Overland History
Wanderluster
Anyways, more tomorrow, I'm beat and want to drink a beer or 5. 
Overland XJ Build. Not my first Rodeo.....(video included)
- Thread starter Overland History
- Start date
Overland History
Wanderluster
Continuing on, with the potable water lines plugged into the heat exchanger(I had yet to clamp them onto the fittings at this point), and run into the cabin, it was now time to figure out placement of the water pump. I wanted to keep the pump close to the water tank and concealed as much as possible.
As I've mentioned before, the water pump I used is a ShurFlo 4008-101-E65, which runs on 12v, is capable of 3GPM, has a 55psi cutoff and is capable of dry priming 6ft vertically, which is perfect for this system. I will say, the pump is also very quiet when running!
The pump and specs can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002XM5G70/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also purchased a 10gallon floorboard water tank from Front Runner Outfitters. It fits the XJ floorboard perfect with the Transmission hump cutout. I also love how the tank mounts low to keep a low center of gravity in the vehicle. It's made from food grade polyethylene and is BPA free for potable water. It also has 1/2in barbed fittings on each end of the tank, which is perfect.
It can be found here:
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/us/water-solutions/front-runner-footwell-water-tank.html
With the tank dropped into place, I decided to mount the ShurFlo water pump right behind the passenger front seat.
I placed the pump on the carpet between the two rear threaded seat tie downs for the passenger seat.
The direction that water flows through the pump is in on this side....
.....and out on this side.(there's an arrow on the pump to indicate flow direction)
I put the passenger seat back into place, sliding it all the way back to where it would sit just over the water pump. Luckily it just barely clears the pump, so I measured and fabricated a crude bracket to mount the pump on out of some 1/8in steel plate that I had laying around.
By using the existing threaded mounts for the passenger seat, I avoided having to drill holes into the floorboard to tie the pump down, thus avoiding possible future rust holes.
Placed the pump on the bracket and measured for clearance with the seat in place one last time....
Then I painted the bracket and bolted the pump onto it.
As you can see, with the seat bolted into place, the pump clears it perfectly!
As I've mentioned before, the water pump I used is a ShurFlo 4008-101-E65, which runs on 12v, is capable of 3GPM, has a 55psi cutoff and is capable of dry priming 6ft vertically, which is perfect for this system. I will say, the pump is also very quiet when running!
The pump and specs can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B002XM5G70/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also purchased a 10gallon floorboard water tank from Front Runner Outfitters. It fits the XJ floorboard perfect with the Transmission hump cutout. I also love how the tank mounts low to keep a low center of gravity in the vehicle. It's made from food grade polyethylene and is BPA free for potable water. It also has 1/2in barbed fittings on each end of the tank, which is perfect.
It can be found here:
https://www.frontrunneroutfitters.com/en/us/water-solutions/front-runner-footwell-water-tank.html
With the tank dropped into place, I decided to mount the ShurFlo water pump right behind the passenger front seat.
I placed the pump on the carpet between the two rear threaded seat tie downs for the passenger seat.
The direction that water flows through the pump is in on this side....
.....and out on this side.(there's an arrow on the pump to indicate flow direction)
I put the passenger seat back into place, sliding it all the way back to where it would sit just over the water pump. Luckily it just barely clears the pump, so I measured and fabricated a crude bracket to mount the pump on out of some 1/8in steel plate that I had laying around.
By using the existing threaded mounts for the passenger seat, I avoided having to drill holes into the floorboard to tie the pump down, thus avoiding possible future rust holes.
Placed the pump on the bracket and measured for clearance with the seat in place one last time....
Then I painted the bracket and bolted the pump onto it.
As you can see, with the seat bolted into place, the pump clears it perfectly!
Overland History
Wanderluster
Since I now had a permanent place for the pump, I could now run the water lines that run into the engine bay, under the carpet.
I ran the lines in a way that they snake between the front and rear passenger front seat bolt down points.
I used sticky mounting pads with zip ties to keep the lines from chaffing and rubbing on the floorboard over time. Even if the sticky part loses it's adhesive, it will still keep them from rubbing.
With that taken care of, it was now time to plumb the 10gal water tank into the pump.
The unfortunate thing about PEX is that it's not extremely flexible. In fact, it takes about 7in for it to do a 180* turn without kinking.
To plumb the tank properly, I had to cut a short piece of PEX, and do an immediate 90* turn to keep the tubing from rubbing on the bottom of each passenger door sill.
Driver's side.....
Passenger side....
I ran the lines in a way that they snake between the front and rear passenger front seat bolt down points.
I used sticky mounting pads with zip ties to keep the lines from chaffing and rubbing on the floorboard over time. Even if the sticky part loses it's adhesive, it will still keep them from rubbing.
With that taken care of, it was now time to plumb the 10gal water tank into the pump.
The unfortunate thing about PEX is that it's not extremely flexible. In fact, it takes about 7in for it to do a 180* turn without kinking.
To plumb the tank properly, I had to cut a short piece of PEX, and do an immediate 90* turn to keep the tubing from rubbing on the bottom of each passenger door sill.
Driver's side.....
Passenger side....
Overland History
Wanderluster
I plumbed the Driver's side tank line across and to a T-fitting, to tie both sides of the tank together.
The hose in the lower side of this pic is the passenger side tank hose joining the driver's side hose at the T-fitting, and then running into the "In" side of the water pump. Now, the pump can draw water from both sides of the tank equally.
I then plumbed the "Out" side of the pump into another T-fitting. This T-fitting is crucial, as it separates pushing water into your Hot Water side and Cold Water side. The line that comes off of that T-fitting(making a left turn) towards the top of the pic(or front end of the Jeep), is the line that heads up to the Heat Exchanger in the engine bay, making it's loop through the exchanger. The line that takes a right turn toward the bottom of the pic from the T-fitting is your cold water side.
In this pic, I'm pointing to the Hot Water line that's returning from the heat exchanger after making its loop through it.
The Cold Water line and Hot Water line later meet up at what's called a "Thermostatic Mixing Valve", which allows you to control water temperature.
I bought this one originally, but didn't end up using it in the system. I went with something else in the system which basically does the same thing, but we'll save that for last.
Hot Line goes in one side, Cold line in the other and out comes your regulated temperature water out of the bottom fitting. I believe this one ran me somewhere around $40 shipped, and I can't remember where I ordered it.
Anyways, now that I had almost all of my interior plumbing done, I could focus back on the Heat Exchanger and plumbing the Engine Coolant lines into it.
I ended up purchasing some stainless steel 1/2in female NPT to 1/2in barbed nipples online. I believe I got 5 of them for $25 shipped. The reason that I went with stainless steel and not simply cheap brass fittings from Home Depot, is because the Heat Exchanger itself is stainless steel. If I had attached two different types of metal together, in this case steel and brass, I would've developed what's called "Galvanic Rust" on the fittings.
I installed them onto the bottom of the exchanger using plenty of Teflon Tape on the threads. They need to be pretty damn tight in order to not leak coolant.
I figured out that the easiest way to plumb coolant lines into the heat exchanger, is to detach the coolant hose that runs from the top of the thermostat housing and into the top of the heater control valve, and simple loop that system back into itself, since it has constant coolant flow.
This is where it comes out of the thermostat housing at the front of the 4.0L. Engine coolant flows "Out" of the thermostat housing and into this hose, so keep in mind that coolant flow direction is important!
The other side of this hose runs along the passenger side of the engine valve cover and into the top of the heater control valve.
I unplugged the hose that runs into the top of the heater control valve and measured it as a 5/8" hose. I picked up a brand new one at the Auto Parts store for around $18. The new hose will be the return line coming from the heat exchanger.
I also picked up some 1/2in heater hose and some 1/2in to 5/8in heater hose connectors.
The hose in the lower side of this pic is the passenger side tank hose joining the driver's side hose at the T-fitting, and then running into the "In" side of the water pump. Now, the pump can draw water from both sides of the tank equally.
I then plumbed the "Out" side of the pump into another T-fitting. This T-fitting is crucial, as it separates pushing water into your Hot Water side and Cold Water side. The line that comes off of that T-fitting(making a left turn) towards the top of the pic(or front end of the Jeep), is the line that heads up to the Heat Exchanger in the engine bay, making it's loop through the exchanger. The line that takes a right turn toward the bottom of the pic from the T-fitting is your cold water side.
In this pic, I'm pointing to the Hot Water line that's returning from the heat exchanger after making its loop through it.
The Cold Water line and Hot Water line later meet up at what's called a "Thermostatic Mixing Valve", which allows you to control water temperature.
I bought this one originally, but didn't end up using it in the system. I went with something else in the system which basically does the same thing, but we'll save that for last.
Hot Line goes in one side, Cold line in the other and out comes your regulated temperature water out of the bottom fitting. I believe this one ran me somewhere around $40 shipped, and I can't remember where I ordered it.
Anyways, now that I had almost all of my interior plumbing done, I could focus back on the Heat Exchanger and plumbing the Engine Coolant lines into it.
I ended up purchasing some stainless steel 1/2in female NPT to 1/2in barbed nipples online. I believe I got 5 of them for $25 shipped. The reason that I went with stainless steel and not simply cheap brass fittings from Home Depot, is because the Heat Exchanger itself is stainless steel. If I had attached two different types of metal together, in this case steel and brass, I would've developed what's called "Galvanic Rust" on the fittings.
I installed them onto the bottom of the exchanger using plenty of Teflon Tape on the threads. They need to be pretty damn tight in order to not leak coolant.
I figured out that the easiest way to plumb coolant lines into the heat exchanger, is to detach the coolant hose that runs from the top of the thermostat housing and into the top of the heater control valve, and simple loop that system back into itself, since it has constant coolant flow.
This is where it comes out of the thermostat housing at the front of the 4.0L. Engine coolant flows "Out" of the thermostat housing and into this hose, so keep in mind that coolant flow direction is important!
The other side of this hose runs along the passenger side of the engine valve cover and into the top of the heater control valve.
I unplugged the hose that runs into the top of the heater control valve and measured it as a 5/8" hose. I picked up a brand new one at the Auto Parts store for around $18. The new hose will be the return line coming from the heat exchanger.
I also picked up some 1/2in heater hose and some 1/2in to 5/8in heater hose connectors.
Overland History
Wanderluster
I cut a short piece of 1/2in heater hose, and used hose clamps to attach it all together.
I'm pointing to the 1/2in heater hose here....
This is the 1/2in to 5/8in hose adapter....
Which runs into the 5/8in hose....
I'm still trying to find an easier way to go from 1/2in to 5/8in heater hose to reduce the number of unions, but so far no luck.
Anyways, with all of that attached, you can see the hose I'm pointing to is where coolant is flowing "In" to the Heat Exchanger.....
And here I'm pointing to the heater hose running "Out" of the Heat Exchanger, and looping back to the top of the Heater Control Valve. All it does is make a simple loop!
Again, coolant and water need to flow opposite of eachother in order to get maximum efficiency from the Heat Exchanger.
Here I'm pointing to the "Cold" or "In" line for fresh water. Just below that fitting is the Coolant "Out" line.
Im pointing to the "Hot" or "Out" line here, and just below that is the Coolant "In" line.
I'm pointing to the 1/2in heater hose here....
This is the 1/2in to 5/8in hose adapter....
Which runs into the 5/8in hose....
I'm still trying to find an easier way to go from 1/2in to 5/8in heater hose to reduce the number of unions, but so far no luck.
Anyways, with all of that attached, you can see the hose I'm pointing to is where coolant is flowing "In" to the Heat Exchanger.....
And here I'm pointing to the heater hose running "Out" of the Heat Exchanger, and looping back to the top of the Heater Control Valve. All it does is make a simple loop!
Again, coolant and water need to flow opposite of eachother in order to get maximum efficiency from the Heat Exchanger.
Here I'm pointing to the "Cold" or "In" line for fresh water. Just below that fitting is the Coolant "Out" line.
Im pointing to the "Hot" or "Out" line here, and just below that is the Coolant "In" line.
Overland History
Wanderluster
Now, comes the part that I had the most fun installing.
I thought long and hard about what to use as a shower sprayer, and was originally going to use a pull out, kitchen sink sprayer with the thermostatic mixing valve mounted right next to it, all built into my sleep platform. I also originally wanted to be able to open the rear passenger door, flip a switch, pull out the sprayer and have a hot water shower.
Well, I threw that idea out the window and went and did something insane.
I did some research on RV exterior shower boxes and finally found one that fit my measurements just right.
This is the Phoenix 377BK-I. I picked it up on Amazon for $45 shipped, but it looks like it just jumped up to $58 shipped.
It can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JYMWAN0/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The box looks very nice, is lockable, is UV resistant to fade, has a 60" shower hose with a switch to turn water on/off on the head, and also comes with 1/2in female NPT fittings on the back!
The nice thing about using this shower box, is that it eliminates the necessity of having a thermostatic mixing valve in the system, since the box itself acts just like one.
Oh, and it also comes with a little clip and fitting to be able to mount the shower head if you like. I don't intend to use these pieces...
Well, now comes the insane part.
I decided to mount the shower box in the rear quarter panel. According to my measurements, I knew that very little would interfere with it behind the quarter panel.
The only modification I had to make on the inside, was to cut this lip right behind the passenger tail light to make sure the box would clear. The tail light harness and the rear wiper window washer fluid line can be tucked out of the way very easily. Also, I was mindful of the tail light harness wiring that plugs into the back of the tail light itself.
I made a template of the box itself by taping strips of paper together around each corner of the mounting surface of the box....
Then I traced the outside edge of the mounting surface onto the paper, and then cut it out....
I thought long and hard about what to use as a shower sprayer, and was originally going to use a pull out, kitchen sink sprayer with the thermostatic mixing valve mounted right next to it, all built into my sleep platform. I also originally wanted to be able to open the rear passenger door, flip a switch, pull out the sprayer and have a hot water shower.
Well, I threw that idea out the window and went and did something insane.
I did some research on RV exterior shower boxes and finally found one that fit my measurements just right.
This is the Phoenix 377BK-I. I picked it up on Amazon for $45 shipped, but it looks like it just jumped up to $58 shipped.
It can be found here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JYMWAN0/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1
The box looks very nice, is lockable, is UV resistant to fade, has a 60" shower hose with a switch to turn water on/off on the head, and also comes with 1/2in female NPT fittings on the back!
The nice thing about using this shower box, is that it eliminates the necessity of having a thermostatic mixing valve in the system, since the box itself acts just like one.
Oh, and it also comes with a little clip and fitting to be able to mount the shower head if you like. I don't intend to use these pieces...
Well, now comes the insane part.
I decided to mount the shower box in the rear quarter panel. According to my measurements, I knew that very little would interfere with it behind the quarter panel.
The only modification I had to make on the inside, was to cut this lip right behind the passenger tail light to make sure the box would clear. The tail light harness and the rear wiper window washer fluid line can be tucked out of the way very easily. Also, I was mindful of the tail light harness wiring that plugs into the back of the tail light itself.
I made a template of the box itself by taping strips of paper together around each corner of the mounting surface of the box....
Then I traced the outside edge of the mounting surface onto the paper, and then cut it out....
Overland History
Wanderluster
Now that I had a perfect template of the box, I taped the ends onto the fender. To make sure that the box would look correct installed and flow with the body lines, I measured 1.25in from the top body line, rear of the tail light, and also from the bottom right corner of the template to the fender flare.
I then taped the template onto the body with painter's tape....
I must've paced back n forth in front of this rear quarter panel for 5mins before growing enough balls to start cutting!
No turning back now! Took my time cutting and things went great!
The box fit perfectly!!
I drilled my mounting holes....
Painted the exposed metal outside and also inside....
I RTVed the hell out of the mounting surface on the box to insure there are no leaks....
Then mounted the box!
I then taped the template onto the body with painter's tape....
I must've paced back n forth in front of this rear quarter panel for 5mins before growing enough balls to start cutting!
No turning back now!
Took my time cutting and things went great! The box fit perfectly!!
I drilled my mounting holes....
Painted the exposed metal outside and also inside....
I RTVed the hell out of the mounting surface on the box to insure there are no leaks....
Then mounted the box!
Overland History
Wanderluster
A few more angles.....
The nice thing about the placement of the box, is that when I build the sleep platform, the 60" shower head hose is long enough to reach to the back of the hatch. I'm building a pull out drawer with a 2 Burner Stove and sink to be able to wash dishes, which will be on the passenger side!
I also installed a simple 20A toggle switch in the box to be able to turn the water pump on and off. The switch and pump will be wired up after the sleep platform is built.
Lastly, I plumbed the "Hot" and "Cold" lines into the back of the box.
Once the sleep platform is built, it will conceal all of the plumbing lines in the system.
With that said, that was a metric buttload of work installing this system! I hope I made it look easy!
Here's an updated schematic of the system, so it's more easily understandable, for those of you who plan on doing something like this. Enjoy!
The nice thing about the placement of the box, is that when I build the sleep platform, the 60" shower head hose is long enough to reach to the back of the hatch. I'm building a pull out drawer with a 2 Burner Stove and sink to be able to wash dishes, which will be on the passenger side!
I also installed a simple 20A toggle switch in the box to be able to turn the water pump on and off. The switch and pump will be wired up after the sleep platform is built.
Lastly, I plumbed the "Hot" and "Cold" lines into the back of the box.
Once the sleep platform is built, it will conceal all of the plumbing lines in the system.
With that said, that was a metric buttload of work installing this system! I hope I made it look easy!
Here's an updated schematic of the system, so it's more easily understandable, for those of you who plan on doing something like this. Enjoy!
Last edited:
Overland History
Wanderluster
Oh, I almost forgot.
I did hook the pump up to power and test the system! Water pressure is perfect. Once I cut the shower head off, the pump cycles for maybe 2 seconds until it hits 55psi of pressure in the lines. I checked every fitting for leaks and found none. Success! The shower box works beautifully to regulate hot water!
Here's a short video of the final testing of the system....
I did hook the pump up to power and test the system! Water pressure is perfect. Once I cut the shower head off, the pump cycles for maybe 2 seconds until it hits 55psi of pressure in the lines. I checked every fitting for leaks and found none. Success! The shower box works beautifully to regulate hot water!
Here's a short video of the final testing of the system....
piratenation90
Adventurer
Awesome, just awesome!
Such a great project! I've really enjoyed the reading. Thanks for taking the time to write it all up so succinctly.
I have a couple questions for you:
Do you worry at all about reducing the coolant hose diameter from 5/8" to 1/2"? I can't say I understand enough about coolant systems to know if this would make a discernible difference in engine temps, but I would imagine that creates a significant reduction in flow volume.
Where did you get your fender flares? I removed my plastic, rear bumper ends and now my OEM flare stops at the body line, where it used to meet the top of the rear bumper cap. I see that your rear flare continues down to the bottom of the body panel and looks more intentional by comparison.
Here's my rear flare stopping too high:
versus yours which continues all the way down:
I have a couple questions for you:
Do you worry at all about reducing the coolant hose diameter from 5/8" to 1/2"? I can't say I understand enough about coolant systems to know if this would make a discernible difference in engine temps, but I would imagine that creates a significant reduction in flow volume.
Where did you get your fender flares? I removed my plastic, rear bumper ends and now my OEM flare stops at the body line, where it used to meet the top of the rear bumper cap. I see that your rear flare continues down to the bottom of the body panel and looks more intentional by comparison.
Here's my rear flare stopping too high:
versus yours which continues all the way down:
jswift716
Adventurer
Yours is 97+ his is a 93 if I remember right. That's why his flares continue. He didn't have the same bumper ends as you