Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

Ugly Betty - TJ Magnum V8 Conversion and more

185K views 745 replies 48 participants last post by  Jason 
#1 ·
Ugly Betty - TJ Magnum V8 conversion, Auto transmission swap and more, if I survive this.

Prologue:

I have a 2005 TJ with the I6 that I built running 35s. When I bought it, I was looking for a super clean, low mile, unmolested Jeep to build on. It has D44 / HPD30 / Tummy Tucked / 4.56s and a bunch of other goodies. It functions really well for the kind of stuff we do around here, but is still comfortable enough to drive daily if necessary.


^^ As dirty as it ever gets. ^^

The problem is it's too nice for me to damage or drill a bunch of holes in. It gets stored in the winter because of the destructive salt used on the road 6 months out of the year. The 05 has some pinstripes and nicks from the trails, but I want to get on some harder trails and really push what I can build. I'm going to continue to "build" it, but the upgrades will be fairly minor at this point. Brakes, steering and the like.

So I set out to buy a cheap TJ. I want something that I don't feel bad about cutting holes in or generally abusing. Around here, it's next to impossible to find a running TJ of any year that isn't falling apart for under $5K. Most times cheap TJs in my area were plagued with cancerous rust. I researched insurance auctions, but found that to be very difficult without an inside man, public auctions had pretty big fees, and even wrecked Wranglers can go for close to retail cost. I checked out Davey's Jeeps, and the one that I found with potential sold the day after I called about it. I even found a few folks with bare frames and bodies, but once you add up the odds and ends, it gets just as expensive as buying a complete TJ. Needless to say, I spent much time searching.

I finally happened across a fairly solid 97 TJ with a 4 cylinder. It had a new factory style top, new tires, and the frame and body were mostly rust free. The carpet was long gone and interior was lined with the spray in liner. It was about 2.5 hours away. I took an afternoon off work and drove out to see it, pocket full of cash and trailer in tow.

It was located just north of Detroit. I met the guy at his shop near the corner of a busy intersection. I ended up parking in the lot next door to his place because it looked easier to get the truck + trailer in and out. The Jeep started, and drove around the parking lot without much fuss, so I handed the guy some money. I didn't want to try to turn left into the traffic, then left again to get into the parking lot where my truck and trailer were parked, and I don't know the area, so I did what any good Jeeper would do and just drove it over the curb through the grass. (It wasn't that big, but I still thought it was funny.) On to the trailer and home we went.

The paint scheme was unique, and certainly not what I would have chosen. She's got a few other minor bumps and bruises too. Since I am now a two-Jeep household again, I couldn't simply refer to either as "the Jeep" anymore. I started calling it Ugly Betty, and the name kind of stuck.


^^ Beauty, in the eye of the beholder. I guess. ^^
 
See less See more
2
#283 ·
Was yours a 5.2? I forget. Take a look at where the driver side exits the header collector. It looks like I'll have to make a bend away from the engine, then forward to clear the sump in the oil pan.

Here's my shopping list. I already have a cat from the truck that I will reuse because it was relatively new. 3" pipe I can source locally, and I have a muffler that I will reuse as well.

Summit Racing SUM-670145 - Summit Racing® Universal Rod Builder Exhaust Kits -- Way more pipe than necessary, but the only way I could get the pre-bent pieces without ordering singly.

Flowmaster Y214300 - Flowmaster Scavenger Series Y Collectors -- 2.25 to 3" y-pipe. This was the most compact one they had. I considered making my own instead, and still may. We'll see.

Summit Racing SUM-643010-1 - Summit Racing® Flex Joint Pipes -- Flex pipe. Check out the options on this. You could do the ball flange instead, or there are other (cheaper) flex pipes available. I chose this one because it is shortest and I believe the weaved ones hold up well.

Summit Racing SUM-G2990 - Summit Racing® Weld-In Oxygen Sensor Fittings -- Gotta have O2 sensors.

Summit Racing SUM-G4761 - Summit Racing® Collector Ring Kits -- I'm going to use these to make the pipe removable. I figure this will be helpful when taking the exhaust off.

Summit Racing SUM-670137 - Summit Racing® Exhaust Cutouts -- Just for fun. :teehee:
 
#288 ·
I got the care package from Summit today. Their shipping is amazing. Ordered at 11 am, on my porch 3 pm the next day.

I started fiddling with the exhaust a bit. This:

Take a look at where the driver side exits the header collector. It looks like I'll have to make a bend away from the engine, then forward to clear the sump in the oil pan.
...turned out to not be an issue. I slapped a 45º on that header and it clears the block and sump and runs nicely under the oil pan. The passenger side is more of an issue; packaging will be real tight. I tried to cut one of the 180º pieces in half and it cut crooked. There's no way I'm going to be able to cut the bends without a chop saw. I'm going shopping tomorrow.
 
#284 ·
Jason said:
Was yours a 5.2? I forget. Take a look at where the driver side exits the header collector. It looks like I'll have to make a bend away from the engine, then forward to clear the sump in the oil pan.

Here's my shopping list. I already have a cat from the truck that I will reuse because it was relatively new. 3" pipe I can source locally, and I have a muffler that I will reuse as well.

Summit Racing SUM-670145 - Summit Racing® Universal Rod Builder Exhaust Kits -- Way more pipe than necessary, but the only way I could get the pre-bent pieces without ordering singly.

Flowmaster Y214300 - Flowmaster Scavenger Series Y Collectors -- 2.25 to 3" y-pipe. This was the most compact one they had. I considered making my own instead, and still may. We'll see.

Summit Racing SUM-643010-1 - Summit Racing® Flex Joint Pipes -- Flex pipe. Check out the options on this. You could do the ball flange instead, or there are other (cheaper) flex pipes available. I chose this one because it is shortest and I believe the weaved ones hold up well.

Summit Racing SUM-G2990 - Summit Racing® Weld-In Oxygen Sensor Fittings -- Gotta have O2 sensors.

Summit Racing SUM-G4761 - Summit Racing® Collector Ring Kits -- I'm going to use these to make the pipe removable. I figure this will be helpful when taking the exhaust off.

Summit Racing SUM-670137 - Summit Racing® Exhaust Cutouts -- Just for fun. :teehee:
Yea mine is the 5.2. I kept the cat from the durango and the jeep. I'm pretty limited to mufflers so ill have to keep the one I have. I have a triangulated rear and its tight.
 
#289 ·
Had a productive day at the junkyard today. Didn't get everything I wanted, but plenty to keep me busy for now.

I found a "Taurus" two speed electric fan, but it was in a 3.0 Taurus, not a 3.8 as everything I've read would indicate. 8C607 is the Ford part number, and the three-wire connection indicated it was the right unit. The shroud was cracked a little, and I didn't notice until later that the fan grille was cracked pretty bad. I may not use this one, or perhaps build my own shroud with this motor. I tested the motor and it works.

I also found an air intake and filter box from a V6 Dodge Dakota. I was looking for a V8 Durango or Dakota, but the V6 fits fine. (More details below.)

Finally, I got a transmission cable bracket from a Dodge Ram van. Looks like it will do exactly what I need. Forgot to take a pic of the bracket, but I'll add one later.
 
#290 ·
The Ram truck air intake doesn't fit under the Jeep's hood because the filter sits on top of the engine. I've read that the V8 Durango air intake plumbing fits well. I couldn't find a Durango, but I found a V6 Dakota around the same year that looked like it would work. I measured and it was the same size so I grabbed it.



Because the Ram attached to the throttle body via a clamp around the bottom, and the Dakota used a threaded shaft in the middle and a nut, I had to make sure to get that too. This thing bolted right up:



It seems to clear the hood, but just barely. The trans dipstick is in the way of the intake, but I can bend that. Undecided on the filter and the rest of the plumbing at this point, but this give me plenty of choices.

 
#291 ·
I got the downpipe done today too. Here's some of the pieces included in the kit I bought:



I also bought a pipe clamp to help hold the pieces together while I tacked them together. Worth the $20:



Since I have so little room to work with, I wanted to get the two pipes from each side joined together in as short a distance as possible. The 2-to-1 collector ended up next to the upper control arm. I'm going to have to get one bend for the rest of the exhaust. I welded it all up and it fit well.

 
This post has been deleted
#294 ·
I didn't get the springs yesterday because they didn't pull them, and when I asked about them, guy said he'd charge me about as much as new springs for the labor to pull them. Thanks, but no thanks.

The electric fan looks like it will fit with some trimming. I tried to find another fan in better shape, so I called the other local yard. They didn't have one either. I also asked about a Volvo controller, but they couldn't find one, and I didn't have the model list handy. Dude said they had a Volvo 525, but I don't think Volvo ever made a 525 model. He didn't seem too interested in leaving whatever chair he was holding down at the moment, so I'm done with this place. They used to be pretty helpful 10+ years ago, but they've gone significantly downhill. The never called me back when I needed a shifter, and anytime they do have something, it's like pulling teeth with them. **** it.

I tried pushing the drivetrain up to see if I could fit the mech fan, but it only gained me 3/4 of an inch at the top, which is not enough. Electric fan is going to have to work.

I also need a 3" bend for the exhaust because the collector ended up at a 15º angle. I order that this morning, and got raped because the order was so small. But, I know it will ship same day, so it's worth it.
 
#295 ·
Exhaust work looks good so far. :thumbsup:

I like that pipe clamp, I've never seen that tool before. I looked around online and bought 4 of them, the 6" ones that clamp up to 2". They should really help me with building my headers.

If you can't find a decent used Taurus fan, rockauto.com sells brand new 3.8L Taurus fans for $85.00.
 
#296 ·
Thanks. Your headers look much better. :thumbsup:

I found the clamp at Tractor Supply. I don't think there was a name brand on it, but it said "Unique Clamp," so maybe that was it. Hobart has one too.

I got two Taurus fans today that are in really good shape for $40 today.
 
#297 ·
I found the clamps on cyberweld.com. They are a smaller version of what you have, with a 1" to 2" clamping range, and the price was smaller too, just $11.65 each. I've found that when trying to figure out how to build headers, it's impossible for one person to hold together 4 pieces of tubing, so I'm hoping these clamps will help me out with that.

Good score on getting both fans for $40.00! You can keep the second as a backup in case the installed motor gives up the ghost prematurely.
 
#298 ·
:laugh:

That was the exact trouble I was having. I was holding one piece in each hand, and one in my mouth, then I had to figure out how to tack them. If I ever did more exhaust work, I would definitely buy a few more.

The first fan I grabbed looks like it was an aftermarket direct replacement because I couldn't find the Ford stamp on it. But it appeared to be in good shape. The second one is a Ford part. I also have that one with the cracked shroud, so I think I'll pull the motor from that one and use that as the trail spare.
 
#299 ·
The shifter for the transmission is all set. Anyone following along will remember that any of the brackets I tried didn't hold the cable in the right place to clear everything. Discussed HERE on page 9.



I ended up finding a transmission cable bracket out of a Dodge Ram Van. I was looking for a 3 speed van, but the first one I crawled under had a bracket the looked correct, so I grabbed it. H/T to Ryan (rda616) for the suggestion on the van bracket. I also grabbed the entire shift cable, TV arm and cable, manual shift arm and all the associated bracketry from that Van. I only ended up using the bracket and the shift arm from the Van. The TV arm was identical to the one my Dodge had, so I saw no point in changing it. I used the Jeep 30RH/32RH cable and it snapped right into the Van shift arm.

Recall that the Ram was a column shift. Because of that, it had some crazy linkage to shift the transmission. Where the bracket should hold the shift cable, there was interference with the transmission housing. Here's the three for comparison. Notice the Van bracket moves the cable downward. (Brackets L to R; Ram column shift, Jeep 3-speed auto; Van auto.)



Further, when I positioned the shift cable, the gears didn't match between the transmission and the shifter. I.E.: If I started with both the tranny and shifter in park and clicked through the gears, the transmission only made it into 2 when the shift lever was in 1. The Ram shift arm was too long. The Van was shorter and worked fine. Also notice the flat spot where the arm attaches to the transmission. This caused the Van arm to be "clocked" to the rear a little, which is also what I needed to fit the cable in there. (Van on right; Ram on left.)



The Ram arm also angled downward. Where the bracket puts the cable, it was too low. The Van is pretty much level. (Van on top; Ram on bottom.)



I used a 30RH/32RH shift cable out of a TJ and it connected to the Van bracket and shift arm with no problem. The Van shift cable was twice as long as the TJ. I did have to tweak the bracket a little because the Van arm put Park a little further back than the Ram arm. This also helped with the cable routing. After a little adjustment, it seems to be hitting all the gears correctly.
 
#300 ·
I also started fitting up the electric fan yesterday. The fan itself is offset to one side in the shroud. I ended up installing the fan upside down to move it toward the passenger side. It clears the water pump snout because the fan motor is below and next to the pulley. I believe I took this pic before I started trimming the shroud:



It was a little tight, but fit without touching. I trimmed the shroud a little because the old mounting boss cast into the shroud held the fan away from the radiator too far. I basically cut about 1/2 all the way around the shroud. I need to finish figuring out how to mount the fan to the radiator. I picked up some 10 gauge wire and a 40 amp relay so I can at least run the fan with a switch for now. I've been having a hard time getting the fan controller I want.

I did a few other odds and ends yesterday. I changed out the 4WD indicator switch on the t-case because it failed. I took the headers off so I could apply some sealant and torque them down now that I have the downpipe built, and one of the bolts broke in head. (!!!!!!) I was using a torque wrench set at 25 lbs, per the instructions. Not sure what happened there, but I need to find another bolt, and stock ones won't work because the mounting flange is way different.
 
#302 ·
Things are coming together. Where have you been? I was starting to think you got hit by a bus.

I'll have a few photos later tonight to go with the most recent progress. I haven't been in the garage in a few days. It's been so cold (single digit high temps) it's not been worth it to warm the garage up.

:cheers2:
 
#303 ·
I mounted the transmission cooler, radiator and fan for the final time. Sprayed a little paint at the bare metal where I scratched the grill up. That's about it for now.

Tomorrow I'm going to get the grille in it's home and start fitting up the radiator hoses.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top