Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Roboto's Garage

[Mr. Roboto]

Greetings from Australia. I haven't posted on your thread until now but have read it from end to end. I like how you've made your drill press and band saw mobile. Tell me, are they stable when you move them around or a bit top heavy and you have to be careful?

Thanks for following along through all of this, and for chiming in! To be honest, I did not move them around a ton. But I just moved them carefully and didn’t feel unsafe at any time. The beauty of this wheel kit is that you can make the base any size, so you can easily oversize it if you’re concerned about tipping.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Got to have a little fun with the XJ today. My neighbor is in his 80s, and has quite the collection of cars. He has a large outbuilding that has 5 garge bays, each with a 4 post lift. He took his regular cab step side late 90s F-150 out today, for what he said was the first time in 3 years. He made it to in front of my house before it died on him, and would not start up again and stay running. Gas smelled awful, so I’m guessing that’s the culprit. Got the mighty XJ out and towed him back home! The dirt road in front of my Jeep leads back out to his garage.







In other news, I finally tried out the welder on a piece of scrap steel I had laying around. Made a hell of a mess, but I laid down a few beads at least. I have a lot to learn, clearly.




After using my drill press recently, I also got tired of the makeshift vise setup is been using for too long. I ordered a cheap Irwin 4” vise. It’s kind of junk, but should be fine for how infrequently I use the drill press.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Took some PTO with the family and we spent a long weekend in North Conway. It was much needed. Our first trip as a family of 4. The little one is already 8 months old! She did great.





When I got home, I found one of my irrigation zones stuck on. Who knows how long it was running . Further troubleshooting showed that one of the other zones was having issues turning on as well. Not something I’d notice since they run at 4:30am. Home Depot didn’t have a zone valve that would just swap in, so I had to get a little creative. All good now!



Also, I prepped my XJ doors to send off to the painter. Not much to look at, but hopefully they’ll be back soon a nice shiny fresh coat of black

 

[nicholam77]

Got the mighty XJ out and towed him back home! The dirt road in front of my Jeep leads back out to his garage.

Ha, fun! Jeep doin' Jeep things

Gotta say again, I love the way it looks.

Your trip looks fun. Traveling with a baby is tough (ask me how I know ), but it's so good to get out of your day-to-day environment and switch it up. I'm sure the kids enjoyed it, too.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Ha, fun! Jeep doin' Jeep things



Gotta say again, I love the way it looks.

Your trip looks fun. Traveling with a baby is tough (ask me how I know ), but it's so good to get out of your day-to-day environment and switch it up. I'm sure the kids enjoyed it, too.

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

And yes, traveling with the baby requires so much effort. But, it’s worth breaking up the day to day like you said. 2 nights at the in-laws lake house this weekend for the 4th required the roof box to come out. Barely fit in their little covered parking area where the boat usually lives in the off season. Per the sign, I did follow the rules, though. Time for happy hour!



Happy hour spilled right into Golden Hour!






And to keep this somewhat garage related, I finally picked up a new compressor last week. Settled on this 26 gallon “silent” oil free unit. An oilless compressor used to mean super loud an annoying, but that certainly isn’t the case anymore. This thing is very quiet. And oil free direct drive = low maintenance. Which I’m all about!



Just breaking it in, per the procedure in the manual here. Need to pull that face plate off so I can swap over my Milton high flow fittings still.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I had one more irrigation zone valve go out on me this weekend. That's 3 now, if you're keeping score.



I do believe I figured out the cause. A few months back, I had to have some plumbing redone coming out of my well tank. I mentioned to the plumber that my water pressure in the house was not great, so they increased my tank pressure. Water pressure has been much better in the house, but apparently this is now too high for the irrigation to handle. It makes sense, because sometimes I get an awful knocking when a zone will first come on. I added an in-line pressure regulator on the pex line going out to the irrigation. Hopefully this solves the issue. Eyes off my EZ Bake Oven back there!



I also swapped the fittings on the new compressor over to the milton high-flow fittings I use.



No issues, but I notice the pressure drop from static to working is pretty bad with this regulator. if I have it set to 90PSI, it drops down to 60PSI or so when I operate my impact gun. I am not sure if this is a function of the regulator, or the small diameter supply lines coming out of the tank. I can't change the regulator, because it is integrated into this manifold (crappy design). I did notice that there is a plug at the end of the manifold seen here. I may try and add my old regulator here to see if it improves things at all. I woud have to reduce the inlet down on the regulator to this smaller plug size, so it may or may not be worth it.

 

[Bob Heine]

@Mr. Roboto, if you still have your old compressor, the tank could make a good accumulator. I have a half-inch line coming off my tank and there's hardly any pressure drop from the air tools. Only exceptions are the blast cabinet and HVLP spray guns. Those like a LOT of air, regardless of pressure.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

@Mr. Roboto, if you still have your old compressor, the tank could make a good accumulator. I have a half-inch line coming off my tank and there's hardly any pressure drop from the air tools. Only exceptions are the blast cabinet and HVLP spray guns. Those like a LOT of air, regardless of pressure.

I don't have it anymore unfortunately. I sold the old setup to simplify things, so I don't want to get too carried away haha. But great idea!

I did get the compressor tied in to my old hose reel finally. Also, I built that storage cubby thing mounted to the wall above the compressor YEARS ago. It's been floating around my garage in various spots without a real home. I finally mounted it where you see, and started populating more of the storage cases I had on hand. Luckily, harbor freight still sells these bins. They actually have a version that is about 2x the depth of these as well now, so I may get some of those and adjust the shelf spacing to accommodate a few larger ones. I am decently happy with how this corner is getting organized finally. I really hate having this much "Stuff" out in the open on the floor, but there is not much I can do about it. I am considering getting rid of the tool cart, since I don't really use it as intended. I end up with tools all over the floor when I am working on a car because I am too lazy to drag that thing out haha.



I also brought the Jeep to an exhaust shop to have a proper system welded up to replace what I cobbled together with band clamps/muffler clamps. I also asked them to weld a flex pipe into my down pipe to take the stress off of the exhaust manifold, since they are prone to cracking.... and I just spent a long time replacing mine. A few quick pics I took.... I will get some better shots next time it's up on the lift. But, they did the flex pipe, Magnaflow high flow cat, Magnaflow muffler, new O2 sensors, and welded a new middle hanger since it was sitting too low before and bouncing off of the transmission crossmember. I think they did a great job for a fair price. This is the first thing I hired out on the Jeep!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Nothing too crazy to report over here. Got a text from the painter Friday that he finished painting the Jeep parts I gave him. Happy about that!






Also, I mentioned I was thinking about doing this, but I did end picking up some of the deeper storage containers and reconfigured the cabinet I built to accept them. Got some more thin ones to fill it up as well.



I also decided to sell my tool cart, and purchased a mobile work table to replace it.

 

[slik560]

Really like that table. That could solve several issues for me. I can't quite make out the info on the sticker as to who makes it, though. [hint ]

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Really like that table. That could solve several issues for me. I can't quite make out the info on the sticker as to who makes it, though. [hint ]

Hahaha. It's an Omega Lift 97531

 

[Mr. Roboto]

So that Omega lift I posted about last has been working out great. I just made one change to it. The compartments came with a foam liner, but I cut some rubber out of an extra mat I had laying around, which makes things much easier to clean up.



Here it is today in use doing an oil change on my car:



Did a few little organizational improvements too. I bought this cool little zip tie holder. It can screw to a wall/bench but it's also magnetic. I added the size labels to the bottom. Gotta buy some more zip ties to fill those empty slots now!




I also built a holder for my grease gun out of some wood and PVC, which I mounted to the wall. Helps to keep the perpetual leak they all seem to have under control. The bottom unscrews to clean out the mess.




I also could not bare to look at the mess that has become my wife's car any longer. She is many things, but a clean car person she is not. Spent almost 2 hours detailing the inside today after my oil change.




By intention, I have not really done a single project this summer. Anything major I just hired out (the Jeep exhaust and paint work) and all I've really done myself is just quick organizational or maintenance stuff to the garage/house. I really focused on family time this summer, and we kept super busy. It was fantastic.

In the blink of an eye, the baby is now 10 months and is really coming in to her own. She's already a very strong willed little girl, following in her sister's footsteps:



And my oldest is going off to Kindergarten in 2 days, which is still blowing my mind. Here is the 4 of us from a trip to the "Castle In The Clouds" a few weeks ago. It's a mansion built in the early 1900s in the NH lakes region by the owner of a then prominent shoe manufacturing company. The state now owns and maintains the property. It was a cool day trip!





Hope you've all had a wonderful summer as well!

 

[nicholam77]

Here is the 4 of us from a trip to the "Castle In The Clouds" a few weeks ago. It's a mansion built in the early 1900s in the NH lakes region by the owner of a then prominent shoe manufacturing company. The state now owns and maintains the property. It was a cool day trip!

Wow, that looks awesome!

I also could not bare to look at the mess that has become my wife's car any longer. She is many things, but a clean car person she is not. Spent almost 2 hours detailing the inside today after my oil change.

Mine is the same. We use her car the most for transporting the kids because it's a little bigger, especially on road trips and such. I barely have the time and energy to maintain my own car let alone hers. Even if the mess doesn't bother your wife I'm sure she appreciates you giving it a good detail!

Love that omega mobile tool cart and the organizational projects.

I really focused on family time this summer, and we kept super busy. It was fantastic.

In the blink of an eye, the baby is now 10 months and is really coming in to her own. She's already a very strong willed little girl, following in her sister's footsteps:

We've done the same. My boy is just a few months ahead (13 months) and it's such a fun age. For me it's definitely our last kid and with how fast things move I've been trying to make the most of these baby stages before they're gone forever

Have a great rest of your summer!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

We've done the same. My boy is just a few months ahead (13 months) and it's such a fun age. For me it's definitely our last kid and with how fast things move I've been trying to make the most of these baby stages before they're gone forever

Have a great rest of your summer!

This is our last one, too. Same! This time, each phase hits a little different, because I know it will be the last time we go through it.

Despite all I said about not getting into projects this summer..... I did pick up a project to chip away at over the winter today. More to come I have a problem... I know. Some teaser photos form the sellers listing:

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well, she’s home. It made the 1.5 hour drive home through some NH mountain roads without issue! I’m going to register it so I can get a clean title in my name and drive it a bit so I can decide what I want to do with it. I have 3 options I’m considering.

1) Swap the limited interior from this silver Jeep with the interior in my XJ. This gets me leather heated power seats, and the door cards with the wood grain trim and map pockets. I love adding oem upgrades, and this would be a big one (it’s rare to find this interior). However, I’m not sure I have the heart to take this one apart. And it would cut into the profits for option 2, which is:

2) Flip it. If I were to clean this up, and fix what needs to be repaired, this Jeep could sell for 6-7k around here. I scored this for a great price, so that would be a big profit.

3) Fix it up and just keep it…. For a while at least. I really have no business in adding a 5th car to our lineup, but you only live once lol. Sometimes it’s nice to enjoy the fruits of your labor a bit before parting ways with a project.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks like another fun project. I'll be following along to see which of the 3 options that you go with.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

What would an update from me be without some new Jeep photos (sorry)





Now that that's out of the way.... I gutted the interior in preparation to send it off to the body shop to have the floor patched up and some other body work knocked out. So, I'll be without the 99 for what I suspect to be a while.



Looks kind of mean without the rear fenders and the bumper end caps installed.



I haven't done much with the silver limited yet. I picked up a fender to replace the drivers side one that's on there now. It's one of 2 spots of rust that I need to address. I lucked out and found one that is already silver and rust free. I also replaced the rear liftgate struts, as the hatch would not stay open by itself.



It's registered and inspected now as well. It passed! Not really saying much though.... the shop I go to for my inspections knows that this is another one of my projects. Due to the age of the vehicle, it's a "safety only" inspection in my state, so he spent all of 2 minutes looking it over, told me it needs front brakes, and then slapped the sticker on haha.




My daughter has been out there quite a bit as of late helping me with some smaller projects. We built a spice rack together.



I also finally built a step in front of my bulkhead door. Another one of my famous boxes trimmed out in PVC. Quick and easy and does the trick. It had to be an odd height, because of the weird step layout into the basement. There is a huge lip to step over before hitting the first step down. I'm going to add some more stone to bring the grade up a bit leading to the step, and then it should be good!




I need to give the doors a new coat of paint, and replace that piece of wood with some PVC where the doors meet the house.


And last but not least, I started playing the guitar again. Now that my "office" is crammed into a corner of the mudroom, it's good because it's on a separate floor from my kids bedrooms, so I can play at night without disturbing them. The downside is that there is not much space out there, so I ended up hanging the guitars on the wall... Art!

 

[jarhead]

Well it took me three weeks and a trip to TX to finish your thread from start to finish. I really enjoyed reading about all the projects.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well it took me three weeks and a trip to TX to finish your thread from start to finish. I really enjoyed reading about all the projects.

Hats off to you for making it through it all! This thread is all over the place at this point, from garage reno, to house projects, to finally projects IN the garage… and everything in between. Glad you enjoyed reading through my ramblings, hopefully it was entertaining if nothing else!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well, it’s been 3 weeks and that body shop that has my black Jeep hasn’t even touched it yet. Kind of annoying. I understand good shops are backed up with work, but I also had to wait months to even get an appointment with them. Oh well, we’ll see what happens next I guess. I’ll do a drop in at the one month mark and feel him out in person.

I did get the silver one into a corner of the garage to start chipping away at it. I’ve decided to just fix what’s wrong with it, and sell it.



I mentioned that I was considering swapping the limited interior from the silver XJ into my black lifted XJ, but that would de-value the silver one, and my original seats would be gone if I ever wanted to swap back. I did, however, get really lucky and found someone parting out another limited XJ. So I snagged the full leather interior and limited door cards. Sooo, I’ll be cherry picking the best combination of limited seats and door cards to transfer into my black one, and setting my cloth seats aside if I change my mind in the future.

Here are the front seats from the set I bought. The rest of the parts are already stacked away in the basement out of sight and I didn’t grab a pic.



One little random thing I thought I’d share is that my oil tank (for my house heat) had a traditional lever/float gauge with a saturated cork float. So, my oil level has not been reading correctly. It would be a pain to change because all the piping would have to be removed between the tank and exterior fill port because of how it was originally installed, so I found this nifty string float gauge that threads into an un used plug on the top of the tank. Back to good!



Fall is setting in here in NH, and the temps are starting to drop. Just in time.

 

[zmotorsports]

House and yard look amazing.

***** about the black XJ taking so long. Fall is the best time of year to get outdoors, off-pavement and enjoy the fall colors and cooler temps. This is the time I'm sure you wish you had it for enjoying.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

House and yard look amazing.

***** about the black XJ taking so long. Fall is the best time of year to get outdoors, off-pavement and enjoy the fall colors and cooler temps. This is the time I'm sure you wish you had it for enjoying.

Thank you very much @zmotorsports! I appreciate the compliment on the house.

And you bet about not having the Jeep this time of year! After some back and forth, he completed the floor work. I had him lined up to do the floors, roof, and touch up the rear quarters/rockers..... but I am going to go pick the jeep up tomorrow until he's ready to actually do the rest of that work. He's a good guy and does great work, but he makes most of his money on insurance job so those get all the priority. Oh well. I can chip away at the rest of the interior work I need to do now that I'll have it back.

I ordered a new carpet for the black XJ. Went with the middle one out of these samples:



I also too this week off from work. Chipped away at a bunch on the silver XJ that I am in the process of flipping the last 2 days. I got started on that pesky fender swap first, the old one was pretty rusted out.

Disassembled:



The retainers for the fender flares are notorious for snapping studs upon removal. There are reproductions available to purchase new, but there are 2 per wheel and they're like $30 each.... crazy. Mine snapped a few studs, so I was able to repair them. Ground the stud flat and pounded it out:



I was going to weld in a new stud, but I still have not used my new welder yet, and the metal is so thin I was worried about blowing through it, so I just JB welded a new bolt in place. Worked great! Ugly, but it will never be seen.



Next up were front and rear shocks, front pads and rotors, and a new oil pressure sending unit:



The rear shocks I got actually have coils wrapped around them. They're made to help with rear end squat if towing, but they work great on XJs that have tired rear leaf springs. Raised up the ride height an inch!



I also replaced the clockspring. The horn didn't work, and the previous owner's "mechanic" rigged up this beautiful button. Terrible. I think running that button was actually more work than replacing the clockspring! All good now, horn works and the airbag light is out.



She's sitting and looking great now! Rides really well. I still have to chase down a clunk in the front end that I suspect is the sway bar end links.



Last but not least.... a job I despise that I've done on 3 different Cherokees now.... the dreaded headliner. Went out after dinner and popped it out an under an hour at least. Ready for scraping and recovering.



And that's it! Work has been non stop lately, so it felt good to get some alone time in the garage to chip away at some projects.

 

[zmotorsports]

Excellent work on the silver XJ. Looks nice and clean and should make someone a nice ride.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Well, the black Jeep is back from the body shop. The floor is done at least. We came up with a plan for him to complete the rest of the work, but at least I can get the interior back in as time permits.

Floor looks good:



While the carpet was up, I installed my new transfer case linkage. You have to get to some hardware from the inside to do it properly, so now was the time. The stock XJ linkage is a really odd Y link setup that shifts like junk and needs constant adjustment. Here’s the new one, shifts nice and crisp now! Well made piece.



They finally meet for the first time:



Ok back to the silver Jeep now. The front seat frames are a common failure point. It’s a welded assembly that breaks very easily, and disassembling the seat is a pain, but I got it out. I used my welder for the first time to make a repair, and I successfully stuck 2 pieces of metal together. Win! Doesn’t look pretty, but it’s fixed. I’m sure you can pick out the welds I did. I think I should have ground the old welds off first, so I’ll be sure to do that next time.



In the process of doing this, since I have 2 complete leather seat sets, I took all of the best pieces to make one drivers seat for my black XJ. Ready to go in when the time comes. I still need to do the same with the passenger seat as well:



Also I finished up the headliner. Few small creases here and there since I didn’t have a second set of hands to help, but pretty good overall. Still hate doing these.



I also replaced the radio. The old one had some dead channels and the screen was dead. But there is a company that I’ve worked with in the past who gives me $50 for them for parts only, and I spent $90 on this new one, so it was a cheap upgrade.



And that’s where I’m at for now!

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Last update from my week off from work.


I started wire wheeling any surface rust/crust off the floor in preparation for POR15. Pretty good overall:



Except this one damn spot in the trunk. May attempt patching it myself, or just seeing if the same guy can bang something out for me.



Annoying, because A) I asked him to look at this spot. And B) now I’m held up again. I wanted to POR15 the floor, lay sound deadening down, install the new carpet, and then reinstall the new (to me) leather interior. Now I’m stuck again.

Speaking of the interior, I pieced together the new passenger seat as well. I figured out if I add a 30A fuse into the PDC, it sends power to the harness under the passenger seat, so I’ll use that to wire up these 2 power seats:





And one random garage related addition, got this big clock so I don’t lose track of time, which I tend to do!



Back to work tomorrow. As always, I wish I rested more, but I can’t sit still. One of these days…

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Floor work on the black 99 continues...

First up, I patched up that last hole in the cargo area. I squared off the hole and cut it back to good metal, then used SEM panel bond to adhere a patch in place. Then sealed the perimeter with SEM seam sealer. Good enough for me:




Then I began the prep for the POR15. I used their cleaner/degreaser followed by their metal prep solution. It was kind of miserable, because you need to thoroughly rinse after each step. So this involved rinsing the floors with a hose and sucking out the excess water with a shop vac. Cranked the heat in the garage to 80 and let it dry out overnight.



And the next day, I brushed on 2 coats of POR15:







Came out pretty good, definitely a huge improvement over the old crusty floor.

I also repaired the broken studs on the rear fender brackets and hit them with a coat of paint:




And finally, the silver XJ came back from getting some paint work done. I had the drivers rocker panel and the lower lip of the inner door touched up. both had some surface rust which they cleaned up and re-painted for me. Wanted it done professionally so it looks 100% for when I sell it.



Looking pretty good if I do say so myself!



Next up will be applying sound deadening to the interior of the 99, and then finally getting the new carpet laid down.

 

[zmotorsports]

Floor turned out pretty nice on the black XJ. ***** that the body shop didn't address the one hole that you asked them to look at but your repair should last.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

EDIT: Double Post

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Floor turned out pretty nice on the black XJ. ***** that the body shop didn't address the one hole that you asked them to look at but your repair should last.

Thank you! Thanks for always following along and the words of encouragement. Sometimes I feel like I’m just talking to myself in here hahaha.

 

[Chrisb62]

Thank you! Thanks for always following along and the words of encouragement. Sometimes I feel like I’m just talking to myself in here hahaha.

Others are following along as well ...maybe not vocal , but we are here watching in the wings. That sounded a little creepy, we are here.

 

[Bob Heine]

That sounded a little creepy, we are here.

Chris, isn't that the definition of the Internet? It's like everyone leaves their curtains open.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thank you! Thanks for always following along and the words of encouragement. Sometimes I feel like I’m just talking to myself in here hahaha.

We're watching and you're definitely not talking to yourself. I sometimes feel the same way when I post things on my thread but I assume there are people who read or skim through yet don't comment. I would bet that is the same here but I always enjoy seeing your projects, especially the Jeeps.

 

[nicholam77]

I'm still following along

I think one downside to the new forum format is the Like button. Or it's a positive and a negative. On one hand you might get some feedback in the form of a "Like" or "Reaction" from someone who might have otherwise read your content but not commented. With the old forum you'd never know, this way at least they might "Like" it. But I also think it gives people an easy out to not comment or have a dialogue, which is fun to have, too. I don't have statistics on that, just a guess.

Going back a bit, I had to laugh at the horn button. That's some next-level DIY work right there.

I have to 2nd that the house and yard look amazing.

Seems like a lot of work on the silver XJ (to me) so far, but I hope you get a good profit on it. You're certainly an XJ expert.

Do you have a link to that garage clock? I could definitely see that being useful.

Cheers man, hope you guys had a fun Halloween!

 

[Trapps]

Many are watching. No one is slinging TNT (my preferred source for drama). What you do, and how you post, is appreciated. However, it is the internet. If you do something people don’t dig, you’ll know about it.

Nick is on to something with the like (easy?) button. I am guilty of using it, perhaps too much so.

 

[rharman]

Always an enjoyable read but I don't want to clutter up your thread with comments that don't add any germane value.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

Others are following along as well ...maybe not vocal , but we are here watching in the wings. That sounded a little creepy, we are here.

Chris, isn't that the definition of the Internet? It's like everyone leaves their curtains open.

We're watching and you're definitely not talking to yourself. I sometimes feel the same way when I post things on my thread but I assume there are people who read or skim through yet don't comment. I would bet that is the same here but I always enjoy seeing your projects, especially the Jeeps.

Many are watching. No one is slinging TNT (my preferred source for drama). What you do, and how you post, is appreciated. However, it is the internet. If you do something people don’t dig, you’ll know about it.

Nick is on to something with the like (easy?) button. I am guilty of using it, perhaps too much so.

I guess no news is good news sometimes hahaha

Always an enjoyable read but I don't want to clutter up your thread with comments that don't add any germane value.

Thanks for all of the feedback, everyone! Happy to know that there are plenty that are silently watching/enjoying the projects. It means a lot and is appreciated.

I'm still following along

I think one downside to the new forum format is the Like button. Or it's a positive and a negative. On one hand you might get some feedback in the form of a "Like" or "Reaction" from someone who might have otherwise read your content but not commented. With the old forum you'd never know, this way at least they might "Like" it. But I also think it gives people an easy out to not comment or have a dialogue, which is fun to have, too. I don't have statistics on that, just a guess.

Going back a bit, I had to laugh at the horn button. That's some next-level DIY work right there.

I have to 2nd that the house and yard look amazing.

Seems like a lot of work on the silver XJ (to me) so far, but I hope you get a good profit on it. You're certainly an XJ expert.

Do you have a link to that garage clock? I could definitely see that being useful.

Cheers man, hope you guys had a fun Halloween!

A agree with your thought on the reaction buttons. It's nice to see people liking things as an indication that they're following along, but it's wonderful to have meaningful feedback or conversation about things as well. Pros/cons just like everything else in life haha.

My brother-in-law expressed some interest in the silver XJ. Just waiting for him to decide if it's something he wants or not. If he passes on it, I'll likely list it up for sale within the next week or 2 and we'll see! The last white one I flipped sold within 24 hours for $5,700 and this one is certainly much nicer than that one. Hoping for the 7-8k range, but that may be a stretch.

Here is a link to the clock: amazon.com/dp/B07LBQ1NSG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Halloween was good! No complaints there, hopefully it was a good one for you and the family as well.



Might as well post a small update while I'm at it. I finally started laying the sound deadening down. Goes down pretty quick, this took about 30 minutes last night:

 

[zmotorsports]

A agree with your thought on the reaction buttons. It's nice to see people liking things as an indication that they're following along, but it's wonderful to have meaningful feedback or conversation about things as well. Pros/cons just like everything else in life haha.

I completely agree. I have a like/dislike opinion with the "like" button being added. While it is nice to have that feedback and know the post has been read and at least contemplated, sometimes it feels like meaningless feedback. I know it was added to be quick and easy, however, as many things in society these days, quick and easy aren't always the best way of communicating and I feel our society is failing miserably in the communication department.

As for the sound deadening, nice job and you will be impressed with the difference that makes. I've used Dynamat material in many vehicles over the years and am a big proponant.

 

[Finallygotit]

When I was building my Cobra, I used Damplifier from Second Skin. I was truly impressed with the sound deadening. I highly endorse that product as well.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I completely agree. I have a like/dislike opinion with the "like" button being added. While it is nice to have that feedback and know the post has been read and at least contemplated, sometimes it feels like meaningless feedback. I know it was added to be quick and easy, however, as many things in society these days, quick and easy aren't always the best way of communicating and I feel our society is failing miserably in the communication department.

As for the sound deadening, nice job and you will be impressed with the difference that makes. I've used Dynamat material in many vehicles over the years and am a big proponant.

When I was building my Cobra, I used Damplifier from Second Skin. I was truly impressed with the sound deadening. I highly endorse that product as well.

Happy to hear you guys have both had positive experiences with the sound deadening. I’m glad I took the time to do this step. There is almost nothing in here from the factory in terms of sound deadening, so I think it will make a large improvement.

Finished it up yesterday:





In process of installing the new carpet. Lots of trimming required. There an extra material on all of the edges, and none of the center console holes (or any holes for that matter) are pre cut. Slow process, but I am very glad I decided not to use my old carpet after going through all of this effort to refresh the floor.



Drivers leather/power seat swap in:



Coming together! I do notice that it’s not quite as thick as the factory carpet (notice the gap under the center console).





This Jeep had 1/2 of the power front seat harness from the factory. I added the missing circuit breaker to the passenger kick panel fuse box, which energized that, and built a few custom harnesses to send power to both seats. Drivers seat worked no problem. I attempted to install the power passenger seat as well, but it trips the fuse every time I hit the switch to adjust the seat. I think there may be a short in the switch but I need to investigate further. It was a long day, so I’ll save it for another time. Worst case, I can just install the leather seat onto my old manual passenger seat base if I can’t figure out the issue.

 

[68400BIRD]

Might be to late depending on how much of the interior you have back in. But a soldering gun makes great holes in the carpet for all of your bolts. It melts the hole and seals up the carpet so it does not keep coming apart.