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Taming the BEAST! 5.3L V8 Powered TJ-6

91K views 562 replies 62 participants last post by  clintrivera 
#1 ·
The Beast

On a trail ride this year a member nicknamed my Jeep "The Beast". It's a fitting name, unfortunately, and the reason I recently tried to sell it. It's loud, it's big, it's ugly, and it's all around not very enjoyable to drive any distance.

Since giving it away isn't an option I needed to focus on this winter's build and set clear objectives. This has to be a vehicle I want to drive, and drive on a regular basis. It has to be much quieter. Ride nice. Drive nice. Good storage. Nice sound system. Lastly, it needs to look good too.

Most of the trails I like to run here in the Northwest aren't exactly Johnson Valley. It's mostly dirt, mud, roots, tight trees, and moderate climbs. Not much in the way of rocks. The way my Jeep is setup now almost makes it boring it's so easy. I think we all have been there. Build the rig, can't make an obstacle, build the rig bigger... Eventually the rig is basically too big on the street and is only fun on extreme "either I make it, or I total the rig" sort of challenges.

To know where we are going, we first need to know where we are.

 
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#155 ·
Headers came in today. Very nice quality and made in the USA. Here's the money shot.



Plenty of room everywhere, fits perfect with the Novak mounts - as they should, these are the ones they sell for them. Lots of room for my upper link too. They hug the block nice and tight.

Here's the underneath with a piece of square tube simulating my drive shaft. This is at full bump. It's tight, but should be very do-able. The collector flanges are 2.25" outlet so this will give me a little more room too as my old ones were 2.5".



Here's the other side. No issues here.



Very happy with the fit and quality. Ordered my front shocks today too.

A few steps closer!
 
#156 ·
A little more progress tonight. Finished my upper frame mount. Not very fun welding out of position like that. Had a spark fly into my ear - not good. Reminded me why you should wear ear plugs when you weld!



Also final welded my lower frame mounts in.



The goal is to have the front end knocked out this weekend and move onto the body work.
 
#165 ·
Here is a picture of the driver side header painted. Fits perfectly around the spark plugs and steering joint.



Spent a lot of time on the front end. Every little change required around 15 other changes. As of tonight, all I have to do is make some sway bar brackets and finish weld the drag link and track bar. Then the front is DONE.

Here it is at full droop.



And full stuff.







Everything is pretty tight at full stuff. I have a finger's width between the upper link mount at my power steering pump and about that close in two other places. If I moved my power steering pump up and my upper link over, I may be able to get another inch to inch and a half out of it. As it sits, I have around 4 inches between the bump pads. This is with 3 inch Savvy coils sitting at around 14.5" from top to bottom of the coil. Not great, because that means I'm only getting 2.5" out of the springs with no winch, bumper, or interior in it. I took a measurement of 14" before tear down - so only a 2" lift.

So, long story short, I need around 4-5" of REAL lift over stock spring with full weight. Not sure which direction to go now since I'm not too excited with how little the 3" spring got me so I'm not sure the Savvy 4" spring is the solution. Maybe the 4" spring and a 1" spacer?

Here's the front with a tire bolted up. Full stuff and turned to lock. Very little clearance between the anti-rock and tire, but enough.





I had to put a bend in my anti-rock links to clear the track bar bracket. Love the swag press brake.

 
#167 ·
Thanks. The headers are a perfect fit for the Novak mounts and for a Jeep TJ swap in general. They get out of the way very quickly.

I ordered up the rest of my exhaust system from Summit last night. Went with the Dynomax VT muffler. This is the one with the little flap in it that closes at low throttle to eliminate drone. Should definitely help tame the beast.
 
#174 ·
Nice, although a little loud for my "old" ears. I'm hoping to get some nice, drone free sound, and just enough tone at full throttle to give the immature side of me a smile. I think the VT muffler will do that.

In other news... A big milestone in this build.

NO JACKSTANDS



That's right. The Beast is now a big boy, and sitting on all fours. I just have to final weld the drag link, paint it, and put some bump stops in the front and I am DONE. (with the suspension)

With the Jeep on the tires, I now get a full 15" out of the front springs, which is exactly 3" of lift over stock. I only have 4" between the bump pads, so I think I'm going up to the 4" springs.

Also, another thing to add to the "buy list" is new front brake lines. The JK calipers put the brake line at the bottom of the caliper and my lines are just too short. Plus, the alignment bosses on the JK caliper have the line coming out to the rear of the Jeep, and not up. The stock JK brake line has a 90 degree bend to it right out of the banjo bolt. I'm not sure if I'm going to try to use the stock rubber JK line, or most probably just pony up the $100 for a set of braided lines.

Whatever it takes, I'm getting this Jeep in shape for a shake down run at the end of the month.
 
#183 ·
Me too!

Been thinking about the stage 1.5 build stuff...

I took the CD player out of my Jeep and donated it to the Miata I bought for my girlfriend. I was going to get a bluetooth headunit to stream music from my android phone but?

The radio bezel for a TJ is about the perfect size to fit a Nexus 7" tablet PC. I would get Nav, Topo maps, torque on a big screen, and streaming music tethered to my phone. Not only that, I can see the output and control my camera (go pro or Drift HD Ghost, haven't decided yet). There are some good vehicle related front ends that make a tablet PC great for a car.
 
#188 ·
:thumbsup:

cool build target ... it has to be a civilized fun to drive V8 TLJ... and honestly you did not spare with efforts and fabrication :)

Did you manage to fire her up with the new exhaust arrangement yet?
Really curious how the Dynomax VT muffler will sound... mellow and deep :)drool:) or rather a flat snoring metallic Flowmaster 40 sound? :)eek:)
 
#190 ·
Thanks! I'll be working on the exhaust tonight, hopefully I can fire it back up tomorrow. The Dynomax is a straight-through design so it should sound nice and deep like a Magnaflow, but it has a internal valve to redirect the sound waves at low throttle for no drone. I hate the sound of chambered (Flowmaster) mufflers.
Awesome build! I'm currently in the middle of a 5.3 swap into a CJ7, I can't wait to get it done. I may "borrow" some of your ideas if you don't mind.
Thanks!

Go right ahead. I'm not reinventing the wheel with this build, almost everything I did is a borrowed idea. :thumbsup:
 
#195 ·
Being able to take it with you would be nice. I really like the factory look that many people have achieved in their cars with a permanent mount though. My uses for it would be mainly music and navigation. But being able to use the internet to look up information, store maps, and run apps and play movies would be awesome added functionality for trips and stuff. The only problem I see with it is data connectivity. I guess you either have to pay for its own data plan or run a hotspot off your phone for it or something.
 
#199 ·
Let me know and I will plan accordingly! Sept. is a good time to be there. :cheers:
 
#201 ·
What part of the week are you planning? Weekend would be best for me, maybe make it a 3 day since I'm so close. I've only been there twice but I'm familiar with Hell's Revenge, Fins, Moab rim and Poison Spider Mesa. And thanks to Beasley I could spot you up Hells gate now :laugh:

The trick is, don't do what im doing there

<--------
 
#203 ·
Ok cool, just let me know. Try to plan on being there over a weekend, but I know it is easier to use the weekend for driving.
 
#204 ·
Ok. We may leave Thursday to get there Friday afternoon. I'll have to talk it over with the guys.

In other news, the hard part of the exhaust is done. If you have been following along, I changed oil pans and headers so of course everything exhaust related had to be re done. I have a few more grey hairs and burns on my skin from the experience. I don't know what it is about aluminized steel, but I can't weld it for crap. I'm pretty happy with how the routing turned out.



Here's a shot of the valve in the muffler that closes to reduce drone.



Here's one of the rear of the exhaust. I'm going to move the muffler forward quite a bit, and hopefully get most of it under the skid.



Of course, I got the wrong oil filter at the parts store, so the test fire is going to have to wait till tomorrow.
 
#206 ·
That would be perfect. Give us a couple days to wheel together.

The exhaust looks good. I dont think it looks vulnerable, the control arm and driveshaft should catch anything before it hits the muffler. Thats almost exactly where mine is.
 
#208 ·
NICE! :thumbsup:

Tucked up nicely ... and no BL? :D

I used slightly bigger pipes from the headers down:
Wheel Tire Vehicle Car Automotive tire


The muffler looks like relatively small volume.

(well ... I have a 1.25" BL and a stock skid ... and because of the requirement to have my sluggy tested to stay legal I went with a relatively quiet monster muffler ... it still sounds V8 enough :drool:)
Car Automotive tire Automotive design Vehicle Hood


as for the tail pipe ... a unused mandrel bent SS aFe machforce xp 3" tailpipe came in quite handy ;)
Tire Wheel Automotive tire Vehicle Car


looking forward for your sound clip :wave:
 
#214 ·
Finished the exhaust install and fired it up. I recorded a video, but the audio is distorted when I rev it up.



Also installed my JK brake lines and bled the system. I think there is a little bit of air left, but I had enough brake to move the Jeep forward and backward under it's own power for the first time in 6 months so that was pretty exciting!

 
#215 ·
Finished the exhaust install and fired it up. I recorded a video, but the audio is distorted when I rev it up.
That's not distortion...it's your Jeep doing a damned good impression of a screaming leopard. :thumbsup:
 
#216 ·
Thats awesome man. Cant wait to see it in action. Your exhaust kinda sounds like mountain lion with the distorion :laugh:
 
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