terrawombat

I know this question was for the OP, but I'll take a stab at why I went through the trouble and expense of switching to an open system. I went through three of the closed system pressure/expansion bottles, multiple caps for the bottles and a series of clamps only to have the same 210-230 degree temperatures. The closed system works when all of the components in the system are in perfect harmony with one another. With an open system, I have one less component to worry about with that pressure bottle. My open system overflow bottle doesn't care if the hoses are clamped tight or the cap is on snug. Pete - while I completely understand the higher efficiency of running an engine hotter - when I put a brand new 190 degree thermostat in, I want the engine to hover right around 190 degrees, not around 210-230. On the hottest summer day with the A/C on, my closed system Renix was nearly in the 'red' zone on the gauge. Too close for comfort. I'll take the few MPGs less over running the risk of damaging my engine.

No temp switch in the t-stat housing for a closed. That came around on the later XJs, but I don't know which year. Here is how I converted to an open system for about $50. It can probably be done cheaper with junkyard parts. Keep the closed system radiator. Buy a universal filler neck and splice it into your upper radiator hose. People swap to an open system radiator because they either already have one, can get one real cheap at the junkyard, or simply didn't know a universal filler neck was available. Here is the one I got: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COS5OW Unfortunately it looks like it went way up in price. I paid $24 shipped for it. I also had a relatively new radiator in my MJ so that's why I didn't want to get rid of it. I'll admit, swapping to an open system radiator is a much cleaner look. You'll also need a radiator cap - I had a couple lying around so no cost there. Also had hose clamps from another project. I bought a universal coolant overflow bottle kit from Auto Zone. I think it was about $20 for the whole kit and it came with everything I needed. I mounted it right in place of the old expansion bottle. I also needed longer hoses to reach my heater core. I had those lying around and I don't remember what the dimensions were, but I do remember one was larger than the other. As to why people want to keep the closed cooling system...because it still works or they don't know that they CAN convert to an open. Here is a pic of my finished product: Oh, and my MJ went from consistent 210-230 degree operating temperatures to consistent 190-210 degree temps after the switch.

I think the Trenton, NJ Auto Zone may be the worst parts place in the nation. Don't believe me and have some spare time - go there for yourself. It's a shame because it's one of the biggest Auto Zone's in the state and they have a ridiculous amount of stuff in stock, but the employees there are just downright awful. Two weeks ago I went in for a part on my XJ and had to use their parts look-up system. The employee didn't speak a word to me, literally. He pointed to the computer screen and I had to tell him it was a 2001. Then he pointed again when the manufacturer's list came up. I was thinking to myself, WOW REALLY, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and thought maybe he's a mute? I said, it's a Jeep Cherokee with the 4.0L and I need the thermostat housing gasket. When we FINALLY got to the page with the part numbers, he reluctantly went to the storeroom and found it. Oh, and on the way, he started signing along to the rap song playing on his iPod.

Looks great! I think a set of JEEP stickers for the tailgate would really set it off. http://www.jeepsticker.com/mj.htm

I'm at least 3X smarter than any parts counter guy at any parts store in my immediate area. I'd bet my life savings on that. This is why I would never go to them for any advice. I always do my homework before I get to the store. I'll have part numbers and prices written down or printed out, however, this completely baffles the parts counter guys. They are so pre-programed to use their inventory computer a certain way that they don't know what to do when you throw them a curve ball - in this case, an actual part number. They'll say, "uhhh, but what car is this for?" I'll reply with, "Nevermind that, if I told you, it'd confuse you even further." They'll come back with, "but I need to know the car to get the part." And I'll try to correct them, "false - you can type in a part number on the screen and it will bring up the part with the quantity you have in your inventory." They click randomly on their screen, "I don't think I can do that - can you just give me the car it's for?" Then I'll give in, "Sure, it's for a 1988 Jeep Comanche that originally had the 4.0L six cylinder, but now has a 1998 5.9L V8 Magnum spliced together with a 1999 Jeep Comanche interior wiring harness. I need the headlight switch." Them: "uhhh....let me get my manager." Most of my parts come from Rockauto now. I usually only go into the local stores for their oil/filter specials.

This made for excellent bathroom reading material last night - thanks!

Are any of the templates that you received dimensioned? I'd like to know how closely they compare to my drawing file. I know I have some issues under the three mounting bolt holes where the bracket clears the rear shackle bolt. Also, JACKED88 - send me your e-mail and I'll send you the .dxf file. It should be all that your water jet guy needs to get going (other than metal and garnet abrasive). I've cut a bracket from this file and test fitted it on my '88MJ so I know it works, but I am by no means guaranteeing its accuracy to be used for mass production. It's a good starting point, but it's up to you to take it where you need it. I just don't want to be responsible for brackets that don't fit on someone's rig because my drawing was 1/16" off. I'll consider this my contribution to the community, but I can't keep handing out freebies - guy's gotta eat, ya know!

I can only comment on how much I would charge for my own design time for the CAD, CNC plasma and materials. Every machinist does it different so it's really, really hard to give a number. However, using my standard calculations, I would probably charge $40-$50 for a pair of 3/16" brackets that were plasma cut. $50-$60 for 1/4" brackets. The range in prices depends on if I can get back to my original supplier of metal that was charging me 50 cents/pound for mild steel. My current local supplier is almost triple that cost. The electricity use between plasma cutting and water jetting is almost a wash. Plasma uses a lot of amps to generate an arc to burn through the metal. Water jetting uses quite a few amps to power a high pressure pump to 40,000-50,000 psi to pierce through metal. Water jetting also uses an abrasive garnet that is mixed with the water to cut through the metal so that adds some cost to it. Water jetting also is much, much slower than plasma. I can burn out a set of these plates in about 2-3 minutes. Water jetting would be much, much longer. Time = money. Materials = money. Water jetting is, however, more precise and will give you a cleaner cut. It also won't burn the metal and discolor it like plasma can do. As far as the file is concerned, I could just e-mail it to you and you could e-mail it to him. It's only 27Kb in size. This message is probably more than that! :D

Thanks for the pic. I'm just looking for different ways to mount the newer style dash. I've got some of the other firewall modifications figured out, but am still undecided on how to mount the upper part of the dash.

Looks great! I'm in the process of doing the interior conversion on my MJ. I can see some of the "non bolt-in" work required for the swap in this pic: Do you have any photos of how you attached the top of the dash or the mods you did to the firewall for the newer style steering column? Any idea what you'll be doing for the rear fender flares? Also, I have to ask - if you are going through the time and expense of stripping this truck down for a full repaint, why wouldn't you pull the dents out the bed and tailgate?

Most likely. If his waterjet is made by OMAX, he will directly import it into OMAXLayout - the software to create the shapes and will define a cut path and generate the G-code for the machine to read. If he uses some other layout and G-code generation program like MasterCAM, it's the same deal. If he's hardcore and writes G-code by hand, he'll still need the file to tell the machine what coordinates it needs to go to. Now, as far as what I'm going to do with that file - not much in the immediate future. I'm going to eventually look into incorporating the rear bumper brackets into my design. I'll give you the file if you think you can get these made for a reasonable price. Water jetting isn't cheap, but I'm hoping that your in-laws will cut you a break on the machining costs. I just need to physically be at the computer that the file is located on and I haven't been there yet. I remove internet access to it in the extremely rare event that someone gets on my network and then they can mess with my machine from anywhere in the world. Yea, I'm paranoid....but that machine wasn't cheap.

That idea may already be in the works... I had that idea for my '88MJ that I'm dropping the 5.9L Magnum engine into. I want to keep the body of the truck as close to stock as possible, but I also want it to be useful. It's going to have a moderate lift and will see more offroad action than the rest of my Jeep fleet. All I have at the moment are rough dimensions from a stock rear bumper and some prices for bending 10Ga. 12Ga., and 3/16" plate at the right radius for the corners. I've got all of the resources to make something like that happen - just no time. I need to quit my day job :D

Oh, a note about pressing a flat plate to a 90 degree angle versus using angle iron. I would much rather just purchase a 20' piece of angle. Angle iron is cheap and getting a hydraulic press (actually, it would be a brake) capable of doing the thicknesses we're looking at (I think about 3/16") is big money.

The file I have now is in .dxf format, which is what most CNC operators would need to generate the code needed for their particular machine. I could very easily run these in large batches and sell them if I were setup to do so. There are a few things preventing me from doing that: 1) A machine that would produce consistent parts. As I said before, there are some manufacturing issues with it right now that allows the Z-axis to move around during the cuts leaving me with beveled edges and dimensions that aren't quite the precision I would like them to be. 2) A local supply of metal. I live in Yuppieville, NJ (otherwise known as Princeton). The thought of anyone doing something that requires arduous tasks such as designing bracketry, modeling them in CAD, and cutting them on a CNC is unheard of, thus, the number of metal suppliers in this area is equivalent to the number ZERO. The one place that is within 35 minutes of my shop does not have reasonable pricing on their metal and cuts it with a torch so that when I get it, it's warped to all hell. 3) My compressed air supply is too small to run large batches of parts. I have a Home Depot compressor that puts out maybe 8CFM@75psi on a good day. My plasma cutter requires a minimum of 8.5CFM@60psi so you can see I'm pushing the limits. It's fine for doing one part and then stopping to let the compressor recharge, but is not sufficient for mass producing items. I will be producing certain items in the future for purchase, but they will be done in small batches and will be of limited availability. I've just got too much other stuff I need to get done first.

Give me some time and I'll see what I can come up with. I'm going to pull the bed off my black Comanche soon so I can get better access to all of this. It's currently buried in the back of my shop with crap all around it hence the incredibly horrible camera angles when I was test fitting it on the truck. I think a combo trailer hitch/rear bumper bracket in 3/16" or 1/4" steel would go a long way for maintaining the look of the stock rear bumper with an MJ-specific trailer hitch while also having some solid recovery points. Integrating the rear bumper brackets into the trailer hitch would also eliminate the need for the spacers on the hitch. But first things first, I need to fix my damn machine. The company that built it did such a Mickey Mouse job on some of the components.

Time to fix the floor before we go any further: I've always known that the drivers side frame rail has some significant damage due to rust. After popping the top of the frame rail off, I was easily able to confirm this. There is a pretty sizable section of the frame that has rotted through and will somehow need to be cut out and new metal welded in. I'm hoping that I can do this myself without affecting the structural integrity of the frame.

I remember seeing those pictures when you first posted them. Still just as cool the second time around. I have a friend who just bought some type of van/RV and is looking to permanently moving into it and selling his house. Similar plans?

I've got two 88's. One is LWB Olympic edition with the stripe and the rings, but it's pretty option-less. It's a Pioneer so it has the nicer door panels with storage bins, painted flares, and silver trim on the front plastics, but still has the D35. Here's a shot of the Olympic rings: My other 88 is a base model SporTruck, but it does have an Olympic rings sticker on the rear window.

Usually rust from those north of the rust belt. Those southerners have no excuse, though. They should be able to keep an MJ forever! Tie rod ends, control arm bushings, and ball joints also get pretty interesting around 200K miles :D

My intent for making this bracket was to get you a drawing that is close (if not identical) to the original sideplates on the MJ-specific hitches. I've got something now with enough clearance that it will work, but it's not yet perfect. I would keep working at it from your end, as you said, and we can compare my drawing to yours when you get one. On my Draw-Tite hitch, the piece that goes under and bolts to the rear bumper is simply a piece of angle iron, which you can see here: I'd see what your water jet guy will charge for cutting these out on a large scale. I've got over five years of water jet experience so I know how finnicky those machines can be and the prices shops charge for them. They do produce a very clean cut and their precision is excellent. I'm not quite setup to be producing things on a large scale with the machine I have. In fact, last night was a reminder of why I had my Z-axis all torn down. I've got issues with the torch moving side to side because of some slop in the parts. I also don't have a large enough compressor to be cutting out parts on a large scale. I've been meaning to upgrade the compressor for years, but my plasma cutting machine still remains a hobby and I get by with what I have. I can make any modifications to the bracket that you want. I can extend the ends for D-ring mounts, but I feel you'll be sacrificing too much ground clearance if you do that. I would do what Motion Offroad suggested earlier in the thread and mount brackets directly to the rectangular cross piece instead. Let me know if you want to do any tweaking of the design. Unfortunately, I left the file on my CNC computer, which I've been having a hell of a time accessing remotely so it'll have to wait until tonight when I can get back to it.

My '92 has somewhere around 230K on it, but I really don't know. The original idiot light cluster was swapped out with another by the PO. Original engine that still runs great and has good oil pressure, but the 5-speed AX-15 was definitely replaced. The rear of the engine is covered in oil/grime but the trans is nice and shiny :D

Success! As you can see from the last picture it still needs a bit of tweaking since there is some overhang, but it fits on the truck well and clears the rear shackle bolt.

Yea, that could easily be done. I'd just need to locate that rear shackle bolt in relation to the others.

I decided to not be so lazy and just measure the side plates and make a CAD drawing and create the G-code to cut it out on my plasma. Shot a video of the cutting process if anyone is interested. I haven't used the machine in quite some time, but I need to tweak some things on it. You can see it starts moving before the torch is fully fired: PJ7tvH8fEcE End result Unfortunately it didn't work out too well as it hits the rear-most leaf spring bolt. I'm going to tweak the drawing as it doesn't quite line up with the original Draw-Tite sideplate. Rev. 1 should be close to perfect.

If you need the assistance of a CNC plasma cutting machine and someone that will cut these out for an extremely reasonable price, give me a holler. I've got one of those new-fangled CNC machines just lying around. Can also test fit the piece on my many MJs lying about and I have a Comanche-specific Draw-tite hitch to compare it to. Basically, I have all of the tools available to me and I actually was going to make some of these, but I never got around to get the measurements from the hitch sideplates.