Hunt's Debadged RME TJ

Hunt · Apr 27, 2009

Bart said:
Cool. I have a working speedo in my buggy but have been thinking about adding a tach. Always liked that dash config.

I like the configuration of the dash as well. The gauges are nice but I might have gone with a different series of Autometer gauge. The Street Rod American Platinum series is only available in the 6 gauges I have. If I wanted to add other gauges in the future (I was thinking of adding a transmission temp) I will have to get a different style gauge. Having a working tach is going to be a big deal. I was working much lower in the rpm’s than I thought and can now push the motor further without worrying.

There are new pictures in the last post on page 4.

Hunt · Apr 29, 2009

I have been working on replacing all the grade 5 hardware in the roll cage and seats with grade 8. I used flat washers on both sides and a lock washer under the nut. I had found some of the cage hardware loose so I figured while I was going through it with lock-tite I would upgrade. I am thinking of having the local Line-X shop spray the tub. They usually spray over the hardware and 6 inches or so up the tubes. The green jeep is an example of one of their jobs. If I have them spray over top the hardware I want it to be right. I have considered doing the lining myself but the professionally done stuff looks better longer and holds up to wear and the sun over time. I am willing to pay the extra cost. We have done several of our work truck beds with the DIY kits and they work great for that kind of application. I just want a little nicer finish.

Hunt · May 3, 2009

It's been a productive weekend. Through much trial and tribulation, a lot of wire and solder, I now have a working OBD II port. I have two codes P0135 and P0171. From what I have been reading the 171 code was most likely a dirty MAF sensor. I recently cleaned and oiled the air-filter and an over oiled filter can cause a dirty MAF sensor. I cleaned the sensor and filter. The 135 is a O2 sensor heater malfunction. The error is for the driver's side sensor. I checked all the wires for heat damage and frays and didn't find anything. After replacing the sensor I still get the code. Maybe the left and right wires got mixed up in the swap? I hate to just keep throwing parts at it.

While I had the soldering iron out I went ahead and wired in a second relay for the tranny cooler fan. I had the radiator and tranny cooler fans on the same relay. If I where to blow a fuse or relay I would have been up the creek without a replacement. Now if I have them independently and have a little bit of redundant safety.

I also wired in a set of switched to run the winch from the drivers seat. I mounted the switches just under the front ARB Locker switch.

Hunt · May 6, 2009

My personalized plates showed up yesterday. Those of you into shooting sports, particularly bullseye style shooting, may recognize it. For those that don’t get it; in bullseye shooting, be it archery, pistol, small bore or large bore rifle etc, the X ring is inside the 10 ring. Both areas count for 10 points but ties are broken by the number of Xs. So my plate is 10’s and X’s.

I have made a slight amount of progress with the OBD trouble codes. I was able to clear the P0171 code by simply cleaning the MAF sensor. The P0135 keeps popping up. I have changed the O2 sensor and traced the wires until I loose them in the harness. I could not see any frays or burn marks. I’ll keep working on it.

I was in Best Buy yesterday and picked up an inexpensive Kenwood radio head unit to put in the Jeep. It will help pass the time while stopped on the trail for whatever reason. I’ll snap a picture after I install it.

LT. · May 6, 2009

I like the plate. When I first tried to figure it out (before I read your post) I thought it said, "Tens in excess". After reading your post I understood it.

LT.

Hunt · May 11, 2009

A buddy gave me a set 4" Teraflex rear springs. I was thinking the rear could use an extra inch and this would have been perfect. I thought I had 3” springs in the rear of the Jeep. It turns out they were 3” at one point in their life, but are now only about 1.5”. It only takes a few minutes to swap the springs so I figured why not try it. I pulled one of mine and measured it up to my buddies. They where about 2.5" different. I thru them in anyways to see and they are every bit of 2.5" taller. I need to find some rears that are a tall 2” or a short 3” spring. It’s not going to stay this high, but I thought I would show you what it looks like with 4” springs in the rear. I also got around to wiring up the new radio.

I Lean · May 11, 2009

I'm pretty sure Greg ended up with a set of used (sagged) 2" Pro Comp coils, so that would explain the 1.5" lift.

Greg · May 11, 2009

I Lean said:
I'm pretty sure Greg ended up with a set of used (sagged) 2" Pro Comp coils, so that would explain the 1.5" lift.

Correct, as discussed in the build thread. Hunt and I have already talked about it. If he's looking for 1" more lift, 2-3" springs should be in the range.

waynehartwig · May 11, 2009

Curious, where is the tranny cooler/fan combo located? I've been thinking about adding one of them to mine because I tow a camp trailer a lot and would like ot see lower tranny temps. Engine oil temp is another that I'm worried about as well...

Hunt · May 12, 2009

Greg said:
Correct, as discussed in the build thread. Hunt and I have already talked about it. If he's looking for 1" more lift, 2-3" springs should be in the range.

The reason I was looking for a set of springs that where 1” taller was to avoid the tire scrub on the rear. When I was setting up the air bumps and was really flexing out the rear the tire would get into the rear panels. Now looking at it I think I am going about this completely wrong. I should not be going higher. It goes against everything this rig was built for. To maintain the low center of gravity I should be looking at raising the fender opening a little. I just hate to cut on the nicely powder coated rears. I know I could do a good job with the masking, cutting and paint touchup. It’s just taking that leap of cutting on something that is done. It would give it a more “high line” look. Let me know what you all think.

waynehartwig said:
Curious, where is the tranny cooler/fan combo located? I've been thinking about adding one of them to mine because I tow a camp trailer a lot and would like ot see lower tranny temps. Engine oil temp is another that I'm worried about as well...

The transmission cooler and fan are on the passenger’s side inner fender. I don’t have a good picture of it now but I can get a few shots of it from above and below the fender if you would like. It’s maybe not the best placement if you are doing highway driving or driving on the dirt roads with any kind of speed. A rock could theoretically be tossed up into the cool and crack the cooler. It’s works on this rig because of the width of the axels and backspacing on the tires. The cooler really isn’t in the direct path of anything coming off the tires.

waynehartwig · May 14, 2009

I agree, cut it up

I know it, that's why I was asking where yours was, not much room to put one anywhere. I would like to add one, because I do tow my camp trailer with my rig and I've had higher temps than I would like.

I just got to thinking.. I wonder if it would fit in the gille, in front of the radiator? Reverse the fan so it would blow through the radiator as well. Since I have that big winch up there, I don't have any air flowing through the radiator down low and it does hurt on the highway where the fan isn't on.

How thick is the cooler/motor?

Hunt · May 18, 2009

How thick is the cooler/motor?[/QUOTE]

I'll get a few measurments for you.

I spent the weekend at the Rausch Creek King of the Hammers Qualifier. What an amazing thing to watch. We watched the race Friday, wheeled Saturday and Sunday. I rode along with the crew from Extreme Vehicle Builders and camped in the pits with Charlie Milchner and Clayton Manufacturing. Great group of guys. Clayton finished 2nd and Charlie 5th.
Saturday we ran a few of the sections of the race course. This was really the first time I did any kind of attempt at high speed stuff with the jeep. It handles it very well and had the owner of EVB screaming “EASY, EASY, EASY!” When I was in the throttle the 5.3 sucks up some gas. Lots of it. We were watching the weather reports and it was supposed to start raining Saturday late afternoon so I headed in for fuel and to cover up the jeep. As it go dark the rest of the group hadn’t showed back up at camp. We got a call that one of the guys in the green and blue trails group sheered the studs off his front driver’s side wheel and none of them could figure out how to fix it. So back out we went in the dark and pouring rain to go save him. I had a blast ripping down the green trails in the mudd and muck. I was very throttle happy after watching the races. The head lights need re-aimed or I need to add a lot for light if I want to do much more of that kind of stuff. We hammered out a few studs from the other wheels and threw them in the oval holes that where now on the driver’s front. I have never been rained on so hard in my life. We got back to camp, the rain let up of course and the beer drinking and ball busting commenced.
When I got home last night I unloaded the truck and trailer and was still so psyched from Friday that I had to do something to the jeep. Out came the grinder and off came an inch and a eighth from the rear fenders. I didn’t take anymore because I wanted to leave the area where the inner fenders are spot welded to the tub.
I have to say it was a fantastic weekend!

Hunt · May 18, 2009

Here are a few pictures of the cut fenders from my new cell phone. I want to see how the pics look on the net from the phone.

Greg · May 18, 2009

As always, looks like clean work Clayton. Too bad about the powder coating, hopefully you can seal up the bare metal well enough that no moisture will get in there. That was my biggest concern and reason I had all the armor and fenders powder coated, I didn't want those parts to rust thru.

I think you went about it the right way, cutting metal out of the way rather than raising the height of the Jeep. Good call.

I also think we need to see some videos of that thing in action, I miss the rumble of the V8!

Hunt · May 20, 2009

Greg said:
As always, looks like clean work Clayton. Too bad about the powder coating, hopefully you can seal up the bare metal well enough that no moisture will get in there. That was my biggest concern and reason I had all the armor and fenders powder coated, I didn't want those parts to rust thru.

I think you went about it the right way, cutting metal out of the way rather than raising the height of the Jeep. Good call.

I also think we need to see some videos of that thing in action, I miss the rumble of the V8!

I’ll see what I can do about getting some video the next time we are out. Work is sending me to Korea for two weeks then I have a two week professional certification renewal training course. My next month is BOOKED.

I’ve had some interesting developments with the rich condition in the engine. I have it narrowed down to the driver’s side cylinders. It’s really been bothering me so I have been on a mission to beat this lately. I changed the spark plugs last night. The passenger’s side looks perfect. One of the first things I did when I bought the Jeep was change the header collector gasket on the passenger side. It was ticking and I could clearly see the gasket blown out. I didn’t change the driver’s side because I could not hear a tick so I thought it was fine. After a bunch of reading and a few calls to Wait4Me performance (who have been pretty helpful lately) I used an inspection mirror and sure enough the driver’s side gasket was peeking out on the back side of the flange. I couldn’t hear an exhaust leak but as soon as I used a small screw driver to flick the gasket the whole thing came apart and I might as well have just uncapped the pipe. If there is a slight leak in the collector or header gaskets the O2 sensors detects a surplus of oxygen being drawn in the exhaust and the computer goes to running rich on that side to compensate. All my troubles could be from silly leaking header gaskets. I’m going to grab some good graphite impregnated 2.5” collector gaskets this afternoon and I’ll let you know what happens.

Greg · May 20, 2009

Hunt said:
I’ll see what I can do about getting some video the next time we are out. Work is sending me to Korea for two weeks then I have a two week professional certification renewal training course. My next month is BOOKED.

I’ve had some interesting developments with the rich condition in the engine. I have it narrowed down to the driver’s side cylinders. It’s really been bothering me so I have been on a mission to beat this lately. I changed the spark plugs last night. The passenger’s side looks perfect. One of the first things I did when I bought the Jeep was change the header collector gasket on the passenger side. It was ticking and I could clearly see the gasket blown out. I didn’t change the driver’s side because I could not hear a tick so I thought it was fine. After a bunch of reading and a few calls to Wait4Me performance (who have been pretty helpful lately) I used an inspection mirror and sure enough the driver’s side gasket was peeking out on the back side of the flange. I couldn’t hear an exhaust leak but as soon as I used a small screw driver to flick the gasket the whole thing came apart and I might as well have just uncapped the pipe. If there is a slight leak in the collector or header gaskets the O2 sensors detects a surplus of oxygen being drawn in the exhaust and the computer goes to running rich on that side to compensate. All my troubles could be from silly leaking header gaskets. I’m going to grab some good graphite impregnated 2.5” collector gaskets this afternoon and I’ll let you know what happens.

No problem on the videos, just want to see more of the TJ in action eventually.

That header gasket leak makes sense because I don't remember it running rich when the engine was first started after the swap. Over time the gasket blew out, causing it to run rich... sounds plausible to me! Nice detective work!

Hunt · May 20, 2009

Here is a somewhat lame video from Saturday. It has some rough language in it. I’ll see if anyone else has anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd3O3Du_Iwc&feature=channel_page

Hunt · May 20, 2009

Couple more
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqreVvH4fY8&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAhMdPrwuhE&feature=channel_page
These are weird to see from the camera person’s view. I need to use that throttle more! Still feeling out this thing.

waynehartwig · May 20, 2009

Check the 02 sensors... Make sure driver is driver and passenger is passenger. If you have them hooked up backwards, then one side WILL run rich and the other will go lean.

If you aren't sure, you could probably unhook one and make it through a code. Then see what the code is...

LT. · May 20, 2009

Nice videos. Thanks for the updates.

LT.

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