1984 CJ TAC System (air cleaner body n cover)

bullseye

New member
Hello. I have a 84 CJ7 that I restored years ago. She is in the shop right now to get a couple things taken care of that I do not have the time to do right now.

The tech said that the air cleaner cover has rust that is scaling and being pulled down into the engine and there is also a small rust hole that formed on the cover as well. I confirmed this today at the shop. He suggested replacing the whole unit to dress the engine up a bit.

I have kept her stock all these years with the exception of some aftermarket stainless steel body parts and am having trouble finding a new or like new replacement TAC system.

What are my options?

Here are some pics of my Jeep and diagram of what I am looking for.
 

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My god, that Renegade looks amazing. I have never seen a CJ that looks that good :shock: If you were standing before me I would be bowing down to you right now.

In any case, you should be able to get the parts you need from JCWhitney or JEGS, and possibly from Quadratec. They all have websites (google knows all) and you can also have them send you sales magazines in the mail free of charge. I keep a few around just to flip through when I'm bored.

Finally, if you want to save yourself some money, installing that assembly is very easy and will only take about half an hour. It's literally so easy to switch out an air filter housing assembly that a baby could do it.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for your reply and your compliments. She is an 84 CJ7 Renegade with almost 70k original miles. She was a beach Jeep for many years which caused some rust issues in the early 90's.

I removed the body tub from the frame and had her blasted and repaired. I took care of the interior and did a lot of the work myself.

Engine was in great shape so very little work was done there. Mostly exterior and interior work.

I'll post some more pics when she comes back from the shop.

Having said that. All the sites you listed do not carry a stock or similar stock replacement air cleaner body and cover. I've been googling for a couple days on this one.

I have found universal kits that look like the pic I've attached:

But I have strived to keep her stock for a long time. I hope you all can appreciate this. In the end, it might not be viable any longer.

I was just hoping to find someone who might have experienced the same needs and found something that could help.

Thanks again.
 

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Having said that. All the sites you listed do not carry a stock or similar stock replacement air cleaner body and cover. I've been googling for a couple days on this one.

I have found universal kits that look like the pic I've attached:

But I have strived to keep her stock for a long time. I hope you all can appreciate this. In the end, it might not be viable any longer.

I was just hoping to find someone who might have experienced the same needs and found something that could help.

Thanks again.

Ahh, I'm sorry, I really thought you'd be able to find an OEM-style assembly on those sites.

In that case, I'd start looking at junkyards. It's a long shot but you never know what you'll find.
 

Wow...that really is an amazing CJ! The TAC that you're looking for is also in the early YJs. I have an 89 and it's almost exactly the same, not much changed under the hood. I only tell you this, which you might already know, to open up your search. Also, there's a Jeep junkyard that's online where you can get almost anything. I just took a look at the YJs they're parting out and saw atleast three that have the same engine I do. (you can tell by the roll bar at the back seat) They also have two CJs. The site is D A V E Y S J E E P S . C O M - Currently Parting 350 Salvage Vehicles & Jeeps You have to request a part through the site and they send you an email back with how much it will cost. Let me know if they're any help...
 
Wow...that really is an amazing CJ! The TAC that you're looking for is also in the early YJs. I have an 89 and it's almost exactly the same, not much changed under the hood.

BRILLIANT! I will try searching for that as well. I will let u know how it goes.
 
Ahh, I'm sorry, I really thought you'd be able to find an OEM-style assembly on those sites.

In that case, I'd start looking at junkyards. It's a long shot but you never know what you'll find.

No worries friend. They are good places to start any search.

As for the junkyard. I have the part. I supposed I could go to a metal shop and have it sand blasted and have some metal welded to it to repair the rust spots and repaint it. But I am thinking that I will just end up getting the same rusted out part from a junkyard and have to do the same thing.

But that might be my only alternative. I might have to put a universal one in and work on the old. Time will tell.
 
Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't you repair the one you have? Bead blast it, paint it, fix the small hole with some putty? I may have my original from my 1975 CJ5 with 304 and 2100 carb, but it probably would not be better than yours. A pic of my engine with it on can be found here...
Jeep Gallery - Engine (stock 304)
if interested, let me know.
 

Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't you repair the one you have? Bead blast it, paint it, fix the small hole with some putty? I may have my original from my 1975 CJ5 with 304 and 2100 carb, but it probably would not be better than yours. A pic of my engine with it on can be found here...
Jeep Gallery - Engine (stock 304)
if interested, let me know.

I think that is what I am ultimately going to have to do Dave. I do not have a bead blaster so will have to bring it to a metal shop. Not really an issue, but I imagine that is going to cost me more than the cost of replacing it with a new part, which most likely does not even exist now.

I called the dealership and they are trying to track it down but they said not to get my hopes up.
 
Actually, all you really need is about 1.00 worth of sand paper, some elbow grease, and a can of hi temp paint. :)
 
Actually, all you really need is about 1.00 worth of sand paper, some elbow grease, and a can of hi temp paint. :)

Funny you should mention that... I didn't think to take pics until I was 1/4 of the way through, but here is what I have done, which lead me to a problem I will explain in a moment.

I took the cover and gave it a bath in hot water and dawn to get all the grease and dirt and grime off of it. I used a wire brush and steel wool to knock the shine off as well.

After I dried the cover, I applied a coating of Citrus Paint Stripper which worked far beyond my expectations! The first pic I took was 10 minutes after applying it and scraping the loose stuff off with a putty knife.

Sorry I did not take a pic of the other side or before but it was entirely black.
 

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I left the citrus stripper on all night and again removed what I could with a wire brush and putty knife. When I was done, I gave the cover another bath in Dawn and hot water.
 

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So after getting all the paint off and sanding and wire brushing the rust, I thought I was almost ready to apply the JD Weld. But there was a small dent that I wanted to hammer out. So I did. I am very glad I did as well.

Its hard to see, but if you look at the picture below, you will see on the outer rim a black gasket which I later removed. Next to that you will see a 1.5" band of metal right next to the gasket. That metal is raised and angled down to the next piece of metal which is about an inch wide.

The problem that the hammering revealed to me is that I cannot get my hand inside of that and that whole thing is covered in rust and chips fall out when I hit it with the hammer. Those chips are what fouled up my carb which had been rebuilt several times now because of that ****.
 

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So I think I am going to have to visit my local weld shop and have them cut it in half or rather separate the 2 pieces so I can get into the guts of the cover and then sand it and paint it and then have them weld it back together.

The pieces if you look closely are not welded together, they are crimped. But there is no way I could get them back together with a hammer.

I think the welder is my only option. Unless you all have another idea?
 

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If you will dedicate your self to follow every instruction..then POR15 has the products which will allow you to preserve the one on hand. They market a small sized kit with everything necessary including a little patch of F/G which will cover your need very well.
 
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