Rambler65

Put in the first patch panel on my rusted front passenger side floor. Went at the rusted areas first with a wire wheel and screwdriver which of course opened up a few more holes. Sprayed it all with Zero-Rust basecoat and Rustoleum topcoat, pop-riveted the panel in place sealed up with seam sealer top and bottom. It buckled a little bit pushing it into the curve of the trans tunnel, but not too bad. Still some patching to do on the flat part of the floor. Will spray undercoating on everything underneath when all done. (You guys who can weld will probably laugh at the crudity of this "repair" but it's the best I can do with it right now!)

Ryno 82

Today I did everyone's favorite job. Ball joints.

doublechaz

After mine running solid for a while I drove it to a remote mountain top comms site for work. Half way up the temp started climbing. Dash said 210 while the REM II said 145. No efann at 145 so the temp kept going. After a bit I pulled off the trail to idle so it would cool down. It didn't. Before it got to the red segment on the dash I started scrounging for scraps to pin the efann on. Found my IR temp gun in the tool bag and shot the water neck at 250 before the efann started bringing it down. That's by far the hottest I've ever gotten an engine. When the dash got back down to 3/4, probably about 235 I finished the ascent and idled it until it was down to 215. So turns out I can't trust it to drive other than level ground until I put in the entire cooling system worth of parts I have for it and rebuild the wiring harness so I can trust the sensor readings.

Brunette Mom's Hubby

Cool.....when there's a will, there's a way....

I use rivets sometimes....when I can't weld on my back and have that hot slag drop into my lap...

JeepWoman

Did mine with rivits and Eastwoods no weld panel bond then seam sealed and bed lined. No problems

Ralph77

So it is October and we all know what that means.
Today my goal is an oil/filter change and lube the front end.
Check my levels in the diffs, transfer case, tranny, overflow tank, and power steering.
Suck out the brake fluid in the master cylinder and replace it with some fresh stuff.
Fluid Film my battery terminals. Lock-Ease in the door locks. Spray grease for the hood release cable, hinges, and whatnot.
Whatever I don't get done today will finish tomorrow.
Oh and this is just the start of October maintenance. LOL.

Ralph77

So I get everything on my to do list done yesterday.
Lately my fog light switch has been acting funny. There appears to be some play in the toogle itself.
If it is not in the exact position the indicator light is not on and the fog lights aren't either.
They could be on and I could hit a bump and the toggle would move just enough to break the connection
So I have been sourcing extra switches for a project, grabbed one, and of course it did not work.
Taking it apart you can see how it melted in the first shot.
The guts of my original one looked fine. So for the hell of it I swapped the casing with the toggle itself from the fried one.
It appears to be fine. Seems like less play and trying to move it around does not make the indicator light go off.
Have no idea what could be wrong with just the plastic housing or toggle itself but........
Once I put everything back together going to try and get motivated to clean and detail the interior.
We shall see if that actually happens.
Stay tuned. LOL.

Ralph77

So I go to put the switch in the bezel and it won't go in.
WTF. Then I remembered. My four slot switch bezel is not an American one.
I scoffed it from Ebay out of England, for $25 shipped mind you, cause over there they are more common.
Cause they have rear fog lights. Think it is a law or something.
Anyway there are keyways on the switch that correspond to slots in the bezel. So during manufacturing they won't
put the switch in the wrong position. So the Ext Idle switch I put in fits right where the fog light switch would be no problem.
But the fog light switch won't go where the rear fog light switch goes.
Then I remembered that I Dremeled off the keyway. Duh!!!!

doublechaz

Did the C101 connector delete on mine (thanks cruiser54 for all your write ups). While I was in there with the soldering rig I took that opportunity to correct all the places in the engine bay where WIRE NUTS were used to I don't know what purpose.

It started really hard after, and then stalled after a few seconds. After the restart it seems to run and drive fine now. Looks like the dash temp gauge and the ECU temp gauge now agree (at least up to 160F), and the oil pressure needle moves a little bit, but not as it should. The trans part of the TPS looks better as well. The various live data items look pretty normal. I didn't drive it enough to reach overheat since it pretty much takes off road mountain grades to get it that hot.

Sometime soon comes the cooling system rebuild.

74Plb

Battery cables and Grounds installed yesterday . A pretty straight forward affair on my 90 XJ Limited. I trimmed the plastic cover for the PDC so the relay/solenoid lead would clear the cover and allow both twist fasteners to engage.
i left the original braided bonding wire at the rear of the head attached at the firewall and attached the new ground wire to the rear fuel rail mounting point.
I used the original 15mm bolt to attach it to the firewall .

typo

Rambler65

That looks great! Fortunately the center portion of my floor is still solid so I think the patching will hold up for a while, but I'll keep that in mind if and when the whole thing needs to be replaced. I have to get some more seam sealer to finish my patch job, should be able to wrap it up in the coming week.

Jpoe0108

Got XJ #2. 101k miles, 2001 with at minimum a blown head gasket. Hopefully will have torn down this week and head dropped off at head shop.

This one will stay stock as its 2wd. Everything works as well. Need a console latch and a piece of "camel" trim on the cargo seal.

I'm thinking all new bumper caps & front bumper. Will be repainted to match as it came from factory along with a new passenger fender and header panel. I normally hate stock steelies but the tires are so good and rims actually in good shape. May swap to a set of Ravines or Eccos. Who knows.

I believe the rest if the paint can be saved. Heavily oxidized, but havent washed yet to really see how bad.

Really the only mods I see would be:
H4 & 90/100 conversion
Hella 500FF (maybe?)
OEM Mud flaps
2006 TJ Moabs (maybe?)
Quadratec mat kit
AVS in-channel vent visors
Curt Tow Package & Wiring

Upcountry lift *big maybe* (depending on condition if it needs replacing, I'd use Crown HD coils and leafs, but am fine with stock height)

Ralph77

You talking about the lower sill around the latch in the hatch?
That is going to be a tough find in a decent usable condition.
Been looking for one for a friend for months and coming up dry.
I was able to buy new a few years back but they are not available anymore.
Hopefully you will have better luck.
Looks like the PO used a '97, maybe '98, Saddle one to get by. LOL.

Ralph77

So I went and looked at the illumination of the symbol on the fog light switch while it was still dark.
Sometimes the coating on the translucent part can get a little funky and not match the rest of the switches.
Such is the case with this one. I think heat might effect that and seeing how the guts were melted am not surprised.
Going to let it roll for the winter cause I am more concerned about having an operating switch then that.

I have this theory. I always see a lot of factory fog lights on XJ's with the bucket rusted out.
I think some of that might be from not using them. Let's face it they are more decorative then functional.
But I liked the look which is why I added them.
I have a habit of turning them on, especially after it rains, hoping the heat from the bulb will burn off an condensation in there.
Hoping to delay the buckets rusting.
Just a theory. LOL.

So I did not get to detailing the inside of the Jeep yesterday.
See what happens today. MLOL.

Jpoe0108

I have to find one. This will haunt me. You see how damn clean that interior really is!