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Hello! I'm an old fart that has earned his retirement and has been planning for years to do an LS swap into my Jeep. I make no claims as to my mechanical ability, along with welding, painting or any other needed skill! Is this the correct spot for my build thread? If not, let me know and I will gladly move it.
My goal is to have an LS powered Jeep that meets emissions and still crawls the rocks. Having it perform for straight line fun is also a requirement.
For the Jeep itself- '97 Wrangler/TJ, Rock Krawler 5 inch lift/long arm, Bilstien shocks, Metal Cloak dual rate coils, Currie HD rear ford style housing with 4.88 geared Tru-Hi9 ARB diff 35 spline with explorer disc brakes, Front is Currie F9 housing with Currie High Pinion 4.88 geared ARB with RCV 35 spline inner axle and 30 spline outers. I am running 35 inch maxxis creepy crawlers on ATX slab side beadlocks and 33 inch Toyo M/T's on alloy wheels for the street. The appearance should look like a mildly modified jeep without giant wheels and 1 ton axles.
For the power- crate LS3, 430 hp version. I chose this for 2 reasons. One is that I can follow the guidelines of the E-Rod LS3 to pass emissions and the cam is not lumpy and should be smooth for rock crawling. The mods I did choose are sanderson headers with the LS3 size ports- 1 5/8 inch with their heat coating and a meziere (sp) electric water pump. My thoughts on the water pump are that when I am crawling and at low rpm's, there will be a large volume of water being moved through the system. The mfg's always claim an increase in power because of less pulley drag, but I'm thinking that it would be so minor I'd likely not even notice! The radiator is aluminum with electric fan and a nice shroud.
Here is where I am sure a few of you will say something. I prefer an auto trans offroad, for many reasons. My choice was a 6L80E that had 10 miles on it. The price was right and it gives me a 4.1 first gear! Couple this to the 3.8 to 1 gearing of the Atlas II transfer case and it puts me way low for rock crawling.
Speartech is the company who built my wiring harness and supplied the ecm, shifter and other items. They did a primary tune using the specs of my gearing-tires etc.
The plan is to post some pic's each night as this build goes along. This is my first LS swap so I will be reaching out for help at some point(s)!
If any of you see a problem that I am headed for...please speak up!
Rubicon Trail
The boss and the jeep. These are the 35 inch Maxxis tires on beadlocks.
Getting things out of the way. Always takes longer when you bag and mark the hardware.
Nice thing about a jeep...the hood can stay on! The plan is to pull the complete powertrain at onetime.
Cool,just pulled a 2.5 out of my 98,the whole unit will come out with transfer case attached if you sling it right and use some patience,however it is dangerously out of balance with that mass hanging off to the left,so be careful.If you have that Atlas case in your Jeep already,it may not be a bad idea to drop it first.
I'm putting a 6.0/4l65e/NP241 in my 95 Jeep YJ. I used Novak motor mounts and it sit in the jeep chassis perfect. We did test fit as Novak notes..but the Novaks measurements were spot on.
Here's a list of what I've got and will be using.
1. 6.0 with 799 heads
2. 4l65e auto trans with a lokar trans mount shifter
3. NP241C transfer case with JB conversion super short SYE..using a JB Custom Fab cable shifter.
4. Waggy front Dana 44 with an Isuzu Rodeo rear axle
5. Superior Radiator custom built for a YJ. The guy even had radiator hose part numbers that would work.
6. Novak engine mounts.
7. 4l65e Stock trans mount worked perfectly. All I had to do was drill 2 new holes.
Thanks for the info on the balance. I am just starting to pull it out and have one chain on the pass side of the block and the front chain on a head stud connected to a engine balancer. I am tempted to put stock wheels on the front to lower it for the removal.
I have the Novak engine mounts as well. I will likely do the same as you did and tack weld them first for a test fit. This will let me position the trans and tack weld the mount for it.
Even though I have time....it seems life gets in the way, pulling me off my project!
Thanks for the interest! The headers are from Sanderson and match the size of the LS3 port. I don't recall the size.
I was able to get the powertrain out today after dropping into the frame and looking like a Dodge slant six!
Ignore the puddle on the floor! You do not see the puddle on the floor!
Yup! The floor is clean! Now I can roll this heep out of the garage today and clean the engine bay. It will be one of our rare days without rain, at least until evening. Next is the 1 inch body lift, plasma off motor mounts, etc...
Cutting the motor mounts and grinding the mounting blocks flush is some work.
Not really any of my business but why the 1 inch body lift?
Couple of pics of my build.
Sure is,just lopped mine off the other day. Sawzall,grinder with cutting discs,grinding disc,flap disc-get out all your abrasive destruction tools-you're gonna need them!I'm surprised the OP's Jeep didn't already have the 1" lift,I'm sure the 6L80 will need that extra clearance.
To JIMB. Please ask questions! By asking questions of me, it makes me confirm why I am doing whatever mod and maybe there is a better way to do it. I would only find out by questions/answers both ways!
The body lift was due to information from Currie, regarding enough room for the transfer case and it's linkage. I was not happy to lift this any further.
While doing so I broke off one bolt in the body so far. When I installed the poly bushings a few years ago I did use anti-seize.
So back at it, battling a simple body lift. Oh and bolt removal surgery!
JIMB, your jeep looks 10 times better than mine! Beautiful attention to detail. I do not have the luxury of time to really do this nice. It will be closer to quick and dirty!
Both bolts are sprayed with a good penetrating oil. I'll spray them a few more times tomorrow and try to remove them in a few days. There is still plenty I can do!
Bummer about the body bolt. Careful drilling and re-tapping should be the fix. When I was looking for my TJ I was very careful to buy a zero rust Jeep.
I reused the stock transfer case linkage. It works OK but this summer it's getting a Novak TC shifter.
01-06-2016, 05:37 AM
Jeep swap 
