Fueling Up

I know this will come as sort of a shock to you all, but I'm sort of a gearhead. I like to know how mechanical things work. I also like making things and putting things together with my own two hands. I've been working on a Jeep project for quite some time now, and this weekend I got to squeeze a lot of wrench time in. It's good for the soul. To get it roadworthy, I just have to finish the fuel system and the electrics. Everything else is bolted in and ready to go. The biggest reason it's taking so long is the fact that I'm putting in an engine that came from a 2001 Chevy Silverado. '82 Jeep CJ-7 with an '01 5.3 Vortec V8. Yeah. It will be a substantial drivetrain upgrade.

The top picture is the Dana 300 transfer case. This is what transfers power to the front wheels when I'm in four wheel drive. I rebuilt it completely and modified it with two shifters (twin stick) so that I can control whether I'm in four wheel drive, two wheel rear, or two wheel front drive at any point. Yeah, you read that right. I can make my Jeep a front wheel drive vehicle as easily as a rear wheel drive, just by shifting. It should be fun, and I can't wait.







This is the fuel tank and fuel line I spent the weekend on. There's just something beautiful about aluminum AN fittings on stainless steel braided fuel line. Extra abrasion protection is provided by the black fire resistant conduit wrapped around it in sections where the line may touch the frame and body. It should last as long as I'm alive and , in my opinion, overbuilt is always better.

This is where it feeds the engine. The return line is hooked up to the manifold, but I don't have the feed line hooked up yet. You see, with some fuel injection systems, there is a need for a return line back to the fuel tank for when your engine isn't using all the fuel being pumped to it at any given time. It all runs at about 50 psi, so braided line is almost a necessity. Look at those beautiful fittings. It makes me all warm and cozy inside. $24 just for the two blue fittings to adapt it to the Vortec manifold. Black corrosion resistant fittings (like the one connected) are $9 each, and worth every penny.
Last weekend I worked on getting the fuel tank mocked up to make sure everything would fit, and this weekend, I finished installing the pump assembly and sending unit. It's all set and ready to send the life juice to my sweet power plant under the hood. I'll spend next week installing it under the back end permanently.

These are my two beautiful Optima Red Top batteries. One for starting the engine, and the other is switched on once in a while for other things (like a winch in the future) and for emergency backup. The alternator charges both, and the microprocessor powered solenoid right above them switches between the two as needed. I flip a switch on the dash if I need emergency startup power. Yeah, I know, too cool.

So, I've gotta say my day was a good day. Not only did I not watch as the Dow Jones Industrial average had it's single worst point drop in history, I didn't have to do any yard work. It's starting to cool off here and the grass is finally slowing down a little. There for a bit I was mowing every five or six days. Not my idea of fun. My good friends have an awesome lawn of Zoysia, and the wife has commented about copying said greenery. Well, I checked out the cost involved in switching to Zoysia, and that may not be as high on the list of "things to do" as we first thought. We'll see. Maybe a little more research will uncover some better methods to a beautiful, low maintenance lawn next year. That will mean more time for playing in the Jeep and exploring cool places with my lovely wife.