02 Jeep Grand Cherokee Build (AKA Project Silent Night)

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Not sure if I like the position the battery is in. I mean if you had to get to the pos and neg it would be a pita to get to.

I know what you mean but having it upright was not an option as the hood wouldn't close. Additionally the inconvenience is worth it considering that I have an additional 35 amp hours over the group 65 that it should have. I feel like once I get the battery terminals on it won't be bad.

 

[dbjunior 10+ year member]

Yeah they are on the to be ordered list with a lot of other things. Unfortunately I think I might have to open up my wallet for some tires soon as the ones on it are pretty cheap and not really ideal for winter. Considering some Toyo AT 2's.

Look into the bfg at ko2. Great tires and can be had for a reasonable price. Look at tirebuyer.com use mobile though so you can get an extra $40 off purchase. Also if you have them shipped to a local install place the give another discount. Go through the list of installers ive found as cheap as $60 install for all 4. Ive never had luck with toyo tires or townfair.

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Look into the bfg at ko2. Great tires and can be had for a reasonable price. Look at tirebuyer.com use mobile though so you can get an extra $40 off purchase. Also if you have them shipped to a local install place the give another discount. Go through the list of installers ive found as cheap as $60 install for all 4. Ive never had luck with toyo tires or townfair.

Thanks for the tip I will certainly keep that in mind. My main reason for wanting the Toyo is they come pretty highly recommended on the Duramax pages. It doesn't look like they make that tire in my size from what I can see. I will look into tire buyer though.

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Well today I made some fuse holders, they aren't fully finished but you'll get the idea. I couldn't justify buying a bunch of the singles (at like $8 a piece) or paying for a machined one ($160 for 1 6 spot). I think the overall cost of the two of these was roughly $60, I'll put the links for them in the post if anyone else wants to make their own.

Project Box $12.66

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010724T3Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Aluminum Bolts $10.82

https://www.zoro.com/value-brand-hex-cap-screw-516-18x1-14-pk25-1yb73/i/G0458595/?q=G0458595

Aluminum nuts $6.02

https://www.zoro.com/value-brand-hex-nut-516-18-aluminum-plain-pk100-1we75/i/G1624226/?q=G1624226

Square foot of 1/4 inch lexan $9.90

https://www.zoro.com/lexan-sheet-stck-12-in-w-12-in-l-0236-in-t-1etl3/i/G3360192/?q=G3360192

Aluminum bar stock $12.55

https://www.zoro.com/value-brand-bar-stock-aluminum-6063-14-x-1-in-8-ft-6alw7/i/G4333901/?q=G4333901

If you wanted to cut cost farther you could potentially use thinner lexan, not use the bar stock at all and use steel hardware, but I felt this offered a good solid final product.

First I made a template of the lid out of paper, I cut the inside out with a razorblades so I could get closest to the edges. The lid has a slightly tighter inside area than the bottom piece apparently.



Then I transferred that to a piece of cardboard.

So I cut the lexan with a scroll saw and apparently I **** at it, however it cuts better than my jigsaw.

All put together, when I drilled my holes in the aluminum I used one as a template and then transferred that to all the others. Apparently that wasn't a good idea as some of my holes got off their intended like I should have drawn them all out.

I think I want to paint the inside when it gets warmer, you could also add LED's inside if you were so inclined. I still need to make the openings for the wire to pass through.

 

[ChaseinBass]

That came out nice !

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

That came out nice !

Thanks I realized just now that one side of each should use a piece of lexan instead of bar because if a fuse fails the current will still flow as they're all connected.

 

[ChaseinBass]

I was going to ask about that ? I was was sitting thinking about it ha ha ! They came out great though

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[staan]

Question, wouldn't this type of fusing cause no or at least compromised protection from a dead short? For instance, say you have 0/1 on multiple runs going into the fuses and one of the cables gets shorted to ground and starts pulling current. It will pop fuses but overall the shorted cable will take the sum of all the fuses worth of current until they all pop which could cause a fire with that amount of current. I would imagine non common separated fuse linkage for each wire would prevent such a scenario.

ie: I don't think using buss bars as a fusible link setup is a good idea.

lol you seen it as I was typin this

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

I was going to ask about that ? I was was sitting thinking about it ha ha ! They came out great though

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Yeah I was in the shower thinking and I realized I messed up. It will be easy to cut a piece of lexan and drill the holes and swap them out on the outlet side

Question, wouldn't this type of fusing cause no or at least compromised protection from a dead short? For instance, say you have 0/1 on multiple runs going into the fuses and one of the cables gets shorted to ground and starts pulling current. It will pop fuses but overall the shorted cable will take the sum of all the fuses worth of current until they all pop which could cause a fire with that amount of current. I would imagine non common separated fuse linkage for each wire would prevent such a scenario.
ie: I don't think using buss bars as a fusible link setup is a good idea.

lol you seen it as I was typin this

Yeah we were talking about it realized it in the shower.

 

[ChaseinBass]

I like your idea and am thinking adding it to my install, but i am using different fuse holders that will work in the project box you found.

View attachment 26555856

I think it will nice to keep them out of the weather and water and it will look nice too.

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Well I fixed my mess ups and notched out the sides today. I wasn't going to take the time to make individual spots for each wire. I know the cuts look low but they're in line with the nuts. They do need to be painted this summer the whitish tan plastic seems to get dirty easy.

 

[ChaseinBass]

Looks really good I like it !

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[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Looks really good I like it !

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Thanks a little paint will improve them I think. You could probably make them for 4/0 wire by either trimming the lid or using a taller box.

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Well I cut myself some deadener today lol it was supposed to be two pieces but I kinda broke the one for the back. I'm doing Vibraflex from the B-Pillar forward and the MDF to the rear. I need to get some PL Premium to secure it to the roof. Figured it would work better than deadener, as it's dense heavy and not very flexible plus it's cheap. I want to utilize my headliner in the front though keep a clean factory look.

 

[nkrell11 10+ year member]

Well small updates as usual, been attaching wood to the roof over the last couple of days. I put the first piece up Monday and let it cure the full 24 hours to make sure it would stay stuck on. Attaching it to the roof by myself wasn't too bad probably because the pieces weren't huge. Used a full tube of PL premium on each piece figured it would be sufficient. Vibraflex will be in Friday so I'll have something to do, also waiting on one more part so I can start fixing the heat issues.

I might not have many friends but I have jacks and they're helpful and don't complain. Test fitting the first piece basically I just screwed everything together and it made it pretty easy to just guide into place.



This is the second piece I put up, the spots that don't have any adhesive are where the ribs in the roof are so the wood doesn't make contact there.



When I put up the second piece it didn't want to stick on the outside edges as well I think it's because the strips holding everything up didn't have enough pressure. Good thing we have a couple jacks at the house.



The back one that's already cured feels very solid, the other one should be cured around 5 today. I'm thinking about doing some spray foam around the perimeter of the roof where you see the holes above the windows in the last picture. Not sure if it would be of any benefit but I only want to do all this once.