Higher horses, higher revs & even higher torque, a streetable LJ engine swap

[toximus]

I reconsidered about the shifter not being able to go into reverse while under full articulation. Once I get the driveshaft back from Tom Woods I'll figure out a solution.

 

[toximus]

I spent most of yesterday playing around with exhaust routing and thinking through things.

In the late afternoon I got started on the engine side motor mounts.

 

[toximus]

The bolt sleeves provided by Autofab are a hair under 1/16" shorter than the weld sleeves that they have. They also aren't cut straight. I'll include a stick of DOM in a future metals order to correct this.

 

[toximus]

Cardboard mockup for the left (driver's) frame side engine mount. It's 1.75" wide at the engine and flares out to 3" at the frame.

 

[toximus]

And the right side also is 1.75" at the engine and flares out to 3" at the frame:

 

[toximus]

Flat belly goodness!

 

[toximus]

Tom Woods received my front shaft and is able to shorten it to 36-3/8" and resend it back out again today.

I also ordered a new shaft for the rear in 1350 for 28-1/4". I had the option between 2" and 3" tube, they said either would likely work but the 3" will survive whatever I throw at it from the engine and includes a stronger spline section which is the main benefit from what I understood. I also upgraded to the thicker .180 wall which requires some machining on their part but will hold up better if it gets tapped.

When the time comes to order spares, I'll probably go with the smaller 2" shaft so it fits inside the Jeep better.

 

[toximus]

Making the motor mounts is taking longer than I expected. Lots of tedious shaping.

 

[toximus]

I found what may be the best $80 purchase ever. A part that actually fits!

This 6L80e dipstick tube came from blueracer1976 on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/293932480622

The benefits of having the plastic handle vs a metal one like the Lokar has is that it won't be hot to the touch when checking it. For a little while I had been considering not having a dipstick since the transmission really shouldn't leak and I'd see if it was and could crawl under to add, but the transmission to Atlas adapter doesn't have a weep hole so it's possible that it could leak past the output shaft seals into that area and I'd never know until it's too late. This tube will also make fluid changes a breeze.

 

[toximus]

I actually finished cutting all of the pieces for the left side engine mount a few days ago. Before final assembly I realized that I need to figure out how I'm tying my engine skid into the frame. On the right side I'll go directly to the frame (easy) and for the left side I figured out a route that I can make an S shaped brace fit between the engine and diff and then tie it into the engine mount and I'll add a second brace to prevent torsion on that engine mount. More materials are on order so hopefully I can knock that out real quick once they arrive. In the meantime I can continue in other ideas since the engine is firmly in it's final location with just the one engine mount plus the transmission mount.

Here's some in progress pics:

It looks like I can reuse the old steering mount:

 

[toximus]

I dropped the pan and added in a trap door baffle from Improved Racing to help keep the oil near the pickup.

https://www.improvedracing.com/camar...le-bundle.html

The stock LS pan does have a baffle of sorts already which looks like it would control oil much better than the Jeep's 4.0L, however the trap door baffle has been proven to have even better oil control when cornering on road tracks and offroad at extreme angles.

Stock GM baffle slopes toward the pick up:

Lobster traps built into the pan:

Improved Racing trap door baffle installed:

Because my oil pan is now baller I bejeweled it with stainless steel bolts from ARP (#434-6902).

 

[toximus]

Unfortunately progress is going to be slower the next few months and I likely won't be able to get the exhaust done and test drive until mid-April instead of next month. Anyway, I just wanted to give you guys a heads up so you don't think I've forgotten to update ya'll.

 

[toximus]

I was asked how far down my oil pan sits:

 

[toximus]

To preemptively make more room for the front driveshaft I cut the threaded knobs off the oil pan. I used a sawzall and then smoothed them out with a flap wheel made for aluminum.

 

[toximus]

I finally got around to unboxing the driveshafts from Tom Woods.

The front 1310 1.25" shaft clears everything with room to spare! So much that I'm going to tape a 3/8" spacer onto the shaft, cycle it again, and see if I can get away with a 2" shaft. A 1350 2" shaft might be too big around the cardan joint so I'll probably stick with 1310 up front. Exhaust clearance might not work either...

Driveshaft to Savvy mid-arm bracket (I can always notch this):

To get some more wiggle room I'll shave the engine block:

Driveshaft to engine:

Driveshaft to trans shifter (I can bend the lever in a little closer to the pan too):

To increase clearance on the shifter end I replaced the ball and socket end that came with the the Winters shifter to a clevis from McMaster-Carr (https://www.mcmaster.com/2447K13/).

 

[Gregj50!!!!!]

Hope all is well.... look fwd to your updates!!!

 

[toximus]

Hope all is well.... look fwd to your updates!!!

Thanks man. I have high hopes that everything will be fine in a few months.

 

[toximus]

I cycled again and a 2" 1310 shaft is going to fit with a few sheets of paper to spare. It is going to prevent true dual exhaust out the rear so I'll be forced to run the left exhaust pipe over the top of the trans into a y-pipe. I think I have a solid idea for making that work. More on that once I get to that step.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I ordered a 2" 1350 shaft from Tom Woods with yokes and seal for the Atlas and front axle. I'll likely have to hammer the tub more for the wider CV and I am nervous about the driveshaft position changing slightly due to a different angle created by the longer CV and possibly different length yokes.

Tom Woods has an option for a .180" wall tube designed for racing but I passed it up since it adds another 1/8" to the width that I'm not sure I have to give.

To show a rough size comparison of what to expect, here's my old rear 2" 1310 shaft with the new rear 3" 1350 shaft next to it.

 

[toximus]

I test fit the rear 3" 1350 shaft to make sure it doesn't bind. All good!

 

[toximus]

Testing the radiator and fan fitment to double check my engine placement is fine.

 

[toximus]

Making room for the AC compressor.

 

[toximus]

Finished plating. It clears by 1/4". I'll finish welding when I have the engine out again.

 

[toximus]

Since I'm sticking with the truck spacing, I swapped the harmonic balancer to a 2010 Camaro balancer (12675620) to match it up with my accessory drive spacing. It's the same diameter as the Corvette spacing balancer that came on the LS3, just sticks further out.

To remove the old balancer I used a OTC 6667 damper puller.

To install the new balancer I used an installer tool from Summit (SUM-900135). It has a thrust bearing which made the job almost a 1 handed install. Finished off with an ARP bolt (234-2503) lubed and torqued to 235ftlbs.

All in all, about a 15 minute job which was way faster than I was expecting.

 

[toximus]

I shaved the engine block.

Before:

After:

 

[toximus]

I cut correct length bushing sleeves for the motor mounts out of thicker 0.75" OD x 0.584" ID x .083" wall DOM tubing.

 

[toximus]

mrblaine did some testing and found that this motor mount design made from 1/8" steel shears at 2000lbs of pressure across the sleeve.

To error on the safe side I welded on washers to increase the thickness of the material.

 

[toximus]

The new 2" 1350 driveshaft from Tom Woods arrived today. I also ordered new 1350 yokes from them for the Atlas and Dana 60. They source their Atlas yokes from Advance Adapters so compatibility is perfect since the late model Atlas requires a beveled edge on the yoke.

1.25" 1310 front shaft vs 2" 1350 front shaft:

The axle cycled out perfectly with enough room for my hand down the entire length except for next to the shift lever at full articulation. It's close but shifting works.

The 1350 CV also binds in the last 1" of droop. It only binds at 0* and 180* of the rotation and it seems to be due to this "stop" that's built into the casting. I'm going to call Tom Woods on Monday to see if it's safe to grind down on both sides. If it is, then it will allow enough angle.

 

[toximus]

The alternator stud was pressing into the oil fill tube so I decided to remove the tube and just use the cap to get it out of the way.

I'm pretty sure the tube is there for when you use engine covers so can still be accessible. I don't plan to put a cover on my engine and I don't mind having to grab a funnel when doing oil changes. It might be a little less convenient when doing parking lot oil changes (which I can see doing on the Alaska trip I've been planning) but if there's oil available at a store they generally have a funnel for sale too. I could also see the tube allowing for easy access if your engine burns oil and needs to be topped off but this is a new engine and if it ever starts burning oil I'll get it rebuilt before I wish for an easier way to top it off.

There's 2 tabs that retain the fill tube but the cap only has 1 "thread". In case I ever lose the cap I decided it'd be better to grind off the extra tab on the cover so I can buy a new cap anywhere and it'd just work. I opted to grind the larger tap off.

To keep aluminum dust from entering the engine I removed the valve cover:

I had to remove some flashing from the hole and increase the bore slightly so the cap would fit:

Because this engine is going to be something I'll have long term, whenever I need to remove or install a part I have been upgrading the hardware. Necessary? No. But good hardware makes me happy.

I used ARP valve cover bolts (400-7530), coil bracket bolts (434-2302), and water pump bolts (434-3202). This also gets rid of the stud bolts that GM used on the coil brackets which I think are to retain an engine cover but look stupid without.

To keep the valve cover spacers I tapped the old bolts out:

Installed the grommets and spacers back into the covers:

Here's the accessory drive parts list:

• GoatBuilt CBR mid Mount Pump Bracket (4415)
• GoatBuilt GM LS Passenger Side Alternator/Tensioner Bracket (4405-10-LS3)
• Mopar TJ tensioner pulley (4854089AB)
• ACDelco 2010 Camaro water pump (251-734)
• 2010 Camaro harmonic balancer (12675620) -- I previously posted about installing this.
• Holley low LS drive AC (20-160)

I'm still working on finding a belt that fits.

GoatBuilt includes split lock washers and black oxide bolts with their brackets which I'm not a fan of either for this application so I ordered all new zinc coated hardware and am relying on proper torque to keep the bolts from coming loose instead of lock washers. As far as I can find across the internet, loctite or antiseize are not needed when threading into the aluminum engine (except for the stainless steel hardware). Every bolt I removed that was installed by the factory was also dry. So I installed the bolts dry.

 

[toximus]

I talked to Shawn at Tom Woods regarding my 1350 binding. He said that with everything I have going on he wouldn't recommend swapping back to a 1310 joint unless there's no other choice. It sounds like their supplier recently added more material to that area of the joint which is causing the issue. He gave me a couple of options: 1) If I have a trip planned soon he can send me a picture with the area to grind out marked and they'd still warranty it. 2) I can send the driveshaft to them and they'd take it apart and grind it for me. Loss of strength is not a concern. 3) Since they're taking it apart again anyway, they can change it to a flange design at the transfer case which gives a better angle and retains all of the original strength. The downside to the flange is that it's 5.5" in diameter right next to the case.

I'm going to measure for the flange and see if it'll work. If not, I'll have them clearance the CV since they can balance it after. I insisted on paying for shipping and the additional labor since the problem is nobody's fault, but they refused to charge my card. Whenever I talk to them it always feels like they genuinely care about my project and they're wanting the best for my build.

 

[RPS1030]

Since you don't get a lot of replies in here, thanks for all the documentation and pictures.

It's so much info and I've been paying attention for when I get around to my budget version for the TJ.