Sputter's Return to Stock

[Sputter]

Got the rear bumper on yesterday and trimmed it out with some herculiner spray. Also started prepping the spare tire mount.
Remaining items I need to complete this week are as follows:

1. Re-mount rear view mirror
2. Fix wobbly passenger seat
3. Finish bolting down center console
4. Install exterior and interior window seals
5. Install hood insulation
6. Undercoating in wheel wells
7. Still need to fix the electrical issue inside the cab
8. Need to fix the gross leak in the evap system.

 

[Sputter]

Made some more progress on the electrical today. Had to start pulling apart the dash but when I did, I found the issue with the airbag - simple disconnected plug. Now on to solve the horn, fan and radio power issues.

 

[Sputter]

More progress - at least with the diagnosis. Had to tear everything apart and verify grounds and power. Looks like I have multiple separate issues to deal with.

1. Airbag light - Resolved - loose connection
2. Stereo power - Power is confirmed. Stereo is fubar. Need to replace
3. Horn - not sure if this is a grounding issue or a problem with the switch membrane. I can get the horn to sound when I ground the single wire to the membrane. Still thinking about this one. Not sure I can find the membrane part I need.
4. Power Outlets - Power is being delivered. One of the outlets is dead. Need to replace.
5. Fan Controls - Unresolved. A/C was removed by PO. Fan will not come on. This one is complex so I will hold on this for a bit.
6. Instrument Backlight - Unresolved. Power being delivered. Suspect faulty bulb.
7. Shifter Light - Not investigated yet.

Going to take a break from the electrical troubleshooting and spray some undercoating on the front wheel wells. Got to clean up the garage as I am tripping over everything.

 

[Sputter]

Finished the undercoating on the front wheel wells. This stuff covers a lot of sins and looks great!

 

[FarFire70]

Finished the undercoating on the front wheel wells. This stuff covers a lot of sins and looks great!

View attachment 262083

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May be stealing this for the rear wheel wells.

 

[Sputter]

Getting closer to solving the mystery. Looks like something is delivering power to my grounding points in my dash. I assume this is what is causing my electrical demons? I guess the next step is to disconnect everything and slowly add systems back. Open to other suggestions.

 

[Farmergreg]

Getting closer to solving the mystery. Looks like something is delivering power to my grounding points in my dash. I assume this is what is causing my electrical demons? I guess the next step is to disconnect everything and slowly add systems back. Open to other suggestions.

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Following your patient approach, maybe we need before / after pics of your scalp to see how much hair you’ve ripped out over these electrical gremlins!

What all does the “clock spring” effect?

Fortunately I have not had many electrical problems with the LJ.

 

[Jeffseven777]

lol giving me flash backs to my 99 i bought it for 3500 as well and its been gutted and being put back together. muriatic acid is like gold for a restore. And Acetone.

 

[Sputter]

I hate rigging stuff up like this. I am quite sure I have an issue with the 200 - 300 grounds but I haven’t found them yet. In the interim I rigged up the unused speed sensor ground to the horn so it would function.

 

[Sputter]

Ok so horn, stereo and airbags all resolved. Stereo was actually a blown fuse but it gave me a chance to redo all the wiring, check grounds and hook up new speakers.

 

[harbiison]

it’s looking good!!

 

[Vasq]

What a beautiful Jeep. Perfect color!

 

[Sputter]

A couple of items this evening. Tapped out a couple of dents in the hood. Added DEI sound and radiant barrier to the inside of the hood. The paint was finally cured so I got to work on the 4 stage paint correction process. Results exceeded my expectations.

 

[Sputter]

A few more simple items this evening. Got the side blinker lights wired up and drilled out the spare tire mount so it would fit the newer wheels I have. Also found the problem to my parking brake issue. Turns out the parking brake sensor was not connected and the wire was grounding out the parking brake. Simple fix!

 

[Sputter]

Backlight illumination was out in the instrument cluster. The shifter illumination was out as well. Did a fair amount of troubleshooting and research before I read that sometimes the circuit board traces can get burned up. I pulled the IC apart and sure enough, a couple of the traces were burned. I cleaned them up and soldered some wires from a cat 5 cable I had laying around. It ain’t pretty but it worked. Also upgraded the lights to LEDs.

 

[Sputter]

Worked on a couple of items this weekend. Went to remove the windshield so I could put in the gaskets and seal it properly. Ended up breaking it. There goes another $110. Dropped the gas tank to find my gross and major evac leaks. Found a missing hose clamp, a misaligned fuel pump gasket and a broken clip to a evap hose. Got them all repaired but waiting on the windshield.

 

[Sputter]

A couple more odds and ends. Had speaker pods and 6 kicker speakers from the PO. I didn’t think they would work but I thought I’d try it out. Went through the speakers and found two that worked so I cleaned them up and mounted them in the pods. Sound is much better than with just two front speakers. As a bonus, the lights worked too. Also added the Jeep Wrangler stickers.

 

[Sputter]

Got the new windshield today. Looks great - no damage and only $110 from Amazon. Installing tomorrow.

 

[Sputter]

Windshield installed. Time to sell this thing!!!

 

[Sputter]

So why am I selling this after all the work I did on it? Turns out my 16 year old daughter is not interested in having a vehicle without AC or power everything. Going to list it for $9500. If it doesn’t sell within 3 months, I’m going to pull the engine and transmission and put an LS2 from a GTO in it.