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Racing against the grain

Greetings and salutations people of the internet. I come with updates.

First and foremost, We are half way into the Pro Rock Racing season and its a stiff competitive group of racers this time. I may not snag top three but am doing my best. Next race is at Windrock August 17th. I encourage all to go out and spectate or race if you dare. Great fun win or lose. Lots of rock bouncing to sit back and enjoy after the races.

Here she is currently. We removed the roof, did some more cage work. Moved the tire care out back for rear balance. Removed the heater core and dash entirely. Made my first custom dash and lots of other small thing here and there. Not to mentioned a list of sponsors that continues to grow. Couldn’t do it with out them. Here’s the pics!













Current Standing of Sponsors that have been helping me along the way and some of their contributions.

Rare Parts Inc - Diamond Series Ball Joints
Rugged Radios - Radio System + Intercom Kit
Trailhead Offroad - Cowl Intake Kit
NRT Autosports - Aluminum 4.0 Fuel Rail
Blue Top Steering Gears - Ported Steering Box
Drive Shaft Shop - Front + Rear Driveshafts
Dirtbound Offroad - Electric Fan Shroud Setup
12volt Guy - Custom Switch Panel + Winch Control
Stock Car Steel & Aluminum - Basically the entire cage and steering materials
Treadway4x4 - Jody Treadway has done all the axle work.
Barnes4wd - Joints and Misc. tabs/brackets

and of course Amazon Prime..lets be honest.

I’ll do my best to keep this thread up to date. I know I fell off for awhile.
 
Here are some shots of the dash. It was quite the endeavor. Wiring nightmare. Also if you haven’t experienced the joy of an intercom system, it is by far the most convenient thing I have added. Communication while racing is critical and being able to clearly talk to your codriver and the pits is amazing.

Quick shout out to 12volt guy. Not sure if he is on here but he was amazing to work with and makes a killer product. He really pays attention to the little details. His wiring of that panel was incredibly neat. Very impressed with my switch panel.





 
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Sweet race Xj!! Aren't you one of the enlisted budget video guys from YouTube? And what tail light boxes are those?

Thanks! Yes I am from EBV. We aren’t in the business of making any more videos but I do for Ironman on occasion. I think a walk around video is needed. Been having a lot of requests for that.

The taillight housings were JCR mess ups I got off a friend. They work great, but the make them to fit only their size LED Lights so don’t be fooled if you ever get them. I did a lot of grinding to fit regular size lights.
 
Well Ive enjoyed your channel it is educating and entertaining. I've actually done a few of the mods in some of your videos, so thank you for that. A walk around of your Xj, and a more in depth video of the ironman front 4 link setup would be nice. Take care and good luck racing!
 
Sooo... where are the updates?? How's the race Jeep holding up? Who won 1st place?

As you can see Jeep has gone through a lot of changes so far this year.

For the 2018 Season:
1st: Marc Zabboth
2nd: Kevin Cox (myself)
3rd: Jason Dehn

I do not know the current points standing for 2019. I do know Marc Zabboth is not doing to hot. Jason Dehn and another YJ guy are our top dogs and Roger King I believe is 3rd. Idk where I stand right now. Somewhere around 4th or 5th so far. Thats my guess at how it looks. Two more races to dictate!

Our last race was at Wildcat Offroad Park in Kentucky, and I will say the jeep has never driven faster than it did that weekend. I broke my steering knuckle from slamming into a stump I did not see, despite my Codriver yelling at me lol. If we did not break on that race we would have secured 2nd no problem and within ear shot of 1st.

Here’s a few pics of the carnage. Knuckle broke around the upper balljoint and peeled the lower out a little. The Rare Parts Balljoint held in place which allowed me to still technically drive it. Impressive.







 
Had a blast at the 2019 SEC Crawl at Harlan this weekend. Only decent trail I got to do was Mason Jar. Right off that bat I started having some starting issues. Still not 100% what it is but it appears to be heat related. Still went through all of Mason Jar but had to stop and go with a lot of winching. Took minor body damage at the beginning but thats it all weekend.

After replacing the CPS since it was the only logical explanation at the time, I participated in the Lower Rock Garden Shootout Race. Last year we did this I exploded my rear driveshaft and Tcase Yoke. This year I’m proud to say I claimed 1st in the 35s and under class with everything intact. Run time was 116s. Had a small hang up with that run but still put a 12s gap on the 2nd place time IIRC. Had a great weekend overall even if my trail list was cut short.

We’re thinking heat soak as my no/difficult starting culprit. Gonna heat wrap the fuel lines, injectors, and rail and see what happens.





 
She seemed to run good at the LRG race. I assume your comments mean the CPS did not entirely fix it? I need to try and shoot to spectate and help that August race so I can see what I'm trying to get my self into....
 
She seemed to run good at the LRG race. I assume your comments mean the CPS did not entirely fix it? I need to try and shoot to spectate and help that August race so I can see what I'm trying to get my self into....

No it is still acting up. A few people mentioned heat soak which isn’t totally unrealistic. Heat wrap kits for the rail and injectors + Intake shield are cheap enough and wouldn’t hurt regardless. Also found a heat resistant sleeve for the fuel delivery line since its fairly close to the exhaust manifold.

I could use the help in August! It's quite the spectacle regardless of the race outcome. It will be at Windrock. Race is on Saturday August 17th.
 
No it is still acting up. A few people mentioned heat soak which isn’t totally unrealistic. Heat wrap kits for the rail and injectors + Intake shield are cheap enough and wouldn’t hurt regardless. Also found a heat resistant sleeve for the fuel delivery line since its fairly close to the exhaust manifold.

I could use the help in August! It's quite the spectacle regardless of the race outcome. It will be at Windrock. Race is on Saturday August 17th.

Have you talked to Jody about heat soak? He posted what they did when he was at the dealer for that somewhere on NC4x4. Windrock? I thought it was AOP?
 
Discovered a little more carnage this weekend while getting some things done. Rear Driveshaft took a hit with a rock. Looks like a rolled on and it dragged an indention on it. Hopefully this being a sponsored deal they can help me out over at the Driveshaft Shop in Concord NC. Its not that I can’t run it like this, its just if I hit a another rock on the same spot it could compromise the structural integrity of the shaft. Leaving the potential for some issues mid race.



Got the fuel rail, Intake, injectors, and fuel line insulated with the Design Engineering kit. I had a hangup with the rail since it is the NRT Autosports Rail. Its a lot bigger than the stock one being aluminum. If you had a stock rail I can see how this velcro wrap kit would be a breeze to install. Injectors were a pain in my case. Intake is super easy. The fuel line sleeve was separate from the kit, but at $18 you can’t go wrong for 3 feet of it.









Also one thing I’m most excited about is putting a muzzle on this bad boy. Had been running the exhaust chopped after the cat since the driveshaft was such a larger diameter. Would hit the muffler and the turn down. Found an old school cherry bomb exhaust to throw on. Much quieter but still rowdy. Every race the drown of the exhaust would wreck havoc.

 
Last weekend was interesting. Made new window net buckles, using metal buckles from a 91 Cherokee Laredo I pulled from a JY. Then flipped the mounting orientation so the nets fall down instead of dangling like before. Don’t have any pics of it at the moment but will take some soon.

The main battle was trying to understand why I’m running incredibly rich. Pulled plugs and O2 Sensors. Both caked in black. Fuel regulator is set at 42psi but will double check again to make sure. After idling for about 15 minutes it will start to pop in the exhaust like its back firing. I do not understand why. All injectors seem to be fine. The only concern I have there is a louder tick at start up for a little bit and goes away. Exhaust leak?





I replaced both O2 Sensors. My theory is that the upstream sensor is dirty/bad. Can’t remember the last time I changed them. It is my understanding that upstream has a significant influence on fuel trim. So replacing it might help.

Part II of the weekend was pulling my engine codes. Remember, I swapped in a NV3550 and the computer and TCM is looking for an AW4. I expected to see a lot of transmission codes. Well the results are in!

Much to my surprise not that heavy in the code department. I honestly expected an Oprah Winfrey show of codes. Everybody gets a code!

P0143 - ECM Input from 02 Sensor Circuit bank 1 sensor 3 has a low voltage

Supports an 02 sensor theory but I’m confused on the sensor 3 part. I only hav two. But, the harness is a 2000 XJ Harness that has extra 02 Sensor plugs (Cali emissions harness?). That confuses me. I wonder if its possible I hooked up to the wrong plug and the Computer isn’t getting anything at all causing it to run rich? Downstream is fool proof. There’s only one plug that runs to the Cat.

P0118 - Engine Coolant Temp Circuit - High input malfunction

This makes sense, I have the AutoMeter temp sending unit installed in replace of the factory sensor. It runs to my custom dash with the autometer gauges. I was told that it would be wise to plug the OEM sensor up somehow so the ECM has a reading? Does anyone know the side effects of having it unplugged?

P0113 - High Voltage signal from Intake Air Temp Sensor.

I can see this being a problem, since running so rich there has been an increase in buildup in gunk in the intake. I have never under my ownership of this Jeep ever touched this sensor. I’ve only unplugged it to get the harness out of the way for Throttle Body cleaning. I went ahead and just ordered a new sensor form Rockauto. They were cheap enough to throw at it and not feel bad about.

P1899 - Park/Neutral Switch stuck in park or gear.

This makes sense and I’m not worried. The NSS is still being used to fool the computer to start. I have it in Park, so the jeep will start. I know there is some wire jumping that can take place to eliminate the NSS altogether. For the life of me I could never find a writeup on 00-01 NSS bypass. NSS is neatly stored out of the way near the PDC.
 
IIRC the 2000 had dual cats on the down pipe from the exhaust manifold. I could be wrong.... Maybe find a97 or 98 or 99 single cat manual computer?
 
IIRC the 2000 had dual cats on the down pipe from the exhaust manifold. I could be wrong.... Maybe find a97 or 98 or 99 single cat manual computer?

My first goal was to find a manual computer for 00-01 but finding one is next to impossible.

Mine is a 2000, but I never had dual cats :dunno:
 
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