If you wanted significantly more horsepower (or your 258 was toast), then yes, the engine swap would be the way to go. But that means getting rid of the SR4, buying a new engine, fuel injecting it, and mating it all up to your Dana 300. The Mopar kit is 50-state-legal, and you can be back to driving the Jeep in a weekend.
Imitation Is the Highest Form of FlatteryIn your Sept. '01 issue I saw where you used an external hydraulic slave cylinder for your clutch setup on the Ultimate A1 Jeep. I have an '84 CJ with a Chevy 350, an SM465 transmission, and a NP205 transfer case. My Jeep uses an internal hydraulic throw-out bearing clutch setup from QuarterMaster. Two times in less than 500 miles I've managed to blow out the hydraulic throw-out bearing! What could be wrong and how can I change it over to exactly what the Ultimate A1 has?Ryan WallerAtlanta, GA
When you say "blow out" do you mean that the throw-out bearing will no longer hold pressure, or is it leaking fluid from the system? Or does the bearing simply stop disengaging the clutch? When assembling any type of hydraulic clutch system you want to make sure that the amount of fluid moved by the master cylinder meets (and does not exceed) the needs of the slave cylinder, or in your case, the hydraulic throw-out bearing. We are going to guess that you have a master cylinder that is moving way too much fluid for the throw-out bearing. To duplicate the hydraulic clutch setup on our A1 you will have to backtrack a little and use the clutch master cylinder that originally came with your four-cylinder '84 CJ (PN 5359822). An '80-'86 will also work.
The slave cylinder you want to use is also from an '84 CJ-7 (PN 3241867) and you'll connect it to the master with a hose (PN 5361469). To mount the clutch, you will need to fabricate a simple bracket out of 11/44-inch plate that will attach the slave cylinder to the bellhousing. And in our case we used a clutch fork from a '67 CJ-5 with a Buick V-6 (PN 1378486) that we lengthened to get enough clutch travel.
Show You the Door
I am shopping for an '89-'91 31/44-ton GMC or Chevrolet 4x4 Suburban. Sounds easy enough, right? However, I cannot stand the rear cargo doors that most Suburbans seem to have. I want one with a tailgate, and I know some do have this option. So far I have only seen one between the years '89 and '91 with a tailgate and t was on a 11/42-ton 4x4 Suburban.Gino ValdezSan Antonio, TX
We checked out every 31/44-ton Suburban that we could find to try and get you an answer to this question. We have seen a few '89-'91 Suburbans with tailgates and one of them was a V2500. We were under the impression that the tailgate was a no-cost option, and that Suburbans could be equipped either way. Perhaps the utilitarian nature of the 31/44-ton trucks dictated that most of them didn't come with the picnic table tailgate that you could get on the 11/42-tons. But if we had to put money on it we'd bet you'll eventually find a 31/44-ton out there with the tailgate you are after.
Submission information: Questions should be as brief and concise as possible. We will answer as many letters as possible each month, but due to the large volume of mail, we cannot send personal replies. Letters are subject to editing for length, as space permits. Always check state regulations before modifying a vehicle with pollution controls or one that will be driven on the street. Write to: Nuts & Bolts, 4-Wheel & Off-Road, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048-5515, fax 323/782-2704, e-mail kennedyd@primediacmmg.com