Jeep Modding - A Few Convenience Items

After a few short weeks with the Jeep (and spending way too much time researching parts), I've started to accumulate a list of parts I think my wife's Jeep could use. Thankfully, my wife has at least allowed me to continue tinkering with her vehicle. Modding is, after all, a lot of the fun I get out of vehicles. I love driving and all that stuff but I also enjoy learning how things work, seeing if there are ways to improve things, and ultimately make each vehicle their own. A lot of times I like to be able to do stuff myself but more often than not I'm either tool or skill limited. This Jeep, however, is very much like Lego and I feel it's so easy to work on that I've just enjoyed hanging out in my garage and working on it myself as much as I can.

Barricade Extreme HD Rocker Steps

The first order of business was to remove the factory Rubicon rails that come with the Willys Wheeler package and replace it with Barricade Extreme HD Rocker steps. This Jeep isn't lifted but sitting on 33s I felt that sliding in and out of the seat was a sure recipe for killing the side bolsters of the seats in the near future so having a step to stand on makes getting in and out much easier. Of course, if you have steps, you probably also want a grab bar to pull yourself in and a pair of GraBarsUSA a-pillar grab bars fit the bill nicely.

GraBarsUSA Handle Set

The previous owner had a plastic center console mounted phone mount which was decent but put the phone too far away and covered a lot of the windshield so I replaced with a 67Design carbon fiber phone mount system. Looks much more slick and puts the phone in a better, and more importantly safer, spot.

67Design carbon fiber phone mount

Continuing on with the interior improvements, the previous owner also had a set of random mismatched rubber floor mats that definitely weren't form fitting. I'm not OCD but that definitely bothers me so a fresh set of Husky WeatherBeater floor mats all around including the full cargo area under the rear seat had to go in.

Husky Cargo Mat

Husky Cargo Mat with rear seat re-installed

Perfectly form fitting Husky floor mats

In keeping with the military inspired Jeep theme, a green Smittybilt storage system attached to the tailgate to keep various things like spare oil tucked away seemed like a logical choice.

Smittybilt GEAR Tailgate cover and storage

The rubber hood latches were starting to look a bit weathered so an upgrade to a set of Rugged Ridge aluminum latches not only improves the look but removes any hood flutter at highway speeds. 

Rugged Ridge aluminum hood latch

Little details matter to me so the "stubby" antenna the previous owner installed didn't look right (and was starting to show rust at the base) so it had to go. Replaced by a nice 13" flexible rubber antenna with a carbon fiber base, it just cleaned up the exterior while still providing great radio reception.

Rydonair 13" antenna

These were some nice appearance and convenience upgrades to get it to where it should be but we've got some nice performance related upgrades coming next that I'm very excited to put on. 

Chopper's looking pretty sweet now

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 67,888

- New 15" RainX front wiper blades

- New air intake filter (temporary while I wash and re-oil the K&N filter that was already in there)

JK Wrangler Willys Wheeler - Chopper

My wife pick up her first vehicle ever. We've been keeping an eye out for dark green Jeeps for some time now and this one came up on Facebook marketplace a few weeks ago. 1-owner with 67K miles, the vehicle was well loved and maintained. It was a no brainer really. 

2016 Willy Wheeler 2-door - Chopper - 10-24-2021

We finally registered and took it home this weekend. It's now affectionally named "Chopper" after the rather sassy Star Wars droid C1-10P. She wanted to get to know this vehicle a bit more and learn some things so today I had her do the first oil change under her ownership.

Getting ready for the oil change

After only have nothing but lowered sports cars, it's a bit of a breath of fresh air to have a vehicle that's so easy to work on, you don't even have to jack it up to change the oil. A few mopar oil filter and 6 quarters of Castrol Edge 5W-20 was put in since the last oil change was around 5K miles and 7 months ago.

Replacing the oil filter - 11-14-2021

Fresh oil - 11-14-2021

We also took the opportunity to clean up the interior a bit more, getting rid of unnecessary decals and velcro everywhere. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 67,788

- New mopar oil filter

- 6qt Castrol Edge 5W-20

GTI Maintenance - New Plugs

It's been almost 10k miles since the last time I changed plugs. The previous plugs didn't look so hot after 15k miles so I ordered a new set of NGK RS7 plugs to change them out pre-emptively. Looking at the condition of these plugs I probably didn't need to change them yet so I'll extend the the next time I do this. I think these NGK plugs work better and don't wear out as easily as the Beru plugs.

Old plugs

New Plugs - NGK VAG-06K905601M

Maintenance Updates: 

Mileage: 72,340 

 - 4 new RS7 (06K905601M) spark plugs

FRS Modding and the Final Autocross for 2021

Rad finally got sick of his super loud exhaust Revel single exit exhaust and picked up a gently used Perrin dual exit exhaust instead. This should've been an easy swap but the problem is that the Perrin exhaust flange is designed to mate to a flat flange but the JDL front pipe he has on his car has a lip on the flange designed for a donut gasket that simply wouldn't fit.

Revel exhaust removed - 10-22-2021

The solution was to cut off the lip with a sawzall so that we could fit a flat gasket instead.

Flange to cut - 10-22-2021

Cutting away

Once the lip was off, it was as simple as bolting everything back together again with the new flat gasket. The new exhaust sounds amazing. I can't believe it took him this long to decide to do this. 

Putting the new Perrin cat back on - 10-22-2021

New exhaust on

New exhaust on

New Perrin Exhaust

 

Of course, the whole reason why we were scrambling to do this after work on a Friday afternoon was because we had autocross the next day. Despite the rain the morning, it turned out to be a great day for an autocross and we had loads of fun. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't find more time but it felt great being out there with everyone burning rubber. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 10-23-2021

NNJR SCCA - 10-23-2021

Fluidampr - Smooth Like Butter

I like my MK7 GTI a lot but two things in particular kept taking away from the experience. The first was the rather annoying drivetrain rattle at idle after switching to the single mass flywheel as part of the South Bend Stage 2 clutch upgrade. This was a necessary upgrade to hold the torque but it made the car seem like it was broken when I was sitting at idle until I pushed the clutch in. The second was the lack of smoothness as you went up the rev range. At 3-4K rpm, I'd get annoying rattles inside the car, like the center console, from the vibration. At full boost and high RPM, I really didn't like how the vibrations felt at all so I rarely get on it because it felt like I was going to break something.

Fluidampr Harmonic Balancer

I read that the fix for this was to install a harmonic balancer but it sounded just like hype to me so I held it off. Boy was I wrong! I finally got a Fluidampr harmonic balancer and had it installed by Drive Auto Works today along with a new OEM crank bolt. DAW had previously installed my entire IS38 upgrade so it made sense for me to come back there and the difference is night and day. 

Fluidampr getting installed - 10-15-2021

The engine is butter smooth at any RPM. The rattle from the SMF is gone. There no in-cabin rattles anymore from 3-4K RPM. Most importantly, at full boost, it just feels so amazing. I can't believe I waited this long to do this. This is definitely not hype and I should've done this along with my turbo upgrade years ago. I went from liking this car a lot to loving it all over again. I no longer cringe from the vibration every time I go into full boost. Instead, I just get 100% full enjoyment and big smiles when I put all that power down. I might have to look into doing this for the S2000. I know it doesn't need it as much as this engine does but having a smoother operating crank can't hurt, especially on a 4-banger. 

Fixing Oil Leaks

After my trip to NJMP Lightning a month ago, I noticed a small pool of oil under Bumblestook in the garage. It had gotten everywhere on the driver side under carriage but thankfully it didn't seem like a bad enough leak that I was dangerously low on oil during the track day. On first inspection, the AN coupler going into the bung welded onto oil pan that's used to drain oil from the catch can was leaking. I thought it due it being a tad loose so I re-tightened everything and autocrossed the following weekend. After being parked for a week, I noticed more oil under the car even though it hadn't moved in a while so I got back on the quick jacks and sure enough there was oil coming from the AN coupler again. I drained the oil and removed the coupler and saw what I couldn't see earlier, a crack in the coupler itself. This was on the non-visible side of the coupler so I didn't notice it before.

Cracked AN coupler

I ordered a new Vibrant -10AN female 45 degree union elbow from Jegs. As luck would have it, the first shipment got stolen at FedEx so I had to wait again for them to ship me another one. 

New -10AN 45 degree union elbow

Today I finally got to the time to put it in and complete my oil change that was due anyway. I ran the car a bit and the bottom stayed dry so I think we're good now but I'll keep an eye on it just to make sure I don't have a leak elsewhere. 

New coupler installed - 10-10-2021

Fresh oil in

Maintenance Updates:

Mileage: 60,131

- Amsoil Signature Series 10W-30  - 5.5qt
- New OEM oil filter
- New catch can drain AN coupler

The Return of Bumblestook to Autocross

The last time I took Bumblestook to an autocross was in 2018 shortly after we completed the build and had the car painted. Obviously, she hasn't been idle this entire time We've had plenty of fun drives and track days since then but for autocross, I've either been driving the Cayman or co-driving in Rad's FRS. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 9/25/2021
Photo By: Perry Aidelbaum

However, with the gorgeous weather today I simply couldn't resist taking her out again for some fun and nostalgia. Left the hardtop at home and let her go to town on course. She's obviously not as fast as her prime days in BSP but she still gives me all the good vibes. Like putting on old pair of jeans, it was just comfortable, very familiar, very rewarding. No longer competitively classed, I just ran in whatever SCCA class she happened to end up in based on the rule book which is SSM (T for street tire). But she's basically an STR car so I was comparing my times with STR just to see how far off I was for being rusty. Not bad for a car on old tires and set up more like a grand touring track car than a purpose build competition car. 

NNJR SCCA Autocross - 9/25/2021
Photo By: Perry Aidelbaum

Ironically my fastest time was with Rad in the car with me. He's seriously gotten very quick this past year so maybe I needed his mojo to egg me on. I had a great time. I hadn't autocross since Spring so I was feeling super rusty but I was feeling very comfortable driving my own car and sliding it around again. I love how lively S2000s are on course. They're not easy to drive but are certain to keep you honest. When you get it right though, it feels oh so good. 

Fastest Run for Bumblstook - NNJR SCCA - 9/25/2021