I upgraded a ton of the interior lights. I swapped out a bunch of dim LED bulbs with newer, brighter LED bulbs. While I had it apart, I added an OEM fog light switch for the Hellas, and replaced a bunch of worn out, brittle bulb sockets with new replacements. Here are some pictures:









The full write-up is here:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f89/le...8/#post3201153

 

More or less for my own notes, here's my list of mods that I currently have, and that I'd like to make to this thing, in no particular order. I'll change the font to blue if/when they happen.

Suspension:

RC 3" Series II Lift w/ leaf packs
RC adjustable track bar
RC Steering stabilizer
265/70/17 Tires
17x8.5 Voxx rims
Fox Shocks
MetalCloak adjustable upper control arms
Bigger bump stops
Tie rod and drag link upgrades
Frame stiffeners

Drivetrain:

RE TC drop (temp)
EBC RK Series rotors
EBC Green Stuff pads
Boostworks TC shift linkage
Boostworks steering brace
Reagear to 4:10
Rear locker
SYE
29-spline upgrade
Rear discs (EBC pads & rotors to match front)
Extended, braided steel brake lines

Exterior:

Truck-Lite LED headlights (E-code)
Blacked-out corner lenses
Clear front turns
Tinted tails
Debadged
Hella 500 Black Magic
Hood vents
Bushwacker flat flares
Rusty's lower rocker guards
LED tails and front turns
Warrior front bumper
Rusty's rear bumper w/ D-rings
D-rings in OEM front tow hook location
Bedliner on the lower rockers
New paint

Engine/Trans:

Magnecore wires
97+ HVAC valve delete
Trans cooler
Stroker
Edelbrock Aluminum head
99+ intake
Custom CAI
stainless header
2.5" mandrel exhaust
Electric fans
Stiff mounts

Interior:

Tach cluster swap
LED dash and shifter lights
Bluetooth head unit
Carpet delete
Herculiner on the floors
Husky mats
Recovered headliner
Retrofitted OEM fog switch for Hellas
Corbeau Moab front seats w/ sliders
Rear seat cover to match front
Autometer gauges for various temps
97+ headliner with speakers
Better interior lighting

 

Installed a set of Truck-Lite LED headlights last night. I unknowingly purchased the ECE version (commonly referred to as E-code) instead of the DOT version. Fortunately, the ECE version is perfectly legal here, in Washington. As sort of a bonus, they have extra LED's in the center of each light that can be hooked up to auxiliary lights.

I'll post some pics when I get a chance.

 

I'm curious to see what the lighting pattern looks like. I'm a big fan of ecode spec lighting myself. My h4's housing have the "city lights" aka positioning lamps aka aux lights.


https://i.imgur.com/WlXpsb3.jpg?1

 

Pictures of the new Truck-Lite ECE lights (E-code)!

Here's the stock headlights, from less than ten feet:



Here are the Truck-Lites. You can see the little, angled beams of light that shoot up and to the right, instead of a completely clean cutoff on the DOT version:



On the lights themselves, the other difference is that these ones have two extra LED's at the front of the housing, which I haven't hooked up yet. They look like little, white squares in this picture (sorry about the water; winter + Washington = rain).





I'm thinking about wiring the extra LED's to come on with the Hellas, but I'm not totally sure yet. I don't want them to flash with the turn signals; I don't know if that's legal, for one, and given their forward facing placement, they might be a bit too intense for a flashing application. I don't want them on all the time, either. I'm open to ideas.

At night, the lights look pretty much indistinguishable from the DOT version.





The improved visibility with these things is amazing. The biggest difference, besides the color of the light, is the ground cover. The halogens made a couple of bright spots with minor, dim flooding into the surrounding area. These make the first few yards in front of the Jeep look like daylight. I love them.

 

I changed the diff fluid this weekend. Not very exciting. The fluid was pretty dirty and way overdue for a change. I did have a little fun with the rear diff cover before I put it back on. I was going to do the front too, but I ran out of time.

 

My heater would sometimes not warm up in the mornings. I would start driving and then it would randomly heat up really fast. I just assumed my heater core was clogged until I popped the hood and noticed that the HVAC control valve was touching the dipstick, causing the vacuum-actuated arm to stick. The vibration from driving would wiggle it free, thus letting the warm fluid to fill the heater core shortly after pulling out of the driveway.

So instead of adjusting all those hoses and fussing with the valve, I learned that the 97+ Jeeps don't even have that valve. Many people have deleted it without an issue. I thought that sounded like a great idea, so away it went. I also took this opportunity to flush the core in both directions. I'm hoping it lasts another twenty years, because heater core changes are the worst. I'd seriously rather pull an engine.

Before: (yes, the grey vacuum line is unhooked, here)



After:



So much better! I changed my oil shortly after this and pulling the filter out was much easier without that damn valve in the way. So far, the only difference I've noticed is that, no matter where the air is positioned at the dial, there is a small, constant draft at my feet. Only when the blower motor is on, though. Honestly, I've always wished I could defrost the windshield and have a draft on my feet at the same time, so this serves as kind of bonus, really. And yes, I plugged the grey vacuum line under the hood.

 

For the past few years, I've also been having intermittent torque converter lockup issues. I'll be cruising at 60 mph or higher and it will randomly unlock. When I try to accelerate, it will lock back up, thus making it harder to accelerate. It's incredibly obnoxious. On a few occasions, it would shift into third gear and refuse to use any other forward gears, which I understand to be "limp mode", signaling some sort of electrical disturbance. When that occurred, I would just shut it off, restart it, and everything was fine. That issue rarely came up, but was annoying nonetheless. I have a whole thread about it on NAXJA. Here's what I've done so far, in order (and without luck):

Trans fluid + filter change with proper fluid
"kick-down" cable adjusted properly
TCU changed
TPS replaced (non-Mopar)
Brake switch tested, works fine
Trans fluid + filter change with proper fluid (second time)
All solenoids replaced
Trans cooler installed

When I changed the solenoids, added the cooler, and flushed the fluid one weekend, the problem vanished for almost an entire year. I thought I had finally defeated it. But then this past week, it acted up twice, under two different driving conditions.

So my most recent attempt was to use electrical parts cleaner on all of the plugs under the hood that go to and from the transmission sensors. I was told that has fixed it for at least one person. Also, my reverse lights weren't coming on immediately when shifting into reverse, leading me to believe that my NSS was gummed up. This weekend, I unplugged every one of them, sprayed them out, wiped them down, and reconnected them when dry. It's only been a couple of days, but so far...so good.

Every forum post I find with this issue has lead me to a dead end. They either do not get an answer, or someone chimes in with a completely different solution, that they never seem to be able to verify actually works. It's bizarre. If my most recent attempt proves unsuccessful, I'm going to fork out the cash for a Mopar TPS, since aftermarket sensors tend to have a high failure and/or inaccuracy rate. If that doesn't work, I'm truly stumped. I might just pull the tranny again and replaced the converter.

 

Nice ride man, like what you're doing.

You definitely want to clean your NSS. I was having a similar issue when it would be REALLY cold out. I'd get in the jeep, put it in reverse, and no reverse lights. Then within 1min of driving a check engine light would pop on, and it wouldn't shift into OD. I'd have to pull over, turn it off, turn it back on, and all was good. Took my sweet time getting the NSS out (you don't want to break it), cleaned real good, re-greased, and re-installed. Haven't had an issue since, even when it was -30F.

Did have a question for ya... when you installed the trans cooler, did you hook it up to the radiator, or did you just go straight from the trans to the trans cooler? I'm thinking about installing one. My trans shifts kinda funky. I've tried just about everything too, but I'm starting to get to the point that I think it's going out on me.

 

Thanks. I only cleaned the plug end of the NSS, but I do have a spare tranny in the garage. I might pull the NSS off of that one, clean it out, and swap it out for the one in the Jeep. That way I can see what I'm doing as I remove the first one and it gives me a second chance in case I break something.

I installed the cooler inline with the factory tranny lines, with the radiator. The issue with installing a standalone cooler is that it requires constant motion to work. If I'm ever going slow, it will be free to heat up as much as it wants. Keeping the radiator in the loop may heat the fluid to engine temps, but it will prevent it from getting much hotter because of the fans. It also helps to warm the fluid to operating temp a little quicker in cold climates.

 

New parts on order:

Neutral Safety Switch
Brake Light Switch
Mopar TPS
Hood Vents
Heater Core (I've been smelling coolant occasionally)

...and a few other things. I'm determined to get this bastard working properly again. Something will fix it at some point. I need to figure it out so I can reallocate my money to fun stuff again. I'm dying to do a slip yoke eliminator, adjustable upper arms, solid mounts, and some exhaust. The hood vents will be fun, but I'm really hoping they'll expel some of the heat that's flowing down through my transmission tunnel.

 

I recommend doing the SYE asap. I did mine like 3 weeks ago, and by far one of the greatest things I could have done. Rides a WHOLE lot smoother, and it also shifts way nicer. You don't realize how hard everything is working until it doesn't have to work so hard anymore.

Can you tell I'm following? HAHA!

 

Yeah, it's definitely on my list. Once I have that installed, I can remove the TC drop, invest in some stiff mounts, and then get a nice exhaust setup on it. I'm dying to squeeze some more power out of this thing. The 32's really slowed it down. Gears would be the best solution, but the cheapest installer I've found, wants $1800 and that's just not doable right now.

 

I installed a few new parts this weekend, including an ill-fitting new door seal and radiator cap. After years of my foot slipping off the brake pedal, I finally replaced the cover:



...with this:



I installed a new Mopar TPS (on the right, some sort of generic one on the left):



I'm hoping this will help my erratic shifting issues. If not, I have a new NSS and brake switch that I'm going to try out as well.

The one fun thing I got is this set of hood vents. They're huge. I should've paid more attention to the measurements when I ordered them, but whatever. I'm going to roll with them anyway (go big or go home, right?). The angles are perfect for where I'm going to put them. I'll paint them black before installing them.

 

Don't forget to reset the ECU! I replaced mine a while back hoping to fix some goofy shifting, but unfortunately it didn't change anything.

I know this was a while back, but when you bedlined your roof. What did you use as rust converter? Just a rattle can spray, or like a legit rust converter? I have plans to do my lower doors and rockers and want to hit everything with a good rust inhibitor/converter for good measure. I only have super minor surface rust on the lower inside of the doors, so I want to clean it up real nice, and cover everything for good measure.