Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

Middle TN 02 build

Picked up new specialty Tennessee plate. Explore TN

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That’s pretty cool - even though it’s a JK. I’ve not seen that one before - is it from TN MVA?

Edit: Found it. $35 a year over the regular costs?

Facebook group, if you did not pre-order then you can purchase them starting April 1st.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/492508738692360
I know I paid $35 for the plate, I don't think that's annual but I'm not sure.
The coolest part, from an e-mail receipt when I pre-ordered.
Thank you for your support in purchasing the "Explore Tennessee" License plate. Chances are you purchased the plate because you're a Jeep owner and a lover of the off-road experience. What you may not know is that for every "Explore Tennessee" license plate sold, $17.50 goes to A Soldier's Child Foundation caring for the children of our fallen American warriors.

At A Soldier's Child Foundation, we care for the children of our fallen active-duty military personnel who have lost their lives while defending the United States of America. We answer the questions, "do I even matter" and "does anyone really care" through giving meaningful birthday celebrations up until the child's 18th birthday, camps for recipient children ages 9-17, mentorship programs for 18+, and helping our kids obtain scholarships.
 
replaced the cluster bulbs with led and went with green to match the outside color. I plan on doing the HVAC controls next.
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Picked up padding and covers from an 03-06 TJ for free. 2 reasons, first was for safety and second because the factory patriot blue on the roll cage didn't look great with the new green color. It was a pain fitting it over the sport cage but I think it turned out ok. There are defiantly differences between the years.

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Just received these a couple of days ago. Instructs suck but I figured it out. I think I need to pick up an 03-06 base for the driver seat because I'm sitting too high. Does anyone know the height difference between the years?

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I've had the coyote boltless beadlocks on my shelf for over a year now and I got tired to waiting. Before I installed them I wanted to switch to aluminum so I started looking on craigslist and facebook for some 15" rims. First off, people on facebook are in no hurry to sell. I think I messaged about 10 different people questions and only 2 responded and that was with "I don't know".

Frustrated I was on quadratic a few days ago and noticed they had some rims for $79 per so I jumped on the offer.

I only ordered 4 and shipping was super quick, 2 days.

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I've had a lot of updates since this last post.

I've added a steering system cooler from Black Magic brakes. Replaced the steering pump with PSC but ended up returning it after they were no help with my problem. It would start whining when the engine was over 2500 rpms. I figured I might as well try out a cheaper pump if PSC is sending out crap units.

Sold my light bar which I never used. Replaced the a-pillar brackets with aluminum armor from UCF.
Sold the coyote boltless beadlocks that sat on my shelf for 2 years and the 4 wheels I bought from quadratec.
Bought vision beadlocks. I wanted to go with 17" but it would have been 50% more expensive for the wheels and then $2k for new tires. If I ever get tired of the 15" I'll just sell them.

Old steel wheel weighted 25.5 lbs
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New Aluminum beadlock weighted 28.8 lbs. I'm pleased the weight wasn't more. I installed the first one today and it was easy getting the tire on the rim and I didn't even need to use screwdrivers to get the bead set before installing the ring. I think both of those are due to the tires being used and not new. I drove the tires to discount tire and paid $100 for them to remove all 5 tires from the wheels and I was back home in under an hour. I was a little worried they wouldn't give me my space tire back. It's from 2012. I'm on the fence whether I should go ahead and replace it or just wait until the 4 used tires need replacing.

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Sold my Savvy aluminum trail doors and bought factory half doors that I plan on bed lining the same color as my jeep once the weather gets nicer.
 
I've had a lot of updates since this last post.

I've added a steering system cooler from Black Magic brakes. Replaced the steering pump with PSC but ended up returning it after they were no help with my problem. It would start whining when the engine was over 2500 rpms. I figured I might as well try out a cheaper pump if PSC is sending out crap units.

Sold my light bar which I never used. Replaced the a-pillar brackets with aluminum armor from UCF.
Sold the coyote boltless beadlocks that sat on my shelf for 2 years and the 4 wheels I bought from quadratec.
Bought vision beadlocks. I wanted to go with 17" but it would have been 50% more expensive for the wheels and then $2k for new tires. If I ever get tired of the 15" I'll just sell them.

Old steel wheel weighted 25.5 lbs
View attachment 596675

New Aluminum beadlock weighted 28.8 lbs. I'm pleased the weight wasn't more. I installed the first one today and it was easy getting the tire on the rim and I didn't even need to use screwdrivers to get the bead set before installing the ring. I think both of those are due to the tires being used and not new. I drove the tires to discount tire and paid $100 for them to remove all 5 tires from the wheels and I was back home in under an hour. I was a little worried they wouldn't give me my space tire back. It's from 2012. I'm on the fence whether I should go ahead and replace it or just wait until the 4 used tires need replacing.

View attachment 596676

Sold my Savvy aluminum trail doors and bought factory half doors that I plan on bed lining the same color as my jeep once the weather gets nicer.

Those high performance PSC pumps require very, very good bleeding - before the first fire-up. Any air at all in there at first start-up can trash the pump and make it whine like that. Could that have been an issue?
 
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Those high performance PSC pumps require very, very good bleeding - before the first fire-up. Any air at all in there at first start-up can trash the pump and make it whine like that. Could that have been an issue?

That’s always a possibility. I tried to bleed it as best I could but maybe I messed it up. I only had the OEM style and not the upgraded pump. It was just easier for me to return through summit when PSC didn’t seem interested in helping. They sent me a list of different things that placed all the blame on me. Maybe I did screw up the pump but either way it’s still under warranty.

I reinstalled my mopar pump that was bad before I returned the PSC and never heard the same whine. I think I went with Edelmann and it seems to be working fine.
 
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Just finished the 5th wheel. Wow that was less fun than I expected. I don't know how 40-42" tire guys do it.
I think I could tell you what 240 inch pounds feel like without a torque wrench right now. I didn't think I would ever be able to keep track of the cross pattern but in the middle of the second tire it got a lot easier. I know it sucks that the bolts loosen whenever you tighten the neighboring bolts but it actually helped me keep track of my pattern.

After I finished the 4th tire I noticed the second one was nearly flat from the day before. Starting with the easiest fix I replaced the valve core. It did seem easy unscrewing the old core
 
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Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts