ready to mount glass body

Hey Jeeprs,

I'm now ready to mount a fiberglass body on an '86 CJ. I've read the book, I've seen the movie...now all I gotta find out are the last minute secrets yooz guys (and gals) know of this kinda project. For example; draping the rear wiring over the gas tank prior to mounting the body would make sense rather than fish it twixt the tank and crossmember later, and, making all dash accessory mounts on the bench where the lighting is better) but I need to know critical mistakes to avoid. Can I *share* a ground wire between the tail lights, license plate light and reverse lights or does each one need it's own ground point? I would hate to get it all threadlocked and then a day later remember I shoulda done something before that. One old timer said to just place the body on the frame and then go have a beer with yer buddies and talk about it for a week. I have thought about pre-mounting certain rubber mounts with High-Tac gasket compound (to keep them from moving) since I know where they all go already from pre-fitting. The factory wiring is '86, and I can't find any recalls or updates....unless somebody out there knows something. All lighting (except headlights and frog lights :) will be LED, so outside of running a ground to all that illumination will I need a balast? Thanks for checking this out. Any help is appreciated ... Happy Trails!

Reply to
TwoTracker
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I ran one 10 ga. ground wire for each harness piece including the dash and brought them together in a house style fuse panel wiring block I mounted above the Jeep's fuse panel on the engine side of the firewall. I then bolted that to a battery cable that runs across the firewall to the battery.

I ran the grounds to this 10 ga. wire. I stripped about an inch of insulation off it as I went along and wrapped the light or whatever ground pickup to the bare area then soldered it. I slipped heat shrink along the length of this wire for each joint and used dielectric grease under the heatshrink.

Most of my body mounts needed large washers as spacers to match them up for height. I used a cold galvanizing spray on them and they haven't rusted.

I also put metal plates under the body where the Sport bar connects. I made these front plates large enough that they tag the frame mounts so my bar is now frame tagged.

I know nothing about LED lights so can't help there.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >
Reply to
Mike Romain

Thanks for the idears Mike! Putting the central ground on the firewall over the fusebox is a great idea! Making a ground there and using a split connector to the various needs would look neat too. I remember when I took this Jeep apart I found screw attachments for grounding into the frame in several places.. Some were barely hangin on by a strand. I think I should make one convergence point for the rear of the vehicle (for the gas tank sending unit, reverse light, and taillight ground). Allright now I see in a parts catalog Painless makes a grounding kit for fiberglass bodies.

I found out too that a balast isn't necessary for LEDs, however that may be required in some digital readout applications (like a gauge or a sequential blinker).

About the plates you installed for the sport bar. Did that affect ride quality at all? A buddy of mine installed a frame tie in kit, where the plates under the roll bar are welded to tubes that are welded to the frame. It made for a more of a jolting ride. So he cut about an inch out of the middle of the tubing, made larger sleeve around the cut out space (welded only to one tube) so that in the event of a roll the tube(s) would not displace). This is all theory, as he has never rolled it to see if this engineered gap would withstand any omnidirectional forces. It did restore ride quality tho by allowing the rubber mounts to do their job.

I enjoyed the excellent pix of your end of summer run.

. .

updates....unless

Reply to
TwoTracker

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