This was a great thread on my old car forum. The basic premise is for this to be a one stop thread for cheap mods. $20 and under mods only. Basically im a cheap bastard and I know others are too.
(if this is a repeat thread, then forgive me i searched first)
I can start her off:
Made my own shorty antenna. Use two pliers to pry off the ball on the top of the stock antenna. Cut to desired length, and reattach ball with epoxy. I also painted mine black. Best part about this one is it was free (I had the epoxy and paint sitting in my garage, but even if you don't they are still cheap)
Next:
I also bought a shorty antenna online, it was only $15. The reason I made mine though is the reception is spotty where I live (its mountainy here, I need a longer one [thats what she said]) Heres a pic of the one i bought.
Lastly:
Plastidipped my wheels. Self explanatory and you can see a pic in my signature. Cost ~$20 for all four wheels.
If you still keep your engine cover on, paint it to suit your preferences. I've seen some real creative, high tech. ones over in the LX community. Mine, below, (WK and LX) are kind of simple.....like me.
Very nice looking. I'm thinking of getting a LX one as think they are longer and want to hide as much as possible under it. I wont have the large cowl part jutting forward when it gets installed in my Willys.
Interesting! I haven't tried swapping them, but from the looks of the two, I don't think the LX one will fit on the WK. Give me a little time this morning and I'll go out and give it a try.
OK, I went out and gave it a try. The LX one is about 2 in. longer and won't come close to fitting the WK. There is interference everywhere including back toward the firewall, and the rubber cups that secure it are in different places. Also, there are only two on the WK and 4 on the LX. I also tried the WK one on LX and it looks like a bad joke. It doesn't cover the back of the motor by that two "missing" inches, and nothing lines up with it either. I imagine if someone was determined to put an LX one on a WK, it would be possible, but not without a lot of cutting and hacking. Not worth it, IMO.
Hardwire radar detector
Throttle body ground mod
Shorty antenna
Canbus LEDs
Remove intake cover (flap in front passenger grille covering next to headlight)
Overland bumper insert
Debadge
Just bought this off of Ebay. There was one from Hong Kong for $15 but bought the same keyfob from an American seller to make sure it arrived faster. It took a little bit of customizing for the chip from my old key to fit but works great now.
More info! I absolutely hate the key for the 05-07s! It's so uncomfortable IMO. Can you provide a link? How bad was the install? What's the quality like?
Here is the link for the switchblade key on Ebay, depending on where you want it shipped from (i.e China,Hong Kong, US) the price will differ. Just make sure you choose the 3 button or 4 button. The quality is actually pretty good, it has been working great for me. The install was a bit of a pain due to the fact that my chip didn't fit perfectly between the shell, so I just trimmed some of the plastic on the inside of the shell where the battery goes and that helped. I also shaved down the chip itself so that the butttons would line up better, but if you don't want to risk ruining the chip just make the button holes (lock, unlock) larger by grinding them. If you lood closely at the pictures you can see that there is a larger lip at the bottom of the lock/unlock buttons. Hope this helped, it really is not that difficult of a project if you use a drummel. Good luck
Yup only one key. I go mine done at Home Depot. Lowe's said that they were reluctant to do it because the guy thought he would ruin the key? The guy at Home Depot was kind of the same way but I told him it was alright to try it and it worked great and he didn't even charge me.
Great idea Beanie-Boy! Thanks so much for posting this! I had been having trouble with the internal plastic holding the logic board in place on one of my old keys for a long time now. I guess the older lady I bought it from dropped it one too many times lol I ordered the new key from a different seller that's also american. I'll put the link below. It matches my 05 stock key a bit better than the one you had showed. But no modification was needed. Quality of the product seems decent. Not as solid as the stock key, but should work even with everyday use.
The one thing I would note is that I went to a good locksmith to have the key cut, the top edge of the new key was polished and rounded off wider than most blank keys I've seen. The stock key has a leveled off sharp pointed edge. My locksmith said he could make it work with some modification and grinding down of the tip. Luckily the shaft on the new key was a bit longer than the stock key to allow for this. But he also said without it being ground off or cut flat, it could make the key jam up or become ground down quicker after a few months use. Just thought I'd throw that out there incase anyone else was wanting to do this mod. It may be something a Lowes or Home Depot employee might miss if they weren't trained on it, which could cause your new key to go bad after a few months to a year. This is also why sometimes you have to wiggle your key back and forth in the socket to turn it. It's a sign that you need a new key cut. Plus it only cost me $3.50 at the locksmith. Not much difference in price to make sure it's done right.
Great idea Beanie-Boy! Thanks so much for posting this! I had been having trouble with the internal plastic holding the logic board in place on one of my old keys for a long time now. I guess the older lady I bought it from dropped it one too many times lol I ordered the new key from a different seller that's also american. I'll put the link below. It matches my 05 stock key a bit better than the one you had showed. But no modification was needed. Quality of the product seems decent. Not as solid as the stock key, but should work even with everyday use.
The one thing I would note is that I went to a good locksmith to have the key cut, the top edge of the new key was polished and rounded off wider than most blank keys I've seen. The stock key has a leveled off sharp pointed edge. My locksmith said he could make it work with some modification and grinding down of the tip. Luckily the shaft on the new key was a bit longer than the stock key to allow for this. But he also said without it being ground off or cut flat, it could make the key jam up or become ground down quicker after a few months use. Just thought I'd throw that out there incase anyone else was wanting to do this mod. It may be something a Lowes or Home Depot employee might miss if they weren't trained on it, which could cause your new key to go bad after a few months to a year. This is also why sometimes you have to wiggle your key back and forth in the socket to turn it. It's a sign that you need a new key cut. Plus it only cost me $3.50 at the locksmith. Not much difference in price to make sure it's done right.
quite easy. That was during my LED craze lol, so i was experimenting with em. I had em hooked up to come on whenever i opened the doors..not the most useful way. You can tap em to the cig lighter(power when key is in) so it stays on. There are other ways but im no wiring expert.
The pics looks much brighter but the compartment LED was dim, great for ambient lighting. The lower door led IIRC was a 4 chip led so it was much brighter. I removed em when i was bout to trade mine in but never went thru with it
Had in in my old car, you can run them off a switch, red wire from switch to battery then black goes to a ground on both the switch and lights, white is the hot wire which you connect the hot wire on the lights to. It works rather easily, and can be turned on and off with ease. The switch also fits nicely in the cubby to the left of the steering wheel on the wk.
I used the single bulb ones, they come in packs of 4 at pepboys, there pretty cheap like $6 or $7 and ive never had a problem with them, they come with a gromet, I think its like a 3/16 hole, thread the wire through and the grommet snaps in place
i used some leds from Vleds, cant remember the name but i can find out if you are interested. If you look at my pic, the wire is actually between the silver benzel and the door handle plastic. You can actually snap it between and 3m tape the led.
You may be able to drill a hole BUT iirc that compartment is blocked by some sort of panel. If you are able to take off the door panel, you will see what i mean. A few clips and 3 screws and itll snap off
i had em wired whenever my interior lights would go on, not the best choice. I forgot which wires i tapped in under the steering wheel but ill find out
Why would you say that wasn't the best choice? I would just want them on whenever I'd put the jeep in park so people can actually find the door handle instead of playing hide-n-seek ahah