Recent content by KuppaT

Cool! Thanks for sharing those. Wish the images were larger.

Yeah, you’re probably right. It’s all about building a vehicle quickly with as few steps as possible. They aren’t considering any future disassembly hassles by an owner. On that subject, are there any videos of workers building TJs on the Toledo assembly line?

Lego blocks strip? Nope. You’re right. Spin? Oh yes indeedy.

What crazy Chrysler engineer thought it was a good idea to secure fender flares with Lego blocks? Because they are fun to play with? I’m replacing them with rivnuts.

My ‘97 ignition switch requires that a separate button behind the switch be pushed in order to remove the key. Not sure when that feature was changed.

I just discovered this thread, and I just remembered that I had this photo in my phone. Here’s my ‘97 TJ with 2 of its 3 garage mates (‘88 Austin Mini and ‘02 Cooper S). Missing from the photo is the 4th member of the garage band: the ‘92 Toyota LiteAce pickup which I imported from Japan.

This is not Jeep-related, but this is sort of the flip side of what is being discussed here. It is much, much cheaper (and quicker!) for me here in the US to order parts for my classic Austin Mini from suppliers in the UK than it is to do so from one of the US-based Mini parts suppliers...

I guess it’s a quirk of the ‘97 TJ that just like there was no 1983 Corvette, and no 1998 Miata, there was no 1996 TJ Wrangler. But at least one country would like to officially disagree… It seems In Japan the TJs imported into that country in 1996 were sold by the dealerships as, titled as...

That would make sense. I bought a kit of 2 Preval sprayers for $11 and only used one of them - and maybe just used half the propellant in that one. So I think they will last at least as long as a typical spray can. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CW809ZO/?tag=wranglerorg-20 I used very...

Any SEM dealer should be able and happy to custom mix paint. That's got to be part of being a dealer. Talk to SEM. Regarding side carpets, my '97 TJ is totally stock with very low miles (just 11K miles when I bought it 3 months ago) so it is pretty much exactly as it left the factory. I...

No additives or thinners. I called SEM tech support (really helpful guy there) before I started and I asked about that. He said the SEM paint should be ready to spray as mixed and should not need any thinner. In fact he didn't even know what would be used as a thinner - so I guess this is...

Okay, here’s an update. I had a pint of the SEM paint ready to be sprayed, but I had no experience or equipment in how to apply it. I watched YouTube videos and I looked at getting a cheap Harbor Freight paint gun to hook up to my old portable garage air compressor. But once I started learning...

I’m the owner of a 1988 classic Austin Mini as well as new generation 2002 MINI Cooper S (so I love Minis) but I wouldn’t consider an electric MINI. It’s range is horrible at just 114 miles. Instead I think the cheap electric car to get is a new Chevrolet Bolt with a 259 mile range and a $26K...

At some point - and not too far away I think - the issue of EVs not paying any highway taxes when they fuel up will have to be addressed. Every time we fill up our gasoline powered Jeeps we are paying somewhere (depending on which state) like 40 cents or more of taxes per gallon. Put 15...

Sure, I’d be happy to share how I use that paint which was mixed up for me. Just to be clear: when I say they custom made me some paint, I mean that they did this by eyeballing the trim piece I gave them and using their skill and experience (and maybe a scanner) they mixed up various tints and...