While getting ready for Grand Slam West it dawned on me that I did not yet have a fire extinguisher. I looked at several mounts available at the hardware store but none of them appeared suitable for restraining an extinguisher in the back of a Jeep bouncing along off road. I then looked at several mounts intended for off road use but they were all way too expensive for a simple mount so, again, I just made my own. I made the bracket so all you have to do is pull a pin to release the extinguisher but was otherwise very sturdy.

On my old Grand Cherokee I had four 100W halogen off road lights mounted on the roof. These provided a decent amount of light but drew an absolute ton of power. For this go around I decided to use HID lamps for the lights instead. HIDs provide several times more light and draw a fraction of the power. Off the shelf HID setups cost a ton of money so the MacGyver in me kicked in and I made my own. I used Hella 4000 black anodized aluminum housings that use H1 bulbs. I then ordered a set of 55W H1 HID lamps from ddmtuning.com.

For the motor mounts, I’m making plates that bolt into the factory mounting locations. I started by cutting out pieces of 3/16″ steel and tack welding them together to follow the contours of the frame rails.

The steering wheel in the Jeep was getting pretty bad, the leather was cracked, peeling and flaking off. I have wanted to get it rewrapped by an upholstery place for a while; so while it’s out of commission for the motor swap I seized the opportunity. I went to three local automotive upholstery shops; one refused to do it because it was too time consuming, the other two wanted ~$200 to do it. That being an obvious waste of money, I decided to continue with the general theme of this Jeep build and indeed my life and just so it myself.

The front suspension consists of two FOA 14″ coil overs and two FOX 4″ air bump stops.

The Chevy power steering pump interfered with the steering box. The solution to this was to use a Jeep power steering pump from a Cherokee with a remote reservoir.

Here is the SolidWorks model of the bracket.