[Halveye]

UPDATE: As you may recall, my attempt at fixing the blend door issue was thwarted by a broken blend door shaft and gear (double whammy)

so I have been researching in an attempt to finds a solution... Appears that this guy did...

2005-2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee/Commander DUAL ZONE Blend Door Repair Kit | Blend Door Repair

You asked for it, we heard you, and after prototyping and testing we are pleased to offer our Dual Zone Blend Door Repair Kit! If you have a broken blend door shaft (the white shaft sticking out of the HVAC box that connects to the blend door actuator shaft), our Dual Zone Blend Door Actuator...

www.blenddoorrepair.com

Ordered and plan to try out soon...

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: Catch can catch of the day...2 months in cold weather (Indiana)...

And then clean...

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: As you may recall, my attempt at fixing the blend door issue was thwarted by a broken blend door shaft and gear (double whammy)
View attachment 221184 View attachment 221183


so I have been researching in an attempt to finds a solution... Appears that this guy did...

2005-2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee/Commander DUAL ZONE Blend Door Repair Kit | Blend Door Repair

You asked for it, we heard you, and after prototyping and testing we are pleased to offer our Dual Zone Blend Door Repair Kit! If you have a broken blend door shaft (the white shaft sticking out of the HVAC box that connects to the blend door actuator shaft), our Dual Zone Blend Door Actuator...

www.blenddoorrepair.com

View attachment 221187 View attachment 221186 View attachment 221185
Ordered and plan to try out soon...

UPDATE: Attempted the fix for the blend door shaft... Was going well until I was screwing in the last millimeter distance or so in order to be able to mount the actuator, then the shaft broke internally/blend door fell off inside...I knew it was a risk on this old vehicle... Hopefully someone else has better luck with this workaround fix.

If I could only find a replacement blend door/shaft itself, like is offered for the earlier models that had this issue, that would be great... Unfortunately none exist, at least per my search

 

[Halveye]

Another successful catch...50 days... keeping that throttle body clean... I’m still perplexed that Billet actually recommended against buying their catch can when I was ordering, due to no mount for my year of Jeep... thanks to multiple forum members, I was able to fabricate one...

And... clean (I’ve been actually adding a bit of RemOil to the threading due to some issues with the threading locking down in the past)

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: Picked up a new HUD display which uses GPS instead of OBD if the OBD port is in use (mine is being used by the Diablosport Trinity screen that is attached to my steering column).

Installed

Actually working very well/accurate.

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: Oil change and Catch Can dump at 175,034 miles. Last Catch Can dump was in early March (last oil change in November.... been about 6k miles...5w20 Valvoline pure synthetic and Lucas synthetic oil stabilizer... ran Sea Foam through it over a 400 mile period).

Using a Gold Plug which I find does catch metal shavings at every oil change...

Catch Can catch...

And clean...

And figured I would put up a pic of the EMP Shield...

My next venture is replacing spark plugs and installing Sultan of Spark coils.

 

[jeepgcoman]

Ha, looking at your insulated airbox and intake tube brings back memories of long ago. Back around 2006-2007 a bunch of us over on one of the LX forums were trying to get the airbox temperature and the temperature at the throttle body to be as close as possible. The LX's IAT Sensor was located just in front of the throttle body so I put a remote reading thermometer in the airbox and read the IAT Sensor with my DashHawk. I tried about 3-4 different intake tube configurations, including one similar to yours. The most exotic one was a double walled, insulated (between the walls) tube. Bottom line, after months of testing, is that they only do any real good around town when you get a lot of heat soak in stop and go driving. Even then, the difference in performance (or cooler intake air) is not that noticeable. On the highway, my Jeep IAT runs within 0-5 degrees of ambient. Also, any time you're at WOT, there is no difference in IAT and ambient because the air is moving too fast to heat up within the tube. My current setup is a modified stock LX SRT8 airbox with an additional inlet into the box and a basically stock, extended LX SRT8 intake tube. On the Jeeps, the IAT Sensor's location is not near as bad as on the LX's because the Jeep IAT Sensors is closer to the airbox.....about a foot farther away from the throttle body than the LX's......Jeep's is about 14 inches from IAT Sensor to the center of the intake bend at the throttle body and the LX's only about 1.5 inches from the throttle body. Here's a pix of my double walled intake tube on the LX and one of the setup on my Jeep.

 

[joshfindley15]

Been there too

 

[Halveye]

Ha, looking at your insulated airbox and intake tube brings back memories of long ago. Back around 2006-2007 a bunch of us over on one of the LX forums were trying to get the airbox temperature and the temperature at the throttle body to be as close as possible. The LX's IAT Sensor was located just in front of the throttle body so I put a remote reading thermometer in the airbox and read the IAT Sensor with my DashHawk. I tried about 3-4 different intake tube configurations, including one similar to yours. The most exotic one was a double walled, insulated (between the walls) tube. Bottom line, after months of testing, is that they only do any real good around town when you get a lot of heat soak in stop and go driving. Even then, the difference in performance (or cooler intake air) is not that noticeable. On the highway, my Jeep IAT runs within 0-5 degrees of ambient. Also, any time you're at WOT, there is no difference in IAT and ambient because the air is moving too fast to heat up within the tube. My current setup is a modified stock LX SRT8 airbox with an additional inlet into the box and a basically stock, extended LX SRT8 intake tube. On the Jeeps, the IAT Sensor's location is not near as bad as on the LX's because the Jeep IAT Sensors is closer to the airbox.....about a foot farther away from the throttle body than the LX's......Jeep's is about 14 inches from IAT Sensor to the center of the intake bend at the throttle body and the LX's only about 1.5 inches from the throttle body. Here's a pix of my double walled intake tube on the LX and one of the setup on my Jeep.

View attachment 225263 View attachment 225264 View attachment 225264

Always interesting to see mod experiments. Looks like you’ve tried them all, very cool info. Yeah, I didn’t expect to get much from wrapping the modular intake tube, but I did notice that at interstate speeds, the temperature of IAT dropped about 5 degrees, so I was happy to see a result.

What’s your thoughts on Sultan of Spark coils (with NGK copper plugs)?

 

[jeepgcoman]

Always interesting to see mod experiments. Looks like you’ve tried them all, very cool info. Yeah, I didn’t expect to get much from wrapping the modular intake tube, but I did notice that at interstate speeds, the temperature of IAT dropped about 5 degrees, so I was happy to see a result.

What’s your thoughts on Sultan of Spark coils (with NGK copper plugs)?

Funny you should ask. I am just in the middle of another mod. (haven't done any in a couple years) and I started getting a misfire on No. 6. I swapped the coil with No. 2 and the problem moved to No. 2. I had a spare SOS coil so I swapped it out and now all is good. Those coils have been on there for probably 5-6 years and this is the first time I've had a problem with any of them. Curiously, it began at the same time I started doing my new mod. Overall, prior to this, I've rarely had any misfires so, unless I start having other problems, I'll say that they work great. I've also got the SOS coils on my 5.7 Dodge Magnum. Never had a problem with those either I can't run the spark plug gaps at .060 in. anymore though because I've raised the compression ratio a little and I started getting spark blowout and had to eventually narrow the gaps to .050 in.

The mod I am doing now is to switch out my 06 PCM/TCM in favor of a 2008 PCM/TCM so I can access the transmission programming with my HP Tuner. Here's the reference to the thread::

Turning an 05-06 Jeep 545RFE 5 speed into a 6 speed

For you guys with 05-06 Jeeps with the 545RFE (4.7's and 5.7's), I have a good mod. for you. On mine, I've installed a 2008 PCM/TCM and, using my HP Tuner have turned the 5 speed transmission into a 6 speed transmission. It's a pretty easy mod. but could get a little expensive IF you don't have...

www.jeepgarage.org

So far I've worked through all the codes, fixed the misfire (it was only at high RPM) and modified the shift pressures and a few other things. I used to think the way I had it set up with the Superchips Tuner's Advanced Transmission App. was really good, but with this new setup, it makes the old setup look like a stocker. All the shifts are now lightning fast and very firm, plus now in Drive it shifts 1 through 6 instead of 1 through 5. The CAN bus speed is also faster with the newer one. So far I've taken it on a 60 mile trip on the Interstate and it appears that the MDS stays on longer and the fuel economy is better. I usually used to get 21-23 mpg on the highway (figured by hand) but this time the EVIC showed 21.2 mpg outbound and 24.5 mpg inbound. I don't know how accurate the EVIC is now, so on Monday the wife and I are going to do a 150 mile trip and check the mileage by hand. Oh, I also put a different tune on the engine and gave it more timing at lower RPM and less timing at the higher RPM....which is usually WOT anyway. Time will tell how this works out but, I can say that I am loving the 6 speed. It eliminates the big RPM drop on the 2-3 WOT up shift. Between 2-3 is where the extra gear (the old 2 Prime) is and now it makes it like a close ratio from 2nd to 4th.

 

[Halveye]

Not exactly Jeep related, but associated with something I installed in my Jeep. Last December I installed an EMP Shield on my Jeep, and planned to do the same to my house. There was a July 4th discount so I went ahead and ordered one for the house. Not too long after, multiple lightning strikes hit very near to the house, and hit one of my coworker’s house, so I was glad I grabbed one for the house.

 

[Halveye]

Catch can dump: 3 months/about 1200 miles

 

[Halveye]

Oil change 178,198/catch can dump

Using Valvoline SynPower High Mileage 5w20 full synthetic and Lucas Full Synthetic oil stabilizer, with a K&N oil filter

Gold Plug: Showing metal shavings stuck to the magnet

Catch can: 2.5 months since last dump

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: Installed a Vaultek slider series safe...

The two bars I used for the mount were leftover pieces from a different project, but worked well.. I’ve driven around for 2 weeks with no movement of the safe

I do need to attach a cable/lock to the base to really make it more secure (lock it to the seat rail)

The button is connected to the safe via Bluetooth, and only works if activated with the phone app (otherwise would be less secure)

Video of it being tested...
https://youtu.be/-x4_oNMfwW8

 

[Halveye]

UPDATE: New mounting location video for Vaultek slider series safe

https://youtu.be/7d49K3ctcnY