OP
I'll be (im)patiently waiting for your response
Keep the questions coming!
High travel, high clearance & high octane, a streetable adventure LJ story
- Thread starter toximus
- Start date
Keep the questions coming!
OP
For onboard air for filling tires, I decided on an ARB compressor. There's many options each with their pros and cons but since I want to travel having unlimited air seems more convenient than a tank. If I were to stop in Colorado for some wheeling on the way to California or similar I wouldn't have to worry about having used too much air. I also need at minimum a small compressor for my ARB air lockers. To better mitigate some of my reliability concerns of burning up a pump I choose ARBs dual twin compressor setup, if one pump burns up the second will still function until I can get it fixed/replaced. At least that's what I have thought up in my head... we'll see how it goes in reality...
My first choice in placement is behind the driver's side tire, it'll keep the air locker hoses tidy and the noise outside of the Jeep. But it's a tight fit. If that doesn't work I'll mount it around where the fuel cell is going.
I unboxed Genrights inner fender brackets to see what I have to work with and promptly placed them back in the box. They are a bad design and half of the brackets have literally no way of fitting in; save the money and buy the fenders without the brackets. Instead, I am using MetalCloak's fender brackets (yay! MetalCloak...). You have to call for them and they cost about $50 each. I have 2 that they had sent me as replacements for my old rusted fenders but you can get away with just 1 for the battery tray or just make something similar yourself.
Here's the clearance between MetalCloak's bracket and Genright's fender. We're going to be cutting them up to make them fit.
I started by experimenting with how much I had to cut to make them fit with the fenders and innerfender:
In the end I found that chopping them into 2 parts and shortening them until they fit is an easier method.
I cut a new panel to mount the compressor onto. I drilled holes to line up with the fender and bolted it up so it'd be perfectly spaced for welding. A big thing I realized as I was making brackets is that you need to keep in mind how components will puzzle together later and in what order they'll need to be installed.
In my case the compressor will need to be slot loaded in before the inner or outer fender is installed.
Once I get to the final assembly I will be raising the breathers for the compressors up higher so water won't be a concern.
My first choice in placement is behind the driver's side tire, it'll keep the air locker hoses tidy and the noise outside of the Jeep. But it's a tight fit. If that doesn't work I'll mount it around where the fuel cell is going.
I unboxed Genrights inner fender brackets to see what I have to work with and promptly placed them back in the box. They are a bad design and half of the brackets have literally no way of fitting in; save the money and buy the fenders without the brackets. Instead, I am using MetalCloak's fender brackets (yay! MetalCloak...). You have to call for them and they cost about $50 each. I have 2 that they had sent me as replacements for my old rusted fenders but you can get away with just 1 for the battery tray or just make something similar yourself.
Here's the clearance between MetalCloak's bracket and Genright's fender. We're going to be cutting them up to make them fit.
I started by experimenting with how much I had to cut to make them fit with the fenders and innerfender:
In the end I found that chopping them into 2 parts and shortening them until they fit is an easier method.
I cut a new panel to mount the compressor onto. I drilled holes to line up with the fender and bolted it up so it'd be perfectly spaced for welding. A big thing I realized as I was making brackets is that you need to keep in mind how components will puzzle together later and in what order they'll need to be installed.
In my case the compressor will need to be slot loaded in before the inner or outer fender is installed.
Once I get to the final assembly I will be raising the breathers for the compressors up higher so water won't be a concern.
OP
If you look at my old posts when I put together the rear or even my first build thread when I started on this Jeep from stock you'll see that I didn't always have these skills. At this point in my build you're looking at the culmination of thousands of hours of honing my skills over the course of years.
OP
With the compressor in I started playing around locating parts on the innerfender shelf.
OP
Have you turned it on yet?
Knowing what I know about compressors they like to shake and rattle. Do you have issues with the compressor vibrating against the metal of the bracket and the jeep?
OP
I needed a smaller air filter box to fit under the hood. I don't like the idea of an open element filter or one without filtration testing such as K&N and Spectre. During my quest for knowledge I found this interesting report on different filters and their air flow: https://www.nicoclub.com/archives/kn-vs-oem-filter.html
With my supercharger I am using more air than stock and any restriction will cause more heat and reduce performance. I found these CFM numbers published by Wix:
Jeep TJ 4.0L: 210 cfm
Ford Windstar 96-03 (and a few other models): 350 cfm
Ford F-series with gas engine 97-04 (and a few other large models): 500 cfm
Here is the (cut down) Windstar airbox compared to the F-series:
There's not much difference, but there's enough that the F-series didn't fit under the hood for me.
Playing around with a Windstar airbox.
I cut the length of the Windstar intake down a few inches for better packaging:
After cutting I glued the plastic together to the shortest possible length with 3M TPO Plastic Parts Repair (08239). I then vacuum tested the housing to check for leaks.
With my supercharger I am using more air than stock and any restriction will cause more heat and reduce performance. I found these CFM numbers published by Wix:
Jeep TJ 4.0L: 210 cfm
Ford Windstar 96-03 (and a few other models): 350 cfm
Ford F-series with gas engine 97-04 (and a few other large models): 500 cfm
Here is the (cut down) Windstar airbox compared to the F-series:
There's not much difference, but there's enough that the F-series didn't fit under the hood for me.
Playing around with a Windstar airbox.
I cut the length of the Windstar intake down a few inches for better packaging:
After cutting I glued the plastic together to the shortest possible length with 3M TPO Plastic Parts Repair (08239). I then vacuum tested the housing to check for leaks.
OP
The compressor is about a finger gap away from the tub and the compressors are mounted to bushings where mounted to the ARB bracket (which is then mounted to my bracket).
It's not quiet inside the Jeep by any means but it only briefly cycles every other time I use a locker or when filling tires.
OP
My old battery is going on 7 years or so and I previously had some issue where the engine would randomly die after crossing water and the winch would stop working completely. I didn't have time to diagnose these issues before I put it on jack stands for my first axle swap (the one where the axles were made incorrectly and I had to return them). I think it was due to excessive corrosion on the terminals. Rather than fight an already old battery later, I bought a brand new Odyssey battery (34-PC1500T).
I don't like how Genright leans the battery with their tray and they place the battery higher than it needs to be.
Here's about where I'd like the battery to sit:
I took my MetalCloak bracket and cut how I did on the other side with the compressor (if you found this post via a search, see that a few posts up).
I test fit my battery to determine the exact placement. I also test fit a few other group 34 batteries to make sure any future replacements would fit.
MetalCloak doesn't provide enough tie ins for the weight of the battery so I tied it into the firewall at the AC dryer mount and into the pinch seam near where the fender bolts to the tub.
An easy way to get the alignment right is to put paint on the end of the bolt and slide the new piece until it touches. That marks where you need to drill your new hole!
I made a template for a plate for the battery to sit on by taping sections of cardboard together:
The plate is made from 3/16" aluminum:
While the battery would be just fine sitting on top of the battery temp sensor I wanted to recess the sensor down into the plate. I used a spade bit for wood to make the recess and then drilled the center out to 7/8":
I tapered all of the holes for mounting the plate to the bracket:
I made a retainer bar out of 3/8" aluminum:
I moved the ECU back to the firewall and up.
In this picture you can see the two additional tie ins I had mentioned:
I left an extra inch of all thread to allow for slight battery height differences.
I still don't love this solution, another option that Blaine is working on is to place the batteries in the back of the Jeep and mount terminals up front. You can see that progress in this build thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/is-this-too-much-rust.26702/
I don't like how Genright leans the battery with their tray and they place the battery higher than it needs to be.
Here's about where I'd like the battery to sit:
I took my MetalCloak bracket and cut how I did on the other side with the compressor (if you found this post via a search, see that a few posts up).
I test fit my battery to determine the exact placement. I also test fit a few other group 34 batteries to make sure any future replacements would fit.
MetalCloak doesn't provide enough tie ins for the weight of the battery so I tied it into the firewall at the AC dryer mount and into the pinch seam near where the fender bolts to the tub.
An easy way to get the alignment right is to put paint on the end of the bolt and slide the new piece until it touches. That marks where you need to drill your new hole!
I made a template for a plate for the battery to sit on by taping sections of cardboard together:
The plate is made from 3/16" aluminum:
While the battery would be just fine sitting on top of the battery temp sensor I wanted to recess the sensor down into the plate. I used a spade bit for wood to make the recess and then drilled the center out to 7/8":
I tapered all of the holes for mounting the plate to the bracket:
I made a retainer bar out of 3/8" aluminum:
I moved the ECU back to the firewall and up.
In this picture you can see the two additional tie ins I had mentioned:
I left an extra inch of all thread to allow for slight battery height differences.
I still don't love this solution, another option that Blaine is working on is to place the batteries in the back of the Jeep and mount terminals up front. You can see that progress in this build thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/is-this-too-much-rust.26702/
OP
Sometimes my Jeep would die or have trouble firing when winching. I think the alternator was having trouble keeping up either because it was old or because it was underrated for the job or because the cables were corroded. I replaced it with 160a alternator from a Dodge Durango (56029914AC). It's a common swap so I won't go into much detail here. I had been looking into an even higher output alternator but I ultimately decided against it due to cost and availability.
While taking off my old alternator the stud broke off inside. I'm going to be replacing the cables so it's a good thing I'm replacing the alternator anyway! One thing to note is that you must replace the factory alternator cable with a higher rated cable with fusable link when doing the Durango swap.
While taking off my old alternator the stud broke off inside. I'm going to be replacing the cables so it's a good thing I'm replacing the alternator anyway! One thing to note is that you must replace the factory alternator cable with a higher rated cable with fusable link when doing the Durango swap.
OP
Continuing mounting and moving parts until they fit. There's a few half way ideas in this picture.
OP
I have more pictures so if there's anything specific you want to see let me know.
I don't know my questions yet. But I want to change my fenders somehow that may or may not be a highline.
OP
I couldn't wrangle the hard AC line that goes up onto the fender so, thanks to a friend, I had the center section replaced with a hose so the line can run between the coilover and the engine.
Once I get the Jeep running again I'll have to take it someplace get the AC refilled.
Once I get the Jeep running again I'll have to take it someplace get the AC refilled.
OP
I relocated the washer fluid bottle over to the other side of the engine.
I used:
NAPA 730-4514/Dorman 603-001 Coolant/Washer Reservoir Bottle
Continental Elite 65193 7/32" ID Windshield Wiper / Radiator Overflow Tubing
More progress:
I used:
NAPA 730-4514/Dorman 603-001 Coolant/Washer Reservoir Bottle
Continental Elite 65193 7/32" ID Windshield Wiper / Radiator Overflow Tubing
More progress:
OP
It's something that I'm going to be keeping an eye on.