Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

What did you do to your TJ today?

Learned today that a local shop rebuilding your drive shafts costs more than just calling Adams or Tom Woods and getting new ones. Had to have mine cut in the back due to the Currie high pinion rear axle. It didn't quite leave enough travel on the shaft . And then going ahead and replace all the U-joints since they were in there. And its proving more difficult to find a decent one stop shop for older jeeps - everyone seems to just work on a piece or part. I'll either break down eventually and mess it up myself in my own garage or just learn to stop cussing myself for not in the first place. My hats off to those of you who do so already.

O and BTW - do not terminate your muffler ahead of the rear axle....Its extremely hot air dumping onto the axle, doesn't help the longevity and melts vent tubes.

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Learned today that a local shop rebuilding your drive shafts costs more than just calling Adams or Tom Woods and getting new ones. Had to have mine cut in the back due to the Currie high pinion rear axle. It didn't quite leave enough travel on the shaft . And then going ahead and replace all the U-joints since they were in there. And its proving more difficult to find a decent one stop shop for older jeeps - everyone seems to just work on a piece or part. I'll either break down eventually and mess it up myself in my own garage or just learn to stop cussing myself for not in the first place. My hats off to those of you who do so already.

O and BTW - do not terminate your muffler ahead of the rear axle....Its extremely hot air dumping onto the axle, doesn't help the longevity and melts vent tubes.

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You're right about those shops. Finding one that actually knows Jeeps and what to do with them isn't the easiest thing. I just bought a 2000 TJ Sport and am looking for a good shop. I've been asking around at different places and going by their suggestions. I found one not far from my house which is convenient so we'll see. St. Louis is a very tight-knit community and it seems everyone knows everyone else (or is related to them; if you live here you know what I'm talking about) and that helps quite a bit.
 
Another day of Me starting a project and not finishing what I first started 😶(my hp30,waiting on seymour paint,still deciding what diff to use...)

And what I did today was easy,I welded a -10 AN bung for a future turbo drain😁,I'm up for yet another RMS (only gonna use Mopar since felpros&victor reinz suck) so once im done with this small oil pan project it'll take place of the spare thats on my Lj

Im done doing the bung, now I'm gonna order a Crank scraper from crankscrapers and weld it on and do some baffling too! It'll help on the street and on the rocks to keep that oil where it needs to be😁 figure I do this work knowing how I drive,Either way I gotta take off the oil pan to do the rms.....so why not😆

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Not bad fitment for Reaming the rest out 😁

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Look at that pretty even heat dissipation 😁
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That's it folks
 
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Got it back from the upholstery shop. Front and rear seats were recovered

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With working a/c, a new stereo system, new seat foam and covers, the TJ is getting dangerously close to being too nice to take out to the woods and get it filthy. Never!

@John Cooper can help you with that problem!
 
Welp, my $20 HVAC controller failed on me a few days ago, so I swapped the original back in to have it work while I waited for a better one.

It failed to where I could not select any position without brutally cranking on the knob to change the vent selection thanks to the Chineseum plastic cracking due to the cold flashes we got over the winter. I disassembled it and found the inner springs rattling around as the posts they sat on broke off....

Fast forward to yesterday and my original started doing the same dang thing, luckily I had a replacement show up this morning. Swapped it out and decided to tear apart the original to see why it failed. Turns out it's from the whispers of plastic melting (I remedied that issue with the classic repair that I can't seem to find here anymore)

Just wanted to share the damage I found to my original vacuum controller after 25ish years of use prior to repairing that melting issue...

Edit: added the rest of the photos since mobile was struggling so much.... Yes, 2/3 knobs are cracked :( but I have a perfectly fine, but dirty, vacuum controller, fan speed controller, and circuit board w/ POT and lights! Also, don't mind the broken part,. its so brittle that it basically shattered the moment I went to remove the face plate :ROFLMAO:

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Welp, my $20 HVAC controller failed on me a few days ago, so I swapped the original back in to have it work while I waited for a better one.

It failed to where I could not select any position without brutally cranking on the knob to change the vent selection thanks to the Chineseum plastic cracking due to the cold flashes we got over the winter. I disassembled it and found the inner springs rattling around as the posts they sat on broke off....

Fast forward to yesterday and my original started doing the same dang thing, luckily I had a replacement show up this morning. Swapped it out and decided to tear apart the original to see why it failed. Turns out it's from the whispers of plastic melting (I remedied that issue with the classic repair that I can't seem to find here anymore)

Just wanted to share the damage I found to my original vacuum controller after 25ish years of use prior to repairing that melting issue...

Edit: added the rest of the photos since mobile was struggling so much.... Yes, 2/3 knobs are cracked :( but I have a perfectly fine, but dirty, vacuum controller, fan speed controller, and circuit board w/ POT and lights! Also, don't mind the broken part,. its so brittle that it basically shattered the moment I went to remove the face plate :ROFLMAO:

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Yeah Yeah, self reply....

I installed the A-Premium part this time around, and boy it does not have the horrible light bleed of the old cheapo one I had before... Though it was also 2x the cost... I guess you get what you pay for....

Anywho, if I try to remember, Ill come back in like a month or two to see how long it lasts compared to the no name one I installed back in December.
 
Yeah Yeah, self reply....

I installed the A-Premium part this time around, and boy it does not have the horrible light bleed of the old cheapo one I had before... Though it was also 2x the cost... I guess you get what you pay for....

Anywho, if I try to remember, Ill come back in like a month or two to see how long it lasts compared to the no name one I installed back in December.
I replaced the original one in my TJ with one of the A-Premium ones and it failed withing a couple of months, just outside of the Amazon return window. The A-Premium one I had, had the soder break apart on the fan speed switch. I wound up with a Standard Ignition one from O'Reilly's. This one has a lifetime warranty and can be swapped out at any O'Reilly's nationwide. I think Standard Ignition products could be one of the OEM manufacturers for Mopar. I've gotten a couple parts from them that had the Chrysler logo on the back of the part.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../v/a/118666/automotive-suv-2012-jeep-wrangler
 
Went back to my old spare clutch fan,The extreme duty clutch fan has been locked out for months (probably due to all the rpm it sees)and it has finally annoyed me enough to change it,Mainly cause of the belt squeal at high rpm and the loss in power its had

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Whipped up a tool to hold the pulley out of some scrap, Peep how it's smaller 😉 its a 10% waterpump Overdrive pulley from @Jezza / Texas jeep products Keeps my Temps nice&cool in the trails/traffic etc.

And no I'm not being paid to say this,I just love a good product and stand on it if it has treated me well,Better yet Jeremy is a chill guy so I'll gladly share his stuff to others! Either its here on the forum or me telling other guys on the trail,meet etc.😁
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Not pretty but I'd rather have a fan clutch that isn't locked out,this has worked for a long time and it'll clock in for many more shifts😆

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Damn....I wasn't trying to 2 piece my ORIGINAL fan shroud dude😔 wasn't part of the process.....I was always so cautious man.....but anyways old fan clutch is on,Jeeps revs up so much quicker now 😁!!!
 
Took a nice peaceful Sunday drive down route 29 N and saw this at the stop light. Car caught on fire at the stop light.
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A car on the other side of the highway was looking at it and not paying attention. Toyota car slammed into a Nissan Xterra. The Xterra ended up on the guardrail and the Toyota hit the guardrail, took flight, and flipped, landing on the other side of the highway. I was right on the side of it (3 lanes over) and watched it all happen. The people I saw walked away, but a pet dog ran away and the owner is hoping someone on Facebook can help them find it.
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I replaced the original one in my TJ with one of the A-Premium ones and it failed withing a couple of months, just outside of the Amazon return window. The A-Premium one I had, had the soder break apart on the fan speed switch. I wound up with a Standard Ignition one from O'Reilly's. This one has a lifetime warranty and can be swapped out at any O'Reilly's nationwide. I think Standard Ignition products could be one of the OEM manufacturers for Mopar. I've gotten a couple parts from them that had the Chrysler logo on the back of the part.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/.../v/a/118666/automotive-suv-2012-jeep-wrangler

Thanks for the recommendation! Ill see how long this one lasts, if something hardware wise fails, I have a few of the internal components laying around so I should be able to slide by.

Ill keep note of Standard Ignition for the future though!
 
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Went back to my old spare clutch fan,The extreme duty clutch fan has been locked out for months (probably due to all the rpm it sees)and it has finally annoyed me enough to change it,Mainly cause of the belt squeal at high rpm and the loss in power its had

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Whipped up a tool to hold the pulley out of some scrap, Peep how it's smaller 😉 its a 10% waterpump Overdrive pulley from @Jezza / Texas jeep products Keeps my Temps nice&cool in the trails/traffic etc.

And no I'm not being paid to say this,I just love a good product and stand on it if it has treated me well,Better yet Jeremy is a chill guy so I'll gladly share his stuff to others! Either its here on the forum or me telling other guys on the trail,meet etc.😁
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Not pretty but I'd rather have a fan clutch that isn't locked out,this has worked for a long time and it'll clock in for many more shifts😆

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Damn....I wasn't trying to 2 piece my ORIGINAL fan shroud dude😔 wasn't part of the process.....I was always so cautious man.....but anyways old fan clutch is on,Jeeps revs up so much quicker now 😁!!!

Jezza really makes some good stuff... I still need to get around to ordering parts from them.

How well is that overdrive? When I am commuting to work, my temps like to creep past 210 while in traffic with the AC on blast...

Luckily it dips below 210 once I start moving again.
 
Jezza really makes some good stuff... I still need to get around to ordering parts from them.

How well is that overdrive? When I am commuting to work, my temps like to creep past 210 while in traffic with the AC on blast...

Luckily it dips below 210 once I start moving again.
210 degrees is perfectly fine and normal.
 
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Jezza really makes some good stuff... I still need to get around to ordering parts from them.

How well is that overdrive? When I am commuting to work, my temps like to creep past 210 while in traffic with the AC on blast...

Luckily it dips below 210 once I start moving again.

He sure does 😁
AT IDLE: Works pretty damn good! the most ive seen my coolant temp with the AC full blast was 218-221 Degrees from what Hp tuners told me but that was at an HEB when it first opened, I was in the Drive-thru for BBQ well over 40 minutes and it was a good 115* Degrees out ....IT was hot as hell ! And at some point the coolant temp reached 226*IIRC But went back down to that <220* range AC was alright but considering how long i was at idle my AC was working as expected (its never been right when i replaced my AC comp. doesnt cool like it used too...)

IN SLOW TRAFFIC: But in the slow almost standstill traffic i've been through (going from 0-5 MPH) the needle touches the 210* after i get moving back to 30-40 Mph range for like 30 seconds my needle dips right back below the 210* mark 😀
Before i did any of this (bone stock) even with me flushing the system 7 times new WP and Fan clutch (the one that failed) my temps would jump up past the 210* mark in the >110* degree weather. Hell even in the 90s it would still peek over the 210* Mark

IN Regular traffic: It just stays below that 210* Mark,So no complaints :D
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts