I worked on the Jeep a bit this weekend. I've had a few things in boxes sitting in the spare room for the past month driving the wife crazy. :lol: She was very excited that she was getting her room back. First up was the
Ace rock sliders.
Install on these was super easy and took less than an hour. Removed two body bolts on each side, ground down the washer an 1/8" on two sides so they'd fit in the slider box and bolted up. The passenger side was a bit of a pain to tighten down. I torqued it to 80 and it would rattle a bit when I kicked it from the bottom. I drove around the block came back and re-torqued it and all seems well. I also re-torqued the next day just for good measure.
Next up was the Borla cat-back system.
This was not so easy. I read up on the install, about how easy it would be especially if you order one of the
exhaust hanger remove tools. So I crawl underneath and start to loosen the two pipe clamps holding everything together. Rearmost one was no problem but the forward one had the bolt on the very top of the pipe right near the body so I could only get a wrench on it but could get no leverage at all. After about 15 minutes of trying every angle I could, it finally started moving...slowly. About a quarter of a turn is all I could move it before I had to reposition the wrench. The video showing how that hanger tool works so easily is a bit misleading in my opinion. I could get one off but the others wouldn't budge. Again very little room to position the tool. PITA! So I tighten the clamps up, drive it to the shop at the end of the street and they bolt it up for me. $100 but so worth it. :roll:
Next was the intake. I know there is a very large debate on whether these type of intakes actually do anything or not and I'm not so sure either but I thought I'd give it a shot.
Very easy install. Basically remove old and install new. This really couldn't be much simpler.
PIAA lights.
I did mount the brackets and lights but I've not wired these yet as I ran into a couple of bumps. I got some foam with sticky backing on one side and cut in the shape of the mounting bracket to place between the body and bracket to prevent any scratches. The kit came with a complete set of wiring that should be pretty easy. For someone that knows what they're doing that is. :redface: First problem was mounting the interior switch. The kit comes with a switch that you mount to the dash with double sided tape but I didn't want use that. I've got a simple round rocker switch that requires a 20mm hole but I didn't have anything to make a 20mm hole. Poor planning on my part. But the biggest problem I saw was getting the wires through the firewall. On the TJ there was an obvious place where some wires were already run and I pushed other wires through. On the JK, I could find nothing. Nothing. Do I have to drill a hole? I hope not. Thirdly, the switched wire, I'm not sure where to tap into. The wiring on this thing is so bundled up and hidden, it's going to be a pain to find one to tap into.
After that I switched to something easy. The tube doors from Rugged Ridge.
These were just as simple as unboxing, placing on the hinges, mounting the door lock mechanism and mounting the mirror. These doors are very solid and just the right height for resting my arms.
So a successful weekend. Mostly. Not sure what I'm going to do about the lights but I'll research that some more online. The exhaust...I'm not sure of yet. I had the same cat-back on the TJ and it wasn't very loud at all. Just a bit louder than stock and I liked it. This one one the JK is a good deal louder. I'll try to get a sound clip up at some point but I guess I'll give it some time to see if it grows on me. I would have loved it in my 20's but in my 40's...not sure yet.
I've only driven it from the dealer back to work but first impression is I love it. It does feel bigger than the TJ. It was really strange driving the TJ there (you can see it in the background) and the JK back. Very different driving experience. I'm really excited to have a new Jeep but i'm afraid I am going to miss the TJ as well. I really did/do love the simplicity of that Jeep and the JK is a whole 'nother beast. I think I'll learn to love her as much as the old one. :lol: More pics to come as I add on "stuff". :shades:
