Project: Maybe I’ll just sell it and make some money

[Ryan T]

Basically had to wait around on Brown Santa until yesterday. My starter and valve cover gasket were scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday but, due to the snow, was delayed until yesterday. UPS said delivery by 8pm and he brought it by at about 7:50.

New valve cover gasket, starter, and the correct O-Rings for the oil filter adapter:


Went ahead and threw the new valve cover gasket on last night. Destroyed the rear PCV valve trying to unhook the 19 year old plastic tube. Shattered into a million pieces. Also destroyed the valve itself getting it out. Bought a new valve at Advance and used an old piece of heater hose I had to replace the old plastic line...won’t be breaking that one in the future. Also noticed that my upper radiator hose was partially collapsed, which is a common symptom of a bad radiator cap on XJs. Bought a new radiator cap and threw it on, problem solved.


Everything looked in overall good shape. Went ahead and made sure all the rockers were property torqued down while I had the cover off. The far back valve cover bolt is a real pain in the ass to get too and was the only one I wasn’t able to get my torque wrench on. I decided to tighten it to “fuck it that’s tight enough” and leave it. All the others torqued to 55 inch pounds.

Best way to keep your bolts/studs in the right order:


Old vs new:


Got the oil filter adapter out and changed all 3 o-rings. The two on the bolt itself were still in pretty good shape, but it’s cheap insurance to replace them at the same time. The o-ring from the housing to the block was dry and hard, definantely needed replacing:


Threw the new starter in while I was under there, 10 minute job. Air ratchets really make quick work of bolts that have a small area to move a regular ole wrench in. New starter and oil filter housing installed:


Changed the oil while I had the housing out. Bolted everything back up and it fired up on the first crank.

Checking out everything in the back and discovered the previous owner put in a RockCrusher rear diff cover at some point in the past.


Bushings for the sway bar end links should be here tomorrow, will toss them in tomorrow evening. Then time for a good wash and some driving around.

Updated the first post with a “what I’ve spent so far” tracker.