What did you do to your TJ today?

Picked up a 2005 4.0 with low mileage yesterday. I started tearing it all down to do a rebuild. Now if I could just find a company that makes forged pistons.
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removed the CB that was mounted on the dash and installed a Cobra 75 that I had. I did not like the one on the dash. Nothing wrong with the CB itself, just didn't like the location and didn't see many other options without spending some money (I am kinda tight). LOL

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The new look, much better. Plus the Cobra also has weather band. Now I need to find a remote speaker for it. OR, any reason I couldn't run a cable from the remote speaker output to the aux input on the Jeep radio? Since I will never be running both at the same time.

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I put my cheap amazon remote speaker for my Cobra 75 here. It looks as if it will be in the way but my leg has never touched it. I had it at the same place on the passenger side but the slide and tilt seat hit it. I do use the radio and CB at the same time quite frequently.

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I put my cheap amazon remote speaker for my Cobra 75 here. It looks as if it will be in the way but my leg has never touched it. I had it at the same place on the passenger side but the slide and tilt seat hit it. I do use the radio and CB at the same time quite frequently.

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Mine's in the center console as I don't have a sub-woofer.
 
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It was 70+ degrees in my neck of Virginia yesterday, so I decided to pull out the grill guards I bought off Amazon a month ago. I never liked that they were completely black, so I taped off the grill holes in each piece to spray.
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Then I sprayed them all with three light coats of the Duplicolor Forest Green Pearl. And then another three coats of the Duplicolor clear coat.
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Here's the before and after. I think the color matched insert lip makes for a much cleaner and more OEM-type look.
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switched out blown subwoofer with 6" Audiopipe woofer. I also changed out the front speakers with JBL GT7-5C 5-1/4" component speakers and the old radio with an Alpine UTE-73BT. I placed the tweeters on the corners of the dash and the 5-1/4s in dash pods enclosures. The difference is crazy. I love the way everything sounds now. No, the subwoofer won't rattle anything off, but man it helps everything sound so much better. Now I just need to install alpines KTP-445 to help provide more power to the speakers and that should help everything work and sound a lot better.

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It was 70+ degrees in my neck of Virginia yesterday, so I decided to pull out the grill guards I bought off Amazon a month ago. I never liked that they were completely black, so I taped off the grill holes in each piece to spray.
View attachment 201983
View attachment 201984
Then I sprayed them all with three light coats of the Duplicolor Forest Green Pearl. And then another three coats of the Duplicolor clear coat.
View attachment 201987
Here's the before and after. I think the color matched insert lip makes for a much cleaner and more OEM-type look.
View attachment 201991
It was 70+ degrees in my neck of Virginia yesterday, so I decided to pull out the grill guards I bought off Amazon a month ago. I never liked that they were completely black, so I taped off the grill holes in each piece to spray.
View attachment 201983
View attachment 201984
Then I sprayed them all with three light coats of the Duplicolor Forest Green Pearl. And then another three coats of the Duplicolor clear coat.
View attachment 201987
Here's the before and after. I think the color matched insert lip makes for a much cleaner and more OEM-type look.
View attachment 201991
Looks great dude! Agreed on the closer to oem! Quality stuff
 
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Stripped the soft top and associated hardware off and got one last ride with the top off... 60 degrees, sunny and heated seats is a great combination.

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Then I hit the hard top with some Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to get the oxidation off the grey hard top. I never cared for them, but now that it’s not chalky white anymore, I think the grey looks pretty good. And the Magic Erasers really did the trick... Thanks to whoever posted the trick in whichever thread I saw it in!

I’ll try to get a pic of the results tomorrow.

Edit: Now that the top had dried, I can see spots that need a little more attention. But it’s still a big improvement.

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First day at SMORR my younger brother got the rear plate. I guess he figured should balance it out on the last day.



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I will be waiting for your "after 5 heavy rains/washes" review on it. I bought the Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer (wax for plastic) on closeout for $ 4 a bottle. It claims the same 100 washes. 2-3 heavy rains all but removes it. The only upside is that it's not greasy like the old Armor All.
First impression - it’s like a lotion. Probably feeds the plastic a little bit.

Easy to apply.

Doesn’t leave a greasy residue.

If it would last 1/3 what they claim , I’d be ok with it ....but I haven’t seen a product like this do that so far.

It may end up better for interior use, who knows.

I’m familiar with painting them, grew up around body shops. I just don’t want to pull them and do it right now.

Here in the south, limbs chew up flare paint when you wheel a good bit...and once you start painting something , that’s a road you typically stay on.

I doubt it’s a miracle product , and appreciate the interest.

The plastic paints are so good these days ...I did my window triangles behind the mirrors recently. Good stuff.

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Good luck tackling this project @GEEP4ME

If anyone is looking for these pins, send me a message and I can mail you what you need.

Cool. I may take you up on one. Found a wire from the cluster to the connector that runs to the defrost relay missing. I got the one from the switch to the cluster, but missed the one coming out. I'll check at work on Monday and see if I get lucky twice. Otherwise, I'll get a hold of you. This swap is taking longer than I had thought. But I also haven't been real energetic about it either. Got so far today, as to put the cluster back in, turn the key and hit the defrost switch......and nothing happened. Still have everything torn apart and haven't started on the tub harness yet. So, went back to the book and found the issue with the 2nd cluster wire. Don't know why this job is fighting me so much.

Long time ago, I had a '90 Fifth Avenue. FWD. Mark Cross Edition, leather, mmmmm. Loved it. But it had its share of issues. Most of which I had found a work-around for. Factory rear load leveling suspension was inoperative and leaked down if you filled the system with air. Set of Gabriel HiJackers and an onboard compressor and manual switch/release valve fixed it. ABS/hydroboost pump quit. New one was $1800 wholesale. Converted it to regular vacuum assist power brakes. But the thing that irritated me, on an almost daily basis, was the HVAC system. In '90, the system was all vacuum actuated, just like everything was for the last 20 or 30 years. Those systems work fine. Little check valve on the supply line closes when you step on the gas, and the system doesn't bleed down (if it's in good order) the check valve maintains vacuum in the pods and actuators under the dash, and your a/c still blows out the dash panel instead of reverting to the fail safe defrost/floor position. The issue was the Power Vacuum Module for the Electronic Automatic Temperature Control. 6 or 8 little valves inside this electronic control box that moved/stopped/diverted vacuum through the different hoses to move the vacuum pods on the heater box worked well when new. After the years went by, those valves could leak. Normally it wasn't too much of an issue, unless it was 100 degrees in Kansas, and you're trying to accelerate and merge onto the interstate with the A/C on full blast and car full of people heading out to dinner, THEN, the system would bleed off (due to no vacuum from the racing engine) and revert to defrost. GRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! Chrysler had a TSB/field fix, where they replaced the check valve with a miniature vacuum reservoir/check valve unit, to try and combat the issue. Problem then became, you had to also fill up the little reservoir (pill bottle size) and the rest of the system. In 1992, Chrysler went to all electric under the dash for that system on the Fifth Avenue/Imperial line. Guy at work did not listen to all of his Ford coworkers when he mentioned he was thinking of trading the kids' Windstar for an Imperial. I told him the trans would go. And it did. Within 6 months. He ended up giving it to me, and being it was a '92, it....had....the....electric....heater.....box. I already had the factory manual for my '90, and the library had the Mitchell for the Imperial. I traced all the wires for both systems, studied the bolt pattern on the firewalls, and jumped in. Had to pull both dashes and both heater cases. But otherwise, had 5 wires to spice and swap control heads and that was it. Charged up the A/C and it was amazing!

Need to order some bulbs for the useddefrost and wiper switches, as some are burnt out, but one thing at a time I guess.
 
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First impression - it’s like a lotion. Probably feeds the plastic a little bit.

Easy to apply.

Doesn’t leave a greasy residue.

If it would last 1/3 what they claim , I’d be ok with it ....but I haven’t seen a product like this do that so far.

It may end up better for interior use, who knows.

I’m familiar with painting them, grew up around body shops. I just don’t want to pull them and do it right now.

Here in the south, limbs chew up flare paint when you wheel a good bit...and once you start painting something , that’s a road you typically stay on.

I doubt it’s a miracle product , and appreciate the interest.

The plastic paints are so good these days ...I did my window triangles behind the mirrors recently. Good stuff.

View attachment 202080
I’m surprised I don’t hear a lot of Jeepers use the rit dye method on their plastics. It’s a quick trick to dye most plastics and is a staple of repair in the dirtbike community. I went to my local ranch and home store and bought a 25 gallon galvanized tub. I set it on a turkey fryer and get the water boiling and then add the rit dye. Make sure you get the industrial strength stuff on amazon. But you can dye into the plastic with the stuff. So stratches don’t show he under color anymore. And it’s very long lasting. Like decades. ESP black. Look up how to dye motorcycle parts. And I’m sure you’ll get tons of good info. Sharp looking Jeep!