ok shop is cleaned up so back at it: the d-side half of the engine bracket was in the way of a bunch of stuff, and I'm not doing A/C, so removed it and gained a lot of nice clearance and simplifies things nicely - the alternator still has three big bolts securing the bracket to the engine nice n solid -

 

...so my Sniper 2300 2bbl throttle body is rated at 580 cfm, but despite AFE telling me my air filter was rated at ~650 cfm I was still a little concerned that it was just a bit too small...so to assure myself it wasn't I made a template of the filter o.d. and flattened it out to compare it to the original filter for the engine (from an '02 Dakota), and sure enough it looks to be plenty big enough indeed - horray 👍

 

d-side uber rock bumper-slider / running board / lookout platform is tacked in place - interestingly enough it does not seem to be any heavier than the gigantic plate steel poison spyder sliders I was originally going to use - those bastids were fargin heavy. Best thing about these is the frame is the anchor and not the body panels...and I really didn't want to drill a dozen holes in the body anyway and then rely on rivet nuts to withstand the impending abuse. P-side in work. And in case anyone is wondering, the tubing I'm using is uber h.d. 1.9" drill stem - picked up about 30 sticks of it a while ago and have been using it for rock bumpers since. This stuff is incredibly strong - not 100% sure but I think it's chromoly, just shy of 3/16" thick - had to order the XHD bender from Rogue Fab - been working great.









...will have expanded metal on top for real good gription -

 

ok - laid out the Painless harness, rerouted a couple things and spliced together a couple things, and I think got everything pretty well figured out. It's back out and the body is ready to come off for what I hope to be the last time, then everything goes back together also for what I hope to be the last time

 

"Painless" is an oxymoron! Yes, it's simpler than DIY, but jeez, what a rats nest of wiring!

 

oh lemme state for the record this 'Painless' harness is dramatically simpler than anything from the OE, not to mention there isn't a computer anywhere. Each wire has a beginning and an end - super simple...just maybe a bit time consuming laying each one out...but there's only so many of them. This is actually the simplest harness I've ever worked with...and I've worked with a lot of 'em. When it's all laid out in the Jeep it looks a lot less daunting

 

...time for the final 'push' - body's back off for what I hope is the last time, then final welding, final suspension checks and bolts, final everything, then firewall/body bods, primer, paint, finish the dash frame and panels, and then final assembly 👍

 

Sliders are done: reinforced the mount points, glued on the tread plate, then slathered on healthy coats of rustoleum rusty metal primer and satin black paint -










Next, under the banner of 'left-hand-drive conversion', patched up several holes in the firewall, and almost ready for paint. Cut out the big section with lots of holes and made one big patch -




...and a few other big holes are now sealed up, including welding the air intake into the cowl -

 

woot! Cracked open the Air Force 'Strata' Blue paint and painted the inside of the cowl. Then welded the 'left-hand-drive' panel in place, and this...along with final preps to the firewall and engine bay inner framework...mark the tipping of the scales towards 'assembly'! 👍 .

 

thanks to my neighbor Loren the Jeep's front end is Air Force Blue - he's come over at about 6am to join me in the shop these last 4 days and has done all the prep (scuff sanding), Rusty Metal Primer, and 2 coats of Air Force Strata Blue paint - all oil-based, which has been a huge help to me, and at 81 yrs old he told me he's just diggin' being a part of the project








...and my 5 yr old likes coming in lately to help 'clean up'...and to hang out with Mr. Loren