The Frog Blog

[connor0770]

thanks, ill keep and eye out. Why does your sons XJ have a JeepersJamboree sticker on it? Did you guys go on it?

 

[rocknxj]

thanks, ill keep and eye out. Why does your sons XJ have a JeepersJamboree sticker on it? Did you guys go on it?

Yes, we did the Jamboree back in '08 and it was one of the cooler things we have done, so there is certain sentimental value to that sticker. We did it in Old Blue ('99 Sport with a 3.5" lift/31" tires/stock gearing/open diffs) and dragged our asses on every rock along the trail, but we made it mostly intact and without being pulled UP any obstacles. Got high centered two times, but that's not bad with such low clearance.

I gave him that Jeep for a Grad gift and the sticker was on it. When he sold Old Blue 8 months later, he wanted to keep the sticker so he stuck it on the Green Machine. One day it will be replaced if we can scrounge up another 700 bucks for the next event...

See, every little thing has a story. Thanks for the question!

Here's pretty much how we looked right after the trip.

 

[srmitchell]

HAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAAA

WIN

 

[rocknxj]

HAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAAA

WIN

Well Sean, you got me thinking about Jeeper's Jamboree so I had to dig up some old photos of the EARLY days of Old Blue and post them on the FB.

Photo 1: The lineup at Gatekeeper.

Photo 2: Virgin XJ on the trail.

Photo 3: Taking it easy on the rocks.

Photo 4: Hugging the wall.

Photo 5: A little too close for comfort.

Photo 6: A little carnage from the wall.

Photo 7: Glad we made it this far without breaking anything important.

Photo 8: River crossing.

Photo 9: Enjoying a little down time at Rubicon Springs.

Photo 10: 100K XJ posing by his soon to be Jeep at the overlook past Cadillac Hill.

Photo 11: Old Blue showing off her baby flex and looking a little worse for wear.

Great trip. Can't wait to do this again.

Oh yeah....one last shot. I really dig this RE xj.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Man old blue was a good looking jeep. I unhackjobbed my drivers side front fender today. Picked up some of the door edge trim from wally world and some cut off wheels for my dremel and went to town in it. Looks much better now. I will get pics up tomorrow night once I finish the passenger side. Still need figure out a way to remount my flares for winter time. Need to cut that seam in the fenderwell so it doesn't murder my tires when I disco the front swaybar.

 

[rocknxj]

Post up some pics here, FlexdXJ.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Post up some pics here, FlexdXJ.

I sure will. Might try to tackle the Z34's soon. I started first shift today and I have to go Back to second next week to train on my new machines. So who knows when I will get those on. These machines are supposed to take 3-4 weeks to train on. I hate second!

 

[rocknxj]

My manifold arrived at the dealership today so I will be installing it tonight, right after my little kid's Cub Scout meeting. I should be able to get it put back together by 10 pm, unless I break something else.

I might make a lamp out of my old manifold. It's not quite a leg lamp, but it will have a certain amount of charm.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Alright here you go Kelly. I didn't get around to trimming the passenger fender yet, the pup is sick so I have to keep an eye on her. I did manage to get a pic of the driver side fender while i was grilling my steak.

Here is a before shot If you look at the cut in relation to the pinstripe its crooked:

Here is the after, Its much better:

 

[connor0770]

Sweet pictures and story Kelly. I went to the Jambo this year and had a blast. Then again i was spotting at toyota crusher the whole time. BTW the old Sheriff XJ you like is up for auction. They donated it to the FOTR so they could auction it off. Might wanna throw down a few bucks for a ticket.

 

[rocknxj]

Here is a before shot If you look at the cut in relation to the pinstripe its crooked:

Your Jeep is looking sweet, man. Thanks for posting pics. I'm going to have to get some of those amber lights like yours.

Good job on the trim job. You are braver than I am.

 

[rocknxj]

I picked up and installed my new intake manifold tonight, and got it all wrapped up in about an hour and a half. I had no problems with any of the manifold bolts and everything came together perfectly. On a related note, my original manifold is still very usable and not damaged like I suspected earlier. Perhaps the Green Machine will be the recipient of a better intake...

New '99 intake manifold. Aint she purty?

When it came time to crank her up, I was so hopeful that I fixed the intake leak. Unfortunately, it leaks worse now than before, probably because I don't want to over torque the bolts and risk damaging my new intake manifold. The whistle seems to be coming from the downpipe area and not the header or intake manifold, but I don't know for sure because I was too pissed to search for the source of the whistle.

When I return from Yosemite next week, I'll loosen and retorque all of the bolts, and maybe do a little more grinding around two locations where it contacts the header. If that does not do the trick, I'll go to another (better) exhaust shop and have my downpipe rebuilt with a larger pipe and better design. I suspect a poorly made and highly constrictive downpipe the first exhaust guys made for me. I discovered some shoddy workmanship when I pulled the header and looked into the downpipe and saw what they did. What do you think of this? Looks like crap if you ask me.

What you probably cannot see is the smaller diameter tube crudely fit into the larger diameter downpipe. Exhaust will hit it and cause turbulence (whistle???) until it can be expelled. That is definitely worse than my factory crimp.

 

[FlexdXJ]

Your Jeep is looking sweet, man. Thanks for posting pics. I'm going to have to get some of those amber lights like yours.

Good job on the trim job. You are braver than I am.

Thanks man, she is coming along nicely. I love the lightforces too! The interchangable filters are a great idea. The fenders were trimmed when I got it. He just kinda halfassed them and threw flares over them. My flares are going back on when I find a good way to mount them.

 

[american_zero]

That downpipe is a bit ugly. Is the upper part that bolts onto the manifold the original piece? I'm guessing they cut it off the original downpipe, expanded it, and shoved the newly bent piece inside of it? Did you end up noticing any change in performance/mpg with that new piece even though it's not so great?

If I get around to doing this, it's going to be mandrel bends butt welded together.

And can you clarify this?

On a related note, my original manifold is still very usable and not damaged like I suspected earlier.

Looked pretty well broken in your pics.

 

[rocknxj]

That downpipe is a bit ugly. Is the upper part that bolts onto the manifold the original piece? I'm guessing they cut it off the original downpipe, expanded it, and shoved the newly bent piece inside of it? Did you end up noticing any change in performance/mpg with that new piece even though it's not so great?

If I get around to doing this, it's going to be mandrel bends butt welded together.

And can you clarify this? Looked pretty well broken in your pics.

Agreed, the downpipe is indeed ugly and you are exacly correct with your description of how they built the downpipe. This was not evident until I pulled the header off and looked down into the downpipe.

As for performance, I don't believe I gained much but I am hoping to resolve that with a better flowing downpipe and elimination of whatever intake leak I may (or may not) have. I'm not 100% convinced the intake is leaking, as the whistling sound seems to be coming from the restrictive downpipe and not the manifold. If I don't have a good seal, I'm not sure where it is.

As for the original manifold, the photo shows a broken piece (alignment hole for the engine block pin) but I suspect the manifold can be installed without that alignment hole with no real problems. At first I thought it was a broken bolt mount. I have learned that it is for aligning the manifold with the engine block during installation. Cast aluminum may not hold a good weld but perhaps it can be repaired enough to hold during installation. I hope that makes sense.

Once the manifold bolts are torqued, I am thinking the alignment tabs/holes serve no structural purpose. Then again, perhaps they prevent the manifold from loosening during engine torque. Ideas???

This may sound contradictory, but the alignment hole bracket (for lack of proper term) snapped because I overtorqued the manifold bolts in an effort to eliminate the intake leak. The alignment hole was not perfectly seated around the engine block pin and overtightening the lower manifold bolts stressed and snapped the doohicky.

 

[american_zero]

Oh, didn't realize it was just an alignment pin hole on your manifold. That probably won't make a difference as to whether it stays toqued or not.

For the downpipe, I would see if I could get a die grinder inside and clean up that extra tubing and see what happens to the noise. You should be able to smooth out that edge pretty good if you take your time and have the right bit. Not sure if you need to remove it from the Jeep completely so you don't get shavings in the cat.

 

[rocknxj]

Oh, didn't realize it was just an alignment pin hole on your manifold. That probably won't make a difference as to whether it stays toqued or not.

For the downpipe, I would see if I could get a die grinder inside and clean up that extra tubing and see what happens to the noise. You should be able to smooth out that edge pretty good if you take your time and have the right bit. Not sure if you need to remove it from the Jeep completely so you don't get shavings in the cat.

The pic I posted does not clearly show the internal obstruction (heh, I've had that) in the downpipe. It is about 4 inches inside and it would take a bit of work to grind down. The easier, if not more expensive, path would be to have a new one fabbed by a qualified exhaust shop.

With the new exhaust header in place and OE downpipe with crimp, I got no intake whistle. As soon as I drove it away from the muffler shop, I got the whistle. Could backpressure cause that?

I'm certain I installed my new intake manifold perfectly last night, but I still have a whistle. I'll retorque the man again but I think I really need to eliminate the downpipe as a culprit.

 

[rocknxj]

Sometimes I feel like driving the Frog into a lake or off a cliff, as it seems like one problem leads to another, then another, and so on. Just empty every pockets, they say. My pockets be empty.

I tightened the manifold bolts tonight, one week after installing the new intake manifold. That seemed to reduce the intake whistle to maybe 20%, so maybe I can live with that for a while. I'll drive it tomorrow for the first time in a week and I hope it performs well enough to leave alone for a while. Too busy to mess with the Jeep these days.

This has been a remorseful FB update.

 

[matttaylor1976]

Are you sure the whistle is coming from the manifold? Have you checked the filter housing? I removed the "cone" in the intake tube near the airbox, and the slight whistle i had disappeared. Just a thought!

And just empty every pocket applies to us all, keep yer chin up.

 

[rocknxj]

Are you sure the whistle is coming from the manifold? Have you checked the filter housing? I removed the "cone" in the intake tube near the airbox, and the slight whistle i had disappeared. Just a thought!

And just empty every pocket applies to us all, keep yer chin up.

Drove to work today and the whistle (vacuum leak) seems to come from the intake manifold or other vacuum line. I tightened the manifold bolts last night and put a hose clamp on a loose line. Whistle is not too bad during normal driving now, but returns when I hit the accelerator. Not nearly as bad as it was. And yeah, I checked the filter housing and I've had that sucker off about a dozen times over the past month. Maybe I'm wearing out all of the hose connections and causing the leak myself.

I tried using a rubber tube to pinpoint the leak, but I ended up melting the end of the hose on the exhaust manifold (as well as my arm). LOL I also used WD40 to see if I could get an RPM change, but that resulted in a rather smelly hour-long ride to work. LOL X2.

As for the new hood louvers, I enjoyed seeing the waves of heat rise from the hood and distort my vision of the red tail lights as I sat in the early morning Lincoln traffic. They do look good, though, and I'm thinking of getting a bobble head hood ornament next.