Good to Go Off-Road

Anyone familiar with the Jeep CJ, know this is the classic Jeep, most who own this vehicle love just about everything about it, except the carburetor. Poor starting, ruff idling, poor fuel mileage, not to mention coughing, spitting and stalling on uneven terrain. The complaints are as old as the CJ itself. Most people don't know that American Motors installed three different carburetors from three different manufactures on the CJ, and none ever seemed to work quite right.

Howell Engine Development has the solution for all these problems. They make several bolt on throttle body fuel injection systems for the CJ. The kits are made for the 4.2 liter inline six and all V8 variations, in off-road only and a California emissions legal version. The kits are made up of high quality GM parts that are modified to fit your Jeep with the appearance of original equipment. The performance and reliability are what you would expect from more modern day fuel injection.

It is my personal opinion, that the Howell kits are one of the best bang for the buck upgrades you can make to your CJ. If you're considering replacing your current carburetor or are doing so for the third time, don't waste your time or money. If you have a moderate amount of mechanical skill you can have the Howell kit installed in a reasonable amount of time.

I break the process down this way. The removal of the unnecessary and replaceable parts,

I found the most difficult part of this job, the removal of unnecessary wiring, mostly because at sometime during the 23 year life of this Jeep someone did some electrical modifications of their own. I find this is not that unusual. If you're not the original owner of your CJ you may find the same problem. This is usually do to valve cover oil leaks that caused manifold fires. My recommendation is to get yourself a good CJ wiring diagram, this will be very helpful. Start by removing the sensor wiring being replaced. The oxygen sensor, coolant temperature sensor, and knock sensor will be replaced or removed. Be careful to leave intact the three wires and all relays associated with the manifold heater and the two wires that will be reconnected to the Dura Spark Ignition Module. The ignition module is located under the coolant reservoir on the driver side fender, if you have Dura Spark ignition, it's there and well hidden. Don't confuse the ignition module with the ECM which is located under the dash behind the glove box in late model CJ's. Before trying to install the new wiring harness, you should install the throttle body, this will help you route the wiring harness properly.

Installing the throttle body, the new ECM, the remaining vacuum lines, and the fuel pump are all very straight forward and well diagramed in the instructions.

One thing not well described in the instructions, is what to do with the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) plumbing. You will cut it away from the head pipe, just below the exhaust manifold and cap it. You will do the same where it is attached to the catalytic converter; I plugged and welded them shut. You will need some vacuum caps for some of the vacuum ports and an open air filter that are not included in the kit. I soldered and shrink wrapped all wire connections for reliability. You will be stunned at all the unnecessary crap under the hood, especially if you have an emissions controlled CJ. Once you have finished this installation, you will ask yourself why you didn't do it sooner.