EricClaussen.com

More stuff that happened weeks ago.  The stock alternator is very weak,  47 amps I think.  Barely adequate in my opinion.  Add a stereo and a couple offroad lights and it would be straining to keep up.   I went to the junk yard and pulled a 120 amp alternator from a 94 Cadillac with the 4.9 v8 and without the heated windshield.    Spent a little time with a wire brush and gave it a shiny pulley  and painted fan and it looks like new.  About 1/5 the cost of a remanufactured part.

The first pic is the alternator,  the second pic is the new alternator installed.   The factory bracket had to be modified to accommodate the new,  bigger alternator.  The third pic shows the new cables.  Made up a 2 gauge cable from the alternator to the solenoid.  2 gauge from there to the battery.  Don’t want anything melting if it starts with a very low battery.

I did quite a bit of work to simplify and clean the engine compartment.

The first pic is the before shot.  Pretty ugly and crowded.     The second pic is  the after shot.   Made the new battery tray from scratch.  Was a fun little project.

Installed some new mirrors on the Jeep.   Figured it would be nice to actually SEE the cars in the lanes next to me.  The old mirrors were almost completely worthless.  The good thing is this old Jeep has much better visibility than anything modern.  All the roof supports are very thin.  Great for visibility,  just don’t roll it.