[chmo]

Hi there!

Finally my build thread worthy second stage has started ... after I got my latest TJ in 2010 and modifying it a bit (see my profile) I pulled the trigger for the power train upgrade

This was my toy in 2010:


after several bolt on softcore mods it became like this:


and this is the main play ground on weekends, a big sandbox :
(during the week a street legal and well maintained daily driver!)





All powertrain day dreams started after some nasty experiences with my so well hated auto tranny (42RLE) in steep off camber situations, either not shifting fast enough, or not shifting at all or loosing the lower gear and stuttering between 1 and 2

So ... a long read and research excursion started ... the only reasonable alternative of swapping a AW4 in (yes I wanted to stay auto!) was quite expensive because of new manual PCM, solving some CPS issues and an getting the right parts (low mileage AW4 and TCM with cabling) was quite tricky.
And then at some point in time these 05-06 OPDA threads came up and I decided to go GM for the powertrain

In the Middle East we are in the lucky situation that Holden Australia is providing us with lots of LS1 V8 cars since 2000 , some of them to be considered granny limousines like e.g. the Chevy Caprice which is a Holden Statesman WHII. It comes with full alu LS1 and 4L60E and is not overtuned and mostly used by seniors for their comfy and sovereign ride

So ... after some searching I could snatch a 2001, 45000 miles clean Caprice as donor last October for about USD 3k and drove it around to check for any hidden quirks.
Besides the typical coolant level sensor error and the A/C leaking gas everything was "smooth as butter"!
(oh ... and LM7 5.3s are same or higher price here!)

Since then I was reading here and somewhere else (pirate) every single bit of info about LS1 or LM7 swaps
Used the time to order some parts (hopefully the right ones) from Novak mainly and from Speartech (harness) and Summit for the nitty gritty small stuff.

THEN last week butchering the Caprice began:

extracted heart and kidneys


Two days ago my beloved TJ got into intensive care and is under the knife now:
degutting in steps


that much space is between (long) I6 and A/C condenser ... looks like a lot but is not too much



soon more to come

[chmo]

okay ... slowly getting further :

degutted TJ


engine and trans are out but I was still unhappy ...

1. the old transmission with transfercase was removed with the front drive shaft still attached to the transfer case WHY?
4 more screws and the driveshaft could have been put safely aside ... grrrrr!

2. the front yoke ujoint was unprotected ... so of course one cap with needle bearing was popped off ... didn't they have duct tape at hand to secure the ujoint?
the mechanic said : ana badein saui tarteeb (I will fix that later) ... I thought : tuzzz (fart) ! (I hope he could read my mind!)

3. new 4L60E transmission disassembled to swap the outputshaft for the new hardened shorter Novak version. Shaft was there on the ground ... (where is the adapter ??) ... all the dissassembled parts (except the torque converter!?) were piled up in a pan nearby.

uiuiuiuiiii ... I am boiling inside in regards to messy work attitude ... the same time I don't want to piss off the gear heads (foremen). Fortunately (?) they were not there.
Fighting the human factor I hope they do not mess up! For sure I have to visit the shop regularly and drop some "comments" .

Looking at the parts which I chose to complete the job makes me smile again.
The Novak crossflow dual row single pass RadLock with Spal fan and shroud:


quite beefy and deep ... the engine really has to be installed close to the FW



And for all who are curious how a granny LS1 V8 2001 "Chevy Caprice" Holden Statesman looks like:


of course ongoing

[rckchucker]

nice. you will love the LS1. I just finished putting an iron block 5.3 in my TJ and I love it! I can't wait to take it to the dunes and open her up.

[chmo]

Originally Posted by rckchucker

nice. you will love the LS1. I just finished putting an iron block 5.3 in my TJ and I love it! I can't wait to take it to the dunes and open her up.

open up yessss ... I will stay with stockish power which will be plenty enough ... no extra tuning (except of course VATS, emissions and stuff).
I hope chromoly's , a trussed D44, 4.88 gears for 33" tires will be fine with 300 hp and 330 lb-ft torque (for a while? it is an auto anyway)
still in top end stroker categories, right?

[ltrail]

darn foreigners! (Holden) that is awesome! I've seen a few Holden in Australia, those are grama cars with race car attitudes!
Its looking like you're gonna have some fun!

[chmo]

Originally Posted by ltrail

darn foreigners! (Holden) that is awesome! I've seen a few Holden in Australia, those are grama cars with race car attitudes!
Its looking like you're gonna have some fun!

Yup ... the aussies are gear heads and like some juice under the hood
Unfortunately GM decided to keep LS1 (LS2 and further) engines in higher priced models only ... on the local US market after the Camaro Z28 they only let the 4th generation Pontiac GTO (04-06) sneak in. And even the Pontiac GTO is a Holden Monaro (in the middle east the high output LS1 and LS2 Monaros are called Chevrolet Lumina SS ... and still available!)

(what a pity GM! keeping all those ricer killers only in the niche markets
... yeah and Jeep is now FIAT ... wtf)

[ltrail]

Fiat I thought Nissan bought? Either way.
so I noticed the one pic of engines got some slicks sitting behind it....hope that's holding up an ls also!

[chmo]

Originally Posted by ltrail

Fiat I thought Nissan bought? Either way.
so I noticed the one pic of engines got some slicks sitting behind it....hope that's holding up an ls also!

that car with the slicks is a race track racer ... but THAT is a Mustang with GM powertrain(!) and something like 1300hp

[chmo]

Ok ... slowly some slight progress :

The 4L60E has been prepared with a new outputshaft and a Novak TC adapter ...

The whole powertrain assembled and mocked up into the degutted buggy wannabe :



In above photo the engine is still sitting low ... it will be lifted by 1.5-2" when the new mounts are in place.

To stay road legal here I have to retain the original engine mount frame horns. Some smart engine mount solution is going to be fabricated to reuse the original frame horns
No grinding, drilling, cutting or welding to the frame allowed!

Nevertheless the TJ engine bay is spacious and allows for positioning the
short V8 engine far back but still maintaining original TC mounting position despite the slightly longer tranny, adapter and TC combo (only about 1.5" longer than 42RLE plus TC).

Plenty of clearances for the front end, the accessories and rad and under the oil pan ... more photos will follow soon.

[chmo]

and the journey goes on:

Today I visited my beloved workshop again ...

The engine bay is close to look cool now 8-) ... forgot my drool towel at home ... but my new mobile phone has a nice feature : 5mp with flashlight



here you see some nice Kwik performance relocation brackets to mount A/C compressor and alternator up high out of the way of control arms and axle housing with a brand new Sanden FLX7 7 piston compressor which can be run comfortably without computer control and still "robust".

On Thursday evening Hisham/7p gave me a call saying "The A/C relocation does not work ... is touching inner fender well ... but I have a corvette solution".
I said : "No way ... 1. I need to change the whole accessory setup to the closer to block version and 2. the right upper control arm WILL hit! Cut the inner fender well to make room for the Sanden!" ... and Thanks God today I saw that cutting the fender well was just right. No contact of A/C compressor with shock mount ... phew ... engine mounting position just PERFECT.
Believe me ... sleeping was not easy until I saw with my own eyes that my A/C is safe now.

On an interesting side note:
The shop centered engine and transmission/transfer case nicely ... too perfect? It seems the original powertrain is slightly shifted to the left?

In below photos you can see the attachment of the Novak TC adapter mount relative to the original tranfer case mount position. Although the powertrain is about 1.5" longer than stock 7p managed to find the right position to maintain drive shaft lengths ... YESS!






The next photo shows the fit and clearance of the sanderson headers I got from Novak.
Starter (good job Novak!) and front left upper control arm mount (GOOD JOB 7p) are close but clear!




Now for all who are curious how 7p could maintain the stock mounts :
Hisham/7p had the brilliant idea to use Range Rover engine mount isolators which bolt directly on top of the original frame horns WITHOUT EVEN DRILLING !!!
The engine side brackets are a 7p custom job which use THREE (instead of four) engine mount bosses on the block!!
(The old chevvy SBC brackets for the much heavier iron blocks use three bosses as well ... so should be ok! )
AND THE BEST THING : THIS is road legal here, no frame mods whatsoever

Front Left engine mount:




Front Right engine mount:



looks like TC mount and engine mounts will allow me to try out Savvy's new modular UA ...

more to come ... stay tuned

[Srfr4God]

Love the build up and the pictures, doing something similar. Throwing an lq9 in a 73 wag. Mine won't be done for a minute though, 360's out of the wag, just need to pull the 9 out and start that. Really looking forward to having it done and seeing your progress.

[chmo]

Originally Posted by Srfr4God

Love the build up and the pictures, doing something similar. Throwing an lq9 in a 73 wag. Mine won't be done for a minute though, 360's out of the wag, just need to pull the 9 out and start that. Really looking forward to having it done and seeing your progress.

Thanks!
wow lq9 into wag will be nice as well ... probably better than rebuilding the 360.

Can't wait to drive mine ... but first it has to be completed correctly ... and still lots of work to be done!

Wishing you good luck with your project as well ... curious to see a build thread as well.

[chmo]

and another day has passed

My radiator of choice is a Novak RadLock with the top of the range Spal Fan/Shroud combo ...





Novak is recommending running the transmission cooler completely separate ... therefor the RadLock has no provisioning for such

Everyone else I spoke to is saying biiig mistake ... fluid to air will never be as efficient as fluid to fluid ... somehow plausible ... SO
instead of ditching already expensive RadLock I grabbed THIS

DERALE 13960 monster HyperCool


mounted it here ... anyone having problems identifying the spot?

[chmo]

now the nitty gritty stuff:

- Novak cable operated TC shifter installed today

- Jeep OE coolant temp sensor mounted into drilled/tapped waterpump neck

- Jeep OE oil pressure sender mounted into GM stock position via adapter parallel to GM oil pressure sender

- GM steering pump connected to OE steering box

(OE Jeep pcm will drive the whole gauge cluster, tach signal is coming via Novak tach emulator box )

- Lokar cable operated 4L60E transmission shifter install has started

still to do :
- GM standalone engine harness (from Speartech) has to be fitted.
- exhaust work
- A/C tubing and control
- PCM reflash
- adjustments and clearance checks

[Srfr4God]

Wish I was making as much or some progress lol...gotta youtube the sound of that thing when you fire her up. Can't wait.