I dint think there's an exact point. It's just a preference. I like a lot better than the xj one. It's ugly and just ugly aha. The tj one is nice colored and just more detailed. Everything looks great dude.

 

ah. I wasn't sure. Lol.

 

I like the TJ cluster.... very clean.

 

+50HP of course.

In all seriousness, it's purely looks and preference...the XJ factory ones have ugly faded orange needles and don't work as well with LEDs.

 

i think my LEDs looks just good with factory cluster.

 

Yours do look good. It's not too common I see stock clusters look that great with LEDs...but the primary problem with that is the diversity of the LED market (viewing angles, light diffusion, black magic, etc). The ones I have were cheapo eBay specials and actually look decent, and they are great in the new cluster, but I do wish they were a bit brighter. I will likely order new ones from SBL once I figure out what I need for my overhead console and can put a big order in.

I didn't even expect to do a TJ cluster at all, it was a spur-of-the-moment deal when I found someone near me parting a nice TJ.

 

This is a serious QA problem I find. No consistency.

What do you not drive at night or something? I'm having trouble imagining LEDs and "dim".

 

I blame the American government, ultimately.

I do all the time, but these eBay specials just don't put out light like LEDs from SBL or others...they were only 8 bucks shipped for 20 of 'em. Heckuva deal and plenty there to do all the indicators. Just takes forever and trial and error to make sure you have them in the right way. SBL's "bright" variety of the 360-degree view 74 LEDs are 5 bucks a POP! So I'm considering getting 5 of those purely for the illumination lights and leaving the eBay's in all the other indicators.

Parting thought for this post...my CEL and Check Gauges lights are now pissy yellowy lime-green colored with the TJ Cluster and LED. Kinda like after you slam a few energy drinks or a bunch of vitamins and have a pee.

 

 

Where did you get the hood vents?

 

westmarine.com

 

Well I've been lazy updating my build thread, so let me see if I can get caught up.

I finally got to work replacing my rear passenger bumpstop which involved cutting a section of the unirail out and welding in a new section with nuts welded. Look at that awesome rust...



I have no doubt that at some point I'll have to rebuild the whole rear sections of unirails....or get a new Jeep. I'll cross that bridge when it comes. Anyways, I welded in some 3/16" steel which is a lot thicker than the unibody. I had issues with burn-through and thats why my welds look kinda poopy. Shoulda called up Neeel (xjwonders) to come down and weld 'em for me! But it is solid nonetheless.

This is after spraying some undercoating on it. I did spray the inside portion with Rustoleum Zinc (basically weld-thru primer)



And done



To complete my bumpstop install, i got around to painting my extended bumpstop spring plates and installing them.




And while I was at it, I FINALLY patched the hole I had left in my rear quarter panel rust repair from last year. Probably back quite a few pages in the thread now. This hole was allowing mud and dirt to be thrown up into the cargo compartment. This is the only pic I have...basically just cut up a template out of cardboard and then steel and welded in & painted.



Other projects currently in the works....scored a moon visor! Going to see about getting it paint-matched this week. I want to have a body shop do it so I know it's done right. Pretty excited about this. I think it will help a lot with LED glare once I have my roof rack light bar in place.



Also, here is the overhead console I'm going to refurbish and install eventually. The blank spot you see there is where the CB radio will be going.

 

Busy man! Hats off to you for the welding. That jeep really is looking good. I'll look forward to seeing the cb install, I'm not really happy with mine on the dash.

 

Lookin' good man. I finally figured out what part of my problem is when I'm welding. I'm using a 20 amp outlet like the buzzbox requires, but the extension cord I was using was only 13 amp... woops.

 

Thanks guys!

Ahh yeah, extension cords can be a pain. Basically you want the thickest extension cord you can find! Lol. I've used a 13 amp cord with mine already and it's fine for light sheet metal work but thicker stuff...forget it