I Speak Jeep Feb 11, 2026

Comfort is Optional, from Frostbite to Firewalls

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Car

Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler JK is a type of Jeep made between 2007 and 2018. It's designed for off-road driving and is known for being tough and durable.

Car

Jeep Cj5

The Jeep CJ is an older model of Jeep that is built for tough outdoor driving. It's known for being very strong and good for adventures, which is why many people still love them today.

Car

Chevy Blazer

The Chevy Blazer is a type of SUV made by Chevrolet. It's known for being tough and good for driving both on highways and off-road.

Car

K5

The K5 is a type of SUV made by Chevrolet. It's known for being tough and good for off-roading, and it was made a long time ago, from the late 1960s to the early 1990s.

Part

K5 motor

The K5 motor is the engine from the Chevrolet K5 Blazer, which is a type of SUV. People sometimes use this engine in other vehicles like Jeeps to improve performance.

Term

TJ

The TJ is a specific model of the Jeep Wrangler made between 1997 and 2006, which has some upgrades over the older models.

Term

YJ

The YJ is an older model of the Jeep Wrangler made from 1987 to 1995, known for its boxy shape and square headlights.

Part

heater core

A heater core is like a small radiator inside your car that helps keep you warm by using heat from the engine. It sends warm air into the cabin when you turn on the heat.

Company

Jeep Air

Jeep Air is a company that helps fix or improve the air conditioning in Jeep cars. If your Jeep's air conditioning isn't working well, they can help you get it fixed.

Car

Jeep TJ

The Jeep TJ is a type of Jeep Wrangler made between 1997 and 2006. It's popular for off-roading and has a classic look.

Brand

Mopar

Mopar is a brand that makes parts and accessories for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram vehicles. They are known for their performance upgrades.

Term

antifreeze

Antifreeze is a liquid that helps keep your car's engine from freezing in winter and overheating in summer. It's an important part of the car's cooling system.

Term

cooling system

The cooling system helps keep the engine from getting too hot while it's running. If it doesn't work properly, the engine can get damaged from overheating.

Term

soft tops

Soft tops are the fabric roofs on convertible cars that can be opened or closed. They let you enjoy the sun and fresh air while driving, but they aren't as strong as metal roofs.

Term

YJ tops

YJ tops are the soft roofs made for a specific model of Jeep called the Wrangler YJ. They are designed to fit that model perfectly and can be opened for a more enjoyable ride.

Car

The Ford Bronco is a tough SUV that can handle rough terrains and is great for outdoor adventures. It used to be very popular, and now it's back on the market, making it a hot topic for car enthusiasts.

Car

Nissan Juke

The Nissan Juke is a small SUV that stands out because of its unusual shape and sporty look. It's designed for city driving and is fun to drive, making it popular with younger drivers.

Car

Willys

The Willys is an old Jeep model that was very popular during the war. It's known for being tough and good for driving off-road.

Car

Jeep JL

The Jeep JL is a newer version of the Jeep Wrangler, a popular vehicle for off-roading. It has better features and comfort than older models.

Term

JK

The JK is a type of Jeep Wrangler that was made from 2007 to 2018. It's popular for driving off-road and comes in different styles, like two-door and four-door versions.

Term

power windows

Power windows let you open and close car windows by pressing a button instead of using a hand crank. It's a common feature in many cars today.

Car

Jeep Liberty

The Jeep Liberty is a type of SUV made by the Jeep brand. It's designed for driving both on regular roads and off-road, which means it's good for adventures like camping or exploring rugged terrain.

Car

Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a type of SUV that can handle rough terrain and is often used for both city driving and outdoor adventures. It's known for being comfortable and capable.

Term

center stack

The center stack is the part of the dashboard in a car where you find the controls for things like music and air conditioning. It's usually in the middle of the front of the car.

Part

evaporator

The evaporator is a part of the car's air conditioning system that helps cool down the air inside the car. It takes heat out of the air so that the air coming out of the vents is nice and cool.

Part

180 degree thermostat

A 180 degree thermostat helps keep the engine cool by controlling when coolant flows through it. It opens up at 180 degrees Fahrenheit to let the coolant in, which helps prevent the engine from overheating.

Term

fuel injected

Fuel injection is a way to deliver fuel to an engine more efficiently than older methods. It helps the engine run better and use fuel more effectively.

Part

PWM Electric Fan Assembly

A PWM Electric Fan Assembly is a fan that helps cool the engine. It can change its speed depending on how hot the engine gets, which helps save fuel and keep the engine from overheating.

Term

viscous fluid fans

Viscous fluid fans are cooling fans in cars that change speed based on how hot the engine gets. They help keep the engine cool when needed but can slow down when it's not as hot, making them quieter and more efficient.

Term

electric fans

Electric fans are devices in cars that help keep the engine cool by blowing air through the radiator. They help prevent the engine from getting too hot.

Term

PWM fan

A PWM fan is a type of fan that can change how fast it spins depending on how hot the engine gets. This helps keep the engine cool and saves energy.

Car

Ford Model T

The Ford Model T is one of the first cars that many people could actually afford, which changed how people traveled. It was made a long time ago, and it helped start the car industry as we know it today.

LIVE

SFJ 4x4 Studios presents

In my oversized four-wheel drive Jeep

A Jeep podcast starring industry experts

Cure monocity

What? Say that again!

With mad scientist Scott Brown

I use my drill press as a sort of lathe

Our host, Neil Simpson

If one light goes on they all go out

And Phil was shenanigans

We are really professional with Jeeps

This is iSpeak Jeep

Wherever, however, you are joining us

This is the iSpeak Jeep podcast presented by SFJ4x4.com

My name is Neil with Simpson Family Jeeps SFJ 4x4

And I am in Grandma's couch studio

Are you sure?

Very sure. I'm also sure that we have a full group today

Jeffrey is not making a mad dash to the hospital

That was a long day

Yeah, I'm sure it was

And we're glad to have you back with us

We obviously...

Jeffrey, the Italian stallion, the producer

And...

You got over on the other couch there

The mad scientist Scott Brown

Yeah, I sound so thrilled

Well, that's because we are in, I don't know, the 14th year

Of subarctic temperatures here on the beautiful shores of Lake Erie

Cold is not Scott's friend, but he will never move

Because he just knows how to keep moving forward in life

Puts his head down, just kind of toils along

So besides that, we are glad that Jeffrey is back

And able to join us

His child had the sickness

The yuck that's been going around

And fortunately, he has made a recovery

And we're happy for that

We got Nate in the comments talking in German

And we got Mike saying good morning

We got Jagadjieper saying good morning

And Bill McWilliam saying good morning

Brian saying good morning

And he's asking how Nate's doing

But Nate is only talking German at the moment

So I don't know that anybody can understand him

I mean, I can see that he says good morning

But Nate, just because I don't understand the words you're speaking

Doesn't mean I don't have any less love for you

That I can't appreciate you any differently

So we can come together on that

And I appreciate and love our Jeep family for joining us

You too, if you're listening to your ear holes at a slightly later date

Than this exact here and now

Can join us roughly every Monday morning at 10.19 a.m. live

On the YouTubes or the Book of Faces

And we encourage you to do so

Jump into the comments, share, communicate

And you know, express all things fun, automotive and Jeep related

Now, I don't speak German

But I am pretty sure that Nate also called Joe out for being late

And then Joe jumps in and says he's here

Awesome

Good morning, good morning, good morning to everyone who is joining us

A lot going on

Of which I've just kind of had a mental head fart

And I don't know

I forgot I was going to share something with folks and now it's gone

I don't know

I told you you weren't sure

If you stay for the end for the weekend updates

I'll have a big announcement for people

Is one of those waters over there mine

This one

You think?

Yeah

We're just sharing water now

So we are back in the studio together

We are going to be talking about

Some of the creature comforts of our automobiles in the winter

I remember what our big announcement was Jeffrey

Well, you printed a sign for it

I did

I'm glad you remembered

It's upside down

Not that anybody at home can actually see that

I was going to say like

No one can see that

We need somebody to go up to the screen

Got a notification

Here we go

I'm going to awkwardly do it

Yes, awkwardly shove it in front of the camera

Don't get too close so we can't see it

Oh, it's whiteed out

It's totally gone

Put it behind the light

It'll be fine

It's too close

50,000 podcast downloads as of this morning

Any of them in our favorite

None of them were in the Arctic

Or Antarctica, whatever

I think since we've had so many zero days and negative days

We should just call ourselves the Arctic

We should just count ourselves

And therefore

I'm pretty sure there's penguins walking across the lake right now

Pretty wild

But yeah

So thank you to all of our listeners for getting us to 50,000 downloads

Before we even hit 200 episodes

I mean, that's incredible

That's really the catch right there

Is the volume of downloads to the number of episodes

To the longevity of the existence of the podcast

And that is such a tremendous thanks to all of you

Who prioritize this particular podcast as part of your infotainment

And we are just so incredibly thankful

And that's specifically from a listening platform metric

That does not include any of the YouTubes

Or the lives or anything like that

So if you're not involved in those manners

And you just access us on social mediums

You're not actually even counted in that 50,000

You're just as important

But that particular number metric is specifically from our streaming platform provider

And so that's a pretty, pretty significant celebratory accomplishment

For a bunch of schmoes who work on Jeeps for a living

We need a shirt

We do need a shirt

Okay

So as much as I would love to entrust the savage to design us a shirt

Which I'm sure would be spectacular

I also do an all call to our listening family

To submit to us some ideas

And you can submit that to us at contact

C-O-N-T-A-C-T

At S-F-J-4-X-4-dot-com

Or just head over to S-F-J-4-by-4-dot-com

And you'll find it on the contact submission form

Or just Google Simpson Jeeps

I've been trying like

I'm amazed how many vendors I talk to

And I like I do the whole spiel like of like Simpson

And then like we're a Jeep company

And then when I go to like

And I say Simpson Family Jeeps

And I try to break down Simpson like S-F-J-4-by-4

It's amazing how many people like are trying to read my email

Or domain name back to me

And they're like J-F-S

And I'm like

Like Sierra Foxtrot Juliet

Like I'm sorry that Simpson Family Jeeps is too confusing

Let me use the phonetic alphabet

But yet that's almost a lost cause on today's society as well

Whatever

Any who's a what's it

We do need a shirt

And I encourage people to submit some ideas to us

At contact at Sierra Foxtrot Juliet

For x-ray4-dot-com

Hope that means something to you

Don't spell that out

Maybe we should buy that domain

I might buy that domain next

I might buy it

Don't anybody go squat on that

Gracious

But I might buy Sierra Foxtrot Juliet

Just redirect it back to the

Just redirect it back to us

That's great

You heard it here first folks

You were part of that party

Alright we are going to be talking about Jeep Creature Comforts

Next week is

President's Day

We will be doing a podcast

We are going to be talking tech

Last week we talked kind of a social emotional piece

About Jeepers communing together

As they often do

They grow apart and they come back together

They grow apart and come back together

That is human nature

So this week we are going to bore you to death

Talking about how your heater works

And why you might want one

And I need people to absolutely recognize

That many of my earliest Jeeps did not have functioning heaters

And in fact as of just recent

With some of my vintage jeeps

I actually

Remove them on the trail

I removed them on the trail

So I am really excited about this topic

Additionally there are a lot of people

Who don't understand this

Now as I have been doing

We have a strong base in Florida

Who have

They still need heaters because

So right now and I forgot to mention this

50 degrees is too cold

I forgot to mention this

But I have been having the best time

And I feel like I can talk to

About these people on air

I haven't shouted them out recently

I am having the best time

Communicating with the Passanders

Regarding the temperature

In just north of Miami

In a town called Jupiter

Which is a little further than

I mean it is about an hour or an hour and a half

For something Miami

But contextually it is down there

And the fact folks that Iguanas

And you have probably seen this on national news

They are falling out of trees

Left and right

They are freezing

And they are so frozen

They can't move

And so then they lose their grip

And they fall out of the tree

And if they sit frozen like that

For eight hours they die apparently

Sad

So there is these crazy videos

Of just these frozen block Iguanas

That if you are like an animal trap

Or something

They are just pulling them out of truck beds

By the truck bed full

Because apparently they are like

Iguanas there are like squirrels here

And so we have been having a great time

Sharing ridiculous content

Back and forth from Florida

Now we have other customers

Who have indoor heated swimming pools

And the sky is gorgeous

And they are luxuriously swimming

In their swimming pool

And they too are harassing me

James

But you know whatever

Us, I thought about it last night

While I was walking my dogs

And their snot was freezing to their face

While I was just taking them on their potty break

And being thankful that we have heat

But the manner in which heat works

Specifically in our JK Wranglers

2007 to 2018

Jump ship, you have to start at the beginning

I am just going to say that this is highly pertinent

Because those heater system designs suck

What are you going to say

That you snuggled the horses?

I am actually thinking about this since last week

I think it was quite the culture shock

When you were used to walking on horses

And the horse had its own heater

So if you got too cold you could just snuggle your horse

There it is

It reminds me of that scene

A traumatic scene in Star Wars

Where that thing died

And he gutted it and he crawled inside

That will always, that lives rent free in my brain

They did a good job of portraying that it stunk as well

I mean I must have watched that

You could smell film but you could smell that scene

At 5 to 7 years old I watched that

And I just lived rent free in my head space

For decades at this point

I don't think you should take it that far

But anyway

So then you got your first vehicles

And you were like you know it's metal, it's cold

We don't want to be cold

And sadly we started off with

Just like draft heaters off the manifold

We didn't know how to create heat

Let's be honest

We didn't know how to create good heat in the cabin

We tried a bunch of things

A crappy design that we literally went to

A Stromberg was one of the main brands I know of

You jumped ship too fast right

I need you to talk about the fact that people

Were actually had like little pot belly stoves

In their vehicles

I'm getting there

You're too far ahead of them in history

Well you went to Stromberg

Anyway

And they would literally divert gasoline

Off of your main, your carburetor

And you would burn it in your car

That was okay

That was safe

That was the step up

That was the upgrade over the manifold draft heater

Which fun, not fun

My 36 factory had a manifold heater

That's all it had

It had this little duct work

That went off the passenger side manifold

And it had a little door

And you wished the heat

Waved in from the outside in there

I don't know how in the world

You ever defrost a windshield

Or do anything you need to do back then

I mean that's my number one biggest issue

Wheeling without heat

Clearing the glass off

Steaming up glass

You oftentimes if the cabin is reasonably sealed enough

That's why you just

If you're going to do winter wheeling with no heat

Just sands doors on top

But if it's enclosed enough

You're going to frost up or fog up your windows

And there's almost no way to clear them off effectively

So that tells you

Like 1936 the best we could do

Was set your vehicle on fire with gasoline

Set your vehicle on fire with gasoline

Or have it waved at you from the manifold

So the next upgrade

And this was into the 40s

You had an idea of like

Well if they have a radiator

And those get hot

Maybe we have a little radiator inside the car

And we can pipe some coolant through that

And then you know it would be even better upgrade

Because there was ones without fans

It was just a radiator

Just a radiator

And it was just wafting

True radiant heat

Off

And you had little doors that you would open or shut

To try to make it waft more

So then someone bright was like

Hey we should put a little fan on this

Yes

And

Which was not an electrical wiring nightmare either

No it's fine

Electrical hazard

Yeah

But

And again

I don't think people realize

Heaters were separate

Things like that

For a long time

They were separate aspects

Because they were optional

Yeah

Because this is the thing

I mean and this is my own

Little peculiarity to jump in

And kind of build off what you're saying

I love

The

Drive-in movie theater speakers

The art deco style

That defined

A drive-in movie speaker

Has this

Sexy lines and curvature

And technology

Because you would show up

And it would be hanging on a pole

And ideally you would bring it into your

You know window

And it was this cool looking unit

Well heaters

Also were like that

Were also like that

And so I went through a phase

I admit to you all now

An invulnerable space

That I am a recovered heater hoarder

Because I never actually restored them

But I thought I would like to restore them

But there are people out there

Who are restoring these optional heaters

That you could optionally plumb

Into your vehicle

And I did that on the 36 project

I got a tropic air

Okay

From the late 40s

Does it have the most beautiful

Script writing on a little

A little stainless badge on it

It has tropic air

All in it's little like

So cool

It has the round heater core

Okay

Which I don't know what you do

To replace that

Woof

Copper piping

Luckily mine holds water

Okay

It has

It's not a great deal of pressure

On your system

Your system is probably

A four to six PSI system

Yeah

Eight tops

Wow

So I was able to find

A newer fan

Thankfully things

You know

There hasn't been a big development

In heater technology there

Sure

For a hundred years

So I was able to find a 12 volt fan

And put in there

I still haven't wired the fan though

You know

Well you have to drive the vehicle

In the cold

That's true

It does work

Just wafting at you though

Nice

And so here's the thing folks

You actually used to have this shoe box

That heaters were about the size

Of a shoe box

Maybe a little smaller

Sometimes they did it a little bigger

Ford standard heaters

When they finally went

You know hot water heater

They were very boring

They were just a little box

Right but I'm saying these optional ones

That people plumbed into their vehicles

In an accessory fashion

Would just kind of protrude

Into your cabin space with you

Yes

And you would run some hot water hose

You'd run hoses

And you would tap into your

Cooling system

In kind of a

Underwhelming fashion

They were not designed that way

They were meant

They were an accessory

They were an aftermarket accessory

Lots of cars

Didn't even have pipes

On the motor for them

Right

You would literally

Drill a hole inside

Of your radiator hose

Yup

And there was a special

Little adapter

That went in there

And you screwed a nut on it

Yup

And you hoped it to seal

And I mean this is just

This is

It was a

Ambient water flow

Right

So as we

As we talk about

You were just kind of wishing water

To come into the

The heater

And then return

I love the concept of it

As far as just

Human ingenuity

And the fact that

For a lot of vehicles

Made

Again we go back to that

Early as civilian

CJ vehicle

It was a tractor

It wasn't meant to have a heater

Right

You were

You know

Heats in the tools

So as automotive technology

Progresses

And now we're using our vehicles

In a greater capacity

Yup

So changes

Our heaters

And we saw

More standardizing

In heaters

More with the willies

Wagons

And the willies trucks

First

Again like everything

That's where the technology

Gets dropped

And then our

Soft top vehicles

Get it behind

I also wanted to mention

Harrison heaters

That was another name brand

That was making stuff

That kind of

Became part of GM

If I'm not mistaken

But originally it was

A separate entity

And you could buy that

From your

You know

The Whitney catalog

Your Sears catalog

And you know

Cuss at it

While you fought with it

In the driveway

Yes

Then in regard

At some point

Into the CJ5 market

We decided that

We should maybe

We should just have heaters

And

I'm going to gloss over

Many years

But something

I thought would be

Interesting for people

Because CJ's

At least the ones

Iconic that we think about

You know

Like 72 to 86

We all kind of

Assume they're kind of

The same

There are so many

Little changes

Over the years

And the first

CJ heaters

The blower motor

Is inside

Has a really

Weird drain on it

Nothing like

What you're used to

If you're into

The late 80s

CJ's

And because

That also

The heaters

Are still not

Very good

They are

Actually a

Couple speed motor

Which means it has

Different windings

For different speeds

And it has

A different tile switch

If you didn't

Actually get to a

Resistor

Which if you don't know

The resistor

Is for

You have different

Windings

In coils

And the

Amount

The time

That the

Power has to go through

That is how fast

Or slow

The motor goes

Which then

We can just

Have wire

Going to the motor

And that is how

Our later

78s

And older

CJ's

Are like

And so

If you have

A 77

And older

You actually have

A more

Old style

Heater

And working on

It's a pain

In the Tuckus

Yeah

Anyways

Part availability

Is also low

Yes

It's not ideal

You can retrofit it

Over to the

Newer style

If you're

A mad scientist

May have

Or may not

Have done that

To a 76

Just because

But anyways

Way

So we get

Finally into the

YJ's

We're

Pretty much

Standard

Like the

Heater that was

In the

Access for

Instead of

Having hard

Cables that

Moved

Doors

We went to

A vacuum

Motors

Operating

Those

Which I'm sure

Everyone was

Upset about

When that happened

That they like

The physically

Field

The mechanics

Of it

Jeep people love

The physical

Input to

It's a

It's a command

Not a request

Right

And that's

When a shove a boulder

Up hill

If possible

Yep

Jeep owners

Love commands

Not requests

It's an unspoken

Rule of the

Jeep market

And the

Last thing

That really needed

Upgraded

On the

Was the

Blower motor

Was this

Anemic small

Barely blue

At you

Kind of thing

They did fix that

In the

They went to

A larger motor

And I also

Think it's funny

For years

We've heard

The blazer

Motor upgrade

You literally

Would order

A blower

Motor fan

From

A 73

Chevy Blazer

Which I think is funny

Because I'm going to jump to

The comments

And Dave from

Jog of Jeepers

Is actually talking about

He had an old school

Bus heater in his

To get his K5

Hot

So we are actually

Using a

K5 motor

Yes

In our Jeep applications

Yes

Because it was anemic

For his K5

Yes

But it's the right size

For the jeeps

Right

This is the peculiarity

Of engineering

Over the years

Engineers

We have to actually

Open the hole up

In the firewall

Because the motor

Is so large

It won't fit through there

And you have to take

The magnet off of it

Which I'm not quite sure

What that even

Yeah, I don't know

I'll just leave it off

Anyway

The nice thing is

Is the electrical

Part's not needed

The electrical

Is the same

The other advantage

That people do not

Think about

That helped the YJ

Is because

We finally got in

The fuel injection

They run at a hotter

Temperature

Around 190 degrees to 210

And actually

Really helped the heater

Well, and that's

We are always living

In a ripple effect

Of information

And arguably

You know

I've encountered

So many people

From the old school

Carbomertated days

When a vehicle

Was intended to run

At a cooler

That they're actually

Keeping it cool

Cool dense air

And an electrical

180 degrees

175 to 180

Was this kind of

This target

And of course

When that's the case

By the time that you get

That radiant water

Pushing through

It's hard to cool stuff off

To warm stuff up

Excuse me

It's hard to warm stuff up

It is very cool

It's cooling off quicker

Than it's warming up

Because the temperature

Is different

As you mentioned

As we get into the

190 to 210 years

Which I'd like to lump

The YJ and TJ together

For purposes of this

Conversation

I agree with that

And I need

I need the TJ owners

Out there

To unbunch your

Unwad your undies

But understand

Put the pitchfork down

Yeah, understand that

The YJs and the TJ

We're talking about

H-O-S-C

Four-liter application

Yeah, the

The heater core

And this is how I always

Try to break it down

For people

And all of this application

Is just a little radiator

And it's in your dash now

Yes

Right

And so

They move that

They move to a plastic box

Well, they have

Plastic box construction

In the

In the 70s

Right

Yeah

Because obviously in the 60s

We still had steel box

Heater construction

Yeah

We moved to the plastic

We start progressing

Into a design

That

Underwhelmingly

And I understand

I'm doing a

Gross generalization

For our listening audience

That's 72

To 2006

Yeah

The plastic box

With doors in it

They had a heater core

And

Your

Your attuation

Somehow moved the doors

Yep

So that you directed

Your flow at the windshield

Or at you

Or at the floor

Yep

They were really

Or at the

Nomination of what

Of which

Nomination, huh

Whatever

And TJs

Had to figure this out

I will give you that

Because every

Like 97

Was one control

Was a different control

I don't understand

Why we had such problems

Figuring it out

Well, because

We went from that

Cable actuation

As you mentioned

That was affirming

Other than something

Binding

Or getting sticky

Yeah

A request

Of a vacuum system

I think it's because

The YJs were sliders

Correct

And then we went to

Well, 97

Was a slider

Correct

Then 98

Was more knob-ish

Correct

By 99

Were all knobs

Yep

And the problem is

There was actually

Electrical resistance issues

With those switches themselves

And some of the earliest iterations

And so we actually saw

When the

The switch burns down

You just hit more heat

Yes

And that was actually

A super common HVAC

In TJs

In an era of TJs

Was incredibly challenging

Now

In this same juncture

Amongst the TJ

We actually got into

Some proprietary

We started to understand

Antifreeze

A little better

A little different

And so

This is when we start playing

With some different chemicals

Because of course

Earliest iterations

Of radiator

Errors technology

You're just using water

Let me pause you for two seconds

Just so that someone

Doesn't get mad

It's probably

In Mexico

Or Cuba

Or somewhere

It's warm

In the YJ

We did get the option

Of AC

As well

In like

Loretos and stuff

I still

Don't completely understand

But anyway

And there is

An awesome company

Shout out to them

In Florida

Called Jeep Air

If you do need

Air conditioning

In your vintage Jeep

They're the place to go

Absolutely

Wealth of knowledge

But anyway

Neil's right by

We get into the late TJ years

We start using

Mopar

Reddish

Orange

Antifreeze

Cool

And we start playing

With these chemicals

In order to help us

With the

The swing

Of heat

And cooling

Discipatient

Well you know what I think

It was

Is someone in

The mothership

Must have like

Road in a semi

Or had enough

Rub elbow

Was a semi

Maybe they're like

Brother-in-law

A semi guy

And they're like

You know we have cool

At the last 100,000 miles

That's right

And the guy was like

Huh

Yeah

Maybe

That gold green stuff

Isn't good

Anymore

Maybe I need a longer life

Antifreeze

So they developed this

Antifreeze

That

That has a problem

With

Playing with others

It's the best way

To play it

Yeah

And

Well GM did it first

And the orange is not

Dexcool

So you don't have

To be triggered

When you see

A non-green

Or more of a reddish color

Cause Dexcool is straight red

That's the gelling stuff

And it is all bad

But we did start to get

Into that

Well

Can I mix my green

With my orange

And with the red

And now there's a blue

And it's all this confusion

A lot of people

And again

Living in that ripple effect

You would go to your

Your local Jim Bob garage mechanic

And he'd be like

Wow this is good enough

And he'd pour it in

And he would render

Your cooling system

Worthless

At minimum

Your 100,000 mile life

Antifreeze

Bup kiss

It's gone now

Gone

And so we had a

A series of plugged heater course

In the TJ era

As well

Likewise

If you were mixing coolants

And not only that

We went from vacuum to

Electronic motors

Moving the doors

Correct

Which then started

Our blend door failure

Stuff which

You know

Everyone got upset about

And you have to tear

Half the dash apart

To get to

And all that good stuff

I feel like you are a little

Upset about

Having to tear apart dashes

For that

And the challenge is

This was an era

Of we had something

That worked

Or we perceived

Was working sufficiently

And then as we attempted

To refine it

And start to meet

Greater market demands

People started using

Their jeeps

We wanted them to be

Less drafty

In the winter

We wanted our soft tops

And this is a podcast

About creature comforts

In the cold Arctic

And so I think

It's worth mentioning

Absolutely

In this same era

We really start to see

Soft tops

Intending to seal

A little better

Craziness

With a little better materials

This is

I'm going to break it down

For you

So YJ tops

Are basically

Current Bronco tops

You get some snow inside

And then the TJ happened

And they're like

You know

We can do better

We can make this

About as tight as a drum

And other than

The cloth

Not keeping the cold out

Drafts

Pretty much were gone

But

Here's the piece folks

Prior to

We had simply had

Either what we considered

To be a

Well first of all

We had canvas

Back in the day

Right

But we went from a canvas top

Which had this

Terrible thermodynamic

Properties

And it's permeable

Toads

So the water

Gets to the inside

And then just

Wicks away

Yeah

So we went to

We went to vinyl

And denim

Okay

So by the

By the mid-2000s

We have this

Revolutionary product

Called

Sailcloth

And

Sailcloth

I was there

Right

JK owners

You don't know

What you don't know

And I promise you

Sailcloth

Maybe you didn't realize

Neil just got in his

Rocking chair

And started rocking

And he's like

And I'm yelling at the kids

From my front porch

To get off my lawn

Sailcloth was revolutionary

It changed my life

Yes

Sailcloth was like

Between that

This is so good

And making better bow design

And better seals

Yes

The TJ top just blew

Any prior soft top

Out of the water

Correct

And you could still get

You know

What a lot of

What Bestop prefers to

Is their diamond

Their diamond material

Which is

You know

Not

Which we're really

Thinking about it too

What a flex

We got so

Cocky

From 97

To 02

We really figured

Out the soft top game

Finally

Yes

And then in 03

You know what we're going to do

We're going to make a sunroof

For your top

That flips back

It was so cool

Just

Meh

Just flick your nose

Because we sealed up

The Jeep so well

Yeah

And not only that

We're going to make a standard

On the LJ

Because we figured this out

So good

We can make a big top now

That does it too

Yes

Oh, that's so true

And you peasant T.J.

Regular T.J.

Owners

Don't get it till 06

Correct

That's so true

So we have this

This era

Right

Because of this flex

Because of this

This push to market

For some of these

Creature conference

Now

It's important to note

We have manual seats

Right

Everything is manual about them

They do have a flip mechanism

Kind of ingrained

Into their

Bracketry

Yeah

That you don't have to reach

Underneath of it

Well, it can do

Once the cable breaks

But

It was supposed to have

A nice, easily reachable piece

For you to

To kind of touch the shoulder

Support

Of the seat

And we got the

Fold and tumble over

Seats that removed

Like a minivan

I mean there was a lot

So there was a lot

Of ingenuity

That made owning a Jeep

Less utilitarian

I'll tell you that

Just looking at

Jeff made me think of it

We got to

Thick

Padding on our carpets

From the factory

Looking at Jeff

Made you think of

Thick

Padding

Because Jeff is always

Like get the carpet out of

Your Jeep

No Jeep don't need

Carpet

But I got

The LJ

And it had that

Plush

Like thick

It was like

An inch and a half thick

Yes

You're right

Padding in the back

You're right

Because you have the

Juke material

Underneath of it

Yeah

And my YJ

Was happy to have

Like that green

Indoor outboard

Yes

On the floor

That was it

Yes

No padding at all

And I was like

Man

You know

And I grew up

Hearing my dad

You know

He's from the

Early

Willys days

Is what he was

Exposed to first

Was like

Those Jeeps

Are drafty

And those are cold

And I remember

Sitting in the LJ

When it was

You know

Just a couple years old

And I was like

He was really good

Yeah

I'm not getting wet

The snow's not coming in

At me

Yeah

It's pretty quiet

It's a nice place to be

I have a pretty

Good sound system

I have a factory subwoofer

It's a pretty nice Jeep

This is nothing

Dad talked about

You know

Realistically

I can go through the car wash

Yeah

You could

Realistically

We had that

That

Model Jeep

And as far as my

Social content is concerned

I struggle to

Really come up with a term

And I typically call it

The doorless topless model

Right

Because you can't

You can't call a Willys

A Wrangler

I know that some people

Do for lack of

Knowledge base

But that

If you want to see

A vintage guy's

Eye Twitch

Correct

Call his

Call his CJ5 a Wrangler

No doubt

But that

We have really

Reached the pinnacle

Of creature comforts

And I want to

To make sure I note

That

You still had

Zip out

Plastic vinyl windows

On your half doors

But you had

The best crank windows

We had ever seen

In that latter years

Of TJ production

Okay

So let's

The stage has been set

We have our creature comforts

That's

Pretty much all we know

Or care about

I could

I could plug and play

A dim

Auto dim rear mirror

In my

Wasn't exactly

Heat related

But I'm with you

No, it was a creature comfort

And I was here for it

Yeah, that's true

I'm sorry

Flipping that mirror

That's just below me

That's the peasant work

That's peasant work

So here comes

2007

And

The

Break the industry

Break it

So now this is where

Those of you who are

The more modern

Day Jeepers

This is where you might

Give a crap

Because now

And this doesn't even

Include our most

Recent

Versions

Of the

JL platforms

Which are stinking

Spectacular

With many power options

We'll

See if we get there

The JK

Because we're going to

Spend some time on the JK

Because we

I think that is

A bell curve

Of our audience

Right

And

You have

The

The 3-8 engine aside

The relative

Aspect of how

The heater core plays out

And

Many of the accoutrements

Will

Creature

Comforts of the JK

While there are

Minute changes

Just like the TJ

We can

Generize them

I think

I mean

The biggest thing

Someone that hasn't

Torn a Jeep apart

This far

The

The heater box

Bolted into the

Vehicle

And the dash

Went on top of it

On a

For the

Ease of assembly

On the

Assembly line

The heater box

Bolts to the dash

And then

The whole assembly

Steering column

Pedals

Everything

Goes bloop

One unit into the

Vehicle

Very different design

Similar location

Different design

Because of that

Trying to

Service it

Is a little more

Challenging

And because of this

Being the winter

Edition of this

Conversation

I'm going to breeze over

A couple things

But we got power windows

For the first time

In the JK

We did

Jeep had never

Jeep

Doorless

Topless

Or optional

Jeep had never had

Power

Door window options

To this point

And we had engineered

And figured that out

And

Electric locks

And unlock your doors

Remote

Key fob

I'm just going to go back

To the power windows

Because it has to be said

Why is the switches

In the middle?

We've been

Asking that question

Since 2007

I know

But it has to be

You just had to do Jeff

You did

You had to do Jeff

So that they work

When

When the doors are off

Yeah, I know

The Jeep Liberty did it first

I'm just saying

The Jeep Liberty did it first

Somebody who was

On the Liberty Design Team

Thought hey

That's a cool feature

And brought it over

To the Wrangler

That's my only retort

I've ever had

Absolutely

You have to understand

What a KJ Liberty looked like

To then understand

The Wrangler

Most people don't give

A flying fig

I do

I think that you just had

A design element

And you liked it

They had a

Whoever designed that

Must have got

Like a one-bed crumb

And they're like

Okay, fine

Because your bed crumb

Will let you

Be part of this

Design team

And they're like

I'm going to die on this hill

And it has to have

Switches in the center

Like the KJ

Okay

And I'm going to

Actually take this

One step further

Even though I really

Didn't want to

But you know what

Classic Jeff

To friggin derail me

As a person

Who has spent

Entirely too much time

Working on these

At a minute

Mind-numbingly crappy level

That most people would

Absolutely just

Pluck their hair out

I can assure you

That the earlier models

Which we test-bed everything

On the Grand Cherokee

Had individual door modules

So that means

We have little supercomputers

Associated with each

And every door

To do things

Like power windows

And power door locks

Whereas if I centralize

A module for door operations

I now have less moving pieces

In the highly technical aspect

Of making those things work

But I've got to be honest

That explanation doesn't

Translate well to the

Fun commentary that we see

On the YouTube

And the shorts

But the fact that

You have one module

Versus many modules

And I've done that personally

So I know that

That's part of the process

But I like to

Put it back to the KJ

Where they actually

Test-bed it

In the KJ

It worked

As opposed to

In the Grand

Where it had separate door modules

That would fail

I was gonna say

I blame the Grand

Because of all the wiring issues

It had

Now the windows would

Just randomly be up and down

But you're right

Okay

And so when we move that

Over to the Wrangler

I can have

Uno door module

Versus multiples

But again

Super boring explanation

Very small data boy though

At least they got

Them the hell off the center console

Where you're gonna

Pop

But that was exactly it

And I

I mean

I get flack

For trying to be like

Hey they're actually

Doing good stuff

Everybody just wants to

Actually be the old man

Cramudgin shouting

Being like

These aren't real jeeps

And the world we live in is

Crap

Not

I mean they actually

Did something good

They learned from the KJ

They pulled it up off the center console

Put it onto the dash

Realized that the Grand sucked

And they gave it

Uno module to control four doors

It's just not a fun explanation folks

Yeah

Alright anyways

We got

I don't know what to tell you

It's the truth

But it's not

You know

Internet spicy

So somewhere around

I didn't get to finish my top

Okay

You get twill

And I thought

Sailcloth was good

Twill

Was like

The coup de gras

Yeah

You can have twill

Alright

That actually comes a little later

In the JK production

But let's talk about

Heaters

Yeah

Well

Just because you said tops

And then we got hard tops

But tea tops

Which then leaked

Like sebs

Because that's what tea tops do

Yeah but you know what

I mean my dad

As a hardcore

You know

Small body

G-boner

Desired

Tea tops

Cause of course

That's what you had

In like the 70s and 80s

That was cool

In the 90s a little bit

Tea tops were cool

And they leaked then

And they leaked now

And of course

We get these newest

G-boners

Like I don't like that

My roof leaks

I've been leaking for

50 years

Yeah

This is the least

It's leaked in 50 years

Yeah

100%

Alright

Anyways

So we get into

Actually the design

Of the heater is pretty good

Other than the pain

Of it bolting

Into the dash

Where we start

Having problems

The core

Insides

Gets very

Compact

And

Snuggly

And because of that

The design element itself

Yes

Is what you're

Alluding to

Cause we're actually

Going to talk about

The insides of the insides

Yeah

On our older Jeeps

Our heater core

Cores

Were actually larger

Fluid

And

Can you explain what a core is

For our listening audience

Who might not be aware

Of what is in their radiator

I apologize

For this long technical

Thank

God

I just

They're freaking tubes

Nope

You're not allowed to

I thought I was

I thought this was like

You and I were the only people

On the court

We were just

The fact they were in

They're

They've fallen down

And you and I were

Just going down the court

And there's fins in between them

And

The tubes are what

Allow the coolant

To go side to side

And the fins

Are what

Disperse

The heat

Off of it

That's it

There we go

Thank you

Little tubes

And the tubes

And the older

Jeeps are larger

Which allowed the bris

That go through it easier

So basically

I love it

That was a great explanation

Our newer jeeps

They have a smaller

We've killed half of our audience already

They

Have smaller tubes

And because that

Your heater cord

Kind of has a heart attack

It does

And gets plugged up

It gets clogged arteries

And

Therefore then

Our heat

Doesn't work as good

And for whatever reason

There's got to be like a flow chart

Like a bit

Like as barges that wall

With little pins everywhere

But what happens on JK's first

Because of course

Your driver's side heat

Is the most important

That fails first

Yes

You get lukewarm heat

Out of your driver's side

Vents

And your center vent

And the

And the pasture side

Is actually pretty warm

Yes

Which may be in retrospect

That's just because

I want your pasture

To come with you

Like I remember

Early on

My XJ

Would draft

At my wife

On the pasture side

And she hated right in there

They were terrible

They were drafty

For that

So maybe

They just knew that

And they're like

You must make the pasture

Happen

I got to break this down

Just as a smoochy bit

But the

The challenge I see

Is that the primary HVAC

Both your fresh air

A couple of your

Actuators

Your electrical actuators

And the tubing

For the purposes

Of the heater core

Are actually on the

Passenger side

Yeah

And so what you have is

You have this

From the firewall

So from the engine

Through the firewall

It's coming

And most of it

Is passing through the

Passenger side

And that's a real estate

Conversation regarding

The steering column

Steering shaft

Pedal box

Pedal assembly

It looks more crap

On the driver's side

So we bring it through

The passenger side

And the heater core

As you mentioned

Is more

It's smaller

It's more compact

And it comes in

And it hooks around

In such a way

And it's a little longer

Than the

Well, and also

It's important to note too

That on the JK

We started feeding

The heater core

In the center of the firewall

Right

Where TJ was off to the side

So we kind of snake around

And the tubes

Are a little bit longer

The core is basically

In the middle of the dash

Pretty much right under

Or behind your stereo

So if you look at your head unit

And kind of use your X-ray vision

Down from there

And also because

Now pretty much

All JKs were standard with AC

We also had an evaporator

We had two stuff in there as well

And make that all work

We're stuffing ten pounds

In a five pound sack

Pretty much

And at this point in time

Generically we refer to this area

As the center stack

Of the vehicle

Because there are modules

There are the evaporator

For your AC

Which you also need for defrost

Just so we're all on the same page

You need that to be functioning

For your defrost to function optimally

We have our heater core in there

We have our stereo in there

And we have a bunch of ducting

To help move this air

Around the cabin

That is all reasonably within our center stack

And to define that one step further

On our later model interiors specifically

But I guess even the earlier JKs

There is a HVAC portion of that

With the diverters and

The blendors

And that center stack portion

Or that portion of the center stack

Is a whole and complete assembly

Which actually we have seen

Fail quite a bit at this point

As well

We actually have a problem

Where the doors have

They have rubber on them

To help them seal

And another important note

That's with not so much the three

Eight JKs

But they were getting there

We're running a hotter temperature

Than we ever did with a four liter

Glad you brought that up

So 122 to 124 degrees

Is pretty average

Happy temperature for a JK

Interior

Coolant temperature

200

222 to 224

You did say 100

You said 100

I'm sorry

222 to 224

So we're another 10 to 15 degrees

Hotter than the four liter was

I once really really really upset a guy

And I wonder where he's at today

I was at Jeepaloosa

So I'm sorry dude

I mean if this is you

And you hear or see this

He was so fired up

Because he wanted to put

180 degree thermostat

In his Jeep

And he absolutely argued with me

And I tried desperately

To differentiate the fuel injected

Narrative of his 3.6 Wrangler

To what that world used to be

When we put a low degree

Thermostat in their vehicle

And he actually

I mean got so so incredibly upset

He was like a troll on the internet

Where he just popped off at the mouth

And blah blah blah

And I'm in person with him

And I'm like we all just kind of

Like looked at each other

And was like I can't make you happy

Like there's nothing I'm going to say

Yep

And it is for a multitude of reasons

But for this and

It's actually efficient

Your combustion rate

Your ignition rate

Everything is meant to happen

Between 220 and 224

And the nice benefit of it

You get better heat yet

Correct

Our best heat yet

Unless that heater core gets plugged up

And yes

When you have less heat

Out of your driver's side

Versus your passenger side

The first thing you think of

Is oh my little electric motor

Must have died

We go back 20 years

We go back to what we used to know

We go back to what this guy

Was drawing his information on

I would say that's 1% of the time

Those little motors

Are actually pretty robust

And pretty good

And they learned a lot of things

Off of like the RAM platform

And other models

If you've ever owned a second gen Ram

And had heater problems

There's like a

Should be a counselor

There is

There's a therapy support group

For us

It's terrible

But anyway

It is your heater core

Your heater core is plugging up

And it's just

You're furthest from the core

And you're furthest from the air

Motor

And that is what's causing your problem

90% of the time

Hot take

If you think you are a person

Who has poor heat from your vehicle

Stop, drop and roll

Get some way to test

The temperature of the air

That's coming out of the passenger side

Far vent

And the driver side

Far vent

Test

The infrared thermometers

Work great for that

The infrared thermometer

They have these little clip-on thermometers

At your local box store auto part suppliers

All you got to do is just

Test the air that's coming out of those vents

If there is a 25 to 50 degree discrepancy

It is unquestionably your heater core

That's just what it comes down to

And so again

Don't collect $200

Don't pass go

Don't change out the little electric motors

Or sensors

Or thermostats

Or water pumps

Or any of that kind of stuff

It's just your heater core

And you know

Geaga Jeepers real quick wants to know

What's the 36 supposed to run at

His bounces between 207 and 225

Right there

That's pretty much

Yeah, I was going to say

I see him a lot at the 218 to 222 range

You have the challenges

And this is a good creature comfort conversation

With the JK Wrangler

Also comes something called

A PWM Electric Fan Assembly

And I need

I need people to understand

That mechanical fans were not bad

And I'm not going to get into this

Because actually this is

I could totally nerd out on that

As far as our culture conference

I would love to talk to you

Until your eyes glaze over

Regarding fan technology

Over the last 100 years

But I digress

I will simply say that

Viscous fluid fans

Mechanical fans actually worked

Really darn well because

The warmer or cooler they are

The viscous coil inside of it

Actually would

Be something about mechanical fans

Mechanical fans

Lost

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Mechanical fans

Which were TJs and older

Would, yeah

But not super old

Would work a little faster

Or a little slower

Based on how warm the engine was

Based on a mechanical coil

That would tighten or loosen

When it comes to the JK

We had electric fans

We've always had electric fans

As the hot rod industry

We were really enamored

With electric fans

We thought they were the answer

To everything

The issue is they're not

For so many reasons

I'm not going to do it

Here's what I'll tell you

The PWM fan works like

The viscous mechanical fans

And it can speed up

Or slow down based on the needs

That the computer determines

Are necessary for your

Specific application

So the ambient air temperature

The internal cooling temperature

Oil temperature, ignition

So on and so forth

It can speed up

And slow down that fan

And almost a real stat application

Uniquely for every single Jeep

It's like a fingerprint

Your fan spins unique to you

And your Jeep

And again, they learned a lot

Of things from the WJ

On how not to do electric fans

Absolutely

And really screwed the pooch

On WJ fans

On accessibility

And the way they manufactured

And everything

And by the time the JK came around

They had learned some things

And did better

And I'm sorry

For the WJ people

Just put a mechanical fan

On your Jeep already

And forget an electric as this

We're getting to the point

At this time for a two minute wrap up

Yeah, you can do another episode

I was going to say one more thing

About PWM fans

Let's just put it in

On my soapbox

PWM fans are incredible technology

And well made on Chrysler's behalf

They are

And we have a few customers

And I've, you know

And they're listeners

So it's great

If you have killed a PWM fan

If you have killed a new modern era fan

That is because you've done some nasty things

To your Jeep

I just want, you own it

But the radiator is full of mud

The radiator is full of mud

You have ran the Jeep over hot

Or you've done some electrical wiring

That has shorted stuff out

And I

You forgot to hook up a certain wire

On the battery

When you changed the battery

That too

Or you've got it filled with red rock dust

And smoked the motor

So there's part of our creature comfort

Because now the fans

Again, as far as electric fans go

And everything

We don't want that heat to come off the engine

We want the engine to come up to temperature faster

Which is also why I'm okay

With you warming up your vehicle

Because that fan's not going to start and run

We're going to warm up the vehicle

We're going to start that fluid

Moving through the system

So also important to note

There is a little fallacy

I will say

Please tell me you're talking about thermostats

Okay

Jeff, don't keep us on track

I heard when 3.6's came out

They had casting sand in them

And they plugged up your heater core

I did hear that

You know what the honest truth is

There's almost no coolant capacity

In the block of a 3.6

It's like a half an inch to an inch

As it

So if you're going to talk about that

It's in the heads of anything

Right

And I don't really believe that

I think it's just the fact that our cores are smaller

And they just get heart attacks

I think we should start using that

G-part attacks

That's why we couldn't name this

So anyway, on to thermostats

Because I know he really wants to talk about that

There is a whole...

We could have a whole podcast on thermostats

There is still some old guy

Nobody would watch or listen

But Scott and I would just talk to each other

I was going to say, it actually might be a good topic

Because of the installation of them

And there's a proper way to do it

Well, there's an old guy somewhere saying

We don't need no thermostat

My circle-track car ran cooler without a thermostat

And if you go out for two laps, it will

But the problem is if you eliminate your thermostat

Is your radiator gets hot

Your motor gets hot

And now there's no exchange

And I think the easiest way to explain this

Is how air conditioning works

Is that there is an exchange of air

You are taking hot air

And you are moving it outside

And you're bringing in cool

And I'm not going to go into the

Thermodynamics of it

But that basic thing is kind of what it works

And if your motor cannot exchange air

Then it's not going to get cool

And why that happens is

There's somebody going to be like

Well, you have a radiator

And it's cooling it down

The water has to be in the radiator

At a certain amount of time

Long enough for it to cool down

And the thermostat is a shut-off valve

It is basically an on-off valve

That allows that water to sit in the radiator

And cool off

And then when you reach a temperature

In the block motor, you exchange

And the hot water goes out of the motor

Into the radiator

The cool water comes in

It cools down the engine

That's the basics of how that works

And yes, there is different ways

Of installing thermostats

There's also different ways of getting air

Out of your system

When you've changed the thermostat

And something that got really challenging

With the 3.8 and newer Jeeps

Is it's not like a four-liter

Where you can just change the thermostat

In your backyard

And expect it to burp itself

And it works

Because of...

And not so much with the 3.8

We still have a standard flow

As like the four-liter was

It's still harder to get the air out of it

And then you get into the 3.6 JK

It is very hard

I think that the 3.8 has challenges more so

Because of the smaller cavities

At which you're speaking

Our water jackets within the block

Our tubes within our heater core system

Those things are just simply smaller

And so our ability to get air

Out of those little areas

And a little bit of air makes more air

Now I think...

I know that continuations are not always

Our best for this particular program

But I think we have to...

We have to say there's going to be a part 2

Because we did not really even get to

Talk about burping systems

And air locks

Heated steering wheels

Heated seats

And we didn't even progress into our JKJLs

Which cold weather group

Changes my life yet again

And so I think we have to leave you

On that folks as far as

Our ability to fit within the constraints

Of this growing podcast

I hope that we left you wanting

And of course if you're interested

If you're interested...

I think what we have to do is

We just can't do it next episode

We have to split it up

If you're interested in knowing

What we did over the weekend

And how we contemplated life

You should because it's going to be a banger

We got a lot of stuff to update

Oh gracious

Stay tuned after the outro scene here

Which I didn't do super well last week

But don't worry Scott went ahead

And do-do-dood for us

I know I really just want to make him do that again

Because going back and listening to his editing

Was awesome

Additionally because of our current

Celebratory success regarding

The volume of downloads

Please please please consider sharing this

To somebody

Or telling a friend about it

Or encouraging a member in your

Jeep club to listen

Or just an automotive enthusiast

Who would like to get involved with

Some guys nerdy now over vehicles

Or if you just need some S-M-N-R

To fall asleep to

I mean I'm here I'll take it

Anyways

What

What appreciation did he use

Because I want him to explain that to us

Until next time

Jeep on

Do you want to go?

Sure

Okay

For the first time

And I don't even know how long my car

The Model T has a door that functions

And

I actually was kind of retrospect

Because I was looking back at my post

I was like for most people this does not look

Like a big deal

Right

Considering you've made this out of a bunch of

Pieces that were just scared about

Scrap that nobody disregarded

That nobody wanted

Yeah

I had no hinges when I got this

Body and I was able to

Source some hinges

Hinges are really expensive

Like 130 bucks

A piece

And there's three per

Door

Get out of here

Absolutely

Go on eBay right now

Look up 2627 Model T hinge

And someone is charging 130 bucks

For half of a hinge

And there's two halves

And there's three of them on the door

So you could put a thousand dollars

In your hinges

Yeah

So I was able to find some old

Cast off hinges

That need some love

Need some bushing work

And that kind of stuff

One thing I thought you would enjoy

They're made by Stanley

Yeah, they're literally stamped out

In Canada

Specifically once I got work from

Canadian

I wonder what the year was

That that was the

You know, manner in which

Obviously a hundred years ago

But anyway

Well, yeah

You know, to look at Stanley

And what they did over the years

Yeah

You know, I look at some of these companies

And how they

I was actually surprised

For being so in-house

Yeah

He was

You know, everything had to be in-house

But anyway

Yeah

The other important note that I

I guess I didn't articulate well

And my people that are

Following along just kind of realized

Someone had cut these doors

And pieces with a torch

The inner guts that hold like

The window winder

And the latch

And all that stuff is missing

And they had then cut the tops off

For the, you know, your window

Opening with off of the torch

And then they were like

That was a bad idea

Let me get my crappy welder

And weld these back on

All out of shape

All out of place

And then to make it more challenging

I chopped the car

So now I'm actually chopping that off

Again and lowering it

Right, right

And spoiler alert

The top of the door is narrower

Than the bottom of the door

So then you have to make all that work

So it was

I was actually feeling pretty good

And pretty accomplished

The fact that all three hinges are hooked up

The door opens and shuts

The window

Opening looks appropriate

I was able to go in

And kind of fix some of their mess ups

I don't know what I'm going to do

About the inner structure yet

Me being me

I want it to look like it's supposed to

I don't know why

Because you don't put a door panel on it

You're never going to see it

But that's me

Of course

That's a Scottism

Right

Pretty excited

I got to do all the same things

On now on the other side

And it's just as bad

It is a little better

Like slightly

But still

Yeah

So that's my update

If you want to see the pictures of that

You can go on my Instagram

19364crazy

And follow along

And of course I have to ask

Did you follow along with the golf game last night?

Did you

I did not

Not even a lick

Not even saw if anybody shot a three

Nope

I wished everyone

You didn't watch the commercials?

Nope

I wished everyone a good 18 holes

And honestly went to bed early

Nice

And we didn't even talk about

Any great Jeep commercials

I saw one online

A Cherokee commercial

With the Talking Fish

And I didn't know

Honestly I would love for somebody to weigh in

And tell me whether or not

That was actually a real commercial

But basically

I had a bunch of people send me that

Yeah

So I wondered if that actually played last night

I didn't actually see it play

During the Super Bowl

But I was in and out of

The room

Pretty regularly

I had no vested interest in the Seahawks

Versus the

The Pats

Same

You know

I know

Our friends from Crown Automotive

Based on the fact that they are from

Bastan

They were rooting

For the Pats

But I was

So I mean I guess

So this is just

I think this is really good

Because I have no care

Or love

For any sports balls

How did we get two teams

That nobody gives a crap about

To the Super Bowl

Well you know what

To use this platform

If the NFL actually was scripted

This was a really crappy ending

This would not have been the Super Bowl

This was not it

So this to me

Was the linchpin that broke the conversation

The conspiracy theory around the Super Bowl

I heard all kinds of people on social media

Going like

I watched it because I have to

I didn't give a crap

Because I love football

Unconditionally

I watched it

And we had fun as a family

And we hype up

What we can

One of my relatives was like

Well at least

There's people from Ohio State

On both teams

And so either way

Whoever wins

I can feel good

That an Ohio State player

Won the Super Bowl

Absolutely

Right there was

Things like that

There was actually some

Two or three times removed

From some of our customers

They knew guys on the team

And what not

That's cool

Right that human connection

Is cool

And as an opportunity

For that to be

You know showcased

I am here for it

I am

I can get hyped up

On the little minutia

Of that game

Just as I can

With like KOH

Was this weekend

Or past weekend

What not

I want to cry

Because Ford

Ford Racing

Actually won

Their division

Yet again

This is like the fourth time

In a row

The Bronco has won the

Don't quote me

And maybe Rob Morgan

Can tell me

But

That Rob can tell me

Whether or not

That was the stock

Modified class

But I think it is

Basically you bring out

Like you're just

Over

I want to throw up

My mouth right now

The Bronco won

That class again

Now

How many entrance

All that kind of stuff

How many motors did they put in it

I don't know

So there was that

And I tried to

I tried

We had a customer

Friend of the business

Out there

In person

Sending me video

Sending me pictures

Chocolate thunder

The big run

I didn't see anybody

Lose fingers this year

So I think that

That's good

Yeah

Again

Maybe Rob can

Weigh in

And let us know

Sometimes he has

A medium to tune off

Before this

I personally

Took

You know

Again

5 pounds

10 pounds

Sack

He said

ZJ on the podium

Mmm

It was a ZJ

But I want to know

About the Bronco

The Ford racing class

Is that the stock

Modified or not

I mean

It would make sense

A ZJ beat the Bronco

I'm okay

Those are different classes

I'm okay with the

Stock class

Not modified

Okay

So yeah

But I think

That should race against

The Wrangler

In that class

Is my understanding

And

Can't tell me a 2-7

Whatever the hell

Equal

I don't know

So that was

Definitely disappointing

To see

As far as how

Other things played out

I continued to just

As almost a pallet

To play with

Keep shoving

This rusting tin jeep

Into a

Into the shape

Of a jeep

I had fun

Kind of doing that

Over the past week

And

You know

I hope to

Maybe

Maybe do something

With it

In some

Fashion

This jeep

I call it

Rusting tin

And

You wouldn't know why

Because it's

You know

A tetanus shop

Waiting to happen

And it has

Just a bikini top

And a bikini

Windjammer

Or a cloth

Windjammer

And I've quite

Enjoy driving it

This winter

It's a

Four-cylinder

Automatic

It's a

A bikini top

And a windjammer

And I have

Half doors

But I've got

The cloth offers

You remove the only redeeming

Good quality of a TJ

By removing the factory top

That's true

I'm shaking my head

In agreement

And

Thoroughly

Enjoy this dumb little jeep

That

I'm really struggling

Because I want

To do little things

To it

But it is so rusty

It is so nasty

And I like

Crawled around on it

Like on the creeper

Over this weekend

And I was just like

There's like

Nothing to work

With here

And I

I'm disappointed

Because I know that people

I went on to the

Marketplace

And factually

People are selling

Comparably crappy jeeps

For

That's probably a $3,500 jeep

That's exactly correct

That's sad

That is exactly correct

And I thought

This thing should be turned

Into a pop can

At this point

And yet

I can't bring myself

To that

Of course

The next logical

Thing is to

Kind of tighten up

The top a little bit

And throw a different cool

Bumper on it

So the big question is

Will the 25

Last

His interest?

Yeah

And especially because

The 25's got like

A little bottom end

Knocked to it

I'm not going to lie

Like all 25 should

Ah yeah

It's been soldiering along

Daddy jeep did say

One bronco engine was changed

Before the race

Mmm

I'll be surprised

The other piece

That just

Is all the peculiarities

That are me in general

You'll see on my social

Was

Once again

The sickness

Is running through my household

I think it pretty much started

In October

And it hasn't let go of us

I'm going to say

You guys have been

You're like

Round zero

We are an incubator

And

We just keep passing it around

To the four of us

Over and over

And over again

And it's fever

I actually

Went to Walmart

And bought multivitamins

More so than what we

Already take

And I'm just

I'm throwing a hail Mary

Of desperation at this point

Just to try and get

A little bit healthy

Once again

We had to bail on some plans

But that meant

That I got to

Did you see my

Sharkudori board

Yeah

Yeah I did

This just means I got to

You know

Make it in a house

Amy said that you

Purchased a lot of

I'll be

He refuses to get a cart though

I so

This is like me

So this is

Running through the store

Like pretty much

That's exactly what I do

Jeff put it

You know

Jeff put his arms out

Like a barrel

I would have

He wanted to get a step soul

And I would have

Empowered him to do that

If he had a cart

So that is why

There's no way

He's going to carry that

That is why

And so here

This is on his piece

Right so

You could have used a step soul

As a shelf

The challenge

That's fair

Right it's fair

But

Apparently

It did happen to be at

At the exact same time

It was just fun

But here's the thing

Right because this is

I just feel the need to say

This out into the universe

A lot of people look in

At the business right now

And they go

Wow these guys

This that and the third

And you know

They actually don't know

Anything

Okay but

It's the peculiarities

That inspire me

To rip heaters out

To wheel in my bare feet

So that I can

Be more intimate

With the vehicle

And to drive topless

Jeeps in the winter

Relatively speaking

Also employ me

When I go into the grocery store

In order to not overspend

Which these days is not hard

That is terrible

I literally refuse to get a cart

So I am that guy

Who want

Who goes through the grocery store

And I fill up

And I tetris

Everything into my arms

And the moment that

I drop something

Or that it becomes cumbersome

I check out

That is how

Your whole game is pretty high

Cause they means

Like you know how much

Neil was able to spend

Without heading a cart

Yep

And what it was

I think he said more than I did

And I had a cart

And what it was

Was I left this little area

I don't even remember what it was

Like specific little cracker area

Or whatever

And a bag fell off the top

And I just looked at it

And like fell to the ground

And my arms are wadded up like this

And I'm like

What am I going to do

You know what I mean

And this very helpful

Other patron of all these

Came over

Please tell me it was like a Ram

No, no, no

No, young woman our age

Put it back on top of my arms

And I said

Well, time for me to check out

First drop

I have to go to the line

That's it

That's when I'm done

I can do no more

And I do that at tractor supply

I often do it at Harbor Freight

I will refuse to get a cart

So that I have to be encumbered

By the situation

So I was really shocked

What was the most important

Part of your Aldi trip

Not seeing you

Seeing you

I got a duck

And you know what

You know what

I was shocked at that

That I did not get a message

So, so, so

You didn't get a message intentionally

Because I was going to affirm

You on the internet

But

I, you know

I don't participate in the duck game

I am rough around the edges

It's, it's

You made me smile, didn't it

I smiled

I walked out

When I saw that dumb duck

In my handle

And it's a little pirate duck

And I was like

In the back of my brain

I was like

Arrr

I don't even

I don't know where the

I took the duck out of the handle

I put it somewhere in the jeep

We'll give it to somebody else

Which is my wife and my M.O.

We keep one or two special ones

As I mentioned before

I'm not

I am not

By any stretch of the imagination

Anti-duck

I just don't participate in the game

I appreciate people who do

I don't purchase ducks

I read duck

Correct

And I'm with you

And of course

Because there was

You know

Because Scott was at the

All these as well

I had to park next to him

Because jeeps have to

Park next to each other

This is real

This is just really who I am

You know what I mean

But when I came out to the jeep

Just who really you are

You had friggin ducked my jeep

And I was just like

You know what

And I smiled

And I just thought

That's fun

How people get upset over this

Boggles my mind

If that's you

If you get upset

You know what

That's fine

I hope the best for you

But I smiled

I put the duck somewhere in the jeep

I couldn't tell you where

I'm gonna give it to somebody else

It'll be fine

But yes

That was super fun

I was like

Literally driving down the road

From there thinking

How long will it be

Before I get a message

Don't worry

I took a picture

So that I can

Send it to Jen

Nope

So that I can just do it

You know

Public thing

You know

I just wasn't in the cards

At that time

But you're right

I did get

I did get ducked

That's fine

At that time

Anyways

Jeffrey bring us home

Because we are at this point

Yeah

So I have been working on a deal

In Erie

And as of last week

I closed on that deal

And I have

I'm leaving the team

I'll still be here for podcasts

That's all Kevin made a comment

About

He's gonna miss me on Mondays

I'm still gonna be here doing podcasting

But other than that

I will now be

A part owner

And the general manager

Of a restaurant bar

That is located in downtown Erie

Congratulations

In true

Almost Scott fashion

He accidentally bought

A bar in Grill

Yes

Accidentally bought it

Yeah

That's the best way to summarize

What happened

I'm not revealing

What the location is publicly yet

But for those that know

You know

It's kind of that kind of thing

But it is

The deal's

Done

Now there's a lot of work

To be done before we relaunch

And

Get out there and get it open again

That's how you're looking

For some applicants

Lots of applicants

I'm looking for

Basically all positions

That you would need in a restaurant

Front of house, back of house

All of it

We're re-staffing the whole thing

Keeping a couple

Key people on that were there previously

But otherwise it's all fresh staff

Nathan asked if it would be

A Jeep theme bar

Not at this time

I do have

Several people reaching out

Saying they want to do Jeep night

Once it's open

Keep an eye for that I guess

Yeah

No it makes perfect sense

And we wish you the best of luck

And

We strongly

Everybody

You know has asked

Our intention is to maintain

Our podcast trajectory

There's been a lot of energy

And resource

And personal volition

That has been invested over the years

In this process

For both

SFJ

And for us as individuals

And

Our ability to relate

To our listeners in this way

Is defining this business

And so we're thankful that you're wanting to maintain

That you appreciate that as well

Likewise we wish you the best in this experience

Look forward to actually you doing the reveal

And us being able to support that publicly

Obviously we've been trying to support you internally

And we are sad to see you go in that full time capacity

But you know as luck would have it

Mondays seem like you should be able to continue

In kind of a seredipitous

Luck would have it situation

We'll take it happy accident

And as it gets warmer he's also

Committed to helping me

Continue to say that

So that our audience keeps you accountable

So you will get more

Jeff the builder updates

What you all learned is Scott doesn't actually care

That I'm leaving the team

He cares that I continue to help his building

That's just important

True our words have never been spoken

Until next time

Cheap on

About this episode

The latest episode dives into the often-overlooked topic of creature comforts in Jeeps during winter. The hosts, Neil and Scott, share their experiences with heating systems in various Jeep models, discussing the evolution from basic manifold heaters to more efficient designs. They also celebrate reaching 50,000 podcast downloads, reflecting on their journey and the community that supports them. Listeners can expect a mix of humor, technical insights, and personal anecdotes about the challenges of winter driving and the importance of staying warm in their vehicles.

180 degree thermostat antifreeze center stack cooling systems electric fans evaporator fuel injected heater core Jeep Air K5 motor

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Original notes

We want to hear from you, Send us a Text

Welcome to the arctic! The team is facing off with penguins as they talk creature comforts in Jeeps. That's right from the sub zero temperatures of the Great Lake Erie, our team is bundled up and talking about heat! How does your heater system work but more importantly, how will Scott relate this to horses. Tune in to find out and learn about Jeff's big announcement at the end.

Support the show

Thanks for listening, give us a review and check us out on YouTube -SFJ4x4 and visit our website to grab some great gear or products for your Jeep, SFJ4x4.com. Don't forget, you can email [email protected] for special content requests, blind react videos, suggestions, special guests, or general questions. Check out our Patreon patreon.com/ISpeakJeep

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