XJ: Project "Apache Resistance".

[Dustbowl]

G'day mate, sorry I've had to play catch up with all your posts, I've been working like the devil this past week and a bit, found no time for my Ford Axle upgrades either
As for the folks at Habour Freight, idiots are everywhere, they multiply, and vote!
I had to argue with the 3rd year apprentice mechanic as to which one the gearbox and which one the transfer case was

Anyway, I love your stuff and look forward to having you over here
Too bad Turismo and myself are about 4000 k's apart, could've had some great shed time

[sladey]

loving this write up, thanks for taking the time.

[ApacheResistance]

Originally Posted by Dustbowl

G'day mate, sorry I've had to play catch up with all your posts, I've been working like the devil this past week and a bit, found no time for my Ford Axle upgrades either
As for the folks at Habour Freight, idiots are everywhere, they multiply, and vote!
I had to argue with the 3rd year apprentice mechanic as to which one the gearbox and which one the transfer case was

Anyway, I love your stuff and look forward to having you over here
Too bad Turismo and myself are about 4000 k's apart, could've had some great shed time

Wish I could say the same. Ain't much going on in the landscaping business this time of the year. We're actually suppose to get hammered with 8 inches of snow Friday. I should get the day off of school and I can plow my way to Australia. Haha. Thankfully I still live with my parents, and what I do make, I save. Trying to save to $20,000 by the time I graduate highschool so I can get over there and have a little time to become accustomed before I start working and what have you. About 1/2 to my goal so far. Jeep just keeps emptying every damn pocket though.

That's why I just listen to them and chuckle to myself. I love people who are convinced on what they're talking about, but you know they're totally wrong.

Was a guy on the jeepforum convinced lockers were just "un-needed extra weight" and would "weigh you down in the sand". He got the wrath of god for that one though.

Mate I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to get over there. Actually planning something in my life for once that I'm getting excited for. Haha. I'm
also pretty stoked that I have a plan after highschool. Just need to figure out exactly what to do for like the first week once I get over there as I'm going to have no connections, no place to live, etc etc. It will make for great stories in my later years though.

Originally Posted by sladey

loving this write up, thanks for taking the time.

No problem mate. I'm happy to write it. Keeps me occupied. Will try to keep it super detailed and descript so anyone can follow it. Feel free to ask questions about anything. Ill be more than happy to answer them.

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Was going to work on the jeep today, but my god was it cold. Hit a -10 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill. Your hands work for about 5 minutes and then the blood starts freezing up in them and they become just about useless.

People tell me I'm nuts when I tell them 12 celcius is perfect for me.

Took this picture this morning of my thermometer. That's 3 degrees in Fahrenheit or -16.1 celcius.

[ApacheResistance]

Hit a little "bump" in the road.

Cooling system stopped working correctly. Instead of going all out, i thought maybe i had a leak in the hoses and it was going to be a cheap fix; not the case.

Bought all new hoses for the cooling system, and installed them. Leaking continued. Defiantly a hole in the radiator.

Just went all out and ordered everything. Figured i might as well put in a new water pump as i think the stock one is still in the Jeep.

Here is what i ordered. All prices are after the 25% discount i received.

- New Radiator ($82.49)
- Radiator Cap (16PSI) ($5.29)
- Radiator Lower Hose ($10.70)
- Radiator Upper Hose ($9.29)
- New Thermostat (195F) ($7.49)
- Water Pump ($24.74)
- Thermostat Housing ($8.24)
- Water Pump Inlet Tube ($7.25)
- Water Pump Gasket ($2.29)
- Thermostat Housing Gasket ($3.19)
- 2 Gallons Antifreeze ($21.41)

Total: $182.38 to overhaul my entire cooling system. I'm not going to complain about that.

Just need to drive down to advance auto and pick it all up. Will post pictures as soon as i get it all.

[CrazyNuts]

Holy shit $182 for an entire cooling system overhaul? In Aust you wouldn't have any change from $1000.

Great thread by the way. Encouraging to see all this knowledge and enthusiasm from a 17yo rather than being stuck on the gaystation or gaybox.

[ApacheResistance]

Originally Posted by CrazyNuts

Holy shit $182 for an entire cooling system overhaul? In Aust you wouldn't have any change from $1000.

Great thread by the way. Encouraging to see all this knowledge and enthusiasm from a 17yo rather than being stuck on the gaystation or gaybox.

$1,000 for all the parts i just mentioned? Holy shit. That's like 5x more expensive.

Yeah man people tell me all the time i'm dumb for owning a "Jeep that always breaks down".

I laugh at them when they take their car into the shop and get charged 500$ for one single part and then labor on top of that.

That's why i originally bought the jeep. Parts are super jeep and available everywhere for them.

Oh yeah. Everyone my age just fiddles with their thumbs. I figure somewhere later in my life, all of this knowledge i've obtained at this stage will come back and help me out.
__________________________________________________ ______________

Anyways started working on it. I'm in deep. Air tools are so nice to have. They make everything super fast.

Got all the supports and hoses holding the radiator out of the way and unbolted/disconnected and went to pull the radiator out. Turns out the transmission line has a special quick disconnect fitting on it. Went back to advance auto bought the tool (10$) came home and no bueno. Didn't work. Used a hacksaw to cut the old one off the radiator and just pulled the radiator. Will figure that out later. Used an earplug to put in the transmission line to keep contaminants out of it.

Got the water pump out and the thermostat and the thermostat housing out. Going to buy a new pickup tube tomorrow for the water pump (forgot to buy one). Cleaned off the mating surface of the water pump and the T-stat housing and all that needs to be done there is put on the new gasket and bolt them up.

Thought it was going to be harder than it was actually.

When i went to pull out my compressor like two weeks ago i snapped off one of the bolts in the bracket. Since i already had the jeep this far apart, i just went ahead and pulled the bracket out as well and am currently in the process of drilling it out so i can put a helicoil in it to accept another bolt.

Feel free to ask any questions you might have. It's not complicated.

For 117,000 miles on the original water pump, it honestly doesn't look bad at all. Almost looks new.

OH, and since i'm converting the A/C compressor into on board air, i have no need for the condenser. (It's located right in front of the radiator). I just cut that out and pulled it out. I'm not going to put it back in as it's useless for me. Should get more air flow to my radiator, and my Jeep should run slightly cooler.

Here are some pictures;

[ApacheResistance]

Sitting here thinking about the jeep and realized i forgot some information.

Two days ago i ordered upgraded lighting for the Jeep. I don't know if the aussie jeeps get the same lighting as the US jeeps, but if they do, you would know that with the stock lighting you'd be better off holding a flashlight out the window when you were driving to see.

They're terrible. I mean terrible. You can hardly see anything. I just resorted to guessing where the road is and looking at my GPS to see the bends in the road. I got pretty good at it.

Anyways, i finally got sick of it and went ahead and bought;

Autopal H4 Headlight Housing (Comes as a pair.) - $37.95
Putco 100W Heavy Duty Wire Harness - $26.59
Hella H4 12v 60/55 Watt Halogen Bulb - $8.98 for two

Total: 73.52. Shipping was free through Amazon prime.

Figured i might as well wait for this to get to my house before i reinstall the radiator. I have all the room i could possibly imagine in the engine bay. I won't even have to remove the grill. Will make the job a lot easier.

I'm also going to run my on board air line to the front of the jeep now while the radiator is out. Will make everything easier.

Will be sure to take pictures along the way in case any of you want to do the headlight upgrade.

Radiator and water pump and T-stat will probably go back in about 4 days time.

Can't wait to have upgraded lights. Trying to save money, but the jeep keeps emptying every one of my pockets. Actually, compared to the prices you guys would pay, i can't really complain.