beatricethexj

No real building going on with old Beatrice lately, mostly just maintenance stuff. Replaced the battery cables and put new rear brake shoes in today. Bought a lot of parts but have yet to put them. Picked up a Warrior Products roof rack just fabbing up gutter mounts for it. Bought some marine louvered vents to put in the hood (probably will wait til after winter to install) and picked up some TJ moabs to put on her. Hopefully I can get everything done next weekend.

Getting married has put a serious constraint on the budget. Such frustration. Woman or Jeep?...

beatricethexj

Had some massive death wobble today so I am going to replace everything I can think of in the front end. Kind of threw off my budget for upgrades, but such is life. I guess it just means it is time for the adj trac bar.

beatricethexj

Went to the junkyard today and picked up some zj coil springs, zj tie rod and a gas tank skid. Also figured I mine as well install the hood vents.

I covered the general location in masking tape so I could write on the hood. Took awhile to do all my measurements, checking them all three times. Then I removed the hood. Next I cut it up. Had to do a little grinding after finishing the cutting, but the vents fit and the little overlap covered up my mistakes.
Remounting the hood by myself was a real pain got it all tightened down and when I went to lower it down some to scope out alignment, well it shut all the way. I hadn't reconnected the latch release. Forced my arm behind the radiator and found the release. When that popped I was pretty excited. The project had been going better than planned so something like that had to happen

Ran to home depot and picked up some machine screws, nuts, and lock washers. Tighten them all down and she is good to go. I need to seal it up a little with RTV I think to keep water from sitting in there. But it gets pretty hot so maybe not. Better safe then sorry right.

Jakeleverett

OOOO i recently bought some hood vents but im still too scared to install them!!

Looking good!!

beatricethexj

You just have to go for it. I sat on mine for weeks cause I was too scared. Even while I was cutting I was extremely worried something would be wrong. That little 1/2" lip covers a lot lol. Just measure three or four times then cut. And pray for the best.

steingass

I usually don't dig the whole hood vent thing but yours are awesome. I like how the louvers look on them and the simple rectangular shape. Very nice Cherokee!

beatricethexj

Thanks man. Sometimes I see nostrils when I look at it. The hood vents are actually for boats

http://www.go2marine.com/product/271...stainless.html

I scuffed them up and painted them with high temp spray paint

beatricethexj

Bought some 1.5" wheel spacers to effectively set my backspacing at 4". Quick and painless install. Not a huge difference but I like the wider stance.

beatricethexj

Finally got around to installing a ZJ trans cooler I picked up at the jy a few months back. Project cost me about 30 bucks and that is with buying extra trans cooler hose. I have to fab up a little mount so I can anchor the last two bolts. Pretty easy install.

Mounted it low center and spliced into the soft line portion of the return line. All in all took about hour including the trip to the parts store. Even if it doesn't make a huge difference it can't hurt.

beatricethexj

Picked up some Solid diff covers from polyperformance.com last week. These things are beefy! 5/16" thick when I measured the lip. Came with all the hardware and a tube of RTV sealant. Left is the Dana 30. Installed is the Chryco 8.25. Had to use a free stock bolts because the holes didn't line up perfect.

beatricethexj

Today I did some cutting on my front end. I was originally inspired by Rockhead's front bumper, but ended up doing something a little different. Just a little diagonal cut. I was amazed how much clearance you gain just from removing that front trim.

While I had the bumper off I added the tow hooks I had picked up a few weeks back. Added some Hella 550 knock offs too. Since I no longer had a spot for my stock fog lights, I just wired the aftermarket lights to the stock harness. Easy enough install.

I attempted to install my gas skid today, but no such luck. My exhaust was kicking my butt while I was trying to get the skid into place. I will get it next time.

A guy in town is trying to start up a fab/used parts shop so I bought a ZJ skid plate off him and he installed it. With the diff covers, t case skid and gas skid, I should be pretty good for now. Just need sliders and that will complete my plans for armor.

beatricethexj

So someone pushed good old Beatrice off a mountain last night. I went hiking and came back to see my XJ at the bottom of the mountain. Pretty incredible.

wokkerk

that is nuts! Im glad you werent in it.

XJ BoSS

Omfg did they fund who did it? That is terrible please more info

wokkerk

^^^yeah more info would be great I just cant imagine who would do that.