Had the jeep down for the past week for some work.
1) Lifted up the passenger floor mat and found a puddle of coolant... Grr, back into the heater box.
2) The heater fan was also making a racket, so another reason to tackle the heater box.
2) Trying to sort out some CE codes, so wanted to replace the throttle body, intake gaskets, and the knock sensors.
3) Temps are creeping up here so wanted to build a fan shroud to help at stoplights in the heat.
Luckily all required me to drain the coolant, and most were fairly straightforward. Cut to the end, got everything done, but somethings up with the new knock sensors, so I'll have to go back into the manifold.
The heater core replacement was fairly simple, had that done in an afternoon. I had soldered the in/out pipes during the rebuild, but the leak was somewhere internal. Replaced it with an aluminum Spectra model that most shops carry. The fan lost a nut, I must not have tightened it very well. Buttoned all that back up Monday.
The manifold gaskets, throttle body, and knock sensors weren't too tough, but obviously there's room for error.. I think I should have brushed the threads in the head and maybe applied some copper anti-seize.
For the fan shroud, I wanted to make one using my fledgling fiberglass skills. Used some online writeups for some ideas. First, made a poster board template.
Next, I transfered that to some thin fiberboard, and using fan measurements made the circular opening.
Then, covered the mold with felt, secured with staples, and added some aluminum stock at the mounting holes.
Went to work on the fiberglass.
And ultimately rough sanded and smoothed out with multiple rounds of body filler and sanding.
Followed up with some paint.
Got it installed and checked for leaks - looking good all around.
Noticeable suction at the grill now, and maybe it's running a touch cooler, but it's probably just my imagination
I'll be back in the intake in the next few days hopefully!
