Monday, July 7, 2008

Rear view mirror mod



Reason for doing:
The interior light in the drivers side foot well of the YJ is useless.
Difficulty: 2 (Scale of 1-5 Five being hardest.)
Cost: $15

Tools used:
Torx wrenches
Wire crimper
Power screw driver.

Process:
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. (Always a good idea when working on the electrical system.)

First remove the old mirror, this is done with a single screw, then just lift up.
Next put the new mirror in, reverse of removal. The mirror I bought was from an old (90 something) chev but I am sure there are many other alternatives sitting in your local wrecker.

I ran the wires from the mirror up to the top of the window frame, the down and around the windshield using some of the same kind of conduit that is used to route wires under the hood, and some screw in wire clips. I screwed these in using self tapping sheet metal screws every 4 inches.

The mirror has 3 wires, a hot wire and 2 grounds. so that the light can come on when the doors open, or from the switches on the mirror. I only connected 2 of the wires, so I can switch the lights off at the mirror for running without doors.

As you can see from the pictures, this gives it a nice industrial look.

Problems encountered:
Tried to hook into a bad ground on the door switch.

Would I do it again?
Sure. It was an easy mod, and really lights up the interior and I can easily shut off the lights when running without doors..

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Side trail lights.


Reason for doing:
When out wheeling sometimes it gets dark before I get back to a main road, making it difficult to see around corners.
Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-5 Five being hardest.)
Cost: $25

Tools used:
Open end wrenches
Wire crimper

Process:
Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. (Always a good idea when working on the electrical system.)

The first step was for me to mount the driving lights behind the bumper facing out. I found two small holed already drilled into the bumper that were in the perfect place. I used stainless steel stove bolts to hold the lights in place.

I was lucky enough to get a kit that came with a complete wiring harness, and followed the instructions. I bolted the included relay to the battery tray using one of the existing bolts.

The only change I made was to connect the trigger wire to the switch to the side lights, to the switched side of the existing trail lights. With this done the side lights can not be turned on unless you first turn on the main trail lights.

Problems encountered:
Accidentally broke a wire to the main trail lights.

Would I do it again?
Sure. It was an easy mod, and really lights things up when driving at night.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Changing the Fuel filter.

Reason for doing:
From time to time the Jeep cranks for a long time before starting.
Difficulty: 1 (Scale of 1-5 Five being hardest.)
Cost: $26

Tools used:
Socket set
Open end wrenches
wd40
Creaper

Process:
Disconnect the negitive terminal of the battery. (Always a good idea when working on the fuel system.)
Block the wheels. (Just in case.)

Just in front of the rear drivers side wheel, attached to the frame is a skid plate that protects the fuel filter. It is held on with four bolts, I

removed all four bolts and it came off with no trouble at all. (WD40 helps.) At this point I could see that the fuel filter is held to the frame by

a large clamp, and two small hose clamps. Foolishly I removed the large clamp first, this made it more difficult to remove the small hose clamps.
Removed both small hose clamps, pulled off the old fuel filter. (Soaked myself down with gas.)

Putting in the new filter was simply the reverse of taking it out. (Filter is directional, make sure you put it in the right way around.)


Problems encountered:
Rusty bolts.

Would I do it again?
Sure. It was an easy fix, and helped with acceleration.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Purpose

I am a bit of a shade tree mechanic, and I just bought a 1989 Jeep YJ with the 2.5L engine and a 5 speed transmission. I have no training as a mechanic, not even high school auto shop classes.

She only had 144000 KM on the clock when I bought her.

I have a few projects I want to do. I thought i would document them here.