Varg In Jeep's Clothing

[ITLKSEZ]

Aaaaaand she’s torn apart again.

I’ve been going nuts trying to locate the final oil leak. I thought I finally pinpointed it coming from the distributor on the back of the head. To get to that, I had to pull everything out from under the dash again; the new intake tube, airbox and plumbing, and the dog house over the distributor. I pulled the distributor, and it was dry around the bore. The O-ring was doing its job.

There was oil above the distributor which meant I still had a leak coming from the valve cover. I got it separated and found a 1/4” spot over the rear cam hump that had no contact.I should manage to get it resealed and reassembled tomorrow.

Some really good news… I had to take the charge pipe off to get the valve cover off, so it gave me a chance to look inside the turbo after 20-something heat cycles and a few good beatings. I pulled this unit out of a junkyard 10-ish years ago, and I’ve been nervous about its condition since.

Turbo and charge pipe dry inside, with only this tiny ring of oil on the edge of the outlet bore. Score!

 

[ITLKSEZ]

Well, THAT oil leak was cured. It got a healthy dose of right stuff that showed a consistent squeeze-out around the valve cover.

I still have a few tiny ones that I just can’t pinpoint. The problem with running full synthetic oil is that is spreads on surfaces like a virus and stays wet seemingly forever. Everything looks damp, and little stalactites of oil form on every low-hanging point but rarely drip. I might have to wait till there’s a coating of dust on it and look for the clean spots.

For all intents and purposes, I’m calling this turbo swap DONE. It’s given me no reason not to trust it so far, and it’s running the same/as good as it was before the swap, just with more power. Oil pressure even reads in the same range as before. Engine temps have actually been reading cooler, but we have yet to see how it does when ambient temps climb.

Next up is the rebuild of the other steering knuckle. I’ve been procrastinating because it’s a suck job. But I’d rather electively do it here than at a camp site out of necessity.

 

[ITLKSEZ]

One last detail I was putting off was the shroud that bolts to the back of the grill. It needed to be trimmed to accept the oil cooler. You can see the sharpie lines…

I considered leaving it out, but the horns and a relay mount to that piece, and there’s no room for them without it.

Another small detail that has been bugging me; the new fan clutch I purchased last summer was identical in every way EXCEPT that it was spaced away from the engine and toward the radiator by 1/4” more. The fan has never touched the radiator, but it was super close.

I removed the top brace and cut 1/4” out of the center. (The hole in the center was square before.)

There’s a good 3/8” gap now. Much better.

That’s as far as I could move it and still have an acceptable gap at the notch in the cage.

I’m excited for nicer weather so I can get out and enjoy this thing.

 

[ITLKSEZ]

I’ve been having an issue where if this thing sits for a week or more, it won’t start; it just clicks. Voltage isn’t really low enough to not start, so I think I have a combination of a tiny draw and a bad connection somewhere. I added another ground strap that was still on order when I finished this up, we’ll see if that helps.

In the meantime, I ordered a jumpstart booster pack (and protective case) to throw in the tool kit. It’s just a hair wider/longer than a dollar bill. I’ve wanted one for a while anyway. It also doubles as a flashlight and device charger. Great peace of mind for $80.

Before the turbo, my maximum velocity through the air around me was a constant that was limited by the power of the NA engine. The speed was around 75 max. With a 15mph headwind, I could do 60. 15mph tailwind? 90! My hood would dance around, but I never gave much thought to the hood latches, and what danger they posed if they decided to let loose.

After the turbo, doing 90 into a strong headwind had me questioning them, and my safety. The hood would bow up like a rainbow and the latches were clinging to life. So I grabbed another footman loop and put it in the front edge of the hood for a center tie-down. Much better!!! Hood stays still at any speed I can throw at it. I’ll get a smaller clasp at some point; this is the only one I had on hand.

I took her out for a trial off-road run yesterday to see how the new setup feels in her element. I went up to the CDA National Forest out of Fernan. This climb used to kick my butt. The 2nd/3rd dance for 8 miles straight up to 4100’, all paved and twisty.

It’s a whole different experience now. 3rd gear all the way without effort, often even grabbing 4th on the straights.

I went up to check snow levels. They’re surprisingly low for how worthless our winter was. I was still on pavement when I started hitting patches.

The dirt sections were a dream. One long uphill section where I had about 1/4 mile of visibility, I really opened her up and hit 70 before I had to back off for a turn. Awesome!!

On my way out, I pulled off at the saddle to warm my hands and unlock my hubs. Some dirt bikes popped out of one of the trails. One of the guys in the party blasted up one of the hillclimbs out of the lot. A forest service ranger came flying from across the lot with her lights on, and came out screaming. She was being stern, but educational, explaining the laws without being mean or throwing fines at them. Then two more guys came out of the same trail and blasted up the same hill right in front of her, and she blew her top!

I caught a pic of the two guys doing the walk of shame over to her.

 

[cj2atruck]

I recently had the same issue with leaking voltage that killed my brand new yellow top battery in a couple of days. To diagnose, I closed the shop door of the shop and shut off all of the lights so it was dark, and then removed the positive battery clamp from the battery post. I could see a little spark when I touched the battery clamp to the post, so I knew there was leaking voltage. So, I started removing fuses from the first fuse box one at a time, but the little spark was still visible, which meant none of the circuits in that fuse box was the problem. Before I moved to the fuse box inside the jeep, I pulled the wire from the alternator plug (post 1 if I remember correctly) that goes to the positive post on the back of the alternator and the spark went away. I tested a few more times to confirm, and a new alternator solved the problem.

If the spark went away when I pulled one of the fuses, I would have followed that circuit to find the offending component.

 

[47v6]

I recently had the same issue with leaking voltage that killed my brand new yellow top battery in a couple of days. To diagnose, I closed the shop door of the shop and shut off all of the lights so it was dark, and then removed the positive battery clamp from the battery post. I could see a little spark when I touched the battery clamp to the post, so I knew there was leaking voltage. So, I started removing fuses from the first fuse box one at a time, but the little spark was still visible, which meant none of the circuits in that fuse box was the problem. Before I moved to the fuse box inside the jeep, I pulled the wire from the alternator plug (post 1 if I remember correctly) that goes to the positive post on the back of the alternator and the spark went away. I tested a few more times to confirm, and a new alternator solved the problem.

If the spark went away when I pulled one of the fuses, I would have followed that circuit to find the offending component.

I have had multiple batteries fail. One in my jeep, 3 on dirt bikes and several on devices I repair. All tested good for voltage, but under load the voltage drop was significant to create problems. For the electronics, it presented as intermittent strange faults. These were across different brands and times, but all within the last year.

 

[colojeepguy]

A forest service ranger came flying from across the lot with her lights on, and came out screaming. She was being stern, but educational, explaining the laws without being mean or throwing fines at them. Then two more guys came out of the same trail and blasted up the same hill right in front of her, and she blew her top!

Good for her! I wish there was more enforcement like that.

 

[3b a runnin]

I have had multiple batteries fail. One in my jeep, 3 on dirt bikes and several on devices I repair. All tested good for voltage, but under load the voltage drop was significant to create problems. For the electronics, it presented as intermittent strange faults. These were across different brands and times, but all within the last year.

Sad that quality has gone that low!

 

[cj2atruck]

Sad that quality has gone that low!

I’ve had good luck with Yellow tops as long as they are not allowed to go dead for long periods of time, so I use a battery tender on rigs that are not driven in the winter to save the batteries. I just switched to a yellow top in the 47 since it’s going to see a lot more use after the suspension upgrades.