ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[zmotorsports]

Only with Mike could 'downspout' and 'lathe' be used together in a build!

Nice work as always man.

Thank you Vincent, I appreciate that my friend. I kind of thought it was a nice and easy solution vs. digging them back up and/or building a guard.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, trust me, you don't want a cast iron grate. Stay with the SS grate.

Dan, can you educate me please? I always thought that the cast grates were better because they cooked more evenly and held the heat better. Why are the stainless steel grates better?

 

[polexican23]

Mike, trust me, you don't want a cast iron grate. Stay with the SS grate.

the little RV weber he uses, has a cast iron grate.

 

[Finallygotit]

the little RV Weber he uses, has a cast iron grate.

OK


My experience with cast iron grates had them splintering and staying on the food. Just might be my experience with an inferior product. I just swore off of them from that time forward.


I guess your mileage may vary.............. Sorry if I misled.

 

[zmotorsports]

OK


My experience with cast iron grates had them splintering and staying on the food. Just might be my experience with an inferior product. I just swore off of them from that time forward.


I guess your mileage may vary.............. Sorry if I misled.

No worries and I appreciate the feedback Dan. I just wasn't aware of any issues with cast grates and the only experience I have is with my little Weber Baby Q that I carry in our coach. I've just heard that cast grates are better for retaining heat creating a more even cooking and nice grill marks but I could be wrong. That's been the biggest driver for me wanting a new grill but my stainless steel grate cooks ok so I may be better off just keeping it and seeing how many more years I can get out of it.

 

[Bigblue&Goldie]

When I was looking the Weber cast iron grates for my Genesis had a really poor layout with raised cross bars that would make it hard to clean. I ended up getting stainless grates.

 

[zmotorsports]

When I was looking the Weber cast iron grates for my Genesis had a really poor layout with raised cross bars that would make it hard to clean. I ended up getting stainless grates.

Good to know.

Thanks.

Looks like I'll just stick with my old Kenmore a bit longer until I can no longer keep it going.

 

[CanadianJason]

We have a broil-king signet that came with the cast grates and I was replacing them every two years due to them rusting and flaking. Most of the grill makers are outsourcing to china parks manufacturing or are using inferior materials for their "cast iron" grills. I switched to the stainless and haven't looked back.

 

[rmack898]

Not to go too deep on a tangent but...........

I am 9 months into living in a small RV while my new house is being built (although construction has not started yet) and I cook ALL my meals on a Weber Q1000 with the cast iron grates. I boil eggs, cook pasta, bake pizza, along with all the usual BBQ meat, burgers, etc., you name it and I can cook it on the Q1000.

When the grates get to the point that they need a good cleaning, I turn the heat up and close the lid for 30 minutes. Wire brush the grates with a Weber brush that has the scraper that conforms to the grates, and then let it all cool down. A simple wash with some soap and warm water and I'm good to go for another month or two. The little Weber Q grill was one of the best things I ever bought for outdoor cooking.

Once the house gets built I want a big green egg.

 

[zmotorsports]

This is all good info. My stainless steel grates are holding up fine and just need an occasional cleaning along with the grill itself.

Mac, for RV’ing, that little Weber Q is perfect. My wife and I use ours a lot when traveling and it hasn’t let me down yet.


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[zmotorsports]

Tonight I racked the Jeep to give it a once over and noticed the cheapy exhaust hanger that I used has already started to fail so I decided to build a new mount in which to use an OEM style isolator.

Failing mount removed.


Components I’m going to use to fabricate a new mount.


I thought it would have a bit more support welding it to a base prior to welding to crossmember.




Ready to weld in place.


After all that I forgot to get a completed picture but you get the idea. [emoji12]

 

[zmotorsports]

After setting the Jeep back down I went ahead and applied some Aerospace 303 protectant to my fenders. I usually apply this protectant a few times a year and for an 8 year old/100k mile car they still look almost like new.






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[Bob Heine]

Mike, the Jeep looks fantastic at 100,000 miles.

I put a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the grill (shiny side down) and turn the burners up to high for a few minutes. It's like a self-cleaning oven with all the grease burned off and only a little ash left on the stainless grates. Works on cast iron grates as well but without any grease, the cast iron rusts real quick.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, the Jeep looks fantastic at 100,000 miles.

I put a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the grill (shiny side down) and turn the burners up to high for a few minutes. It's like a self-cleaning oven with all the grease burned off and only a little ash left on the stainless grates. Works on cast iron grates as well but without any grease, the cast iron rusts real quick.

Thanks Bob. I appreciate the tip, I'll try that.

Thanks for stopping by and I welcome the comments.

 

[zmotorsports]

A little warm outside today but even with the A/C cranked up in a black Jeep it’s comfortable inside and the engine is running cool.

 

[Ohmthis]

I have cast iron grates on my grill as well. I seasoned them just as one would with a cast iron pan. After grilling I leave the heat on for a little while and brush the chunks off, leaving the oil. I’ve never had a rust issue and we have extremely high humidity. Mike, that hanger didn’t last long at all. My lake neighbors joke that their dock ladder support hasn’t lasted but a few years each, but mine has lasted the last 12 years.

 

[shortykorte]

Is a good looking Jeep.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[zmotorsports]

I have cast iron grates on my grill as well. I seasoned them just as one would with a cast iron pan. After grilling I leave the heat on for a little while and brush the chunks off, leaving the oil. I’ve never had a rust issue and we have extremely high humidity. Mike, that hanger didn’t last long at all. My lake neighbors joke that their dock ladder support hasn’t lasted but a few years each, but mine has lasted the last 12 years.

Thanks for the feedback on the grill.

My gut told me I wouldn’t like that hanger, should have listened. OEM styles are hard to beat.

 

[zmotorsports]

Is a good looking Jeep.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

Thanks Shorty.

 

[mmsheb]

Mike, the Jeep looks fantastic at 100,000 miles.

I put a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the grill (shiny side down) and turn the burners up to high for a few minutes. It's like a self-cleaning oven with all the grease burned off and only a little ash left on the stainless grates. Works on cast iron grates as well but without any grease, the cast iron rusts real quick.

Bob,
Thanks for the tip. I used the aluminum foil on the grill tonight and it worked very well. I learn so much on the GJ!
Mike in Sheboygan, WI

 

[gearhead1960]

Mike,

I followed your LS swap on the Rubicon. For some reason, as a car guy, I love to read badges on cars and trucks. I guess it's something about seeing what powerplant or unusual option is in a vehicle. I now find myself looking for the the LS badge on every jeep I see.....

 

[JCQuick]

Mike, the Jeep looks fantastic at 100,000 miles.

I put a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the grill (shiny side down) and turn the burners up to high for a few minutes. It's like a self-cleaning oven with all the grease burned off and only a little ash left on the stainless grates. Works on cast iron grates as well but without any grease, the cast iron rusts real quick.

yep i second that works great

 

[GRN96WS6]

Just give your son the old grill and get yourself that genesis!

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

I followed your LS swap on the Rubicon. For some reason, as a car guy, I love to read badges on cars and trucks. I guess it's something about seeing what powerplant or unusual option is in a vehicle. I now find myself looking for the the LS badge on every jeep I see.....

Thank you for following along. I'm sure there are other LS Jeeps out there but they're rare for sure considering how many Jeeps are on the road.

 

[zmotorsports]

yep i second that works great

Thank you.

 

[zmotorsports]

Just give your son the old grill and get yourself that genesis!

Nah, I'll keep my old one until it actually bites the dust. Just can't bring myself to spending money that doesn't need to be spent. Besides my son and DIL got a really nice grille/smoker as a wedding gift so he's covered.

 

[zmotorsports]

The wife and I took off last week for some much needed R&R. We spent a week in the Madison Valley of Montana, specifically Ennis, MT.

We had a beautiful campsite nestled in the Madison Valley.




On one of our day excursions we headed over to the historical Montana State Prison located in Deer Lodge. It’s been a few years since we were there last.






On another day trip we drove through Yellowstone NP and saw quite a few animals through the Lamar and Hayden Valleys as well as over Dunraven Pass.

We love Yellowstone and it holds a special place with my wife and I and we are fortunate to be able to spend quite a bit of time there with at least a trip each year.

All in all it was an awesome week. Now back to work, and the heat as it is hotter than hell at home.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have had a few people inquire about doing a walk around video of my 2011 Jeep Wrangler but I wanted to wait until I have my latest round of modifications completed which took place about 6 months ago. I thought where it turned over 100k miles a couple of weeks ago that was as good a time as any and with now around 8k miles on my new powertrain I finally got around to posting up the video to my channel last night.

If anyone is interested here is a link to my Jeep video.

I have also had a few people ask for one of our coach so I will get one of that next time she's out of the garage.

Thank you for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night after arriving home in triple digit heat I mowed my lawns and then cut down my pole jacks in the shop. It was a little cooler in the shop @ 93 degrees.

I have been doing a lot of suspension work lately and have discovered that a shorter pole jack or two would be beneficial. Summit Racing had these Sunnex 1500 lb. capacity pole jacks on sale a couple of weeks ago so I ordered two of them.


The Sunnex ones are actually a little nicer than my NAPA ones that I’ve had for about 8 years now so I decided to cut my older NAPA pole jacks rather than my new ones.


I figured ones in the 38”-42” would be ideal so I removed them from their base and cut about 22” off of each one. I then had to machine a small amount off so they would slip into the base.




After test fit I marked where the 5/8” hole needed to be drilled for the retaining pin.


One down and one to go.


Those should work perfect with a collapsed height of 31” and a raised height of around 52”.




Thanks for looking.

 

[zmotorsports]

While I'm talking about heat, I have been asked a lot lately about my Jeep JK with the LS engine and cooling. This is a "hot" topic on many of the Jeep forums even without running an LS engine so I thought I would comment. As I drive around I see a LOT of JK's with winches mounted on top of the front bumpers, large plated stingers out in front of the Jeep's grille and then there's those angry grilles and mesh or inserts that people put on their JK's that do nothing more than obstruct airflow and make it harder for the car's cooling system to function. I'm not only talking about JK's with V8's but also stock drivetrains that are having heating issues.

Take a Jeep designed for 29" or 32" tires that weighs around 4500 pounds and the stock cooling system does it's job as designed because it requires a certain amount of energy to get down the road. The Jeep JK is already about as aerodynamic as a brick but in stock form it performs as designed. Now take and add 2-4 inches of lift and run 35-40 inch tires and you have an even less aerodynamic brick that you're trying to get to push through the air with more weight and rolling resistance. The Jeep will do it, even with the anemic 3.8 liter engine in the 2007-2011's but it adds stress to the system. This is one of the biggest reasons that I stayed at 35" tires for the first 8 years and 92k miles was because I was stressing the system as much as I dared and I was running a sunken winch as well as no obstructions to the grille.

The grille area on these JK's is not much. The opening only measures 11" in height and let's just call it 26" in width although it is slightly less, I'm being conservative. That is only 286 square inches of cooling surface area to expel the heat, or dissipate the heat. Technically it is less than that because you have 6 vertical bars that create the 7-slots that the Jeep is known for. Each vertical bar is 1.5" wide and 11" tall for 16.5 square inches each or 99 square inches of blocked area. Now you only have about 187 square inches to allow air to flow through the transmission cooler, A/C condenser (which is also putting off heat when the A/C is running) and then the radiator itself. The early JK's only used a 17" two-speed fan. Basically it reduces the voltage for low speed and feeds full system voltage for high speed but maximum airflow from that fan is only in the mid-2000 CFM range. The newer Pentastars have a better cooling fan that is PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) and 19" that is capable of over 3k CFM so much better performance. The Camaro SS fan that I am running is also a 19" PWM fan capable of around 4k CFM at 100%.

You can see just how the cards are already stacked against us JK owners before we start modding our babies. That is why it is so important to not design in any additional issues that will negatively affect the cooling system. While we're talking about mods we also can't forget about the engine bay itself and evacuating the hot air out of the engine bay. Many owners throw on a bunch of under-armor which also traps heat not allowing it to vent out the bottom as well as adds weight the engine has to overcome to push down the road. Another mod I see very heavily is the removal of the inner fenders when flat fenders are installed. This can potentially also create a restriction for hot air to escape if not done correctly. Inner fenders that fit tightly to the frame rails block off these gaps that were designed to allow for hot air to escape the engine bay so you can see how fast things multiply when dealing with heat and keeping the JK cool.

Now when you couple this with high elevation it gets even worse because as the air is thinner there is less of it to pull that heat away from the cooling radiator, although granted there is also less for combustion. Some people think this high elevation is good because it creates less heat in the engine but in fact as we go up in elevation we lose approx. 3% of output per 1k feet in elevation so your JK is having to work much harder at elevation to move its own weight with less performance.

Bottom line is when building your JK, or any car for that matter, think systems through so you're not fighting issues that you designed in down the road.

My Jeep for example is Black so it's a heat magnet and it's heavy @ 6k pounds. Granted I know of heavier ones with 40" tires and one-ton axles that are closer to 7k pounds but mines still heavy and it is lifted running 37" tires and has a lot of frontal area to push through the air. I am running OEM fenders and inner fenders, my winch is sunk down between the frame rails and my bumper does not block any grille area. I do have a fairly large transmission cooler and when I swapped in my 6.2 liter LS engine I also installed the A/C condenser for a manual shifted JK so it has more surface area as the automatic version condensers have a transmission cooler at the bottom of the A/C condenser, which I feel is not a great idea.

The past couple of days here in Northern Utah have been the hottest of the summer so far at 101-103 degrees. My lifted, Black JK has been running cool as a cucumber and performing flawless so it can be done. I have a 16-mile commute to work each day and driving to work in the morning at around 82-degrees ambient temperature my transmission temperature has been right at 135-degrees and my engine coolant temperature has been sitting right on the thermostat with temps of 194-197 degrees. That tells me I have adequate air flow through my grille as my cooling fan doesn't even come on.

Once I get off the interstate I have a couple of stoplights and about a mile section of 30 MPH where my cooling temps will climb slightly to around 208 when the fan comes on at around 15% and pulls the temp back down to 204 where it kicks off. This will continue to cycle and never rise above that 208 mark, which is far from hot on a modern engine.

Yesterday driving home in triple digit heat and stop & go traffic on I-15 with my A/C running it was cool inside my Black Jeep with the transmission temperature around 165-degrees and my fan running around 28-36% and keeping my engine under 200-degrees. My PWM fan is controlled 100% by the GM ECM as it is getting feedback from the other systems and the fan percent is set by prioritizing the inputs from A/C condenser pressure, transmission temperature as well as engine coolant temperature.

All in all, the GM LS engine does a great job in even a lifted, Black Jeep if done properly and some basic cooling system principles are followed.


Thanks for letting me ramble.

 

[gearhead1960]

Mike,

Your example of thinking through all the ramifications of a mod is excellent! People don't think about what affect one thing might have on another. Closing or restricting the engine bay is just making it into an oven!

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

Your example of thinking through all the ramifications of a mod is excellent! People don't think about what affect one thing might have on another. Closing or restricting the engine bay is just making it into an oven!

Thanks Mark, I appreciate that.

One thing I always tried to tell my clients when building either a street rod, race car, snowmobile or sand rail is be realistic with your expectations and once you decide on a theme or design, stick with it. I used to see people get part way into a build and then a year or so down the road shift gears totally in a different direction and wonder why it cost so much as well as didn't do what they wanted.

I see it in the Jeep/off-road world even worse. I see people who buy/bought a newer Wrangler (JK or now JL) because they liked the creature comforts and could see it as a daily driver and a weekend wheeler. They start doing mods and before long they are trailering it everywhere because it is all over the place on the road and not streetable.

My goal all along with this build from 2011 when I bought it until now has been keeping it street friendly enough for daily driving yet capable enough off-road for either weekend wheeling or week long Jeep rallies running 6-8 rated trails and all with keeping it in "sleeper" trim. I have stayed true to the build from day one.

Thanks for following along Mark.

 

[rattle_snake]

So, given the excess cooling capacity of your jeep is seems a perfect fit for a supercharger that would allow 40" rubber!

just a little trolling/sarcasm, forget you read this...

 

[zmotorsports]

So, given the excess cooling capacity of your jeep is seems a perfect fit for a supercharger that would allow 40" rubber!

just a little trolling/sarcasm, forget you read this...

Ha ha Justin. Nope, just sticking with my little 6.2 liter LS.

 

[Nlped]

Mike,

Are you going (or have you, and I can’t find it) do a build thread on the Jeep? I’m contemplating doing this to my Rubicon and I’d love for it to mirror yours.


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[zmotorsports]

Mike,

Are you going (or have you, and I can’t find it) do a build thread on the Jeep? I’m contemplating doing this to my Rubicon and I’d love for it to mirror yours.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm sorry, I don't have a complete build thread on here as I just have it incorporated into my Projects threads. However, I do on another forum. It is a local off-roading forum that I belong to although I'm not as active as I am here I do keep my build thread current and it is from the beginning.

There is a link to in in my signature under "My Jeep Build".

Thank you for your interest and I would love to follow along on your build.

 

[zmotorsports]

I couldn’t resist. Saw this earlier and it made my day.

 

[shortykorte]

Awesome sign.


Shorty Korte
Always remember quality in QST

Sent from my iPhone using Garage Journal

 

[Pressingonward]

Hi Mike,

As always I enjoy reading what you are up to. Those cut down pole jacks are a great idea! I'll have to copy it if I ever get a lift installed

The pictures of Montana State prison bring back memories, it's one of the few places we actually stopped and toured while on vacation when I was a kid.

Thanks for the well thought out explanation for your jeep's cooling system. I totally agree that it is important to have a goal for a project (be it a vehicle or something else) and stick with it. Now I just need to actually follow through with that sentiment lol...

 

[lilscorpion]

I couldn’t resist. Saw this earlier and it made my day.

It’s like they know me.