Youtuber Gets Closer to Awakening the LS Swap Magic in a Jeep
Inching closer to the finish line, LS-swapped Jeep TJ/LJ receives new hoses and cooling parts, then a shifter unit from a Hummer to tie it up.
Did you hear? Jeep’s finally putting in a burly V8 in their Wrangler, the first V8 since the AMC days wound down to a close back in the Eighties. That’s cool and all, and good for Stellantis to give their iconic ride some big power, but more than a few Jeep fans have had burly V8s in their rigs for ages. Their secret is no secret to us, of course. Just the magic powers the LS V8 bestows, along with the aftermarket support behind it.
One such Jeep is a 2006 TJ/LJ belonging to Cassie Ertel of Jeep Gear & Gadgets. This rig’s made better with a 5.3-liter Vortec V8, and it’s almost ready to hit the trail. Just gotta add some important bits to tie it all together.
“The goal of this video is to pretty much get all of this put back together,” said Ertel. “I’m gonna get pretty close. The first thing we’re gonna take a look at is what exhaust setup I’m going with. Originally, I was gonna do a DIY exhaust. However, to save a lot of time, I’m gonna go with a full bolt-on kit.”
And not just any bolt-on, but a Hooker exhaust kit built specifically to live under an LS Jeep Wrangler TJ/LJ longboy like hers. With just a few clamps, and some turns of the wrench upon the serrated bolts (made to keep the whole thing from slipping apart over time), and the only thing needed is an extension between the kit and the tailpipe to compensate for the length of the ride.
“We’re gonna be taking a look at something very important to this swap, and that is the radiator,” said Ertel. “The V8 is larger than the 4.0 that was in here before, and more engine means more heat. It’s going to be hot; we got to be make sure we can cool it.”
Thus, Ertel’s dropping in a big, thick radiator with an electric fan that, too, is a bolt-on piece. Built by Flex-A-Lite, the big unit was built specifically for an LS-swap Jeep TJ. With the fan already bolted on from the factory, plus the ease of wiring the whole thing up, installation is, indeed, a breeze. Of course, she and her husband did get ahead of themselves by installing the radiator before the trans-cooler, but it’s nothing that can’t be easily remedied with a few loosened bolts to slide it all in.
“We got a shifter cable from a Chevy Trailblazer,” said Ertel. “We’re going to be using a shifter from a Hummer. Originally, we had a Chevy Trailblazer shifter, but it was too tall. It was about two inches taller than [the Hummer shifter]. If we were in park, it would hit the dash […] I think [this shifter’s] gonna work pretty well.”
The plan for the Hummer shifter includes bolting on a cover plate over the original shifter hole, then welding a few attachment points for the new one to live on top. Then, figuring out which wires connect to the solenoid to enable the brake-to-shift feature. Either way, one more LS Jeep is closer to the finish line. Can’t wait to see this one rattle the rocks at Moab!
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