Hard to believe it's been almost 8 months since my last post. I'm still pushing forward but there are days when I go out and look at the jeep it seems like I've made very little progress.
Since my last post
- drive shafts in
- rear chromoly axles in
- custom brackets fabricated and installed for t-case shifter
- Finished plumbing all AC lines (help from @Sonaraed with the hard lines...big thanks Ed!)
- Radiator modified and installed and plumbed
- wiring, wiring and more wiring. (help with relays, motor rebuilds, a lot of wiring questions etc. from Josh @runuover86gw...huge thanks for your patience!)
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**a lot** of small things along the way I forget
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**a lot** of redoing things where I made mistake...half of my time on this project has been learning by mistake and redoing
I still have a way to go but did test fire it the engine for the first time about 2 months ago just to have a boost in moral.
Some pictures
A lot of modifications (nips, tucks, rivets & epoxy to the glove box insert to give me a mostly full-size glove box and still have room for all the Vintage Air Gen IV Magnum AC ducting and power wiper regulators. I know why jeep factory AC units were below the dash!
Adding wiring to column for cruise control for those long road trips I plan to take some day
Starting to rough in some wiring to see where things are going to go (a lot of redoes here)
I originally had all of my control boxes mounted behind the dash on the passenger side of the jeep and realized with it all installed and with AC etc. it wouldn't be easy, if possible, to get to them to service things so I made a mount and tucked them as tight as I could at the top of the trans tunnel. That meant moving a lot of wiring etc. but when the center console gets built and goes in, they'll be hidden but should be much easier to get to by pulling the console if I need to vs. having to pull the dash.
Front lights, blinkers, dash working but still have to clean up all connections with final connectors, wrap etc.
Taking a break from wiring and decided I needed to get heat shield under the driver side floor before exhaust goes in
Pulled both doors today when I realized I wasn't going to be able to fit the fenders without scratching everything up if I left doors on.
Had to cut a few wires and add connectors first but now they're come off pretty easily if I ever need to service in the future. Adding power windows, door locks & mirrors equals a not small amount of wiring.
Starting to get some order to the engine bay but still quite a bit of work to do there.
Next steps
- get fenders fitting
- finish up front body harness
- finish rear lighting
- Gonna have some custom brake hard lines done and then a fresh air intake build.
- after that off to the stereo shop to have custom speaker box and amp mounts maid and installed and gonna have them do me a PVC center console for now so I have a place to fit window switches, USB mounts, etc.
I got a set of PVC interior panels from BJs and some material to cover them. Getting some foam and glue and may do that on my own.
I'd like to say the basic wiring, two front hard brake lines, fresh air intake and stereo system and console will all done by the end of the month which means it will almost certainly be more like end of the year...maybe