Couple quick clips

 

Scrubbed it down good yesterday for the first time in a long time. Still cleans up alright, but the paint has seen better days. Plenty of scratches and scuff marks. I think some elbow grease with cutting/buffing could help tremendously. Maybe someday I’ll have the motivation for that.

 

Well, that didn't last long.

Had some time to kill yesterday, so I asked Audrey if she wanted to go putt around in the Jeep for awhile. Typically that means going out and "chasing the map", as I call it, where we go hit some local class 4 roads that usually are some mellow 2 track roads that snake through property lines and quaint back roads. Not usually very exciting, but a nice way to spend some time when its just the two of us.

Of course, going out solo is a no-no that many of us preach to others about, but its all calculated risk. This time, my math was off. I made a poor decision.

After enjoying ourselves for a few hours it was getting later in the afternoon. We were a few miles into an old overgrown road and came to a large diameter tree across the road with a kinda sketchy off-camber go-around. I didn't have my chainsaw, and we were only about 1/4 mile from the end of the road. I made the (poor) decision to go around.

I took a bad line because I was scared of the rock at the top of the off camber spot. My rear tire slid down the length of the tree rather than climbing over it. With my rear shock mount planted firmly on the tree, I was stuck, alone with no cell service. Crap. Hiking out to phone a friend would not be the best way to get Audrey into wheeling.

Fortunately, I was about to winch myself off the tree without much drama (other than slipping and falling in the mud) and we were home in time for dinner. I definitely got caught being complacent on this one.








My shock mount didn't do so well. A bit funny this happened because I considered cutting these off after moving the shocks, but decided to keep them for resale value on the axle when I swap it out.

Oh well! Looks like they're coming off.




In other news, I really need to fix my air conditioning and/or do some more thermal insulation on the floor. The trans tunnel still dumps heat into the cab and no airflow at wheelin speed when its 110% humidity out is miserable.

 

The only reason you got it dirty was you cleaned it up.

 

It was begging to go out

 

Just poppin' in to report I've been wheeling the Jeep and its been a blast! FINALLY. Some seat time was exactly what I needed to keep the motivation rolling on the build.

Joined my group's anniversary run this year and ran some of the more challenging class 6 roads in NH including the infamous Angry Trout Guy. Been meaning to get to that road for years but just haven't made it over there. I drove it, but I was definitely a bit humbled in both vehicle capability and driver skill. I returned home with this ugly dent in my fender from a tree that reminded me to check myself. This dent is a good reminder I need to get moving on front tube flares and a cage. Didn't get the door or the windshield frame at all, so really a non-issue.








Also got out for another good day last weekend and rode some other good roads in the area



Seeing the bumper sitting flat down against the ground in that video was so satisfying because I felt like all that work to modify the corners to be higher clearance was worth it. I did crush my tailpipe flat when I did this though. Had to pry it open then trim it back when I got home. Also smashed my new muffler at some point during this day.





After this trip I proceeded to rip the interior out again. One reason is because I wanted to install this ZJ exhaust heat shield. After 4.3L XJ shared the idea with me, I ordered the part on eBay for $15. It fits really well in front of my cat heat shield all the way up to where the exhaust turns to cross under the transmission. Very happy with this. Haven't driven with it installed yet, so no report about functionality.

 

Is the heat shield supposed to look all beat up?

 

Hey now


No, it’s not lol. I had to bend it and really work to get it into place. I didn’t bother to straighten it out too much because it will work just fine as is. Plus, it’s under the jeep. The only people who will see it are on the internet and you can’t get me from there

 

Time for some shock towers in the back or at least some raised mounts! I've found a cheap cherry bomb from autozone can sit higher up than a stock style muffler.

 

Scroll back a bit in the thread to see what I did with the rear shocks. Took some inspiration from your towers actually.

 

link to their cherry bomb? How's it sound?

 

I'm over the noise. I want quiet at this point. The Walker Quiet Flow is pretty decent. I'd like to be able to have a conversation in the cab while rolling down the road, and also many of the trails (VT class 4/NH class 6 roads) we run sneak right by people's houses/properties, so its nice to be a bit discrete rather than bumbling by sounding like a tractor.

 

I understand that.

 

Other than putting screws through the floor for the ZJ heat shield, the second reason I pulled the interior was to add some insulation on the floor to mitigate heat from the exhaust/trans tunnel. All part of #ProjectMakeAudreyLikeTheJeep.

I did some research on van conversion pages about what to use. I was mostly looking for something to replace the factory jute carpet backing that would not hold water forever. Many people think foil-backed butyl rubber sound deadening helps for heat, but it has very little conductive heat resistance, only radiant. What I really needed was something with a decent R-value.

I first ordered a roll of 10 mm thick expanded polyethylene (EPE) foam. After getting it in my hand, I decided I didn't like it. I think the R-value would've been okay, and vapor permeability was decent, but it was not heat resistant. Holding a lighter 6" under it would quickly melt/burn the material, and it was nasty. Didn't want to line my Jeep with that. The best description of this material I can give is its "crinkly".

Something I saw used very often with the van crowd was rigid foamboard, the same stuff that is used to insulate buildings. This material is great because it has very good R-value, low vapor permeability/water retention, decent heat resistance, and best of all is very cheap. The only challenge is it can only be used on flat surfaces.

Rigid foam board comes in a few different flavors, namely expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), and polyisocyanurate (ISO). These each have pros/cons, but I ended up going with the polyiso because it had the greatest heat resistance and lowest water permeability. ISO also has the higher R-value, but with the caveat that it becomes less efficient at colder temperatures. I figured that didn't matter for me because I haven't been driving the Jeep in the winter, and its not a house that I'm trying to heat. It has an R-value of 6 at ~75°F, and drops to maybe 4-4.5 in below freezing temps. Still great compared to nothing.

So I bought a 1" thick sheet to put down on the floors, but still wanted something to use in the footwells at the bottom of the firewall and over the trans tunnel.

Another material that caught my eye was duct-wrap. This also comes in a few variants such as fiberglass or foam. On the van pages I saw some mentions of a foam insulation material by the name of Armaflex. This stuff is a nitrile butadiene rubber/polyvinyl chloride blend (NBR/PVC) that is dense, pliable, and has a great R-value compared to everything else I found that is flexible. This material is easy to find/buy for wrapping ducts/pipes, and is also sold in sheets of varying thicknesses. It has an R-value of 4.

This stuff really seems to be a perfect material. The only problem is its expensive, and somewhat difficult to find in sheets. I ended up ordering this K-Flex Insul-Sheet on Zoro. At $75 for 3' x 4' x 1" thick, its 6.5 times more expensive than ridged foam board, but it really is an excellent material.

I covered as much as I could on the floor, footwells, and trans tunnel. Came out pretty good. Carpet and interior did not go back in quite as easy as I hoped, but I got it. I would probably recommend using 1/2" or 3/4" everywhere rather than 1" if someone else was to mimic this plan.





I've driven the Jeep a couple days now with the insulation and it has been a great addition. Zero heat on the floorboard after driving 30 minutes. Real test will be when I can get out wheeling for several hours. I'm also hoping to add some insulation to the rear seat area over the muffler as I have had heat problems in that area in the past (remember my melted milk crate?)


More important for occupant comfort, I've been trying to get my AC fixed.





I've never worked on an AC system before, so its been a learning process. I first had a shop evacuate the refrigerant so I knew I was working on an empty system. After dealing with leaks on the manifold and pump setup, I finally was able to pull my system down and test to see if it holds. I pulled 30 in-H2O of vacuum, and it only lost 1-2 inches overnight, and about 5 inches over a weekend of sitting. That tells me the leak that is present is very minor. I think from here I'm going to put a new drier in the system and have it filled with UV-dyed refrigerant to run it for awhile and look for the leaks with UV once it starts acting up again.


Last little thing to note is I added a license plate light out on the tire carrier. Pretty small thing, but one step closer to an inspection sticker, and one less reason to be pulled over.





Only other thing I really need for a Vermont sticker is mud flaps. Pretty annoying I need them in VT as I did not in NH, and I think most people pull them off after getting an inspection anyway. I'll get to this eventually lol

 

Yea we have to put mud flaps on in AZ. Sometimes you get pulled over but lately they haven't really seemed to care. Seems like Highway Patrol doesn't really exist since Covid. Everyone is going over the speed limit by at least 15 to 20 mph. We will pull our flaps off after inspection as well.

Can't you get that K-flex stuff at the big box stores?