There are several other things I've done as well. Most of them relatively minor, but some quite functional. Add "XS" options to an "S" model: Reset the O2 light
Don't have any pics of this one yet as I did it a couple years ago. Someday I will take it back out though and shoot a couple. Basically, if you have an 'S' model Amigo, you don't have the tach, oil pressure or a couple other gauges. If you find a cluster with the tach from a junkyard donor, it's a pretty easy swap. The donor can be an Amigo, Rodeo or P'up. I'm not sure about Troopers but it'll be obvious if it looks the same. The speedo cable and wire connections are all the same. Just check all the bulbs in the back of the cluster to make sure you have them all. If I remember right, my donor was a 2wd and I had to put in the 4wd indicator bulb. There is also an additional sensor to make the oil pressure gauge work. If you just plug the cluster in, the pressure will read 110 all the time. This gauge does not use the on/off, single wire oil pressure switch that screws into the passenger side of the block. It requires a second pressure sensor that screws into the oil filter mount casting. The hole is there in the casting, but plugged. Just unplug it and screw in the sensor. It is a 2 wire sensor and there are connectors in the wiring harness for the sensor. They're hanging down above where the sensor goes, up in the area underneath the battery. Plug them in and your gauge will work. The last thing you may or may not have to do. If the cluster came from a donor with a 4 cylinder engine, your tach will read correctly. If it came from a 6 cylinder engine, you'll be reading about 2000 rpm when you're actually at 3000 rpm. This is an electronic tach though, and there is a pot inside the casing that you can adjust it with. I took the back off to locate the pot. Sorry, no pics but it is pretty obvious. It should be oriented so that if you're looking at the front of the cluster as you would in the truck, it's above and behind the face of the tach. To access it, drill a small hole in the casing above the pot so that you can get a small, skinny jewelers screwdriver through the casing to reach the pot and adjust it when it's back together. You'll likely need to take it apart to find exactly where to drill this hole. Once that's done and you can find the pot with the screwdriver through the hole, take the cluster out to the truck, plug in the electrical connections to the cluster and hook up a calibrating tach to the wiring harness under the hood (there's also a free connector in the harness above the front right wheel for plugging a tach into). Once you have the calibrating tach hooked up, rev the engine and hold it at a steady rpm on the calibrating tach. Turn the pot in the cluster with the jewelers screwdriver to adjust the tach in the cluster to match the calibrating tach. You might want to try it at a few different rpm's to make sure it's accurate. That's it. Put a dab of silicone over the hole to plug it and finish installing the cluster.
These pics show my straight column as it came out of the truck next to the replacement tilt column. There are two bolts towards the top of the column, two where it goes through the firewall and a fifth one on top of the column down towards where the firewall bolts are. Just unsnap the electrical connections and remove the bolts. Leave one bolt in up at the top though until you get the column disconnected from the steering box. Also straighten the wheel up so the tires are pointing straight ahead. This makes it easier to line up the steering wheel when you put the new column in.
It's not shown here, but mine came with the slip joint and end piece as well. I took it out to take to a certified welder to cut and extend the lower piece 1" to accommodate the 2" body lift I was putting on at the same time. You might still want to pull the boot and inspect/repack the slip joint. Then pull off the steering wheel. After you get the center cap off, there's a bolt that has to come off. Lightly tapping the wheel from behind then popped it off the shaft. The ignition and turn signal brackets then come off easily with a screwdriver. Re-install them onto the new shaft and you're ready to bolt it back in. There is no key-way on the steering wheel, but it doesn't seem to be critical which spline you get it on as you will align it at the other end when you attach it to the steering box.
The wheels are still strait right? Match the splines on the steering column bracket to those on the steering shaft taking care to make sure the steering wheel is strait when you do so. It's pretty obvious if it's not lined up correctly. Even being one spline off makes the wheel turn several degrees off center. Tighten everything up, re-connect the wires (there's two plugs BTW) and you're done.
On Amigo, Rodeos, Troopers and P'ups, the O2 light in the instrument cluster will come on at 90,000 miles no matter what condition the O2 sensor is in. It also stays on until you take the cluster out and re-set it. These directions are correct for the Amigo and Rodeo that I know of. I'm pretty sure they'll work for the P'up as well and some of the Troopers. I've heard that some Troopers use a little bit different scheme where there's just a switch you flip rather than a screw to move.
To re-set the light, take the screw out of the one hole and put it into the other one. Presto! Your O2 light goes out... until you reach 180,000 miles anyway. Every 90,000 miles the light comes on. You just keep swapping the screw back and forth to re-set it again. The procedure is the same if you have the cluster with the tachometer. The holes are in different spots, but still located around the speedo cable connector.
Ever get tired of running fuel down the side of you truck every time you re-fill it? Me too. This is a quick fix I did so that it drains down a hose rather then flowing out over the body.
The whole thing is covered by the plastic panel in the back of the wheel
well.
The little silicone "dam" is also to keep fuel from spilling over. May not look pretty, but it doesn't have to since it's behind the filler door anyway.
Extended rear differential and tranny breather hoses: I also extended the breathers on the rear differential and the transmission for safer water crossings. The front differential already has one that leads up into the engine bay and is pretty good as is.
This makes it real simple.
It's nice for water crossings, but really nice for keeping the underside of my truck oil-free. I switched to a synthetic blend in my tranny a while ago and ever since it's been wet with oil. Not dripping, just wet. I guessed it was coming from the breather and it appears that it was as it seems to have stopped.
Just pull the old hose off and attach the new one.
This position is about 8" or so higher than stock, but not the height
of the front diff or the new tranny breather up under the hood. To help out some
more, I sealed the pocket with silicone to make it air tight.
Actually, by the time the water did get that high the diff and axle would probably be cool enough that it wouldn't suck in water anyway.
The new mount, when I get that far, will probably come off the spare tire carrier somewhere. The old mount worked well, except that it interfered with using my roof rack. For my recent trip to Moab for the Zu'Zoo rally, I made a new one off the upper hinge for the tailgate.
By temporarily removing the ratchet, you can snake the cable into the pillar behind it just like the factory speaker wires are.
The final assembly looks like this. All that's left is to put some paint on it.
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11 Jan 99
