Crawlin'

So today I drove the jeep out to chimney rock out on Reddington pass. The drive up improved drastically after I dropped 15 psi out of my tires (from my initial trip of 35psi). I ran 20 psi the whole time. There was very little vibration in the jeep and I felt a little more confident in its operation. I also installed the second seat and brought the girlfriend along for the ride. I packed like 4 coats, 2 pair gloves, and three sock caps anticipating the cold drive back. I brought chips and salsa and my buddy brought a grill and some sweet potatoes and steaks.

I was wondering how people will get into the jeep once I put the rear seat in it, I guess they will have to just climb in through the back. The rear bumper makes for a nice step.

I then tried my luck at crawling around on some of the great surfaces out there for driving.

I love this picture.

My friend Bailey, who takes great pictures: http://www.photocross.us

My lovely passenger who was a trooper during the cold, dusty, violent ride.

Trying to get a feel for what this thing will actually go up.

Current Status and To Do

Here is the present state of the jeep in pictoral form:
A little quality control in your wiring goes a long way. There is pretty minimal quality control, so a fire extinguisher picks up the slack.

To keep the speedometer from rubbing against the body, a 3/8" piece of fuel line was put around the speedometer cable.
I also installed the horn. It is loud and rad. I was also electrocuted when I was cleaning the horn contacts (I knew with total certainty that I was going to get shocked too).







The wiring in the engine used to be crazy.
Then I put it all into harnesses and was able to clean it up.
I also put this loom in silicone because it touches the valve cover.

Emissions Impossible

bum bum, bum bum bum-bum, bum bum bum bum
badda bummmm
badda bummmm
badum!

Yesterday I took the jeep through emissions. I was about to leave from my house when a lady came up from behind my while I was buckling in and was like "Hello, my son is in the coast guard and he left his truck here for me, he told me the trick to start it, but i forgot." I then walked with her over to the vehicle. I had seen that truck before, it was a Toyota Hilux. I peeked under the hood, noticed the battery didn't have the negative cable hooked up so I pressed it on and told her to start it. It fired up and then she thanked me. I told her she was lucky to have found just the right person for the job.

I then drove down there in a sweater and it was crazy cold. I was thinking about stopping at Ross and buying some gloves, but I decided to man up just one notch. I made it there without incident and sat in line. Finally it was my turn, they had me shut off the engine. The guy asked me if I put in a ford V8 or a Chevy 350. He asked me where I got my bedliner done. I told him I did it in my garage. He called his coworkers over and eventually I had about 6 of the emissions guys around the jeep inspecting the paint, bedliner, tires, suspension, etc. They inspected under the hood and checked out the motor (Did I mention I was taking a tailpipe test during all of this?) and then had me drive into the dyno thing or whatever. Then they had the jeep idle for like 10 seconds and it just plain passed. After the tailpipe test, they had me rev up the engine for kicks. Good Times.

Gas cap? Check. Tailpipe? Check. PASS! Very exciting.

Another note: They did not compare the VIN on my temporary registration to the VIN on the body plate in the engine compartment. Nor did they even look at the body-mounted VIN.

Chimney Rock

Today I took the jeep on a very intense mission. I do not know if it was really ready for today, but I figured to go ahead and go for it. I woke up around 9:00 drove to my shop, installed the roll cage and seat belt, secured a couple miscellaneous things and headed off. On my way I bought some extra oil, antifreeze, and power steering fluid. I added 12 gallons of gas and hit the trail.

I was driving up to chimney rock to meet up with a friend. I think my tires were too stiff or something because on the way up I was being vibrated like crazy from the bumps. I lost pretty much every nut that fastened the body and roll cage to the frame (lock washers did not help). I will probably use a nylon lock nut on all those fasteners from now on. I curse that road. It was making me so pissed I had to pull over and take a break. Also my windshield was flopping back and forth smashing into the front of the roll cage which was getting me more upset than anything else. I think once I get all the vibration stuff taken care of and the right tire pressure things will be a bit nicer.

On climbs I definitely preferred 4 LOW since I had to carry too much speed in 4 HIGH, as a result I would get slammed around.

This is all I had for a map, picture on my camera.


This is me about a mile in trying to figure out what the deal is with the road!


Here I am at the destination, decided to crawl up a boulder a bit.

That is the famous chimney rock.

Me, totally dusty, my mouth is still gritty.

I should've kept driving up the rock, but I wasn't too excited about my emergency brake.




All and all it was a good learning experience insofar as to what the major issues are that need to be addressed before the jeep is passenger safe.

I probably won't be doing this again until I work out the major issues with the vibration.

Pipe Dream