Project CJ7Years

[houstoniancj]

nice work....

appreciate it, likewise on your build

 

[houstoniancj]

Exhaust is done, 2.5" pipes into 3". Magnaflow muffler, v band after Y pipe. Sounds great and the 02 sensors will be looked at tomorrow to see if they are running pig rich. 409 stainless, i didnt go with mandrel bends, seemed like an unnecessary cost for what Im doing.

 

[houstoniancj]

here you go

 

[gt1guy]

Weird, all I heard were ducks.

Nice deep quiet sound.

 

[houstoniancj]

Weird, all I heard were ducks.

Nice deep quiet sound.

That is exactly what i was going for

as for the deep sound, i have gotten real tired of obnoxiously loud ****. I will be curious how this sound settles in.

 

[houstoniancj]

I havent been updating so i will list out what i have been working on and attach pictures.

1. finished up shifter boot and tunnel cover. Stronghold boots makes a T176 Dana 300 twin stick setup that worked perfect for a 4l60 with lokar shifter and Atlas twin stick.
2. Got rear tire carrier mounted and spare on. I likes Genright's design because it hinges and I dont have to lift a 120lb wheel and tire
3. PRP seats mounted, these are the daily driver series and are super comfortable
4. Completed first drive to "work the bugs out." Needed to change the water temp pickup for fans because it was running hot. Changed from the probe sensor with DC Control unit to a FlexALite variable speed controller with screw in sensor. Much better, operates at 200-210F now.
5. Adjusted driveline angles with the weight in the jeep to get ready for anti wrap bar, its necessary with SOA in my opinion. Spring wrap is definitely there.
6. I will be changing the roll cage, i have a legacy (see: old) MORE front half kit but the cage makes it difficult to get in/out. I bought a genright kit for a CJ and am working on that.

Bottom line is this is so much fun, and terrifying, to drive at the moment. Its a lot of power, sheepishly i will admit i have already broken the forward sprag on the transmission due to the shifts being too firm with the LQ4. I fully realize the 4L60 has its limitations, i am having a local shop in Houston take a look and see what we can do.

 

[houstoniancj]

Genright cage is all welded and off to powdercoat. Also got the antiwrap bar and hydroboost on. What a difference the anti wrap makes for SOA vehicles. I flipped the hydroboost unit (Vanco)for better coil pack clearance. Regarding that unit, holy crap it stops this things fast.

 

[houstoniancj]

Cage is back from powder-coating and installed. I love it and the color came out to very close to the Garnet that's on the Jeep. So much easier to get into and out of with the dash stanchions.



Now i have to cut the dash pad to go over the stanchions. I have been driving it, and its been worth the 7 year build.



I had to shim the master cylinder away from the Vanco hydroboost unit, others have reported to have to do the same. The brakes were grabbing and as they warmed up it would end up in a total brake lock situation. Smoked the pads. Right now im using a single washer on washer on each side. I have been looking the hydroboost unit and trying to figure out if i can adjust the rod length. The washers seem to have done the trick, I am finding any excuse to drive the Jeep anywhere.

 

[1Sinner]

Looks bad ass!

 

[houstoniancj]

Looks bad ass!

Appreciate it, getting there slowly.

 

[houstoniancj]

Got the pad trimmed to fit around the dash stanchions. Drove it for a bit today before the rain, loved every minute of it.

Question, with the shape of the cage what rain cover should i get. I was thinking TJ but the 2 door JK ones look like they would fit also.

 

[1Sinner]

The jk ones are really long compared to the to the to. Look at overall body lengths.

 

[houstoniancj]

The jk ones are really long compared to the to the to. Look at overall body lengths.

Yeah, i started looking at that and figured out a TJ is probably the closest. The YJ and CJ versions all have slant backs, so they wont clear.

I ordered a few, i will just see which one fits the best.

 

[houstoniancj]

new meats! Maxis RAZR MT 37x13.50x17 were what I selected. They look like they will fit the bill in the rocks, and they were one of the few tires I could find that wasn’t backordered. Same load range as my former MTR’s so overall I’m a happy camper.

 

[houstoniancj]

I finally had the chance to make an appt for some dyno tuning. I’m not going to say I broke any records at Houston House of Power except for the slowest ride to grace their dyno. We got all of the issues I was having worked out and it drives so much nicer. If you are questioning if a dyno tune is worth it, it is 100%. This was also the only time the Jeep will see redline again ...

Rolling Pull

Pull from stop

 

[Will Scarlet]

Just embedding your YouTube videos to make it easier viewing:

 

[csutton7]

So what did she throw down for numbers? Question 2 is what headers or exhaust manifolds did you end up using?

 

[houstoniancj]

Corvette c6 manifolds

298/327 at the wheels. I was actually pretty happy with that considering my drive train. 4l60 and Atlas with 5.13's and 37's

Engine is mostly stock, mild cam. I thought driveline loss would have been more.

 

[TRINDU]

Great work and execution.

Edit: Do you plan on trimming the tub? Cant see how you have the shocks set up with the boots, looks like factory bump stops a foot above the axle. The tub looks to be 3" away from the tire and the exhaust even closer to anti wrap.

 

[houstoniancj]

Yes, I need to trim the body where the armor shows it underneath. I really dont have a lot of uptravel in the rear, most of the time before full stuff i will lift a tire.

The exhaust actually is inside the frame until the last two feet where it passes behind the driver rear tire. it is in no danger of being hit by the tire because my WMS is wide enough. The anti wrap bar is on the other side, so out of the way.

 

[csutton7]

Thanks for the info--I'll have to look in to getting some of these corvette exhaust manifolds for my Willys.

Yea not bad numbers, bottom line it's gonna be fun to drive!!

 

[Kreep]

Nice to see you breathing life back into the old girl!

For comparison, what numbers did you get on the engine dyno?

Also, did I miss the you are doing for a parking brake?

 

[houstoniancj]

To be honest i dont really remember, i think it was 390ish HP after the cam and tune on the engine dyno. It was 6 years or so ago.

The parking brake is the original pedal along with the main cable that goes all to the way the equalizer but i used a Lokar cable kit for the eldorado rear calipers. They connected right up.

 

[houstoniancj]

Thanks for the info--I'll have to look in to getting some of these corvette exhaust manifolds for my Willys.

Yea not bad numbers, bottom line it's gonna be fun to drive!!

They worked great because they are mid length for the collecter dump, hug the block for great clearance, have o2 sensor spots in both, and are easy to find and cheap.

 

[houstoniancj]

Figured I would post here to update on my in tank sending unit / fuel pump assembly saga. you can read my thread here to read about the issue. I decided I was tired of not having a working gas gauge when the engine was on so I bought a VDO reed fuel sending unit and Autometer gauge rings. Part numbers are below:

VDO 226-633
Autometer 3263 x2

I decided the best place to drill the hole for was right above the small 8x8 recess in the middle of the tank, also keeping in mind clearing the body cross members that are directly above the tank. This gauge is 13inches long and with he flange is was 13.75” to the bottom of the tank.

I cut one of the rings in half to fit it inside the tank to give some backing to the whole assembly and to assist in compressing the gasket. Once the hole was drilled it was easy, getting the nylok nuts in there wasn’t fun but I didn’t drop any. Remember, most stainless steel isn’t magnetic, so a magnet doesn’t work if you drop one in... luckily, I didn’t. I sealed everything with Seal All.

I used all stainless hardware and the #10 mounting screws I used were 1.25” long.

After doing the cutting and drilling I thoroughly washed the tank out to remove all the plastic that fell into the tank.

Then it was simple to mount the gauge after confirming the new Ohm readings. I have a Speed hut speedometer, so the fuel gauge is programable as far as resistances.

It also gave me a new viewing window to look at fuel pump pickup distance from the bottom of the tank. I needed to shorten the assembly up about an inch, but im about 1/8" above the fuel tank floor now.

 

[houstoniancj]

I have been using the wetsounds soundbar, and while it works fine, the small speakers just can’t hit some of the overall notes. I added 4 marine 6.5" speakers with a small amp to get a better rounded out sound. It sounds great.


I played around with the rear speaker’s cans mounting location and i suppose they sounded best in the middle of the cage vs the outside of the cage pointing at the back of the seats. The centrapod worked out great also, i did have to remove the YJ heater duct on the bottom of the heater vent, we will see how that works out in the Texas winters. Probably not a problem. I will just wear an extra set of socks!

 

[Gregj50!!!!!]

Has to be a good feeling just having to dial in the finishing touches!!!!
Really nice Heep you got here!!!!

 

[houstoniancj]

Has to be a good feeling just having to dial in the finishing touches!!!!
Really nice Heep you got here!!!!

It feels nice, that last 10% of dialing in a project takes a lot of time. the final 1% never gets done it seems... there is always something to mess with.

 

[houstoniancj]

Took the Jeep out and took my son to a local cars and coffee event, with fall coming its starting to be nice to ride with no AC.

 

[Levigarrett76]

Great thread!