I got the other ‘wackers installed on the passenger side today – ran out of daylight, or I would’ve gotten some pics. They look the same as the driver side flares, so no surprises here. Hold your screen up to a mirror looking at the pics above, and it’ll give you an idea of what they look like. 🥴
The passenger-side (marked as the “Left Rear” flare) went on just like the one on the driver side (hangs down about 1.5″ at the rear), but the front flare seemed to fit a LOT better. Still, I made the same notch on the trailing edge and massaged it into the same configuration as the one on the driver side so they match. Anybody need any Bushwacker rocker flare extensions for theirs?
Well, I didn’t get ALL of the remaining flares installed, but I did manage to get the driver’s rear (labeled Right Rear) installed today. Eyeballed the other flare (marked Left Rear), and it just was not going to fit right… as I mentioned before, all of the other CJs with Bushwackers have the rears mounted reverse of how mine are labeled, anyway.
There’s a trim strip on the bottom of my rockers that came with the Jeep, which I’m not in love with, but I don’t want to expose the ugly, worn paint underneath, so I just busted out the Dremel and wacked about a half inch off the trailing end. I’m not cutting the flares to fit those relics, after I held the flare up and got it where I thought it would look best. Then I marked and drilled the holes for the top 2 screws, loaded them into the flare, and used the flare holes to punch the rest of the holes. Loaded them up with screws and spacers, then tightened everything down. It came out pretty good, although the optical illusion has the leading end of the flare looking like it’s closer to the wheel than the rear, but it’s really not – the leading end is just more angled (which might actually help with aerodynamics… pfft! who am I kidding).
Anyway, here’s the final result (for the driver side, anyway). I’m still not really liking them, but tire clearance is more important at this point. Plus, it does look better now that both flares are on. Oh well… “I can’t see ’em when I’m driving,” as my wife always says when I talk about new rims and/or tires.
That should’ve taken care of the clearance/rubbing issues. I’ll need to take it out for a spin to see if there are any more issues.
Not liking how far the flares stick out, but that’s the trade-off, I guess.
OK, First things First – here are the pics from what would’ve been yesterday’s progress: removing the factory style fender flares. It’s super clean, since the originals were distorted a bit when I got the Jeep, and soon after I quit muddin’ and started hitting local car shows, I got some new flares.
The Bushwacker instructions say that these can be installed in 3-4 hours. Yeah… if they label stuff right, make the stuff to actually fit, and offered better instructions (OK, the instructions aren’t THAT bad, but I gotta gripe about those a bit as well).
Here’s where the fun begins: took the new body saw to the sheet metal… no going back now. That should give me enough clearance for basic street driving and light trail stuff – the mid-’90s Pro Comp 4″ lift suspension is still plenty sturdy, after all.
After holding up the flare to the fender, repositioning a dozen or so times, and realizing this one’s a bit warped, I eyeballed where the flare really needed to be ‘notched’ for the styled flange at the bottom of the fender (it was almost 2″ too low on the flare, so I needed to use the Dremel to make a new notch). After getting it back where I thought it’d fit the best, I eyeballed the second screw-hole back from the indicator and punched a hole. Then, mounted the indicator and that newly finished mounting point, straightened out the ends, and started punching holes for the other Torx-head screws. I noticed some of the screws are going to need double spacers in order to work properly (which I also read in another thread here in these forums, BTW), so I’ll make a trip the hardware store tomorrow before I get started again.
About a half hour later, we have an installed driver side front flare. And… I don’t like it.
Here’s one of the issues I’m not happy about: the flares hang down lower because they’re expecting to be mated up with the (included) rocker extensions… normally found on YJs. This kit is for both CJs/YJs of course, so the pieces are tailored more for YJs. Well, at least they finished these pieces so I don’t need to put the rocker extensions on (they would prevent my fenders from opening up).
Another “WTF” moment I discovered with this kit: The rear flares are either mis-marked (Left vs. Right), or they expect them to fit a whole lot differently than anything I can envision. The trailing ends of the flares would wind up hanging around 3″ below the bottom of the body, if the pieces were installed properly (levelish top surface) according to the labels I found on the inside of the flares. Fortunately, my line of thinking is to swap them, putting the longer end of the flare forward, so that both ends of the flares terminate at the lowest edge of the body. I also appears that the rest of the ‘CJs-with-Bushwackers’ world seems to agree with my line of thinking, and mounted theirs opposite of how mine were labeled – to include Bushwacker, as one can clearly see in their own pic that the leading end of the rear flare is longer than the rear. More on that tomorrow when I get the rest of them installed
In the back of my head, I knew I wasn’t going to like these, which is why I hadn’t ever ordered any. But – reality is, I don’t want to lift my Jeep any higher despite having gone with 35s, so this is my compromise. I guess I need to reserve judgment until they’re all on, even though the one above looks a LOT like my Jeep with them installed.
Oh yeah, my gripe with the instructions: For the rear ‘trimming’ they mention, they say to “align the rear corner of the flare with the vertical seam at the rear of the vehicle.” Yeah… if you don’t have that (like those with fiberglass tubs, or CJ-5s, or when I filled-in the corner seams when replaced my corners), you’re kinda screwed.
Another “Yeah… Right” moment in reading the instructions: “mark the mounting hole locations on the vehicle fender using the holes in the flare as a guide.” And what kind of a tool am I supposed to use for that, since I don’t have anything suitable to stuff through a 5/32″ hole in the flare to reach up to 3/4″ away. I suppose I could use a scratch awl… if I had one. Easier just to eyeball and mount up a couple of holes, then use a quick-release drill bit with an extension (3/16″s in the included instructions, BTW – not 5/32″ as they say in the online version of the instructions) to drill the remaining holes with the flare in-place.
OK – enough whining. Hopefully, I can get the remaining flares installed without any further hassle tomorrow.
Man, I need to find a decent working coin-op car wash ASAP. I hate my Jeep being THIS dirty.
Got back at it this morning after a quick trip to Harbor Freight for a new body saw so I can trim the wheel well openings to install the cut-out ‘wackers (3rd one in just 13 years – 2 in various states of failure from cutting apart the Mach 1).
First things first – tightened up the valve cover bolts as they were barely finger-tight. I know it said to ‘not over-tighten’ them, but dang – there was a lot of ‘tightening’ left to do. Hopefully, that’s the end of of the oil leak.
So here’s where we were from yesterday – pulled the main harness loose and started in on cleaning everything up.
I had to relocate a few things on the driver side to tidy things up a bit (I know it doesn’t look like it, but this is an ‘in-progress’ pic). Still need to find the steering column bolt and get the rest of the main harness over here. The cool hard line for the vapor vent to the Edelbrock Hi-Flow fuel pump was captured between the column shifter hardware – that’s fixed now.
SUCCESS!! After running the ’78’ wire over to the starter solenoid, I learned that it needed connectivity to the ‘S’ terminal, not the main ‘Batt’ post I’d suspected (that turned everything on once the battery was connected). I also discovered the 1156 in the passenger side had given up, but I’d ordered some 1156 LEDs to replace them – SCORE! (I still need to modify the YJ hatch to work with the CJ tailgate, but that’s for another day)
Wow – my phone’s camera does well with night pics – not even using the ‘Night Vision’ setting. I checked the air cleaner stinger thinking I needed to whack about an inch off, but it JUST clears the hood by a half inch or so, so it gets a reprieve. Everything’s re-ran, and the only thing not terminated and connected under the hood now is the A/C compressor circuit. That’s about the best I can do with the mess around the bulkhead connector – there’s a lot going on there with the key-powered relay, its fuse block, and the Edelbrock ECU.I still have some of the bigger Painless sheathing left, so I’ll be putting those on the strut rods to clean up that look and clip all the zip-ties. Then I guess I’ll make some noise with the body saw when I install the ‘wackers. But first, pop on the new wiper blades, fill the wiper reservoir and test to see if the pump still works, run it through a coin-op car wash, and observe things while I’m driving. If I don’t hear any tire buzzing on the stock flares, I’ll take it to the inspection station to get blessed (otherwise, I’ll install the ‘wackers before we get an inspection).
So, today being gloomy (40-ish and trying to rain), I’m stuck just thinking about things and poring over my [extensive] list of things to be done, and now add “install Bushwacker cut-out/pocket flares” to the list. Here’s why – 35s and 4″ lift puts things pretty close to not workable. The ‘wackers should add a few inches to the trailing edges of the front fenders and a bit of room to the rears… without needing to add any more lift. Not really what I wanted to do as I’m still kind of on the fence about how they look… but, I really don’t want to lift this sucker any higher (my butt just slides into the seat as it sits). Plus, that oughta make a few people around here a little happier that most of the rest of the tires will be covered.
Just realized I didn’t get any good shots of the engine from the driver side. Here’s how the power brake booster and cool billet master cylinder (gifted to me years ago by my pal Jim) came out. I love it! Still need to clean up all those [new] stray wires and find the carb/TBI all-thread stinger to mount up the Edelbrock chrome air cleaner. Need to also clean and paint the original horn and finish up the A/C hoses when I hang the factory style evaporator in the cab. Also need to make sure everything gets bundled up and stays clear of the steering column, cable shifter, and header.
I think I found out why the reverse lights aren’t working. Even though I had ’em plugged in, the plug on the left is from the ratty ol’ harness I harvested from the parts Jeep (Klooge) and the contacts are super corroded. Gotta clean ’em up and hope for the best.
Dave – seriously, thanks again for all the hard work, motivation, brotherhood, and… just everything. I’m at a loss for words, considering all the time you spent traveling to get here (and must go to get back), all of the things you did to get us to this point with my back still being somewhat of a mess, and sticking with it to the end. All things considered, a Modela Chelada Limon, ‘Thanks,’ and ‘Love ya Brother,’ just doesn’t seem to cut it in my book. I’m also happy you hooked me up with your spare welder, and that I could set you up with a new HVAC unit for Klooge.
I still need to process what’s happened this entire week, and see if I can capture everything we did to get Dookie up and running (which I’ll do tomorrow), but for now, time for some pizza and a nice cold adult beverage!
After some more working on various things like the new power brake booster & master cylinder, Lokar kick-down cable and Ididit shifter cable for the transmission, we were able to take him for a spin. Here’s the video Dave took of the first roll-out with the new drive train:
We didn’t go far – just a quick trip over to a local convenience store for some celebratory frosty adult beverages and to top off the tank. Here are a couple of pics from Dookie’s inaugural V8/automatic road trip.
Dookie & Klooge – goes together just like Eric & Dave. Thanks again for all the hard work, Brother!
Unfortunately, shortly after this happy occasion, we had to put Klooge on his trailer so we could let Dave go home.
Checked a few things this morning and remembered that when I added some extensions to the coil circuit of the Edelbrock harness, might’ve gotten the polarity wrong – so I’d swapped polarity on the coil before we started getting serious about starting it up the other day. When Dave checked that circuit, it turns out that I had not gotten it wrong when I added the extensions, but flipped the polarity anyway (thinking so), so it was wrong. Got it fixed, and it still wouldn’t fire. Called Edelbrock Tech Support, and he asked how long I’ve had the kit (about 18 months), and he said the injectors have a habit of seizing just sitting on the shelf for too long, and to ‘shock ’em’ with some quick shots from the battery. Went to O’Reilly’s and got a replacement injector plug, and ‘shocked’ all of the injectors as prescribed. Crossed fingers and turned the key – and it fired right up! It ran well, let us get through the Setup Wizard, and while letting it run a bit so it could ‘self learn,’ then it ran out of the gallon or so of gas we got the other day. Dave made a gas run, and that seemed to do the trick, but the timing didn’t seem right, so we futzed around with that, and now it seems to have lost spark. Started trouble shooting that, and my phone’s battery died (because of the Edelbrock Pro Flow 4 Tuner app being used all day). Harry came by and got to hear it run, although a bit raggedly while we were working through the timing issue. So, it’s at least passing gas right now.
The new Corbeau seat brackets showed up around lunch time as well, so we can at least work on that now (Dave ruled out making the TJ brackets work with the CJ floor, so I ordered the Corbeaus). He got the TJ seats mounted up on the new brackets, and they fit perfectly! Most of all, they’re at the right height so I’m not staring at the windshield frame, and both are the same height. Yay!
I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed. Those blown-out glass packs on the ‘original’ Redneck dual exhaust still seem to be doing their job – it wasn’t nearly as loud and obnoxious as I thought (or was kinda hoping) it would be when it finally fired up. Sounded pretty good, actually. I guess I won’t have to be in a big hurry to get to the exhaust shop after all.
Dave seemed amazed at how cool the ceramic coated headers were – I don’t think we saw anything much over 330 on the headers, with the temps averaging 240-260 or so with it idling.
He was actually recording the joyous occasion and posted up to his YouTube channel. I’ll need to pull it down and embed it properly, but for now here’s the link to Dookie’s first fire-up:
Went to Discount Tire and had a set of Nitto Recon Grapplers installed to get rid of the crappy SUV tires that came with him. Not quite the effect of the Black Widow I thought I wanted so bad a few years ago, but this will definitely do. Especially with my back being junked out – at 6’5″ I can pretty much slide into Clifford with hardly any effort – the Black Widow would’ve been a challenge to daily drive in my current condition. Looks like a dodged a bullet on that front (but, the truck was pretty dang cool… and I hate black rims, but those spoke to me for some reason).
After returning home to find Dave ready to throw something, we finally agreed there was no further progress to be had on our own, so I caved and called Edelbrock Tech Support. The tech was friendly and helpful, and suggested I get a NOID light to check all of the injector plugs… just to rule that out. Well, by the time we got the NOID light, made a harness adapter for it to plug into and checked all the injector leads only to determine we’re right and the ECU is telling the injectors to fire – but they aren’t – we called back only to discover that they punch-out for the day exactly on-time.
GAUGH!!! OK – I guess we’ll call ’em back tomorrow.
I’m not asking for much. Just let the engine run and be happy so we can finish reinstalling the brakes, steering column, rear driveshaft, get the seats set where they need to be, and get the lights hooked back up so I can go get a sticker and re-register by COB Friday and we can take a cruise together in our Jeeps before he needs to leave.
We spent most of today going through everything… and I mean everything. Checked every electrical connection, checked voltages, unplugged & replugged everything, and this sucker just won’t start. I had an appointment to drop off Clifford at West Texas Off Road to get the lift/level kit installed, but even after getting back from picking it up, still no joy.
Well, we heard it run today… kinda. Apparently, the ECU won’t turn on the injectors, despite everything else being set up and connected properly (fuel sump and fuel rails both are loaded up with fuel, so the pumps are working fine). The only thing I can think of is the ECU’s IGN wire needs a different power source – we plugged it into the big red wire on the leftover Duraspark 2-prong plug (tested good for key power), but maybe it’s not on for both ‘On’ and ‘Cranking,’ or is somehow tied to the Coil+ (which the instructions say not to use the same power as the coil – probably because of potential voltage drop).
We heard it run (kinda) because Dave suggested dumping some fuel down the throat to make sure it would even run if the fuel system would let it… and it did… or at least it tried. So, fingers crossed we can get the ECU happy enough to grace us with working injectors by finding a different key-power source that won’t have any weirdness associated with them.
The only pic I would’ve posted for today would be me giving the Jeep ‘The Finger’ on many occasions, which we didn’t get any (probably for the better).
