Full Size Jeep Network

I would not. I like the black inlays but it seems they will not look good for as long as everything else. It'd be crazy difficult to do any kind of repair if the black starts to chip or fade. I'd hate for it to be the blemish on an otherwise perfect truck after 3 years back on the road.

Well RT fired up, but it is on life support. We fired it up last Tuesday, only to find a few problems with it. 1) the MAS air sensor wiring had 3 wires loose in it causing some computer issues. Those were soldered and put back into the plug. This was a PSI issue, but fixed at the shop. 2) the 05 Avalanche had a 6 wire TAC connection harness, but when re-programmed, PSI set it up for the MUCH more common 9 wire harness. The only GM we could find that used the 6 wire harness was the 05 trucks, EVERYTHING else uses the 9 wire. So we can't get it to "rev" up until the new harness comes in today, because the drive by wire won't function and won't open the throttle until all 9 wires are connected. 3) some of the injectors were sticking, to be expected since the motor sat for 3 years. They have been cleaned and are working now, waiting on the harness.

So with any luck, and the overnight express from PSI for the TAC harness, RT should be running soon.

I did get to hear the BJ's Thorley exhaust rumble for a bit, and I know the alternator was working, because I saw the gauge. Past those two things, it wasn't a great first start up.

Hey, but it ran.

Update, all 8 cylinders are firing. Only gauge not working is the tach, and there are 2 codes left on the PCM. No work this week yet, but headed to the shop today to see what can be done about what is left. It's getting close.

How did you get the Razor grille so nicely polished? I have a cheese grater grille in near perfect condition but it's in desperate need of a polish. I tried some stuff I had on the headlight surrounds and it is an improvement, but not much. Looks awesome!

I just caught up on this thread. This is exciting!

Ok, I cheated on the grill. I had it polished by a company here in town. The grill and the two headlight rings cost me $460. They did it in less than a week and it looks great! Well worth the money. I talked to them about what they did, and they used varying grits of sandpaper down to polish.

Thanks Lumpskie, it is getting close and I'm ready!

The shop has been slow on RT, taking care of some more pressing matters, like guys who need their car for work. So I have been playing in the shop on small items.

I have 4 79 Jeep sun visors and was trying to decide which to use when my brother had a couple of XJ visors, but neither had a vanity mirror.

Mdcptman had gotten me a couple of Tahoe visors that wouldn't fit, but they had vanity mirrors.

So I got to thinking about trying to combine the two. So I took the material off of the XJ visor and guess what...



There was a blank for a mirror.

So I took the mirror out of the Tahoe visor, and guess what...



That's right, the vanity mirror fits the blank in the XJ visor. Now I'm wiring them up so when I get RT back I can see if I can make them fit. Comparing them to the 79 visors, it looks like they just might work. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Road Trip wrote:I know it's not year correct, but I'm going with a razor grill, because I like it. Now I'm wondering if I need to add the black accents back.

Whoa, that turned out nice! What's your secret?!


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66, no secret, we have a shop in Houston that used sandpaper of varying grits all the way down to polish to make it look like that. I don't have the patience to do each little area by hand like they did. They gave me some polish to keep it looking like that. Maybe I can do that.

It's looks great!


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It's alive! There really is a video there. You have to go through Photobucket to watch. If someone will tell me how to post a video, I'll do it.

The engine runs fine, and is relatively quiet with the BJ's exhaust system bolted to the custom "Y" pipe that ties to the headers. After the THIRD alternator, that's right, the 3rd alternator, it is charging just fine. The AC compressor is kicking on like it's supposed to. The gauges are working, now it's time to button up that AC stuff inside so I can take RT home and finish my work.

In the video you may notice the red top Optima up against the firewall. That space was cleared out by the Vintage air. The new air filter now fits neatly in the space where the battery once went. Anybody need a stock battery tray in great shape?

Road Trip wrote:ybody need a stock battery tray in great shape?

Me??


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OK, got around to doing some finish work for RT today. NO, RT is still away at camp. So I had to work on some stuff I've been "meaning to get to."

First, I cleaned all the old sticky off the back of the 3 Chief heads and the 4 WD emblems. Then I got out some sign vinyl and started on the grill.

First, I cut the 1/4" strips. 23 of them, and it was not as much fun as it sounds!


Then I took a piece of 1/4" stainless brake line and cut a notch. I mashed it a little oblong in the vise and then sharpened it with the Dremel. Came up with this cutter for the ends of the 1/4" strips.


That allowed me to cut the rounded ends to match the little grooves in the grill. What a PITA to put them on! But in the end, I now have this...


Now, if I just had a Jeep to put it on!!!

Soooo sexy!! The grille, not you! Lol


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Ok, when a better mouse trap is built, we should be accepting of it. So when I found out about an internal fuel pump that is retrofitted into almost any gas tank, I was intrigued. So much so, that I got one. Here is the installation.

Hole cut in the plastic tank and the gasket fit in place to see how it fits.


The two studs you see sticking up are holding a metal ring in place on the inside of the tank until the unit can be bolted on.

This is what the unit looks like. The tray on the bottom is what holds the gas up to the pump, so sloshing gas will not be a problem. This holds enough gas nest to the pump so it won't loose suction.


Working it into the tank.


A closer look at the tray that hold the gas next to the pump.


What you see when it is installed.


The fuel sending unit stays in it's original position so it can send ohms to the fuel gauge. The pick up and return tubes are closed off so there is no gas vapor escaping from the tank.

Pretty cool! Can't wait to see if it works as advertised and is as quiet as they say.

Ok, latest update, I've had problems with the sending unit/fuel gauge working together. I have the AutoMeter quad, #1314 gauges, and 3 of the gauges were working well except the fuel gauge.

I found out that the fuel sending unit on the pre '85 (or so) are based on a different output design than the later ones. The post 85 sending units are based on 0-90 OHM output. The quad 1314 was designed and "supposed" to be built to work with that 0-90 OHM sending unit.

So after testing the new BJ's sending unit (thanks Ryan for all the help), the sending unit is good.

Next was to check the gauge, and guess what. AutoMeter tech said "oh yeah, we had a batch of 1314's that were built with the WRONG fuel gauge".

Now I get to work through this with AutoMeter. Ship it back to them and get them to put the correct fuel gauge in and send it back.

Let's see, 3 bad alternators, 2 bad power steering pumps and now one bad gauge.

The good news is that I didn't do anything wrong! Oh, and the better news is that the AC guy is back from vacation and I'm hopeful that RT will be home Saturday so I can get back to work.

Well, NO JOY! On Thursday he said he would finish up on Friday. On Friday it was going to be Saturday. Now, maybe next Friday.

I was so pumped thinking I'd be working on RT right now.

That sucks man. Hang in there, it'll come home soon.


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Guess what! About 2 Sunday afternoon the mechanic called and said, "hey your Jeep is ready". So by 3:30 RT was on the way home.

Riding pretty on the trailer when a guy in a pick up pulled up beside me and gave me a thumbs up. He pulled up beside me at the stop light to tell me it looked great, then let me drive off to get another look. As he passed me he gave me the thumbs up again.

RT is in the shop and pics will be coming as soon as the IPhone camera figures out how to work with cloud, then my computer, then photo bucket and then I'll post!