[Rollbar]

Looking very good.

[namredla]

Thanks Rollbar.

There is a color scheme going on here that was unplanned, but not too bad. I think it started with the black POR and all the red polyurethane. I figured why not stick with it.

Here are the sway bar links and drive shafts, all coated with POR and then topcoated with some red (I think it's engine enamel).

[CJ7VFR]

That looks pretty cool.

The only bad part about painting stuff that is under a Jeep any other color than black, is that
eventually the parts get so dirty they turn black anyway in about a month unless you constantly
clean them.

And then cleaning them that much will accelerate the grease wearing off the parts that need
it the most.

When I put my 4WD Hardware 2.5 inch lift on my Jeep back in 2004, it came with cool looking red
poly bushings for everything from the shackle busings, shock bushings, swaybar bushings, front
steering stabilizer bushings, and all.

It looks great in the pictures I took when I first put the suspension on, but within two months, you
couldn't tell any of the bushings were red. They all look black with dirt, grease and road crap on them.

Even cleaning them is futile. They just look black now.

I like the red color you are using, but I have a feeling its going to be hard to keep them looking
red for very long.

But good luck with it! Maybe you can keep it cleaner than I could.

Jim

[namredla]

I think you are right, but I have resigned myself to accepting the fact that the vast majority of finish / asthetic work that I do will be for that one photo. Kind of depressing but I enjoy the work.

[namredla]

So here it is; that one photo (OK maybe two):

[namredla]

Warn rear bumper





These are the instructions from Warn almost word for word:

Remove bumper from box. Install.

Sheesh...

[aaron2874]

These are the instructions from Warn almost word for word:

Remove bumper from box. Install.

Sheesh...[/QUOTE]

I was going to offer to help you decipher that complex instruction book, but it looks like you somehow managed.

[namredla]

Lot's of miscellaneous things:

Installed the MC 2100:







Note the first picture. There is a little gouge in the top of the oriface in the intake manifold. Surely this is not supposed to be this way. Also note the paper towels stuffed into the top. I had the whole thing put together but a little voice inside my head kept saying "you should have put some loctite on the bolts that hold the adapter plate down to the intake manifold". Finally the voice won out so I took the whole thing back off and wouldn't you know it, there are two wads of paper towel stuck down the intake manifold. Thanks little voice, that would have been a nightmare and would have cost some time on down the road.

It looks pretty good.





Pulled the gas tank a while back and finally got it cleaned up and POR'd with a coat of chassis black on the outside.



Got tired of seeing the MSD stuff sitting around so I threw on the coil as well.



Getting close to throwing the body back on. Just brake lines and exhaust left to do.

[yellow85cj]

Looks nice.

Are you going to plug the EGR or mod the headers to hook it up?

[imtheant]

Coming along man, I got the body installed this weekend.

[namredla]

yellow, I was going to chuck every vacuum actuated device on the jeep other than the advance and brake booster. But, I am now rethinking the cannister. I have heard horror stories of gas stink if I don't. I would love to hear some input from those who have or have not gone back with the cannister. As for the EGR, I will probably run without it.

imtheant, your rig looks good, I checked out your build earlier. Keep it up, you beat me to the body install!

[imtheant]

Originally Posted by namredla

yellow, I was going to chuck every vacuum actuated device on the jeep other than the advance and brake booster. But, I am now rethinking the cannister. I have heard horror stories of gas stink if I don't. I would love to hear some input from those who have or have not gone back with the cannister. As for the EGR, I will probably run without it.

imtheant, your rig looks good, I checked out your build earlier. Keep it up, you beat me to the body install!

Haha yeah well I'm starting to run out of funds so you may be passing me by soon! I'm with you on tossing all the vaccum stuff as well. I talked to a local CJ "expert" down the road from me who has restored probably 15 CJ's with every motor/tranny/electrical/emmisions setup you can think of and he never runs the canister and has never had a problem with fumes. I guess only time will tell if I have the stink issue but for now i'm trying to keep everything as simple as possible.

[namredla]

The tubing debacle:

The original intention was to go back with some of the powdercoated tubing for the brake and fuel lines. The pre-bent stuff was pretty pricey and being somewhat handy, I figured that bending my own would not be too big of a deal (and save some bucks). I will say that bending tubing well is a skill that must take quite a bit of practice. I could have bent something that would have worked, but it would have looked like crap. Not to mention that the bulk tubing came in coils, so you never really start with a straight run anyway, and the original tubing was twice as sturdy as the powdercoated stuff. Plus it had the protective coils wrapped around it.

So, I spent a day scrubbing all of the road crap and grease out of the original tubing, prepping it, and coating it with POR (. Prior to that I had cut all of the flares off, slid on new fittings, and re-flared everything. At the end of the day, I think that the tubing is absolutely solid, looks good, and FITS.

Here are the results:







Now, how should I go about replacing all of the rubber hose with braided hose? What kind of fittings would be needed for that since they were all just slide-on, compression fittings originally.

[namredla]

Started in on the exhaust system today. It is tougher than I thought it would be. Due to extenuating circumstances, I had to reduce in and out of the muffler:





Not a big deal, in fact it is the easiest thing I have done yet to the exhaust.

I ran into an issue with the clearance between the exhaust pipe and the drivers side rear shock. They are awfully close. So I flipped the muffler over and looked to see what type of clearance I would have between the pipe and the differential. The bend in the pipe would have been over just the axle and clearance would not be an issue, but flipping the muffler puts the bend just over the side of the diff and I don't know if it is going to work. I would hate to get it all welded just to bump up against it. So, I might flip it back and see what I can work out. Maybe I will fab a little heat shield for where it gets close to the shock.









I am also just going to weld the bell onto the clamp and trim off the excess to fasten up to the header.

[mcmud]

Moving right on along, impressive amount of work in a short time. Your build is just ahead of mine now, missing my trans, and the exhaust system. Been at it for over nine could be ten years now, Mercy.