WTF-J

The WTF-J has a Bestop Bikini and it works great… …except at highway speeds (>50 MPH) at which point the top oscillates at random rates and acts like a spastic sub-woofer.   The guess is that the rise between the top of the windshield and the rollbar and the concave shape of the top act like [...]

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No rest if you want wicked! ID Description 1.      Instrument Panel – Ver 2.0 Fix turn signal LEDs hidden by radio faceplate when it tilts during operation Fix monolithic faceplate that requires the whole dash to gain access to any of the connectors Fix defective Cruise Control switch logic Swap Speedo / Tach positions [...]

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It’s been awhile, but the Jeep continues to progress toward semi-completion.  Jeremy & Phil at MAD4WD finished the back-half roll cage   and had it powder coated here in Cincy.  The roll cage is about 1" taller than I had planned, but it just fits under the garage door with the AiRock suspension at full [...]

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It was getting near to the time when the WTF-J’s plates were to arrive when some bad news from the BMV landed in the mailbox, WTF-J was banned!  Well, not exactly banned, but the plate did not make it past the State’s thought police. Though fun while it lasted, you can understand the State’s reluctance [...]

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So, in an earlier installment, the State declared that the WTF-J was in fact a Jeep, but it was still "locked" within the confines of the driveway and could not be operated on public roads until properly registered.  (For that matter, the home owners’ association in our subdivision has an explicit covenant prohibiting unregistered vehicles [...]

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Day #1 on testing the cooling system I learned that the the PCM outputs a "ground trigger" (-12v) for the fan while I had wired the relay to "look" for a positive signal. (+12v)   Oops!  Not a big deal, as the relays and circuit breakers are tucked away behind the headlights in the radiator [...]

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Going through an Army Surplus store my boss suggested that there would be no more appropriate storage for the WTF-J than ammo cans.  We picked up a couple and looked for a good place to mount them in the Jeep.  At first it looked like they would make a perfect center console, but the space [...]

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Before there were front airbags, side curtain airbags, knee bolsters, crush zones, pre-tensioners, ABS pre-loaders, and the whole raft of occupant protection technologies that are in every new vehicle, there were seatbelts.  OK, so they are not plain old seatbelts, the WTF-J has the Impact Racing’s 5-point harness including a lost motion cam-lock latching system.  [...]

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WTF-J’s exhaust system gives proof to the notion that the downside to stuffing a V8 into a Jeep that was originally designed using an in-line 4-cyl and later upgrades to an in-line 6-cyl is that you eventually run out of room.   Real estate under the WTF-J’s hood is getting to be more precious than the [...]

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Our subdivision has a covenant that prohibits parking unregistered cars in driveways.  No license plate means the WTF-J is persona non grata and must seek sanctuary in the garage.   The first attempt to title the WTF-J happened last year, but the Ohio BMV needed to physically inspect it.  They offered to sell me a 30-Day [...]

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