Up and Operational

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:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yy4FTcxnBsg

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.


What was that?! Sounds like a Jeep with a V8!

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:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/c0txExR1bFw


Mixed Bag of a Day

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.


What the Hell, Already.

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.


It’s Alive… sorta

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).


First Things First…

OK, so Dave showed up yesterday and the first order of business was to remove my custom stinger bumper and the 8274 (man, that sucker was heavy). Installation of the Fishbone Piranha front bumper went well, but we wound up a few fasteners short, and needed something a little longer, anyway. After a trip to Westlake ACE Hardware and some jooking about with the bumper and my old diamond plate front frame cover (that Dave had since painted black), we’re done! Honestly, I like the cover painted black better than bright. SCORE!!

Here’s a shot from Dave’s phone I forgot I had.
Here’s another random shot Dave took of the engine, proclaiming that we would be hearing it running soon.

Did a few more random things, but didn’t get pics.


It’s Alive! Kinda…

Getting Closer…Put the battery in, tossed the steering column in just so I could plug in the ignition switch and column plugs, and started testing for key-power hot leads for the ECU ‘Ignition’ lead, and frame-mounted ‘lift’ fuel pump. Decided to see if the halos are as cool as I hoped they’d be, and I’m not disappointed! Time to check the wiring diagrams to see if the ‘key-On hot’ leads I found are viable candidates.

LOVING these halos. I wasn’t even thinking along those lines until I saw a G-Wagen cruising with halo DRLs, and decided I gotta have ’em.
Nice and bright – should be cool when I actually get to start driving it.

Tax Day? Didn’t notice… ain’t skeered.

Got some more wiring done today. Dave turned me on to some cool distribution blocks, so I mounted them last week, and today I was cleaning up the routing of a few wires, and made the battery cables (using the power blocks). Also, got the battery, starter, and ground cables clipped and tipped so they won’t be all over the place and installed. Just a few more wires, toss in the steering column, top off fluids, check everything one last time, and it’ll be time to turn the key to see if this will actually run or not.

Here’s how the starting circuit and engine ground came out. Everything’s a lot further from the headers then it looks. Besides, they’re ceramic-coated and won’t run nearly as hot as the standard painted units.
Here are the cool power & ground distribution blocks Dave found for me. When the battery’s in-place, it look a bit cleaner than that.

Ides of March +10

Got a few things done today. Pulled the old valve covers, and while I had ’em off, test-fitted the Scorpion 1.7 roller rockers and the fit – WINNER! Re-routed the main and fuel injection harnesses on the firewall to clean up the mess a little. Then boxed up the old valve covers, motor mounts, the old Duraspark distributor, and a few other things to send to Dave.

So, unlike the stock-style ‘saddle-mount’ Scorpions (that need longer push-rods), these 1.7 stud-mount units will work with the stock push-rods. BUT – I put the stockers back on, since setting the lash on these will take a good chunk of time (rotate the engine, adjust a few of them, rotate the engine some more, adjust some others… lather, rinse, repeat) and I want to hear this thing run sooner than later.
Popped the new valve covers on, so I can send the old ones to Dave. Looks a bunch better (still gotta get those hoses under control).
Gettin’ there. Got the main and fuel injection harnesses cleaned up and re-routed a bit. Next time, it’ll be all about battery cables, power & ground distribution blocks, and finishing up the engine wiring.
And here’s the other side – gotta clean up that mess on the firewall. Then install the power brake booster, lines, & billet master cylinder along with the steering column, and reconnect the wiring for the grille.

How do you eat an Elephant?

One bite at a time. Got the fuel injection harness sheathed, routed, and plugged-in (except for the fuel pump and main power). Still need to mount-up and wire a couple of fuse blocks for the new accessories near the ECU (one always hot and one on keyed power), but that’s for another day.

Fuel injection ECU is plugged-in. The stray wires and old split-loom conduit is from the old wiring that I still need to clean up.
Ran the fuel injection harness across the firewall and plugged-in the injector circuit, sensor circuit, O2 sensor circuit, and tossed the fuel pump & main power circuits over the battery tray to finish up next weekend. Getting closer.

I’m hoping that stray red wire in the top pic (connected to the Duraspark plug) is a keyed power lead – if so, I’ll run it to a fuse block for keyed power accessories (and the bundled-up ‘Ignition’ wire for the ECU). I believe it’s “13F,” with the light blue being “14” on the main harness – so both should be keyed power, if I’m right.