Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator

What did you do to your TJ today?

It is pretty common for upper arms with very low misalignment levels to damage the upper mounts on the frame. The big issue that is often missed back there is the axle moves side to side as it cycles. If you have joints with high hardness in the isolation bushings like the old Teraflex arms, that sideways movement eventually tears up the mount regardless of how well it is welded.


This Jeep had stock suspension with 1.5” “pucks” when I tore in to it. So stock CA’s

but the hard top is 97-02

Not a stock top. Was originally a soft top only Jeep. No wiring or controls for the top.

see no reason to share the abuse our unscrupulous sellers visit upon us.

As I’ve said before, you are a good man @mrblaine


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This Jeep had stock suspension with 1.5” “pucks” when I tore in to it. So stock CA’s
Very anomalous.
Not a stock top. Was originally a soft top only Jeep. No wiring or controls for the top.
Well, I can tell you that installing the correct XBODY harness to get the hard top to function as it came from the factory is not for the faint of heart. You will touch every part of the rig from under the hood to the tail lights to get that swapped in including pulling the dash.
As I’ve said before, you are a good man @mrblaine


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ell, I can tell you that installing the correct XBODY harness to get the hard top to function as it came from the factory is not for the faint of heart. You will touch every part of the rig from under the hood to the tail lights to get that swapped in including pulling the dash.

We have the factory harness purchased from a member here but like you said, I’m a bit faint of heart and he lives primarily in Va Beach area so how necessary is a defogger in Va? IDK.

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We have the factory harness purchased from a member here but like you said, I’m a bit faint of heart and he lives primarily in Va Beach area so how necessary is a defogger in Va? IDK.

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We are good at swapping harnesses and I was astounded at the effort we put out to get that one swapped in as something that was a stand-alone swap. As part of some other work, it wouldn't be quite so bad. As a stand-alone, it pretty much sucked even given the fact that we didn't have to fully take it apart. We were in the process of assembling after paint so bare bones.
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We are good at swapping harnesses and I was astounded at the effort we put out to get that one swapped in as something that was a stand-alone swap. As part of some other work, it woudn't be quite so bad. As a stand-alone, it pretty much sucked even given the fact that we didn't have to fully take it apart. We were in the process of assembling after paint so bare bones.
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I dread going that deep.
 
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Looks like you are well on your way. 🙂

If you don’t mind sharing, let us know where your switch is located along with your final mounting locations.

Locations are kind of a trial and error deal. May move them around to see what happens. Still figuring out a location in front of the rear tire.
Front crosses beams to avoid shadows. Rear is tucked up to avoid rocks.
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New soft top arrived, I am in the the throws of getting things to line up..but for now here is a shot of my strap repair. They were hanging on by a rivet or two so with out any webbing I came up with this ideas to reenforce the ends so I could keep motoring on with the project… my daughter joined me for the evening and that was nice to have the extra hands.View attachment 569390

fought that corner for a good hour last night trying get everything zipped up good and proper. Left a space heater it over night 20 mins this morning everything is looking good. New top definitely spruced up the look.

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Busy couple of weekends:
I think it was two weekends ago when I started troubleshooting the occasional P0301 misfire.

Pulled, checked, and adjusted the cylinder 1 plug. I think it looked fine? I look at charts of these and think this looks normal-ish.

Cylinder 1 plug.jpg


Got pissed at how difficult it was to reattach the coil connector. The rubber seal inside the connector was breaking down and made it damn near impossible to fully connect and lock. I got it connected, but needed to use the handles on a pair of pliers so both hands could push the thing home enough to lock. Total PITA.

Original Connector.jpg


Undid the air handler on the throttle, fired up the engine, and sprayed the intake with Gumout carb/choke cleaner. I sprayed about half a can total, some at idle and some at about 2000 RPMs. Exhaust stank in the process.

Then I added some Redline SI-1 to the fuel. I could hear all injectors firing. So I decided to try the easy cleaning method on them before I pull them. I also reset the PCM and ran the vehicle through the week. Significant felt improvement on acceleration, much easier/quicker to get up and over 3000 RPMs. My scanner currently shows no codes, all monitored components are green.

While going through all the above I heard a whistle from the rear CCV elbow where it sits in its grommet. While spraying the throttle intake, I bumped the hose going to the intake manifold, it bumped the rear PCV elbow and it started whistling. The front grommet was solidified. Might as well replace those, right?

Last weekend I replaced both valve cover grommets and the front elbow (I busted it trying to remove it). The hose from airbox to elbow was dry and beginning to crack. It was then replaced. The rear elbow came out without incident. I cleaned it and reused it in the new grommet. Maybe some improvement?

Today I installed a Toyota harness for my H4 Hellas. I used the nuts connecting the battery terminals to the wire harness ends as the harness connection points. Easy installation on the rest, routed excess wiring ahead of the radiator on the lower grill channel.

Then I disassembled and de-pinned a coil connector pigtail (Standard Motor Products) to swap it with the PITA original.

Coil Connector disassembled.jpg


Dissembled the one on the vehicle, and then put it back together with the replacement connector.

Original Wiring and Pins.jpg


Now it attaches and locks with light pressure.

Reinstalled and reconnected the battery, fires right up and all my lights work. It was a good day.
 
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Went for a drive and saw a homeless guy with a sign that read "Please Help. I'm too ugly to be a prostitute." My wife was bummed that she couldn't get a pic of him. I told her to drive back by with some cash.
p.s. He beat out my favorite sign from a couple weeks ago,
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This guy is not very smart. He should go get his medical weed card and have his taxpayer funded Obama care insurance pay for it.
 
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I know all to well about the homeless in CA. Been dealing with them since 2019 when our lovely (aka, piece of sh!t governor told the police they can't run them off. It has been a nightmare for me. They are a block from my house. They can sit and watch my house and know when I come and go. Their trash blows into my yard anytime the wind blows and they waste water all the time when they leave the fire hydrant open. I take pics and send them into the city to complain about them all the time. I have over 600 pics since this started in 2019. One thing I can't stand anymore is the meth head homeless. First thing I see when I leave my house is ran down RV's and garbage. Puts me in a bad mood. Last thing I see when I come home is ran down RVs and garbage. Let's not even talk about the feces and all that is all over that stretch of road. They have to go somewhere. I'm so over it. But, the city comes and runs them off and then a few hours after the code enforcement leaves, the homeless tow their broke down RVs back. How hard is it to put up No Parking signs and actually enforce them? I have been asking for signs for 4 and a half years now.
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This is the ditch in front of my yard.
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Trash that has blown into my carport.
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I refuse to clean up after them (well, except what is in my carport), I email the city, but it takes months for them to come out. I turned that trash in about a month ago. Still there. I'll turn it in again once it fills with rain water. Or maybe a neighbor will complain to them once the water start flooding their house because the ditch is plugged up.

Since these pics were taken, about 3 weeks ago or so, the amount of RV's have doubled.

Time to start a new tradition. Google "Devil's Night Detroit". This will get it cleaned up.
 
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Ruby has about 119,500 and change on her. So today she got new plugs, coil boots and was due for an oil change so did that too. Still need to flush the cooling system and replace all the components minus the radiator.

Plugs seemed okay, per the maintenance record from the PO 60K service was done so I assume the plugs were replaced then.

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Few hours a few days after work this week and we are making progress with “Bens Deployment Build “. While cycling the rear suspension and wondering what that “clunk” was we found the stock passenger side UCA was about to fall off and had been that way awhile…

Edit: note the factory UCA mount welds were never done properly from the factory.

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Got Barnes on the horn and in two days had the replacement on hand.

Mike came by Thursday night and burned it in for us (Dave and I are not welders🤣)
Put some paint on it last night then moved on to the fuel tank skid…

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I can’t tell you how much joy there was when the skid I picked up a few weeks back from @Drastic solved all our track bar/fuel tank skid clearance issues.

Moving along smooth.

All new brakes arrived thanks to @mrblaine and his excellence. I mean what better of a man tells me to buy the rotors elsewhere to save $$ and then blesses Ben with the parts I couldn’t seem to locate.

New @Shawn at Tom Wood's shafts on order, A++ for tech support and good ole’ salt of the earth customer service.

Gonna spend some time on it this weekend too.


🇺🇸 Go Navy


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Extra thumbs up given for getting the dog in two photos. Jeep dogs! (y)
 
Extra thumbs up given for getting the dog in two photos. Jeep dogs! (y)

Yea! So funny I didn’t notice her in the one where she’s looking at us. That’s Allison (transmission), one of Dave’s dogs. His other is Poppy, she’s a sweetheart but likes to lay on tools and really makes Dave unhappy 🤣

The older I get the more I understand why men are called Dogs. 😉
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ radiator