For the scratches in your hood. Buy some 1000grit 1500 grit and 2000grit. Start with the 1000. Use lots of water and sand the while hood. Don't take to much sanding. Just work the whole surface of the hood. Move up to 1500 and repeat. Then 2000. Then just buff the hood with a good polish. If the scratches are just in the clear it will look better than new.

I just did this process on my red jeep and it's amazing the shine and smoothness of the paint when your done

 

That actually came out with the help of the nighbor'/s big buffing wheel. ten minutes of buffing and whe whole hood was shiny as all get out and even smelled nice as an additional perk
I think what happened was that someone wrote that onto the hood in the dirt, and since it was so dirty it lightly scratched the clearcoat.

LACK, thanks for the tip. i still havent gotten them swapped, i'm waiting for a break in the weather.

I Did calculate my new fuel mileage, and im sitting at 18.66mpg for the last fill-up. I'm not sure if we just got summer mix gas here in SE Ohio or if the ful effects of the new 02 sensor are taking hold, by my mileage had been in the low 17's or even high 16's. I drive the same routes and fill up at the same station, generally.


I spied some spray-on bedliner from Duplicolor in Advance Auto parts, I'm thinking i might use that for my rocker panels and lower doors. i yanked the door moldings back off because i was getting ticked at them.

 

picked up a tungsteun carbide cutter bit for the dremel yesterday, and it eats away at the stud for sure, but its slow going and hard to control.

I'm thinking i'll just give up on the grizzlies anyway, i think it might look neat and different to have the standard 5 spoke steelies painted satin black and have the silver center caps. now just to find two of the silver center caps...

I think the next order of business, after i get the mounts installed, will be to get one of those headlight harness kits and install it. theres not really a point in adding/fixing the auxilliary lighting until i see the full potential of what i already have, i suppose.
that, and bedlining the rockers and lower doors.

 

Got some liquid nitro? Freeze that stud up and smack it with a hammer!

 

Actually its been messed with so much that in some places, you cant really tell where the lug/stud remains end and the wheel begins. its a mess, i'll need to take another pic tomorrow. There's not much holding it on but by George it wont let go!

At work we just recently completed work on all our LE vehicles, and I've really grown on the black/silver color combo wheel idea. All the Ford "Police Interceptor Utility" vehicles (Just new Explorers) have the glossy black wheels with silver center caps, and i think its probably going to just be easier and in the end more different than the grizzlies. plus since the grizzlies are cool it might incentivize someone to pay more for the old jeep!

Oh yeah, i charged the A/C today, or at least attempted to. It actually wasnt all that low. its not my first time doing it but it still didnt seem to blow cold air. I need to check to see if the compressor actually kicked on (the RPMs lowered and the elec fan kicked it)

 

Sorry i't been a while since I've posted, I've been busy as of late.

a few 'updates' of sorts, though.

>The A/C
I think the clutch might be bad, or something like that. sometimes it acts like it wants to work but doesn't. one day it actually seemed to blow cold air until i turned the jeep of but it hasnt done it again yet.

>Body moldings/bedliner
I tried all kinds of tricks to get the stupid adhesive off, as i work at a sign shop. not even our pretty sweet stuff ("Rapid remover", smells like citrus) would seem to work. So I've ordered a rubber eraser wheel for my drill offline which should be here this week. after i get that adhesive off it should be a simple mater of masking off the upper doors and then spraying a can or two of the bedliner on.

>Wheels
I might have a source for two of the silver center caps for the five spoke steelies, but i still need to locate another of said wheel so i have a matched set. I got a brass wire wheel for my drill which i'm going to see if it will remove the small rusty patches on them. then im thinking a coat of primer, wet sand an a few coats of satin or gloss black paint, with a coat of clear overcoat? nervous about the last bit because i've never clearcoated anything before.

>Lift and future plans
I'm planing to officially put the white jeep up for sale this week. I think with the money i get for it, instead of getting stuff to lift this one, I'll just put the money toward tires and lighting upgrades. I'm not really sagging any at the moment, so maybe i'll just wait until income tax time before i get a kit. Since tires and lights are more directly to effect my use of the vehicle in both near and the long term, it seems a more efficient use of the money.

As for the above, I'm open to getting another set of Courser AXTs in 235/75 15, as they lasted a while, didn't make noise and seemed to always have traction when i needed them. Better yet, i got them for 120 each. If there is something a bit more aggressive that can have an equal road life for 150 or less each, I'm open to suggestions.

for lights i think i'll go LED marker and signals (since i have a brake light out already) and probably pick up a pair of Hella E-codes along with the harness i still haven't managed to get. once those are in i'll decide what to do about the aux lights, be it get another pair of OEM fogs (seems pointless when i'd have done the other lights), or get some driving, fog, or even a short light bar, wire them to the factory system on top of the bumper.


Oh, and it sounds like my speakers are all about to blow. What fun!

 

Well my rubber eraser disc came in the mail yesterday. 13 bucks is better than the 40 bucks they wanted in the parts store for a 3M one.

Anyway, if you've never used one, it's bar none the best way to get most anything off of something. Now I've got all the pesky adhesive off from the mouldings and should be able to apply the bedliner to the rockers and lower doors this weekend. If it doesn't rain.

How many cans do you guys think I'll need, assuming I get the aresol cans of the Rust-Oleum stuff?

 

Just for the rockers and quarters? Probably 3-4 depending on how thick you put it on.

 

Just the doors south of the body line that the mouldings ran over, and the rockers. I had considered doing the inside of the door sills but I'm not sure.

Rough calculation would be about what, 12-14 square feet? Maybe a can per side?

 

I would still get 3 cans just to be safe - plus then you'll have some on hand for touch-ups if you don't use the third can. I would also nix the idea of doing the door sills, dirt is just going to be even harder to get rid of there. Cleaning the spray bomb bedliner is challenging enough at times when it's on a verticle surface.

 

Well, a large development happened, and I don't know how I feel about it.

Posted the other jeep for sale, as is. I was tired messing with the wheels. Since a few people are already interested, i put a battery in there, some fresh gas and started it up to see if i could turn it around. if it was facing the other way, it would be easier for someone to come and haul it out.

Well it moved alright. everything worked. but halfway through turning it around, it did the one thing i haven't been able to do for months. the wheel came off. I tried uploading a pic but idk wtf is wrong with the uploader. I'll try again later.

Why couldn't it have don this ages ago? Id have my cool wheels and decent tires on the MkII, AND have already sold the other by now and bought some neat stuff for it to boot.

In any case, I'll go put the spare on and finish turning it around. I hope someone can enjoy wallowing in one of the greatest ironies of my recent life.

 

Well, the white jeep is sold. Gone but will not be forgotten.

Especially when i buy nice stuff for this jeep with the money

So, for a budget of 500 dollars, i have several options to look at for improvements.

Lighting? Recovery points? Recovery Gear? tires?
What would you guys be looking at?

 

recovery points and a light bar above the windshield

 

I have a class III receiver, but i could probably stand to get a shackle insert for it as opposed to the rusty ball insert. run me maybe 25 dollars.
As for front tow hooks, i see Timken ones which people seem to dislike for 50 bucks without hooks, or Rugged Ridge ones with hooks for 110 ish. probably go with the later.
I might know a guy who would sell me a Hi-Lift jack cheap. then i'd need a strap, at least.
total, ~ 175-225 bucks

I REALLY think Q-tech's J5 light bar with the amber marker lights is cool, but i really dont want to pay that much for a light bar. Having stock light wiring and some GE Nighthawks, and having factory fog lights but no bulbs, I might be head to fix those up first before getting an LED bar.
Lets say 90 bucks for a Hella E-code kit, 40 for the wiring harness. Once i see how that goes and puts out light, then id have to decide wither to just put in OEM fogs again, or to get some different aftermarket lights being driving or fog, and mount them.
Total, ~180 bucks for housings, harness and additional lights


Certainly sounds doable.
I might go ahead and order a set of those Q-tech floormats, since i have the money now and have been eying them. Might get the cargo mat later, as the first jep had one i made from an F-150 drop in bedliner but didnt work all that well.

 

I'm in the same boat with the class III hitch. Just need a shackle mount for it. And I've been eyeing the Rugged Ridge tow hooks as well.

As for a light bar. I'm looking for a decent priced 50" straight bar.