Bertha the shoebox's build thread (the story of an aerodynamically challenged Jeep and her 3rd life as a first car)

[KingCarGuyZ]

Alright, valve cover gasket replaced, all so did the 2 vent valves while I had it off, those where a PItA to get out of the cover, 20 year old brake light and rubber do not bend, they brake.

as for the valve cover fairly simple, I did not have to remove the Rad-hose (though it might have been easier) instead I pulled the back ground and the AC line bracket Seen in photos below. The cleaned the deck with a razaor blade (careful to keep the gunk out of your engine) swap out the rubber grommets and re-install, took me about 2.5 hours start to finish. Hopefully this will make the Jeep stip wanting to light herself on fire.(ee thread below.)

old

also attempted to check the valves adjustment, only to find them to be hydraulic easier maintance, but not the easy fix for my first start lifter rattle that I was hoping for.

Unknown fluid leak

So I got quite the scare today, I got home from a 45ish min. Drive in 90degree weather, and when I parked the Jeep there was white smoke coming out from under the drivers side fender (that square part where it connects to the body right behind the wheel) I immediately grabbed my fire...

wranglertjforum.com

oil is supposed to come in today, so an oil change is next in the book.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Finally got around to the oil, changed the engine oil, filter, and trans oil.

also Picked up a wireless code reader called A Veepeak And then an App called OBD2 Fusion. All in I was about 30 bucks. It works great. I can read tons of stuff and it logs the info so I can read it later. Pretty happy with it so far.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Alright, so a little bit of catch up.

The Jeeps new Cat’s came in today. From eastern catalytic. Welds aren’t pretty, but they’ll get the job done. And for 400 shipped to my door, who cares. There under the hood anyway

Grabbed some seafoam to run through the tank before I swap out the. Cats. Figured it might help with a tougher idle and lifter tic, but I’ll probably have to add it to the oil for that

all of the sudden the blower fan stopped working today, so after testing the relays and resistor, I got a fan speed witch to throw in tmr.

hopefully I can get the wax of the fenders, started a thread here:https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...f-your-fender-flares.40053/page-2#post-666842
After I get her to run well, we’ll work on making her pretty again.

With all the heavy rain, Jeep has picked up a mildew smell, so I need to find that, and one of my light pods got some moisture. So that needs to get run. Ironically it was the light that I have not broken into and permatexed shut. So there’s something to be proud of

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

On a slightly unrelated note, does anyone have spare valve cover bolt they don’t want? I seem to be missing one.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Replaced the fan switch and my A/C works again! Super easy job. Taking the dash part was a little intimidating, but I was surprised with how easy it is

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

So the new Cat Turned our to be DOA, the front cat is miss-aligned and won’t seal with the header. Now I get to ship it back to Rock-Auto and wait on a replacement. Yay me. I’ll put together a more detailed post on the actual job after I get it fixed for reals.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

my dad got me this a pair set of keys for my B-Day a while back. Funny thing is I like the key tag so much I find myself reaching for these so much the OG set has become a spare. Amusingly enough most “normal” people don’t know what the keys are to, but the car and Jeep guys love it.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Just picked up a “short console” cup holder from Deadjeep.com seems like a cool sight. First time I used them so we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I can carry 2 drinks after this.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Ok, let me preface this post with 2 things. First off. I’m pretty frustrated at the company in question at the time of writing, secondly. If you take one thing away from this post let it be this: DO NOT BUY EASTERN CATALYTIC CAT’s!
Now, the story. About 2-3weeks ago I bought a catalytic converters from Rock-auto. $400 shipped to my door. Seemed like a good deal at the time.

most of the welds where less than pretty. But appeared to be affective, and it’s not like this part is for show, so at the time I didn't care. This should have set off my alarm. But it Didn’t.

Fast forward to that weekend I pull out the old cat and install the new part

fought rusty bolts along they way, finally had to break down and buy a MAP torch for the ones between the primary and secondary CAT. Not a fun job, but it’s not like you have to do it often. So I was ok with that.

Got to test start that evening And there was a horrible exhaust leak. Figured I’d screwed something up. So I went back and tightened all the bolts, when that didint work I undid the cat to header bolts, re-seat the cat and tried again, still had a leak. So I stuck my camera up there and got this:

It’s difficult to see in the picture, but the front cat is bent so that only one side can seat on the header. Thinking maybe I could make this work if I tightened more evenly I loosened the front cat one more time and attempted to re-seat it. No dice.

At this point I have spent 3 evenings trying to fix the exhaust leak, plus the day of install in the first point. I am not a “happy camper”. Rain is coming so I can’t take the dune buggy to school. It’s time to pull the “new part“ back out and look at it on the bench. Lo and behold the angles between the front and rear cat do not match, the old cat and the rear cat on the new pipe is just shy of 20*, while the front cat is a aggressive 27*. Damn, DOA part. So I throw the old cat back in and contact rock-auto about a replacement.

Due to The way rock-auto works. You buy an new part and then ship them the old one for your warranty replacement, they then re-fund the new parts purchase. Fine, not ideal. But whatever. Order a replacement and wait a week.

Replacement arrived today. Looks like shit.

Whatever monkey welded this together ran waaay to hot and splattered everywhere, again. Less then ideal. But I’m to the point where I don’t care so long as it works. Learning from my past mistakes I get the angle finder out early this time

Rear cat is about 20* which is fine, I’m not measuring on the same surface, I don’t really care what the angle is so long as it’s the same across both pipes.
View attachment 190496
the front cat is 15*! More than 5* off the other pipe! WTF. But wait it gets better.the pipes are not aligned the front pipe has a bank of 7* towards the inside of the U while the Rear one is a perfectly straight 0*. WOW.

morale of this story: DO NOT BUY EASTERN CATALYTIC Pay extra, get a better pipe and save your self the headache of doing the same job 10 times. Learn from my mistakes.

 

[AMS417]

I picked a set of Eastern Catalytic # 20379 from Amazon for $263.89 and they fit my 2005 fine. Looked better than yours too. Maybe Rock got a bad batch? Mine fit, no leaks, welds are better too. Maybe use a credit dispute if Rock wont help.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

I picked a set of Eastern Catalytic # 20379 from Amazon for $263.89 and they fit my 2005 fine. Looked better than yours too. Maybe Rock got a bad batch? Mine fit, no leaks, welds are better too. Maybe use a credit dispute if Rock wont help.

Thanks for the info, I’ll take a look. Rock Auto has been pretty good about warranty, well see on refund. Might try that or I might just cave in and go magnaflow. I think the CAT changed again in 03 or 04 not sure on that though.

I’ll see if I can grab the PN to put in my OP.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Just picked up a “short console” cup holder from Deadjeep.com seems like a cool sight. First time I used them so we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I can carry 2 drinks after this. View attachment 190387View attachment 190388

Part came from Dead Jeep Monday, as described. A little dirty but matched and fits great. Cleaned it up and put it in yesterday, Works great! I can now hold to whataburger cups. I’ll post a picture when it’s not raining.

 

[anarce]

I can now hold to whataburger cups.

The official Texas unit of cupholder measurement! I lived there from 99-06 but never developed the same affinity for Whataburger that the locals have.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

The official Texas unit of cupholder measurement! I lived there from 99-06 but never developed the same affinity for Whataburger that the locals have.

man, I don't get it. I have a couple of buddies that moved here from Cali and an In n' Out followed them. Despite its name we waited 4 hours in the drive through for a burger that was, A: wrong (not what I ordered) and B. not even 1/2 as good as the whataburger down the street. To this day that is one of the few things we can't agree on.

 

[anarce]

man, I don't get it. I have a couple of buddies that moved here from Cali and an In n' Out followed them. Despite its name we waited 4 hours in the drive through for a burger that was, A: wrong (not what I ordered) and B. not even 1/2 as good as the whataburger down the street. To this day that is one of the few things we can't agree on.

I agree that it is overrated too. I'm from the Midwest, and I'm a Steak 'n Shake guy. They opened in Dallas when I lived there and I was so excited to have it local again. Unfortunately Biglari is destroying that historic chain with terrible corporate management. It makes me sad.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

I agree that it is overrated too. I'm from the Midwest, and I'm a Steak 'n Shake guy. They opened in Dallas when I lived there and I was so excited to have it local again. Unfortunately Biglari is destroying that historic chain with terrible corporate management. It makes me sad.

we had one just up the road, pretty good burgers and there shakes where waaaay better than whataburger, but unfortunately they closed down about 2 years ago. its now about an hour to go get a good shake, of course down here thats nothing. so we still make the trip every couple weeks, or we did before COVID.

 

[TJ Starting]

I’ll post a picture when it’s not raining.

No kidding, here in El Campo its been raining almost non stop since yesterday morning. It has stopped a few time for a total of about 15 minutes.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

No kidding, here in El Campo its been raining almost non stop since yesterday morning. It has stopped a few time for a total of about 15 minutes.

Yeah, made me start to consider wiring up the rear wiper, I don’t want to bother with a full harness swap. But if I could get the male side of the plug that would be great, let me break out and just run some wires for switches to the wiper and the defrost.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Well, a little update for y’all watching at home. Rock auto refunded both Eastern catalytics without fuss, even covered shipping. I Attempted to order a Magna-flow for $372 from Carparts.com. Only to receive an email that it was out of stock and a refund. Ordered a Bosal that night (Sunday) from rock auto for like $400 it showed up yesterday Monday morning I got an email from Magnaflow that the CAT was back in stock. Ordered direct from them, $372 and it should get here tomorrow.

Finnaly caved in and ordered a rad. And OE Coolant from amazon. Showed up Wednesday. Through it all in last night and she idled at 206* for 1/2 an hour. So I think that problem is fixed. The old one was pretty beat (see pics below)

That coolant neck picture is completely drained of coolant (yea the fins are bronzed color) it was a MOPAR rad. So I think it was original. Kinda surprised it survived 250,000 before dying.

 

[KingCarGuyZ]

Update on how my day has gone: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/no-climate-control.41812/#post-696423