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IOwnCalculus posted:Closer to 50, so, yeah. I've been in proper snow / temperatures well below freezing maybe twice in my life. Give me 110 any day.  I mean... I grew up in the desert too (El Paso - so not quite as hot as where you're at, but still desert), but if Any idea what was in that Sonoma aside from a 5.3?
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Jan 23, 2017 09:35
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I think he said it had a TH350 behind it. An uncorked 5.3, especially if it's had even the lightest of bolton mods done, really isn't down very far on power compared to a bone stock LS1. He was certainly running quite a bit lighter than I was. The bigger problem is the wind, really. I just don't own anything that can deal with cold wind, and it was a bit of an issue again at the trail.
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Jan 23, 2017 17:34
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8x sped up dashcam footage of the trail. This is normally drat near bone dry, but all the rain washed out quite a bit of it. Literally driving in a river around 3m40s. Obstacle where I needed a tug at the end starts about 13m. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG_1CgdNChQ
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Jan 25, 2017 21:33
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Lots of jeeps up there. Not sure I'd have gone into that box canyon with those dark clouds in the sky! Do those guys give you crap for going on that sort of run with what looks like a bone stock Cherokee?
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Jan 25, 2017 23:16
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Yeah, I think the final count was 28 Jeeps. Vast majority being JK and TJ Wranglers, a few YJ Wranglers and XJ Cherokees, and at least one nearly-bone-stock CJ-7 with a rod knock and a novice driver. One other WJ, but it's the one leading the group on one-ton axles and is overall ridiculously built to match. The forecast had pretty well dried up by the time we got there. The only time the clouds were truly dark (the camera makes them look a bit worse) was when we were at the waterfall but they weren't really dumping anything either - and by that point we were high enough up in the basin that it wouldn't have been an issue for anything but traction on the rock. There's certainly ribbing, but it's all in good fun. A few times I was referred to as the "canary in a coal mine" but really it just means I have to pick the most conservative line possible everywhere. One of the Wranglers behind me actually needed a pull off of something I drove over no problem. If I had just a fraction of an inch more clearance, or dry rock to work on, I probably could've gone up the waterfall without a pull. I was spinning all four tires as it was. Running further left might've gotten me more grip, but also might've smashed up the whole side of the Jeep. I'm actually due for new tires on it in the near future. They'll be down to 4/32 soon and I can go bigger than I have on it. I bought those tires at stock height and have a 2" lift now. I am contemplating going with the Zone 4" lift and going all out.
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Jan 26, 2017 01:23
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The vast majority of the places most 'off roaders' go is easily (if carefully) done by pretty tame vehicles, but it's always funny to see something that doesn't look like it should be there way up some jeep trail. My brother has a Rubicon (don't remember what year, but it's one of the early ones, no idea what letter combination that makes it) that he built into a crazy rock-crawler rig that's kind of scary to drive on the freeway now, but it sure can make it over some crazy terrain. I went with him one time up some trail up north of Lake Pleasant and we ran into some dudes that had set up a little shooting range out of the back of a Volvo wagon way the hell up the trail. We hadn't gone over anything really crazy terrain wise, but there were certainly some very unpleasant (rocky) spots and some fairly serious wash-out spots and it was way past the point that I'd want to take my car, although mostly because of my tires. I've also seen VW bugs way out in the back country beyond where most people think they could get.
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Jan 26, 2017 04:18
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The Shasta bus guys (14 is one of them) prove that tame vehicles can go pretty crazy places if you don't care about body damage.
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Jan 26, 2017 05:49
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The Locator posted:The vast majority of the places most 'off roaders' go is easily (if carefully) done by pretty tame vehicles, but it's always funny to see something that doesn't look like it should be there way up some jeep trail. "Most off-roaders", yes. This group, no, this is one of the mildest runs they do all year. Some of the runs they do, on the other hand:  There are a shitload of trails up by Lake Pleasant / Table Mesa, some of which are rough enough that even the BLM labels a few of them as "Technical Vehicle" trails. Living out my Oregon Trail fantasies here, and nobody got dysentery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIp_6ODGE5w
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Jan 27, 2017 00:34
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What group were you with out of curiosity? My brother used to go out all the time with a couple local groups, but he's sort of gone more into solo exploring now rather than the difficult trail runs/crawls. I think he takes the Razr out more than the Jeep these days.IOwnCalculus posted:There are a shitload of trails up by Lake Pleasant / Table Mesa, some of which are rough enough that even the BLM labels a few of them as "Technical Vehicle" trails. I went up a trail called "The Terminator" with him once. That was.. interesting. I guess it's not the toughest one, but I would have had to seriously think about it before I tried to go up that path without a vehicle at all, let alone try to drive it. Rock crawling is interesting, but at least as a passenger, it's not really terribly enjoyable to me. Might be different if I was driving though, who knows.
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Jan 27, 2017 06:05
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I go on runs with AZ VJC typically, but these days it's that and a mix of Facebook groups. Terminator is actually two trails, and yeah they're pretty damned technical. I'm a long way off from attempting any of those, if ever with the WJ.
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Jan 27, 2017 21:36
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Spark plugs have been pretty much the one maintenance item I haven't done yet, since the PO had a shop do them maybe six months before I bought it (with a receipt for proof) and the factory interval is 30k miles. Finally racked up enough driving to put them due. Overall not too bad a job. The driver's side is easy access on all but the rearmost, and even that one isn't too bad:  Passenger side considerably less easy. The cylinders on the passenger side are offset to the rear of the driver's side. You've also got a shitload of large wiring harnesses, the rigid plastic PCV line, two dipsticks, throttle linkages, heater hoses, and A/C lines all trying to ruin your day. The front two passenger plugs are easy enough, third one back is about as bad as the driver's rear, and the rearmost one is the hardest of all.  Still wasn't too bad, though. The plugs are all at the top of the engine (I'm used to pushrod engines shoving the plug down by the exhaust port) and with a good set of wobble extensions you can knock the whole thing out with a minimum amount of blood drawn. The PO's last shop is apparently a big fan of copper antiseize, given that it was on all the threads and goobered all over the ceramics as well. On top of that, while they upgraded from the OE Champion single-platinum plugs for the HO (Champion 3340 / RC7PYCB4), they used the double-platinum part for the non-HO V8 (Champion 7318 / RC12PMPB4). Five heat ranges hotter than stock  The center electrode is pretty heavily eaten on all of them:  With the easiest one oddly being the one in worst shape: 
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Feb 12, 2017 20:27
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I have finally found a job on the CR-V that is a full on pain in the dick to do - probably because you're never meant to do it other than repairing crash damage. The upper piece of chrome on the grille broke off. Just cracked every single mount. No crash damage, nothing, no idea why.  The other three pieces are still quite firmly in place.  No photos of the during but imagine reaching your arms in through all sorts of fun angles while swearing at plastic clips that you can barely even see, let alone manipulate. I finally managed to get the center section of the grille out far enough to access the Phillips screws that hold the trim on. Replacement piece was $22 plus shipping from Rockauto. It needed some finagling, though. There was one locating tab that was in the wrong place. Every other tab, whether for location, snap-in attachment, or screw attachment, was dead on, but this one tab was about two inches to the left of the slot it was supposed to go in. Just sliced it off with some diagonal snips and: 
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Feb 14, 2017 00:40
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Sup fellow mommy-mobile haver. Just fyi if you don't already know, the dealer will perform the (60k I think?) trans service for like 50 bucks with fluid. Kind of ridiculous when they attempt to charge $150 for the engine and cabin air filters (oem are like $15 on Amazon), but hey I'll take it. Ours has also been a reliable driving appliance.
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Feb 14, 2017 02:04
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5 heat ranges?  How bad was that thing pinging?
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Feb 14, 2017 02:08
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angryrobots posted:Sup fellow mommy-mobile haver. Yeah, I've done the ATF twice now. $50 sounds about right since you can do it without even jacking the thing up. I also want whatever engineer at Honda figured out how to make that thing drain exactly three quarts to be hired everywhere. Sooo much nicer to just dump it and dump three quarts in, instead of playing guess and check with 6-8 quarts like the Jeep and the C10. The only other thing I need to sort on it is the rear hatch switch. When it's cold and/or wet out, you have to hold it for 20 seconds to get it to trigger the hatch release. Already got a part, just haven't had time to sort it out. I think I'll end up just shy of 100k when it turns three years old. Yu-Gi-Ho! posted:5 heat ranges? Amazingly, none that I ever noticed. Wouldn't be surprised if the computer was pulling timing everywhere, but I never had any comparison data. I also can't figure out why they specced such a hot plug for the regular 4.7.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:09
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angryrobots posted:Kind of ridiculous when they attempt to charge $150 for the engine and cabin air filters (oem are like $15 on Amazon), but hey I'll take it. Since we're talking about #dadcars I'll be the strong one and admit I paid Honda to do the filters on my CRV after I couldn't get the engine filter cover to snap back in after messing with it for an hour. It. just. woudn't. click. It's me. I'm the one who likes AI but is bad at cars.
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Feb 14, 2017 15:06
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To be fair, Honda air filter housings have always been a pain in the dick.
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Feb 14, 2017 16:12
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IOwnCalculus posted:I also can't figure out why they specced such a hot plug for the regular 4.7. Do you not have an HO?
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Feb 16, 2017 10:00
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gileadexile posted:Do you not have an HO? I do have an HO, the PO's shop put in the regular-4.7 plug. Other than "because Chrysler", I can't figure out why they'd have plugs with heat ranges that far apart for what is largely the same engine. The HO has better flowing heads, a better flowing intake, slightly better cams, and makes all of 30hp more.
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Feb 16, 2017 22:14
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gileadexile posted:Do you not have an HO? That's rude asking about IOC's private life like that
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Feb 16, 2017 22:31
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You Am I posted:That's rude asking about IOC's private life like that I laughed. Drove the truck to work for the first time in probably 11 years today. 
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Feb 24, 2017 17:23
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Congrats! How'd she drive?
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Feb 25, 2017 05:34
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Same as it did for the Roadkill event - just fine  Stop-and-go traffic isn't so bad since I can just throw it in L1 and pretty much one-pedal drive it. With bonus exhaust pops / burbles / afterfires.
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Feb 25, 2017 06:00
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I've been following the Dorman LS2 intake manifold closely. It's finally been released (615-901) and is only about $350 from Rockauto. It's basically their version of an older FAST design but at a third of the price. The really interesting thing is they supposedly designed it to natively fit the LS1 injectors and fuel rail, with spacers included to fit the shorter LS2 injectors and rail it is meant for. If that's true, that's awesome as hell on Dorman's part. The Trailblazer SS LS2 intake is also supposedly quite good, and can be found very inexpensively, but it has no provision for a throttle cable bracket.
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Feb 26, 2017 08:17
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IOwnCalculus posted:I've been following the Dorman LS2 intake manifold closely. It's finally been released (615-901) and is only about $350 from Rockauto. It's basically their version of an older FAST design but at a third of the price. TBSS intake is also pretty big, right? I think that's what they started using on all truck motors once they moved away from the original mega ugly truck manifold. TBSS is the best flowing stock manifold, isn't it? Be interesting to see how this weird frankenstein LS2 manifold stacks up against it. Has anyone done a side-by-side test with it yet?
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Feb 26, 2017 12:08
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The TBSS intake is tall as hell, yes. However I doubt I would run into any vertical clearance issues. The top of the LS as it sits is still well below the height of the old SBC with a Quadrajet and a giant round air filter on top. Edit: just checked ls1tech again. Holy poo poo, Dorman really did design this thing to fit LS1s first. LS1 rails and injectors bolt in, and they include adapters for the LS2 parts. There's a guy literally putting up a series of posts right now with flow numbers comparing it to the original Corvette LS1, the TBSS, and the FAST 102 LSXT which is hilariously tall (and expensive). 
IOwnCalculus fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Feb 27, 2017 |
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Feb 27, 2017 00:07
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IOwnCalculus posted:The TBSS intake is tall as hell, yes. However I doubt I would run into any vertical clearance issues. The top of the LS as it sits is still well below the height of the old SBC with a Quadrajet and a giant round air filter on top. I just checked, and yeah that's pretty impressive. Looks like it's better than the LS1 everywhere (no surprise), better than the TBSS at low lift, but a bit shy of the TBSS at high lift. So I guess it depends on your cam. Kind of counter-intuitive that a high lift cam would pair better with a truck manifold than with the LS2 manifold, but that's the way it is. I'm impressed by the work Dorman did to get it to be a straight-across swap with LS1, LS6, etc
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Feb 27, 2017 01:00
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I've heard reports that those manifolds split at the seams easily under boost but they should be fine NA of course.
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Feb 27, 2017 07:35
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There's a zero percent chance I ever run a standard plastic intake under boost on this engine. I don't have enough room around the accessory drive to cram a centrifugal supercharger or a front mount turbo without losing air conditioning. The only way I'd supercharge this would be a takeoff LSA blower, probably with adapter plates for the cathedral port heads. Far from ideal, and unlikely to happen as well. I'd rather run it NA with a big cam to get more power.
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Feb 27, 2017 15:21
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Speaking of LSx valvetrains... out of nowhere I had a memory come back about how LSx engines, especially early ones like mine, would sometimes have issues with puking needle bearings out of the rocker arm trunnions. Best case scenario you find needles in your oil, worst case they don't get all the way to the pan. Comp Cams has a kit with caged needle bearings, and while the overall feedback on them is positive, there's still a significant number of users who seem to have either oiling problems or wear issues with the Comp trunnions. So now I'm looking at these:  Reasonably cheap and I've seen zero reviews of these (or similar kits) where anyone has had any problems with them so far. Any thoughts from the more ME-minded folk in the crowd?
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Mar 1, 2017 08:34
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Oil change day on the WJ. First time actually pulling the front diff cover back off after putting a Lubelocker on it - completely worth it. Pops right off with a minimum of prying, goes right back on. Ended up replacing the oil pressure switch while I was at it. I bought one a couple years ago because I thought it was leaking, but it seemed to slow down. There was a fresh drip hanging on the oil filter today. Unplugged the switch, connector was full of oil. Didn't do the rear diff yet, since I'm waiting for the newly released D44a Lubelocker.
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Mar 5, 2017 00:23
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IOwnCalculus posted:Speaking of LSx valvetrains... out of nowhere I had a memory come back about how LSx engines, especially early ones like mine, would sometimes have issues with puking needle bearings out of the rocker arm trunnions. Best case scenario you find needles in your oil, worst case they don't get all the way to the pan. Nothing wrong with a good oil soaked bronze bushing. If you want reliability and not every last HP wrung out of it, then that sounds like a pretty good way to go.
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Mar 6, 2017 07:06
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Yeah, I'm going to go with that bushing kit, whenever funds get freed up. Unfortunately, I might have more maintenance content here since I'm pretty sure I blew a headgasket in the WJ. At the very least *something* is wrong because there's no reason any vehicle should be pushing coolant out of the overflow, while driving down a 20 mile downhill grade at highway speed with no throttle, and 60 degree ambient temperatures. But at least I had some fun to blow that gasket with! Went to Cinder Hills OHV near Flagstaff. Some drone footage the wife took: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue0i-cE1kI8 Some photos I took. First one was after the first big climb, and this was right after it got the warmest it ran all day.  Pano from that same spot:   This hill defeated me. I got up most of the way, to where the wall changes color from black to brown. The volcanic rock has been all kicked up out of there so it turns to sand, and my now-mostly-worn Pathfinder S ATs just couldn't grab enough to go anywhere. Looking at my own tracks in the rock versus everyone else's, these tires just aren't aggressive enough. Or big enough.  Photos other people took. Lining up on that same hill:  One of these things is not like the others!  I got up higher on the banking in this corner than I planned on, and honestly thought I was going to lay it down on the driver's side.  Made it up this onewith just a bit of wheel hop.   
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Mar 20, 2017 21:08
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IOwnCalculus posted:Oil change day on the WJ. First time actually pulling the front diff cover back off after putting a Lubelocker on it - completely worth it. Pops right off with a minimum of prying, goes right back on. Out of curiosity, did you notice any water in the diff oil? I forded a creek in the Sierras four or five times last year... it wasn't all that deep (12" or less), they were very short crossings and I have extended diff breathers but it's one of those nagging thoughts I remember every so often. Cool photos! Is that banked berm/pit road just a circle you can drive around in really fast? Because that's where my brain went and the image is cracking me up.
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Mar 21, 2017 01:00
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I didn't notice any water in either axle, no. I think the breathers are doing their job. And yes, that is exactly what that banked photo is in  
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Mar 21, 2017 02:44
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Pressure test on the cooling system: Inconclusive. Holds to ~15PSI, which is the most I can get into it with the HF tool set. Ran a cheap-rear end borescope into each cylinder and none of them seem particularly clean (or wet). Ordered a leakdown tester since Amazon will have it to me tomorrow for literally half the price that OReilly can get it to me today.
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Mar 25, 2017 23:50
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Leakdown test: Also inconclusive, no bubbles in the radiator. But also no leaks past any valves so it's safe to say I didn't drop a valve seat. Going to rent the exhaust gas tester and try that next. If that doesn't show anything conclusive? Guess I'll bleed it and drive it until it acts up again.
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Mar 30, 2017 04:01
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Passed the block test. Whatever happened, is not currently happening, and I'm not going to rip the engine down to the short block without conclusive evidence something is actually wrong.
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Apr 2, 2017 19:51
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Well, I have no idea why this thing puked coolant on the way home, but right now it's running just like it should. Gonna drive it until it fucks up again, which I guess is just normal Jeep ownership. Also, having driven the C10 so much lately, it's reset my butt dyno. Runs the same as before but now it doesn't feel nearly as quick.
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Apr 10, 2017 03:09
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Yesssss neeed moooore pooooooowerrrrrrrrr......
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Apr 10, 2017 06:42
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