WJ: Build on a Budget

[Turismo07]

Originally Posted by MRGC

Did you bleed it properly, I had this issue when I had my WJ got it working for a month or so then problem came back ended replacing it.

From memory there is rebuild kit you can buy for the calipers.

Remember there are 2 types for the WJ.

Nah haven't had anything apart so haven't needed to bleed it. But I guess bleeding them anyway isn't going to hurt to make sure...

[Turismo07]

Originally Posted by grand_wj

The sticky brake caliper is an issue with all the teeve style calipers. All you need to do replace them with akabono calipers from a wj/wg 2002 onward... You'll never have a brake issue again.

Yeah I know the Akebono's are superior, but they're only for the front brakes, my sticky caliper is the rear right.

A replacement caliper is cheap enough from RockAuto or eBay, but that'll be my last resort.

[Turismo07]

I got my WJ tinted a week ago by Trent from TKO Tinting: http://www.tkotinting.com/

I highly recommend him, top guy to deal with and the quality is just amazing. 95% of their work is for custom street cars, hot rods, show cars, exotics, and custom tint. I was the odd random guy that came in with a normal vehicle lol. He did my Jeep at last minute and charged me way less that Tint-a-Car etc, and tinted it exactly how I wanted - 35% (darkest legal) all the way round in a black tint (as opposed to a tint with a slight 'mirror/chrome' to it).

I now plan to go and get some black static tint from Autopro and stick onto the rear windows.

[Turismo07]

Swapped the rad out about a week ago.

The old rad was leaking under pressure near the top hose and was allowing the coolant to boil at 100 degrees cos the system wasn't holding pressure. I had to add approx 2.5-3 litres of coolant per trip (if driving more than say 30mins), but i did avoid driving it obviously.

I was out wheeling at the beach when crack blew out on the rad (I had a suspicion there was already a crack somewhere) so that didn't help its cause. I left straight away and on the drive out towards the road and home I monitored the coolant temps and made sure that they didn't get over 100 degrees, if they did I'd pull over and let it cool, check the coolant level and keep driving again. That meant that I wouldn't need to add as much water in, as over 100 degrees and it would take forever to cool and it would start pumping water out the crack in the rad.

I bought this rad: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Radiator-...item4aa7e7e193
They were good guys to deal with and I receive it within 3 days to Perth.

Also got a new thermostat and hoses from RockAuto. But didn't fit them cos 1. the thermostat didn't fit and 2. all in all the thermostat and hoses looked like such cheap quality junk compared to whats on my Jeep now.

There was nothing wrong with the current thermostat and hoses so just stayed with them and will use this new stuff from RockAuto as spares (not that the thermostat is any good to me, so will prob need to get another one)...

Used blue RTV to seal the thermostat in the housing (light bead all the way around the thermostat on each side), and high performance thread sealant on the trans lines going into the new rad. Also replaced the factory hose clamps with new screw style clamps.

Some pics:

Rad out with whole front end apart (yes its necessary to get to the rad!), pic looks daunting, but its quite logical and makes sense when you're doing it, and can be done in just under an hour:


New rad after all the hardware from the old one was swapped over (mounting brackets, trans lines, etc) as well as the secondary elec fan and shroud, all ready to be put into the Jeep:


Thermostat comparison:
New Rockauto one on the left:




How the old one fits into the housing (notice the little notch at bottom of the thermostat which the new one does not have...):


No way the new thermostat was going into the housing:




The box with part no. of the new thermostat (if you needed a thermostat for your WJ, don't get this one!):

[anthonygubbin]

Originally Posted by Turismo07

I got my WJ tinted ago by Trent from TKO Tinting: http://www.tkotinting.com/

I highly recommend him, top guy to deal with and the quality is just amazing. 95% of their work is for custom street cars, hot rods, show cars, exotics, and custom tint. I was the odd random guy that came in with a normal vehicle lol. He did my Jeep at last minute and charged me way less that Tint-a-Car etc, and tinted it exactly how I wanted - 35% (darkest legal) all the way round in a black tint (as opposed to a tint with a slight 'mirror/chrome' to it).

I now plan to go and get some black static tint from Autopro and stick onto the rear windows.

What did he charge for the tinting? My cousins partner is doing mine, hopefully cheap but could not give me a price as he needs to get the old tint off first.

Regards A

[Turismo07]

Originally Posted by anthonygubbin

What did he charge for the tinting? My cousins partner is doing mine, hopefully cheap but could not give me a price as he needs to get the old tint off first.

Regards A

$345, but mine did not have tinting at all so if I did would have been more.

The typical tint places charge way more and I had mate of mine who knows a lot of guys in the industry come back to me with 'mates rates' from 4 diff tinters and they were between $350-$450, so I was very happy with what I paid for arguably Perth's best window tinter to do mine.

You can get precut tint, or just rolls of tint off eBay/internet cheap enough and tinting kits for about $30-$50 so cos everyone was so expensive I was just going to have a go and tint it myself after watching a bunch of 'how to' vids on youtube. But glad I didn't as I was with Trent the whole time and watching him tint my Jeep it was crazy how much attention to detail he had and so many little tricks to make sure the tint went on well. Plus the eBay stuff is apparently real cheap and nasty and loses its colour after a couple of years.

Hopefully your guy does a good job for a fair price. A lot of guys out their that charge heaps for lousy jobs.

[anthonygubbin]

Originally Posted by Turismo07

Hopefully your guy does a good job for a fair price. A lot of guys out their that charge heaps for lousy jobs.

Thanks for that I will allow $350 that should cover it. My cousin's partner uses the really good tint from Israel, yepp some good stuff apparently comes out of Israel. I am going one darker than legal. The legal tint apparently is not dark enough on a wagon with lots of window light such as an XJ. Apparently it is not noticable going the extra darkness as far a being a defect. Because of the extra light it looks like a sedan with darkest legal tint and is hard for a policeman to pick up on it.

Regards A