Colorado JP #29

[AJ Quick]

Check your oil level a bunch too.

Who knows.. maybe your oil all emptied out while you were driving.

[COBrian]

Been very busy... We went to Orland for 11 days, and got back last Monday, catching up with work/recovering from vacation has been the order of the week. Nothing new to report on the Jeep, really. I did call up bestop and get some new compression nuts, which are the nuts that go on the half door inserts when you have a solid upper half door. They should be coming in this week. Turns out though I originally had aftermarket door inserts from bulldawg, with locking screws. But they wanted $60 for their special inserts, so I just went with standard inserts and the compression nuts.

Orlando: went to Universal 4 days, and disney 6, and one day of chillin....

Universal was doing halloween horror nights at universal studios, but no jp jeeps there. Universal Islands of Adventure had out all three Jurassic Vehicles, Jeep, Explorer, and Mercedes.

The Jeep that was out was one of the original ones from the movie, as it still had the camera rigging welded underneath it, but it was repainted(poorly) and had missing parts. I can post pictures, but since it is no longer screen accurate, I don't really want to do so. It was painted number 23, the font was wrong on the numbers and jp on the hood. The strip was not the correct windshield angle (it was too steep). It was missing front fog lights, and rear lights. The plastic windows were difficult to see through, but there were some parts on the floor, but the interior still looked decent. Ps it still looks like the thread on reference material on the IOA jeep.

The explorer also (to me, but I haven't studied it like I have the jeep) seemed to be a repaint, as the red was very dark maroon not red like the movie. The windows were completely blacked out on the sides, and looking through the windshield it did not appear to have the same interior as the movie ones...

The Mercedes looked pretty decent exterior wise, but it was the "removed top" model, so the interior was horrible looking as it is exposed to the elements. There was some weird oil derek looking thing in the back of it sticking up?? weird...

[COBrian]

I put my hard top on craigslist. After reinstalling it for the change in weather... I just really don't see me having a real need for it, as this is my 3rd vehicle, the likely hood that I would have to drive it in extreme cold is low, so soft top for me should be fine,, and that way I'm not tempted to get full hard doors either.... Since I bought replacement half door inserts and proper compression nuts and actually have the half slider uppers bolted down, they are very stable, so I doubt I would get full doors anyway.

I really thought originally I would want all the top options, IE hard, and soft.. but now after living with the jeep for a while, I just really dont care about having the hard top.... Plus I am hoping I can sell it for more than the soft top+hardware is going to cost me , and I can recoup a little $$.

[COBrian]

My hard top sold tonight... I took $800 for it, so I'm all set to buy a soft top now.... May wait though... I need to pay some bills... and the jeep is low priority at the moment.

[AJ Quick]

I should probably sell mine too...

I really like having it though!

[COBrian]

I've been very busy, but since I actually got to deal with the jeep today I thought I'd check in on everyone, and give an update.

Well my it was warm today. 60 degrees Felt amazing after the last 4 weeks... I took down the Xmas Lights and it was so hot, I thought hey, I should crank up the jeep, and run her some since she hadn't even been started in 3 months.

She starts up fine, I take her out of the garage, and let her idle in the driveway a bit, and check where she had been parked for signs of trouble. Some antifreeze on the garage floor. I look under the jeep in the front and no drips.... hmmmmm maybe it was just that negative whatever playing havoc on my hoses.... I'll keep an eye on it.... Well thats weird... drips in the back..... Driver side above the axle.... looks like water.... OH no its Gas..... The weather evidently killed one of my fuel hoses.... ARGH!!!!!

So.... evidently I now get to drop the gas tank and replace the fuel lines between the filter and the gas tank....

I actually have three days off over this weekend (including today) from both jobs.... and no plans tomorrow and monday.... I might try to tackle it now.... the suck part is my tank is completely full.....

[COBrian]

Sunday I dropped the fuel tank. The 20 gal tank is a tight fit.... It won't be fun I don't think getting it back in there.

The rubber fuel hoses from the tank to the hard line right above the rear axle were dry rotted... So I will be getting parts and replacing ALL of the rubber lines for the fuel tank over the next few weeks, when weather and schedule allows... The fuel filler and vent lines to the fill nipples are specific parts and I had to order them, the fuel and vapor lines that go tank to hard lines are standard sized fuel lines, which should be available at the local auto store.

On removing the rear tank. the 20 gal barely fits in between the frame rails, so you have to remove the fuel filler/vent hoses to the rear filler neck, which was tricky as there is very little room in there and getting off 20 year old hoses ain't always fun. The write up I found didn't include this step, so fair warning! (I bet the write up I was reading was the 15 gallon tank which has more clearance)

Steps to remove gas tank: Remove license plate and plate frame. Remove trim around filler. Remove plastic cover under rear corner to access internal area of fuel filler. Remove filler and vent hoses from tank to filler. Support tank with jack. Remove 4 nuts along rear of gas skid plate (only need socket wrench on nut), and 3 along front of skid plate(will need monkey wrench on top of bolt and socket wrench on bottom). The tank is now Free of the vehicle. Slowly lower the tank with your jack. (It will get stuck at this point. just a warning!) The passenger side gets hung up a bit on the exhaust hanger/exhuast pipe, and the driver side fill/vent nipples get stuck on the frame rail. I just wiggled and tilted the tank and pushed the exhaust pipe out of the way until it came out.

Note: I tried to empty my tank some before doing this work, but could only manage to get out between 6-8 gallons and I was nearly full. I had a horrible siphon kit. But I think the extra weight in the tank helped get it down. I could not get my siphon tube down the filler neck, so I had to siphon mine once I had the filler and vent hoses off, and could get to the tank fill nipples. I will have to finish emptying my tank now, as getting it back I can tell would be near impossible with the weight.

It is very straight forward work, but difficult to get to the filler and vent hoses. The rear bolts came off with just some pounding to get started.. the front skid plate bolts needed penetrating oil, and some pounding to get started.

Note 2: The write up I read said you needed to drop the tank 6 inches or so and then disconnect the electrical connections. Mine had plenty of slack in the electrical lines. Mine did not have enough slack in the Vapor line, and the T that connects the vapor line to each side vapor valve bent and broke. (Big deal since I'm replacing all the lines anyway)

[Boomerjinks]

That's rough! You should have just gone up and over through Daniel's Park a few times to drain that tank, Saturday would have been the perfect day for it.

[COBrian]

Mailed off the application for my custom license plate today!

And ordered my Celebrity machines blank JP plates....

No Changing numbers now!

[COBrian]

I got around to finishing the fuel line replacement tonight.

I ordered the filler and vent hoses online for $25 for both.
The 5/16 fuel lines and 3/16 vapor line I picked up at the auto store.
The new pipe clamps I got at home depot.
Since I broke the T for the vapor line, I had to buy a new T, but could not get one to match the stock one. The stock one is 3/16 x 1/4 x 1/4. The auto store only had all the same. So I had to get a 3/16 T, and then 2 3/16 to 1/4 straight connectors. So now I have the T with a short line on each side going to the straight connectors, then connecting to the original vapor line to each end of the tank.

I removed all the old lines, then took those with me to the auto store and had them match them. Got home, then started reassembly. I had a diagram before removing the old lines to make sure I did NOT get the fuel supply and return lines crossed.

Getting the hoses through the grommet, use some dishwashing liquid or some other lubricant. The vapor lines the auto store had were a bit thicker on the outside than my originals and were a pain to get through, but the fuel lines were identical so not too bad. One of the barbs on the fuel tank is bigger than the other one. Getting the new line on this barb was a real pain, and probably took the most time of anything and was annoying as anything. With the hoses reconnected I then had to get the tank back up, I jacked the jeep up to get more room for the method I wanted to try to get the tank back in(which i left it stock height when removing it). Then I used a jack on the driver side and lifted it diagonally upwards, then reconnected the wiring, and then I then lifted the passenger side with another jack. It went in with this diagonal method much easier than it came out. I then shimmied it around until it lined up with the mounting holes, and the started the bolts, but did NOT tighten them. I then reinstalled the filler and its vent hose. I was afraid of tightening the tank in case I needed to move it around while getting the filler hoses back on. Once back on, Tighten it all down, get all the trim back on, and DONE. About 4 hours tonight (not counting trip to store for supplies).

Started Jeep up and no leaks, running good. I'm ready for warm weather!

An image of the rotted old lines is on the jurassicjeep journal entry if anyone wants to see what 20 years can do to rubber lines.