What did you do to your TJ today?

[grumblebee]

My ground strap also connects to the top of the valve cover. Maybe it’s an early TJ SE thing?
Also, welcome to the forum @grumblebee and others! I’m loving this influx of new people! This forum is the best!

I'm thinking is it's an SE thing now that I have corroboration from a fellow SE owner. I'm going to take some decent overview shots of all areas of my Jeep and start a build thread soon. Please keep an eye out — I'd especially love to have SE owner input on what I'm doing.

Thanks for the welcome! I'm really liking it here. It's probably the most welcoming forum of any kind that I've been a member. I guess the influx is from summer Jeep season? haha.

Also, I really do have to get under there with some POR 15 this summer. I can’t go through anything with a hammer and screwdriver, thankfully, but it looks awful.

I'm in the same boat with rust. Mine is all surface rust, but it's a major eyesore that I want to take care of soon.

 

[grumblebee]

Be careful using aftermarket dyes. I tried forever black. And it didnt mix well with whatever the flares are made of. It flaked off and made such a mess the only alternative was to remove them. I painted with sem and adhesion promoter.

I haven't heard of Forever Black, but I will avoid it. As far as dyes go, I've found that Solution Finish isn't as "serious" as some of the others, it's easier to apply and cleans up easily. It really soaks in and stays and the more you buff it out the better. That being said, I did test it on an out-of-the-way piece of trim on the first car I did and waited a few weeks before I did the whole thing.

I'm torn between painting my flares with bed liner for a rugged look or SEM for a more factory look. What SEM color and adhesion promotor did you use?

 

[Moab]

Removed home made seat lift blocks the PO installed. Lowered the seat 2" (great for me at 6'3") no more hitting my head on the roll bar. Had to go get some bolts and ended up needing to relocate my amp due to clearance issues under the seat. I wanted to do this anyway, so I bought a $2 cutting board and some hardware to make brackets. Took some doing, but its securely under the steering column now, and not a wire to be seen. Tonight I will finish up the front suspension and get the rear ready for the angle track bracket that should arrive Thursday. Hope to get on the trails this weekend after we finish up my birthday party at a lake cabin my wife rented. Hope I am not too hung over Sunday. I think 15 or 20 people are coming to the cabin. Should be interesting.

Get some misch big boy brackets. Youll thank me later. At 6'3" its the best money I've ever spent on my jeep.

 

[AMS417]

Get some misch big boy brackets. Youll thank me later. At 6'3" its the best money I've ever spent on my jeep.

I am ok with the seat position now. I have a longer torso, so I needed the headroom more than the leg room. Was tired of bouncing my melon off the roll bar when off road. It was either this, or a helmet.

 

[Moab]

I haven't heard of Forever Black, but I will avoid it. As far as dyes go, I've found that Solution Finish isn't as "serious" as some of the others, it's easier to apply and cleans up easily. It really soaks in and stays and the more you buff it out the better. That being said, I did test it on an out-of-the-way piece of trim on the first car I did and waited a few weeks before I did the whole thing.

I'm torn between painting my flares with bed liner for a rugged look or SEM for a more factory look. What SEM color and adhesion promotor did you use?

Sem adhesion promoter and sem trim black. If i had it to do over i would use sem Landau black. Its a slight better match.

I can't see your pics very well on my phone. But i see the same two hoses going to the right and left windshield nozzles. I don't see what's not stock.

 

[Zorba]

I love to see how much money I'm saving, so I sent an email to the "big city" Jeep dealer's service department via their service department website form on Monday asking for a quote on a 60,000 mile schedule B service. Crickets. Sent a follow up email today. I think I'm going to send the same message on the form every other day until I get a response. It's the principle of the thing at this point. Sure I could call, but why have a web form for contact if you aren't going to reply to people?

That is a total pet peeve (1 of very many) of mine. Company sets up an expensive website and contact forms then proceeds to completely ignore it. And it isn't just little companies either, I've seen it multiple times with Fortune 500 mega corps!

 

[NyTj13]

Managed to bang out the headrest mod yesterday and today. As I’m wrapping that up UPS showed up with my new lights so I threw those on too!
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The new RC seat covers came in and they are a pretty close match for the headrests...close enough anyway!

Also, I managed to get my hands on the lower profile headrests I was talking about, of course the posts are different a width, but I’m squirrel the away for a future project.

 

[grumblebee]

I can't see your pics very well on my phone. But i see the same two hoses going to the right and left windshield nozzles. I don't see what's not stock.

It's got the single nozzle in the middle of the hood, but the PO put two nozzles in the holes for the hood bumpers and hooked them up instead of the single. I wonder if it's a different hood than what it came with, or if they just really liked to get wide washer fluid coverage.

 

[ranger101]

It's got the single nozzle in the middle of the hood, but the PO put two nozzles in the holes for the hood bumpers and hooked them up instead of the single. I wonder if it's a different hood than what it came with, or if they just really liked to get wide washer fluid coverage.

My ‘99 has dual sprayers while my parents ‘06 has a single sprayer.

 

[dla]

It's got the single nozzle in the middle of the hood, but the PO put two nozzles in the holes for the hood bumpers and hooked them up instead of the single. I wonder if it's a different hood than what it came with, or if they just really liked to get wide washer fluid coverage.

From 1997 to 2001 the hoods had dual nozzles. Hoods from ‘02 to ‘06 all had the center single nozzle.

 

[grumblebee]

From 1997 to 2001 the hoods had dual nozzles. Hoods from ‘02 to ‘06 all had the center single nozzle.

Thank you! That helps solve the mystery. The PO told me it got some paint damage when some limbs fell during an ice storm, he specifically mentioned having to have paint put on a door. I'm guessing it got some heavier hood damage and he replaced it with an 02 or later hood, but instead of transferring the bumpers and realizing there was now a single nozzle, they moved the two nozzles over and then wondered why they had to rubber parts left over. haha.

Thanks to everyone for playing "why'd the previous owner do this?" with me!

 

[JeepZilla380]

I haven't heard of Forever Black, but I will avoid it. As far as dyes go, I've found that Solution Finish isn't as "serious" as some of the others, it's easier to apply and cleans up easily. It really soaks in and stays and the more you buff it out the better. That being said, I did test it on an out-of-the-way piece of trim on the first car I did and waited a few weeks before I did the whole thing.

I'm torn between painting my flares with bed liner for a rugged look or SEM for a more factory look. What SEM color and adhesion promotor did you use?

I used Krylon Fusion for Plastic on my Son's XJ black parts about a year back and even sitting outside in the elements, still look amazing. Just another option if the Sema stuff is expensive.

 

[kanur]

Picked it up from the body shop today after getting the half doors I bought painted. I could not be happier with how they were able to match the color!

 

[ranger101]

Picked it up from the body shop today after getting the half doors I bought painted. I could not be happier with how they were able to match the color!

What did that cost you, if you don’t mind me asking? I’ve tossed the idea around of having mine painted but it’s all cost dependent.

 

[kanur]

$350 which I thought was very fair,they had been about four different colors and had to be stripped. I had all the hardware,interior panels and weatherstripping removed and I'll put that all back.

 

[ranger101]

That’s not bad!

 

[jazngab]

I love my working fuel gauge.

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That makes me feel good about my MPG lol

 

[L J]

I picked it up and drove it home after having mrblaine and Mike install a steering stabilizer.

 

[Vidar]

Fixed the passenger door latch mechanism (that I f*ed up when reinstalling the door handle). Happy to not have to shell out yet another $90 for something. Got the rest of the door finished up.

 

[NicKnack]

I was driving down the highway and my soft top windows flipped outside on me... problem solved