XJ: Project "Apache Resistance".

[ApacheResistance]

Got back to working on the jeep today.

Realized that while i had it all apart i might as well drop another 50$ and just replace everything cooling related.

Went to NAPA autoparts and bought;

Fan Clutch: - $42.33
Water Pump Inlet Tube: - $10.49 (old tube was rusty figured what the hell.)

Total: $52.82

Total Spent On Overhauling Entire Cooling System: $235.20
Total Spent On Upgrading Headlights: $73.52
Combined: $308.72

I don't think there is any reason to complain. That's on the cheap side in my opinion.

Put the new fan clutch on my mech fan, and got to work on putting the jeep back together.

First thing i did was put some RTV sealeant on the inlet tube and tightened it down into the water pump and let it set up for a few minutes.

Put some RTV sealant on the new water pump and thermostat housing, waited a few minutes, put the new gasket on it, and pushed it onto both of them.

Put a slight bit of high temp RTV on the bolt threads as well just for kicks.

Put the water pump back on, made sure everything was lined up, ran the bolts in by hand, then torqued them all to 30 foot pounds.

Same process with the thermostat housing. Put the new thermostat in, put the housing on, hand tightened the bolts, then torqued them to 30 foot pounds.

Was going to put the radiator back in, but i figured i'd wait on that. Have new headlights coming in. Would be much easier to run the new harness with the radiator out. I'm also going to be running some 12 gage wire to the front bumper to run some fog lights. Also need to pipe my on board air tube through the front grille. Going to try to get to all of that tomorrow.

I also got my serpentine belt back on and adjusted correctly. The pulley is bolted back onto the water pump as well and those are torqued to 35 foot pounds.

All is looking good. Jeeps cooling system should be working perfectly when i do manage to put the radiator back in. Should be all done in about 4 days. (Just waiting for parts to ship in.)

Almost forgot. Two weeks ago i broke off one of the four bolts holding the A/C compressor onto the bracket. I pulled the bracket off last night, put it in my vice, and drilled right through the bolt that broke off. I drilled straight through the entire mount. I stuck a piece of 3/8" threaded rod up the hole about 7" long, and used that to mount the compressor on. It's actually much stronger than stock. You can see that in the pictures if you look at the A/C compressor.

Pictures;

[ApacheResistance]

More news.

Got in my Putco Wire Harness today and my H4 headlights. The housings should be in tomorrow. I figured while i had the radiator out, it would be a lot easier to install the wire harness.

Went ahead and popped the front grille off, and took the screws holding the headlights to the jeep out. Headlights fell out, and i took them out completely.

Spread the harness apart, ran one side to the driver side, made it look neat, and zip tied the harness going across the front of the jeep to the stock harness. Made it look really neat. Did the same with the passenger side.

They recommended grounding the harness to the radiator, but i didn't like this idea. I cut off the connector at the end of both grounds and soldered on a piece of 12 gage wire to each. Ran both back to my batteries negative instead. I like this much better. I hid the relays right next to the battery.

To make this easier i attempted to remove the thing the battery sits in. Not so easy. The 3 bolts holding it down all broke off when i went to remove them. Had to get out a drill and drill them out. They now have new hardware holding them down.

Took my new radiator out of the box and put that into the jeep. I left the condenser out of the jeep because my jeep has no air conditioning. This allows more air to flow over the radiator - thus cooling the jeep further.

Got the radiator in, and the transmission cooler line was being a pain to use the special tool to disconnect it. I cut it off square, and just slide it over the fitting on the radiator and hose clamped it on. That worked perfect.

Bolted my new fan clutch to my mech fan, then bolted that onto the pulley. Dropped the electric fan in next. Put all the bolts back in, and i was done. Was actually much easier than i thought it would be.

Filled up the radiator with a 55/45 antifreeze/water mix. Started the jeep up and it began screaming like you wouldn't believe. Every slight turn of the steering wheel makes it squeal more. I'd assume it's the power steering pump now.

I really don't want to spend the money to replace that, but i think i'm going to have to. Anyways, jeep cooling system is working perfect. Won't even come up to 210 degrees at idle.

My new headlight housings should be here tomorrow so i can install that. I can't wait because the stock lights were super dim, and these are suppose to be way better. It's going to be a treat to be able to see things at night.

I also got a brand new Milwaukee 4 1/2" angle grinder today. Was pretty psyched about that.

[ApacheResistance]

Just got myself a york 210 air compressor to use for onboard air, but i have no clue how it's going to fit into the jeep.

It's going to be interesting to see how i manage to get this to work. Can't wait to get it pumping though. Different pulley sizes and everything.

[ApacheResistance]

I just realized that to engage the A/C clutch all you needed to do was hit the wire coming off the compressor on the "+" battery terminal to engage the clutch. I thought it was WAY more complicated than this.

Anyways, i just figured out my stock compressor would work fine for OBA, but i might as well go the york route now that i've got everything for it. It will pump out a lot more air than the stock, and you don't need an inline oiler for the york.

Just engaged the clutch with my stock compressor with the engine on, and just about died laughing. All of this shot out of the compressor onto my ceiling. Whoops. Haha.

[ApacheResistance]

Weatherman says 16-24 inches of snow will be falling tonight.

Sounds like a lot of plowing for me (more money for the jeep), and a whole bunch of fun with the jeep.

Had my front driveshaft out still because i still didn't get around to fixing the transfer case linkage correctly. (It shifts into 4 part time and 4 full time. No neutral or 4lo).

Anyways, i went to advance auto and bought a new U-Joint for the front of the driveshaft, and Two new U-Bolts to hold the U-Joint onto the front yoke. U-bolts are much stronger than the stock U-straps, and they're easier to fix if one breaks on the trail.

Used the hammer method to press my U-Joint in because i don't have a press. Did that and had it back into the jeep within 30 minutes.

Also bought two new battery terminals because mine were getting old and they were kind of junky. Replaced those along with the body ground. That's all good to go.

Spent 25$ on a new U-Joint, Two Battery Terminals, And the U-Bolts.

Four wheel drive now works perfect for the time being. I can't wait for there to be 20 inches of snow on the road so i can drive through it with the jeep and then proceed to whip my snowmobile down the road. I'm getting excited.

The new headlight housings also came in. I installed those with Hella 60/55W H4 bulbs, and the new harness, and oh my god, it's magnificent. I can't believe the different. It's one of the best upgrades i've ever did on the jeep, and well worth the 80$ i spent on it.

They work wonders.

[Dustbowl]

Sweet! My shafts need a little TLC...
I've been wondering where you went

[ApacheResistance]

Originally Posted by Dustbowl

Sweet! My shafts need a little TLC...
I've been wondering where you went

They're not too bad to fix. I've been around.

I just took these pictures. It's midnight here. Normally it's pitch dark out. Due to the snow though, it's like daytime out.

There are about 7" of snow on the roads and the plowtrucks are out. It's ridiculous. It's coming down at 4" an hour.

The snowmobile is currently warming up, and i'm about to go whip that thing down the roads like it was meant to be ridden.

Having fun in that 29 degree weather of yours over there in Sydney?

Oh, and i've towed out about 10 people today and witnessed about 4 people slam into telephone poles, over curbs, into ditches, etc etc. I watched some guy total his brand new land rover.