Build Trying to get it mostly right the first time: A 5.9 and 46RE swapped Tummy Tucked Daily Driven Jeep TJ

ridered3 said:

Anything new to share with the class?

Click to expand...

A few, actually.

First up was to fix the misfire. These engines are known to have an issue with spark knock caused from improper spark plug routing (there's actually a TSB for it), so wire routing was the first thing I confirmed correct. Next I started pulling plug wires one a time and checking for resistance. Sure enough one of my brand new plug wires had gone bad (or I'd broken it) so I threw on an old wire and it's been running like a top since. I've driven it to work all but 2 days the last 2 weeks.

Since the last update the cold temperatures have exceeded my motivation to work outside so I've been working on things that fit inside my shop. I ran to the farm and picked up the 8.8 I purchased a while back and have it stripped, center section welded to the tubes and the Barnes 4wd truss primed and tacked together to prep for the axle swap. I'm shooting to swap the axle out this spring once I've sold a few jet skis to replenish my project fund.



The next project was a hardcore fab and electrical project I'd been wanting to do for a while - installing a better third brake light.





And yes, I did finally find the missing machine screw.

For the wiring, I copied the design of the TJ trailer wiring harness and used weather pack connectors to plug into the stock wiring without any splices. The wire was routed through the stock light housing and out a cable gland to another weather pack plug for the light to plug into. I picked up the ground from the stock light as well.









One of these days I'll actually use low range and wheel this garbage, but I've got to work on the things I'm selling to recoup my project funds first.

If anyone is looking for a sub $5k Seadoo or Yamaha Wave Runner in the Birmingham area, slide on into those DM's (isn't that what the kids say these days?)

Glad to see an update.

No real updates on the TJ as it’s been serving part time DD. Total miles on the swap to date is 5,779. I’ve been collecting parts for the next round of work, including 3.5” JKS Dual Rate Springs, a set of JL Fox shocks and am planning out the cooling system changes / upgrades / modifications as well.

I do have an update on a Jeep related bucket list thing that I’ve wanted to do for going on 20 years.

I first subscribed to Peterson’s 4 Whell and Off Road in August of 2003 which featured UA coverage in the southeast at some of my local parts and I still have that issue to this day. Frankly, I credit that subscription to 4WOR to much of my passion for the off road hobby. The issue with Easter Jeep Safari in 2004 would have been my first exposure to Moab and it has been a bucket list trip arguably ever since.
When family vacation was planned for Park City, Utah this year I knew this was a prime opportunity to make that happen. Side bar – turns out I’ll be driving from AL to Moab in October to ride co-pilot with a RZR crew. After some research, the plan was to leave Park City one morning, hit Arches National Park around lunch and then do a ride along Jeep tour with Twisted Jeeps. The next day we’d hit Canyonlands National Park and head back to Park City.

I pulled some strings at the airport and changed our rental car to a ‘23 Rubicon 4xE. I love my TJ, but man is the JL plush! The trip went exactly according to plan (shocker) and Twisted Jeeps was fantastic to do business with. Our guide, Jeeper Jeff, was a super cool dude and let me drive a few obstacles he technically wasn’t allowed to. Here are a few pictures and video from the trip:

Dan_Goodwin said:

No real updates on the TJ as it’s been serving part time DD. Total miles on the swap to date is 5,779. I’ve been collecting parts for the next round of work, including 3.5” JKS Dual Rate Springs, a set of JL Fox shocks and am planning out the cooling system changes / upgrades / modifications as well.

Click to expand...

Excited to hear some news on this, I love your TJ !

Dan_Goodwin said:

Our guide, Jeeper Jeff, was a super cool dude and let me drive a few obstacles he technically wasn’t allowed to.

Click to expand...

That's how they make people feel special. They do it to everyone

Bebop said:

Excited to hear some news on this, I love your TJ !

Click to expand...

Appreciate it!

Bebop said:

That's how they make people feel special. They do it to everyone

Click to expand...

Not gonna lie. It sure worked on me.... I took the bait hook, line and sinker.

Update time! Apologies for the long post, but I’ve been busy on the TJ.

I swapped out the front Rough Country springs (intended for a 4cyl) and 2” spacers for 3.5” JKS dual rate springs without any issues. The JKS springs provided the same lift as the RC springs did with the spacer but made a substantial difference in ride quality. Crazy what the correct parts will do.

Before:



While I was working on the front of the Jeep I just couldn’t ignore the shiny JL Fox shocks that I picked up on Marketplace for $135 any longer and decided to swap those on as well. The inspiration for this swap came from this thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/jl-shocks-on-a-tj.49036/
This is the front shocks in question: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/frs-985-24-171 I intend to swap rear springs and shocks when the D35 is pulled for the 8.8 swap. This was a pretty simple swap that took a few hours and some basic fabrication skills. The upper mount landed right at a factory hole in the shock tower, so I pulled a weld washer and shock tab out of my stock and ended up with this:



Onto the lower mount. The original shock mount was removed to make room for the tabs needed to catch the lower eyelet. The lower mount ended up being a simple clevis that was attached with the LCA bolt.



The tabs are meant for ½" hardware and the shock bushings are drilled for the foreign equivalent (aka 13mm), so I drilled the bushing out to ½" to work with the tabs and hardware I already had.

I only had time to get the passenger side done this weekend but can already tell a positive difference in the on road ride quality. The difference will really become apparent once the rear axle is swapped and the track bar isn’t trying to coexist with the fuel tank.

After:



Next on the list was to spend some time on the cooling system to make it better than marginal. I’ve learned time and time again to start with the basics when troubleshooting and made something resembling a plan which was:

1. Remove / relocate the power steering cooler.

1. Relocate the transmission cooler.

1. Revise the steering cooler mounting bracket.

1. Install the driver side grill shroud between the grill and condenser.

1. Revise the upper radiator hose to remove the chance of an air pocket.

I know that my cooling fan needs an upgrade (and that’s coming) but I wanted to start the above list and see what happened. I unbolted the front grill shell and tipped it forward enough to get to the transmission and steering coolers. The transmission cooler was zip tied under the front bumper and the steering cooler was deleted for now.






The upper radiator hose was reconfigured using a hose I’d originally bought for the Summit Racing radiator:

Picture placeholder.

The host fit the neck on the engine but was too large for the radiator inlet so I cut a piece from the old rad hose to act as a temporarily permanent spacer.The system was bled and I’ve driven it around town and to work one day and have noticed the a lower coolant temperature on the gauge. It is still running around 220* with the AC on full blast, which is higher that it should be but was able to maintain that temperature on the interstate which is an improvement. I’m also going to pull a page from Roadkill and drive it without the hood one day to see if a louver might help the issue. If nothing else it’ll be entertaining, right?

The next step is to replace the existing radiator fan with a pair of 10” fans that can better keep up with the demand. Swapping to a pair of fans not only will increase CFM, but will allow a thicker fan since the water pump pulley will no longer be the limiting factor.

Another update that is completely unrelated to the cooling system was installing this Warn Zeon 8k winch that I picked up with a brush guard from, you guessed it, Marketplace. The brush guard is for a truck that I’m buying in the future and I managed to get both parts for less than the brush guard is worth – I'll take that all day! The Superwinch that it is replacing has been flawless for 10+ years now (and frankly, really didn’t need replacing) but I’ve always wanted that Warn ‘W’ on the front of my Jeep.

Nice dude

Coming to you live from under the Jeep…





These are the fans that Bebop recommended and they fit like a glove. This should fix the overheating issue.

Dan_Goodwin said:

Coming to you live from under the Jeep…

These are the fans that Bebop recommended and they fit like a glove. This should fix the overheating issue.

Click to expand...

By the hair on your chin.

that's tight brother...

But tight is right

After trying all of the easy fixes to address my marginal cooling system, it was time to spend some money to fix this problem for the last time. Before ordering the fans I took a piece of scap PVC pipe and cut it to the height of the fans to get an idea if they had a prayer of fitting and it looked like they did, so I ordered 2 Spal fans and a Davies Craig controller. Shoutout to Summit Racing for price matching those fans to Amazon - I got them for $134ea.

I don't have the skills (yet) to make a new shroud, so I ordered a sheet of .120 5052 aluminum (way too thick), riveted it to the old shroud and broke out the plasma cutter.

initial test fit:





Final Product:



The fans are held in place with (4) M6 rivnuts each and allow for easy install and removal (which has to be done from the bottom) The 2 unused rivnuts will get clamps bolted to them for wire routing. There's barely a finger width between the fans and accessories, but they fit and initial test drives have been very very promising with the temp gauge never going above 210 with the AC on full blast.

Question for the brain trust here: do I need to put any holes in the dead space to allow air to flow through the rad and not dead head into the shroud?

I also finally got around to installing the other Fox shock this weekend and ordered parts for the 8.8 swap that should get done this weekend.

Dan_Goodwin said:

Question for the brain trust here: do I need to put any holes in the dead space to allow air to flow through the rad and not dead head into the shroud?

Click to expand...

I won’t just put holes there, as that likely will hurt you more than help you. These holes will recirculate hot air at low speed, rather than pull cool air from front through coolers.

But.

You can if you have the ambitious. Cut rectangles and make spring loaded doors out of aluminum, or just rubber sheet, to open by air pressure at higher speed like highway but will be shut/sucked shut at lower speed by the vacuum created by fans.

Dan_Goodwin said:

Question for the brain trust here: do I need to put any holes in the dead space to allow air to flow through the rad and not dead head into the shroud?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't call that mandatory, but it can't hurt if you do it right.
TrailTamer is right.

TrailTamer said:

You can if you have the ambitious. Cut rectangles and make spring loaded doors out of aluminum, or just rubber sheet, to open by air pressure at higher speed like highway but will be shut/sucked shut at lower speed by the vacuum created by fans.

Click to expand...

Thin rubber flap like the OEMs do.

I starting to gather parts to do this swap on my yj. You have a lot of good info that should make it go smoothly

Buying a 98 grand cherokee 5.9L tomorrow for my 97 TJ 2.5L/ax5.

Im gonna blow this thread up with questions lol

D_JEEPER said:

Buying a 98 grand cherokee 5.9L tomorrow for my 97 TJ 2.5L/ax5.

Im gonna blow this thread up with questions lol

Click to expand...

Bring them on. I’d be happy to help.

You also reminded me to update this thread. lol.

Dan_Goodwin said:

Bring them on. I’d be happy to help.

You also reminded me to update this thread. lol.

Click to expand...

Thanks! First one I am pondering...
The NV249 to NP231 swap... I have the 231 in my TJ right now with SYE, ready to go. Can I just pop the front case off and swap my 21 spline with the NV249 23 spline and run with it? I know there are different bearings and stuff to look out for as well... but just check my thinking before I go hunting down a 23 spline np231 from a 4.0 unnecessarily haha.

Also, I am probably not going to do the harness myself... I dont trust myself to avoid smoking the whole loom. Hotwire will probably get my business there...

D_JEEPER said:

Thanks! First one I am pondering...
The NV249 to NP231 swap... I have the 231 in my TJ right now with SYE, ready to go. Can I just pop the front case off and swap my 21 spline with the NV249 23 spline and run with it? I know there are different bearings and stuff to look out for as well... but just check my thinking before I go hunting down a 23 spline np231 from a 4.0 unnecessarily haha.

Also, I am probably not going to do the harness myself... I dont trust myself to avoid smoking the whole loom. Hotwire will probably get my business there...

Click to expand...

Which transmission will you be running?

Dan_Goodwin said:

Which transmission will you be running?

Click to expand...

I will be keeping the 46RE

Thanks for the tip on the plug routing, i have a dakota rt that spark knocks its ass off. Truck is a pos, id put the engine in my tj but its a 99 truck and my jeep is an 04

Zg86 said:

Thanks for the tip on the plug routing, i have a dakota rt that spark knocks its ass off. Truck is a pos, id put the engine in my tj but its a 99 truck and my jeep is an 04

Click to expand...

Did you stick with the 46RE? if so, How does it hold up to crawling and such? Seems like a stout tranny but I admit, I know nothing about it, aside from it coming in dodge trucks.

D_JEEPER said:

Did you stick with the 46RE? if so, How does it hold up to crawling and such? Seems like a stout tranny but I admit, I know nothing about it, aside from it coming in dodge trucks.

Click to expand...

I did NOT put it in my jeep, its still in the truck. And i would keep my 5 speed if i did decide to swap it.
The truck belonged to my dad and far as i know its had at least 3 transmission rebuilds in a 2wd street truck that never hauled anything, 160k miles.
Im still considering putting it in there because i dont give a **** about the factory gauges and stuff working, and because free.

Zg86 said:

I did NOT put it in my jeep, its still in the truck. And i would keep my 5 speed if i did decide to swap it.
The truck belonged to my dad and far as i know its had at least 3 transmission rebuilds in a 2wd street truck that never hauled anything, 160k miles.
Im still considering putting it in there because i dont give a **** about the factory gauges and stuff working, and because free.

Click to expand...

I saw a **** ton of red flag type of things about swapping a manual in. Maybe just computer-related requirements (manual computer with manual trans only). I definitely would like to keep a manual if possible... but for simplicity sake an auto isn't TERRIBLE....I guess....

Dan_Goodwin said:

Progress has been sparse due to prior commitments, me being sick for a week and it being far below my cold threshold for working outside. This build is primarily being done in my open carport at home.

Two Fridays ago I received a notification in the morning that my seats had been delayed another 3 weeks which was a bummer but not the end of the world since I don’t have to have them. Much to my surprise, my doorbell rang later that day and:

Go figure. I had a free day this past weekend and decided to focus on the interior so I could enjoy the new Bedrug and Baja RS seats.
Mastercraft wanted $89 per side for the seat adapter bracket, which looked like nothing more than a piece of flat bar with 2 spacers welded to it so I decided to make my own.

I managed to get the seats and front Bedrug installed as well as mounting the transmission temperature gauge and switches. Here was the final result:

First impressions on the seats is positive – the fit and finish is great and the seats sit really well. The only complaint I have is that they sit way too high, but that is entirely due to my brackets. I was unable to find any installation instructions to borrow pictures from so I really just winged the install. I used 1.5” x .25” flat bar for the mounts and 1” coupling nuts for the spacers. The limiting factor here is a bracket that’s riveted on the factory seat base that has a 1” rise, so I can’t go below that without cutting that bracket off. I’m going to ponder on this issue and live with it for now.

The O/D switch is an OEM Mopar unit and the others are from Gold Coast Distributing on eBay. I wish they all matched, but GCD doesn’t offer an O/D switch so I’ll live with the slight variation. The transmission gauge is from Glow Shift and fit nicely in this space. This will all get wired later.

As with everything these days, SYEs have been a little hard to come by. I noticed a forum post over on Wrangler TJ Forum that the JB Conversions SSSYE was back in stock about the time I received notification that my Advance Adapter SYE was pushed out to a possible 2/26 ship date, so I canceled the AA order and ordered the JB Conversion unit which arrived yesterday.

Click to expand...

love the spot for the gauge.

D_JEEPER said:

I saw a **** ton of red flag type of things about swapping a manual in. Maybe just computer-related requirements (manual computer with manual trans only). I definitely would like to keep a manual if possible... but for simplicity sake an auto isn't TERRIBLE....I guess....

Click to expand...

Yeah id need a dakota bellhousing and computer that id imagine are unobtanium by now.

Oh here's another one for OP.... how much length did you lose on your rear driveshaft vs stock? I can't imagine the whole setup is shorter.

I stretched 5" on the rear... but would hate to lose that haha

D_JEEPER said:

I will be keeping the 46RE

Click to expand...

Frankly, I don't know if the NV input shaft will swap over to the NP231 case. I should have a spare 23 spline input shaft I'd cut you a deal on if you did need it. The 46RE is a solid transmission so you should get good service out of it. As with all transmissions, make sure to run an aux cooler.

D_JEEPER said:

I saw a **** ton of red flag type of things about swapping a manual in. Maybe just computer-related requirements (manual computer with manual trans only). I definitely would like to keep a manual if possible... but for simplicity sake an auto isn't TERRIBLE....I guess....

Click to expand...

You'd need a Dakota bellhousing for this option but the computer can be tuned for a manual trans. Flyin' Ryan Performance seems to be the go-to for tuning. Several folks have swapped in a manual.

D_JEEPER said:

Oh here's another one for OP.... how much length did you lose on your rear driveshaft vs stock? I can't imagine the whole setup is shorter.

I stretched 5" on the rear... but would hate to lose that haha

Click to expand...

I didn't compare shafts before and after, but my new driveshaft is 21" yoke to yoke. If I had it to do over again I'd shift the engine back which would shorten the driveshaft a touch.

Dan_Goodwin said:

I didn't compare shafts before and after, but my new driveshaft is 21" yoke to yoke. If I had it to do over again I'd shift the engine back which would shorten the driveshaft a touch.

Click to expand...

Would that just be for cooling clearance issues you had?

D_JEEPER said:

Would that just be for cooling clearance issues you had?

Click to expand...

Short answer is yes.

I was able to use the stock exhaust manifolds and Y pipe with the Advance Adapter mounts in their recommended location which was really convenient.

But.

The exhaust can easily be built to clear the firewall, either using the stock manifolds or headers. I can't create space for a larger fan or radiator where the space doesn't exist. I'll go into more details in a thread update, but the fans have done a fine job of keeping the Jeep cool around town and on the trail. It's still getting warmer than I'd like on the interstate but that's not necessarily a fan problem. The alternator handles the load alright but I'm going to replace the charge wire off the alternator (if I haven't already) and / or look into a higher output alternator.