Progress is always good.

My wife was asking me last night after my son and I had spent the entire weekend working on the Raider "This isn't going to be a car that needs constant maintenance, is it?" I told her no, it won't need constant maintenance but I've got a long way to go before I am done working on it and can let it ride for a while. After all this, I'll need to go through the brakes and change the tranny, transfer case and front & rear diff fluids and probably replace all of the rubber bits on the suspension and I looked at the front brake pads and they've got a lot of meat on them but I'll need to bleed new fluid through it and same for the power steering and I haven't even pulled the rear wheels off yet to look closer at all of that so who knows? Plus god help me if I can find another Raider in a junkyard nearby because the upholstery on these seats could be freshened up or just find a good set to replace them entirely? Oh honey I'll be working on this thing for a while, but it won't need constant maintenance.

Belt, fan and all removed parts have been put back. No leaks. Then we decided to tackle the rear shock replacement, until we realize that Rockauto sent me two different shocks, one with a post/clevis configuration.

Finally got the correct rear shock, pulled the old ones out and replaced them, and went over to the tax office and got the tags squared away. Other than a grumble from the PS pump (itÔÇÖs low on fluid, no biggie) this thing is at least ready to drive for a while.

What is the easiest way to clean out the valence between the hood and windshield? This part is removable on my wife's TJ, but here its part of the body.

Pull the access panel on the passenger side and the wiper motor on the driver's side and vacuum out from either end.

Or, pull a fender from one side, remove the fender liner from the other, and spray through the cavity with a hose.

I'm late to the show, but kind of an A/C guru.

To convert, all you *need* is the conversion fittings. Flush system, replace accumulator/dryer, change o-rings, draw vacuum, put in 8 oz of PAG oil and the right amount of R134a.

For maximum efficiency, though, the part you all are thinking of is actually the condenser. You need more surface area for better cooling. The problem there is that R134a didn't become standard until 1993, and that is a different body style. You would have to check where the piping enters and exits the 1993+ condenser to see if it can be easily retrofitted. Another possibility I have tinkered with is to mount two exact condensers, one in front of the other, and make a custom pipe from the outlet of the rear one to the inlet of the front one. Put them as far off-center from each other as possible, while still being able to connect the front one's outlet. This would effectively pre-cool the refrigerant a bit in the rear condenser and then fully cool it in the front one. It would also change the optimal refrigerant level, though, so one would have to charge the system to spec, then slowly add more refrigerant until the air doesn't blow any cooler.

Perhaps I'll do that someday and report the results and difficulty levels for the fab work. It seems that as long as you find a way to make a pipe or hose between the two, the mounting adaptation should be pretty easy.

Yayyyy! Another Floridian! I'm up in Jax. Highly recommend you go Gen 2 on seats if you can find them, a lot more comfy. Requires you to drill 2 holes.

I'm currently shopping Gen 2 suspension bits as my ball joints are a bit wobbly. The new shocks helped a lot but it should be better.
Seats, well luxury items like that are down the way a little bit but I'll keep it in mind.

Do you make it down to Ocala at all? Once I get the suspension sorted the wife and I are thinking of bringing this and her TJ up there for a weekend of driving.