to flush the cooling liquid system and I did not want to try and extract either the torsion damper or the crankcase seal with the radiator in place for fear of damaging it.
Getting the transmission lines of the radiator was a PITA and I ended up damaging the connectors and had to replace the complete line.



Pulley and crankcase seal replacement

Replacing the thermostat and cooling liquid pump was pretty straighforward:

Cooling liquid pump replacement

Next job was initiated because of a breakdown along the A2 motorway. Which I diagnosed eventually as a faulty battery (one of the cells was damaged), but also the alternator was not working properly now and then. So I ended up having to replace the battery and the alternator.



Battery and alternator replacement

The one fluid I had not yet replaced was the power steering fluid, so high time for some fresh fluid!!

Power steering flush

I had also noticed a bit of a peculiar noise coming from the AC compressor. I had heard that noise before on my USA Jeep. Its the bearing of the clutch of the AC compressor. So out it comes. Jeep does not sell the individual bearings, you are not even supposed to take these things apart. But I always do, I like restoring and fixing stuff, replacing only what is necessary.



AC clutch bearing replacement

Don’t tell my wife, but the installing of bearings and bushings, require the use of our kitchen microwave and deepfreeze. Heating makes parts bigger and freezing makes part smaller, so they fit easily!! Trust me, I am an engineer!!



Although the AC clutch bearing replacement was successful, unfortunately, I kept hearing other weird squeaky noises. Tried a bunch of different things to diagnose it. Would you believe it, in the end it turned out my brand new alternator had a wonky bearing!! So I swapped the new alternator for a new new alternator and all noises are now gone!!

More squeaky noises

My Jeep suffers a bit from what is known as “piston slap”. Basically that means the piston is a little worn and wobbles a bit in the cilinder. It is a known problem with many Jeeps. Jeep expert Martin showed me another Jeep, only 55K kilometers and it had worse piston slap than mine. Also, you only hear it upon starting a cold engine. Once the engine is at normal operating temperature the noise is gone. The engine does not use any oil. Still, I was not completely happy, so I decided to investigate.



With the help of spanner mate Peter and my old neighbour Toon, we had a good look inside each piston with my little camera-scope.



We also checked the compression of each cilinder and concluded this engine is as good as new!!

Compression and piston slap check

At some point in time we used the Jeep to drive to Schiphol/amsterdam airport. I left it with the Valet parking guys. Upon returning two weeks later the Jeep had a flat battery. Which was very odd, as I had just put a new battery and alternator in.

So I decided to investigate for possible parasite drains:



Parasite drain or not

Long story short; the electrics on the Jeep are fine. The valet guy must have been in a hurry and twisted the ignition key past the normal stop into the so called accessoire position. In that position a lot of systems are powered up and subsequently the battery was drained.

The Jeep has a proper towing hook. So it has already proven its usefulness as we helped a friend of ours clean out her apartment. JeroenHaulage@yourservice.nl



Also, the Jeep will easily hold the annual harvest of our walnut tree. I take all our nuts to a local nut press so we have our own walnut oil. All thanks to my Jeep!!!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Your jeep looks fantastic. A great reward for the huge amount of work you have put into it. Of course... I wonder why someone installed the steering wheel on the wrong side...

The engine rebuild for the Spider is pretty mammoth. I'm guessing that this must be expensive? Something that would only be done for a very special car? I can't even imagine what the labour costs for this work is. You are so lucky to find such skilled, reliable, people.

[Jeroen]

Earlier during the annual MOT, Jeep specialist Martin had informed me that the ball joints and universal joints in the front drive axles had a little play. Nothing to worry about, but at some point they would need to be replaced. So I decided to replace them end of the year, well before the next MOT is due.

Working on these parts is hefty work. Also, I needed some more tools.





Replacing ball and universal joints

With the drive shafts out, I also noticed that the bearings were very poor. So I took them apart too.





And of course, the universal joints were taken apart



Universal joints taken apart

Lots of shiny new parts went in!! My local friendly Jeep parts guy Edwin had by now, moved me to the top of his list of Christmas Card list.



BIG job with BIG tools to put everything back together again!!





Putting everything back together again





More stuff going back on

It took me a long time to put everything back again. Which the Jeep sitting on axle stands I had taken the four rims to be sandblasted and powder coated. Looks really smart!! Put new tires on too!



More stuff going back on

When I bought the Jeep it had some horrendous scratches on both front wing panels, the bonnet and the front panel. I found a local guy who resprayed the panel and also modified one of the wing panels as it was not original. Very happy with the result!!



Some major respray work done



I also found myself the coolest Jeep key hanger, a miniature head gasket. How cool is that?



With most of the Jeep properly sorted I decided it was time to really give the outside and inside a good detailing. Although difficult to tell in photographs, but the pain, lovely colour as it is, was not in that great condition. So I decided I need to give it a proper polish. I had never polished a car before, so I thought I had better learn from a professional and enrolled in a workshop car detailing and polishing. Very interesting, very useful.



Detailling and Polishing workshop

Obviously, when I got home I had to buy all the detailing and polishing kit!



The Jeep Cherokee being an American does steer very lightly. That is to say, you can turn the steering wheel very easily with virtually no effort and no feel, none whatsoever. So it also took me a little while to figure out my steering had some considerable play in it! After checking carefully I decided that luckily it was not the steering box, but the steering ball joints. Initially I thought replaced the one on the pitmarm would solve the problem



Replacing steering ball joint on pitman arm

I was wrong and I ended up replacing all the ball joints in the steering linkage. i also took of some of the trim on the wing panels and checked for rust and did a few small rust repairs.





More rust and all steering ball joints replaced

Somehow I managed to bugger my vice on my workbench. So another trip to the tool shop, obviously!



With so much done on the steering and so on, time to get the Jeep properly re-alligned.



I finally got to put my new detailing and polishing skills and kit to good use.

Lots of polishing and detailling

Obviously, once I got going with the detailing and polishing I needed some more detailing and polishing tools and kit!



I have done my back in, polishing, waxing and so. I have been suffering from lumbago for more than two weeks, but it has definitely been worth it:

Look at it shine:















Peter has valued my Jeep Cherokee at Euro 15.000,- So that is up 10K and I havent spend that much on parts or additional tools. So Mrs D. believes we are “in profit”.

Recently I noticed some oil leaking at the back of the engine. Most likely the rear crank seal has given in. Another job to do.

But again, I bought this car to fiddle and to drive. So far it has been perfect for both!!

Jeroen

[s4ch]

Fantastic stuff and many compliments on the level of thought, detail and effort you have put in. Have been reading this thread for years now and enjoy every post of yours.

A question regarding the Jeep logo at the front: Why is the ‘P’ in uppercase whereas it is in lowercase at the back? Is this intentional or significant in anyway?

[karanddd]

What a great thread. I am envious of your knowledge and skill. The Jeep looks fantastic, great colour too. If you ever teach a working on cars 101, I'd love to sign up.