Second Hand 1988 Jeep Wrangler Oddities - Help

[dennisonwj]

Background : Bought a '88 Jeep Wrangler YJ, been owned by 2 previous
owners. It is a 4.2L (Jasper new) AX-15 manual (new), has an aftermarket
electric fuel pump, and has been tinkered with a bit by others before
me.

1) Every book I have seen says the negative cable off the battery should
be ground on the block (there seems to be a hole for a bolt an inch
right and below the oil filter). But in my Jeep it is ground to the bracket
that sits between the AC compressor and the alternator. See Picture. Is
the block ground better? If yes, I can move it. I have to replace the
battery wires anyway (corrosion).

Should I just use a bolt, washer, and lock washer to hold the battery wire terminal end to the block or should I try to get some type of ground lug somewhere?

Note: Pencil shows wire.

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In the Jeep I have a weird resistor and relay mounted to the firewall
above the starter relay. Any idea what they are (see pic 1).

1) The top relay is a Potter&Brumfield VF4-45F11-B01. It has a wire harness
attached to it that.

The wire harness has a white/black striped wire that is spliced with a
red wire from the same harness; these go to the starter relay's starter
solenoid lug

An orange wire that heads under the driver side dash panel somewhere.

And a black wire that is splice to the green/yellow striped wire going
to the starter's solenoid lug. (This wire used to go to the starter
relay's starter solenoid lug before this was installed).

Obviously it has something to do with the ignition system. Any ideas
what it is? Yes, I know it is a mess, I am cleaning all this mess up. If
I do not need this, I would like to yank it out.

2) Below the Weird Relay, there is this (see pic 2.) It is
mounted above the starter relay and below the relay I mentioned before.
Do you know what it is??? Looks like a resistor. It seems to be factory
mounted, maybe?

 

[PoliceMonkey161]

Yes, you can more the ground to the block and it would have just been attached using a bolt, washer and lock washer originally.

My guess about the relay is that it is for the electric fuel pump or an electric radiator fan ( if yours has been upgraded). Is the resistor wired to the relay? Wherever your fuel pump is, have you traced the wires?

 

[dennisonwj]

Thanks for the ground advice, I concur. That is what I will do.

Someone (PO) has placed a bush-league Mr. Gasket electric fuel pump in the engine compartment (HUGE NO NO according to manufacturer and instructions). This fuel pump is a mess. I am going back to the mechanical fuel pump, the gasoline flow seems way to high and is flooding the updraded Weber carb. I am going to create another threa to ask what fuel pump everyone likes.

No electric radiator fan, have an upgraded fan, but it is still attached to the water pump.

I do not think the resistor is wired to the relay, I will trace it tonight. The mounting bolts on the resistor look factory, whereas the relay is clearly PO installed.

Could the relay be for a remote starter or security system? It is in the ignition system. I will respond later with data for the wire trace, I will truly see if they are connected.