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

[toximus]

Hole cut for the Atlas shifters:

 

[gt1guy]

That's a big hole for a single light bulb.

 

[Java230]

Very nice work.

 

[Tmackcj5]

Enjoying the very well documented build.

 

[toximus]

2 months and no updates... ...Yeah I know... ugh...so it's been a terrible 2 months for me... Let me explain.

In late June I started getting sick and then ended up very sick in July. By the end of July I finally let Mrs Tox take me to the doctor and within minutes of entering the building I was promptly rushed to ICU via helicopter. Fun times. And then my heart stopped beating 2 days later, thankfully while still in ICU... Basically, if I had kept refusing to go to the doctor for another 2 days I 100% would be dead. Over a week in the ICU later I was sent home with my heart still doing weird things that at least wouldn't kill me.

It turns out that a nasty little tick bit me and I got lyme disease. Specifically "lyme carditis" causing complete heart block.

I'm expected to have a full recovery with no long term dependency on meds or pacemaker or anything, but I have a 6 month expected recovery time to be back to normal life. It feels stupid to admit it, but I'm learning to walk again and I'm not allowed to drive or use machinery (such as an angle grinder :( ) for at least another 6 weeks until a doctor gives me back my driver's license. I've thought about doing trails (where a license isn't required) in my wife's Jeep or buying a UTV since off roading has been running so thick in my blood but I just don't have the energy for it -- especially if I need to get out and winch. Having been healthy my entire life -- and having built our entire lifestyle around that -- and only being to the doctor a handful of times, it's been a lot to realize how "lame" I am right now.

All that said, we've been staying positive throughout the entire ordeal and finding new ways to have fun.

Anyway, I have a couple of engine swap updates with pictures on tap from June that I'll be posting, but it likely won't be for another few months until I'm making progress on the swap again.

 

[csutton7]

Holy crap that's crazy, glad your back and hopefully you can get back to wrenchin' and wheelin' soon.

 

[gt1guy]

That does not sound fun at all. Focus on getting yourself running again, the Jeep will always be there.

Did they write it down as Covid?

Fuck ticks

 

[toximus]

Holy crap that's crazy, glad your back and hopefully you can get back to wrenchin' and wheelin' soon.

Thanks man.

That does not sound fun at all. Focus on getting yourself running again, the Jeep will always be there.

Did they write it down as Covid?

Fuck ticks

Since I never had the typical rash from lyme disease I was actually convinced that it was COVID and I just needed to power through it. After a nasal swab and antibody testing it turns out I haven't had COVID at all.

 

[toximus]

I'm still alive! And finally getting back into the swing of things! Over the weekend I cleaned up the garage and am hoping to get started on the engine swap again later today or tomorrow.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some things I worked on right before getting sick:

The bolts on the bottom of the Atlas that come with it stick down toward the skid. To get more clearance between them, I countersunk the holes for flat head 5/16"-18 x 1" alloy bolts. Some of the holes go all the way through to the inside of the case so I stuck an ear plug in the holes while drilling to stop metal shavings from falling in.

 

[toximus]

I welded the steer shaft brace back in. I was able to raise the stock bracket up by welding in a spacer.

 

[backchat]

glad you are back at it. looking forward to the updates.

 

[toximus]

glad you are back at it. looking forward to the updates.

Thanks!

 

[gt1guy]

Glad you're still alive and working on the Jeep.

 

[toximus]

Glad you're still alive and working on the Jeep.

Thanks Kevin!

 

[toximus]

Cut new hoop support brackets to replace the ones I cut out.

 

[toximus]

If you look closely at a some older pictures here I had installed the 3/8"-16 studs that are supposed to hold the Atlas to the adapter on to the wrong end by placing them into the transmission to keep the adapter on it. I learned my lesson, don't confuse 3/8 with 10mm. Lol!

Thankfully a mistake that's easily fixed:

I then attached the adapter to the end of the transmission using ARP (772-1005) m10 x 1.5 x 12mm bolts. I used a little smear of RTV on the face to make sure there won't be any water intrusion.

 

[toximus]

I cleaned up and removed old wiring from the supercharger to get it out of the way. I'm considering removing my CB radio for good since I nobody else seems to be using them anymore on the trail.

 

[gt1guy]

That's a lot of wires. Wires frighten me.

 

[toximus]

The accelerator pedal mounting bracket turned out way better than expected. If somebody created a jig to make these, they could be a product and would take less than 15 minutes to install.

Mounts to the stock gas pedal studs:

9/16" aluminum spacer to prevent movement:

The pedal is located forward of the stock position but feels very natural to me.

(I still need to round the sharp edges of the new bracket)

I drilled through the tub to add additional mounting holes:

To shape the tub to the correct angle, I removed the bracket and tightened a longer bolt with big washers that I could use to bend the tub.

Correct length bolts:

 

[csutton7]

That's great you are ramping up on the build.

 

[toximus]

That's great you are ramping up on the build.

I hope to have it ready for Moab in April.

 

[toximus]

I started in on getting the shifters in place.

First I got the Atlas shifter fully mocked up and shifting smoothly. I used Advance Adapters shift linkages for a 03-06 TJ (303002U).

Next I wanted to test the Winters/Art Carr shifter with the 6L80 to make sure everything is going to work.

Here's the parts I used:

• Winters shifter 4L80E (187-1-9112-4013-1).
• Radesigns tap shifter kit for the Winters shifter and 6L80E (Control Kit, Cable bracket, and Resistor Harness) (I don't see this on their website anymore).

It's shifting smoothly too.

Here's the 6L80E transmission side bracket from Radesigns:

 

[toximus]

I'm waiting on a few materials to finish up the shifters. So I started laying out the new wiring harness from RPM Extreme. I'm starting to realize that there's going to have to be some back and forth getting all of the wiring in, welding, painting, making new brackets, etc. So expect to see it going in and out multiple times.

Overall it seems that it's really well thought out. I'm very impressed with all of the OEM connections they have on this harness. Almost everything just connects right up. I will have to add a few of my own connections though.

 

[toximus]

This connector on the main TJ harness normally goes to the 42RLE automatic transmission. Since I won't be using these wires, I used a blank plug from a manual transmission TJ.

 

[toximus]

Making progress. (All of the wires up on the hood are EVAP related and will be cut once I have it running.)

I need to add heat shielding to some wires that hug the exhaust. Any suggestions of what to use?

I have an email in to RPM Extreme since the PWM signal wire for my SPAL fan seems to be missing. Also, I connected power and there seems to be a bug with the new GM OBD since plugging in a scanner powers on the OEM Jeep dash and then when I turn the key to the run position the GM OBD loses power.

 

[toximus]

Something worrying happened... I was testing a few connections for RPM Extreme to debug my GM OBD port problems and a fuse for the radio blew and now the OBD port isn't working at all. Yikes! 😭

 

[toximus]

Oh my gosh! I feel incredibly stupid. I'm still waiting on my cable lugs to arrive so I had completely forgotten to ground the engine back to the battery for testing (or body for that matter)! It works now and I'm able to connect to the GM OBD with my scanner.

Let's keep this between us and please don't tell anyone about this...

 

[gt1guy]

LS engines (and probably all new engines) are just silly with the grounds. With out proper grounding you can end up with stray voltage in the coolant that will try to turn your alum radiator into an anode.

Ground the fuck out of everything.

I've delt with Jon At RPM Extreme a bit and he's a good guy who knows his shit.

 

[toximus]

LS engines (and probably all new engines) are just silly with the grounds. With out proper grounding you can end up with stray voltage in the coolant that will try to turn your alum radiator into an anode.

Ground the fuck out of everything.

I've delt with Jon At RPM Extreme a bit and he's a good guy who knows his shit.

I've had so many bad experiences with "kits" that I tend to not share any opinions until I actually have it working -- so more of a review to come once I get a few thousand miles on. But as of right now, I would buy a harness from Jon all over again and wouldn't do a swap without. The harness installed in a single afternoon (if only all of the little bits that connect to it were so quick!). He did a really good job on this harness and it's clear that he knows what he's doing just based on how easily this went together. The only wires that he didn't add connectors for are things that I told him I have no clue what I need (tap shifter, dash, etc). There's only a handful of kits on my Jeep that I didn't have to modify in some way to be happy with it.

 

[toximus]

Used these plugs from McMaster-Carr: McMaster-Carr