LS2 in my 97 wrangler *pics* - Page 51

scoot08 · 02-09-2009, 04:51 PM

so i have been reading this the last 2 days and all i can say is you are a jeep god

this is a amazing build... i thought making mine a stroker would be bada** but you took it to a whole nother level... that jeep should be in a magazine

mlawdawg · 02-09-2009, 07:14 PM

Thanks for your service, and I hope your project comes off without a hitch. It will be awesome.

93_xj · 02-09-2009, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Curlee

After my deployment in may, Ill be getting ready to come back home to CT, and I will have the jeep shipped back with me. I figure there is no need to put unnecessary miles on it driving it cross country.

You are from gales ferry? What high school did you go to? I went to Griswold HS. Lived in griswold for 18 years and now thanks to the Air Force i live in Hampton VA.

**SpoiledRotten** · 02-10-2009, 08:30 AM

I've gone through the whole thread and must say... as most other have already... Great Job!
Thank you for your service to our country and don't get killed in that monster Jeep. Enjoy.

BTW.. you have great taste in bumpers!

brokenyoujoint · 02-10-2009, 07:14 PM

I have pretty much read EVERYTHING in this thread and i have a few good things to say and a few bad.

I respect, appreciate, and admire ANY build if done right. You could have built a corvette for rockcrawling and i would appreciate it, or a jeep to race at the strip and i would do the same.

Your motor, as said over and over, is VERY nice and well done.
Your transmission is a very stout tranny and IT COULD OF BEEN DONE BETTER to match your vehicle. do a google search. you will find others who have done the swap correctly.

Having a RED 1997 TJ with the same lift, minus the body lift, the same size tires and the same steering and braking characteristics, i would NEVER take my jeep to the track to race anything. 100mph is to fast for my jeep. I am a rockcrawler.
PLEASE take my advice from a person who has been in accidents and from a guy who has been around the racing game and the wheeling game. Get a better rollcage, get a multipoint harness, and get rid of that body lift.

You'r enjoying the HP game right now, but when your going 1xx mph down the strip and you get a blowout, a broken axle, a steering box failure, broken tie rod(your tie rod is crap you know), or anything else imaginable, all of your money, time, and health will be in vain.

I'm a bit confused also. why do you have a jeep really? is it to take it to the track/ beat ricers while illegally racing down the street? I have my jeep so i can go wheeling, camping, scouting around, and for summer cruises. I also have a well build 71 chevelle to go fast with. each has its place.

I SUPER respect the build. From the shop. not from you. you do deserve to have something to show for your dedication and hard work from the military. I respect those who do it themselves not those who fork money to have it done. I do admire your jeep. I do predict a few things though and i sincerely hope that they do not come true.

If you continue to build it faster and you become more comfortable with racing it the way you are, you will wreck it. That jeep is not designed to race. I pray that you dont get hurt. As soon as i saw that you were so eager to race i knew that that rear shaft of yours would fail. if you stroke it out, you'll do more than that. you can stick ANYTHING in that jeep, doesnt mean that its supposed to go there.

I have a 4.6 stroker built from a 4.0 engine in my TJ and i love it. more than enough power for me. i opted to do a 5.7L crate motor but i dont need it. You do have a wise choice in front and rear axle set ups, i love the atlas as well.
I GUESS MY POINT TO THIS WHOLE REPLY IS TO TELL YOU TO BE CAREFUL. I dont want to return to this thread and see 20 pages from now and see one of your buddies telling everyone what happened that night when you lost control. Other than that, YOUR DRIVETRAIN IS SICK. now build the jeep to crawl. BTW heres my jeep.

**Curlee** · 02-11-2009, 01:12 AM

Brokenyoujoint - I do appreciate the sincere reply, and I will attempt to answer a few of your questions and address some of your concerns.

Firstly, I love off roading, and everything that comes with it. I built this jeep because I was tired of the 4 cylinder that I had, and was tired of the same ol jeep that I had been driving for a couple years. I DO realize that a jeep is not a go fast vehicle. The only reason I take it to the drag strip is to see what it is capable of. If you look around the net you will find many off road vehicles being drag raced.

Secondly, this project was researched, and compiled by me with help from a few others. I would have LOVED to build this myself, but it was quite simply not within my means to do. I am plenty capable, and I know that. The only reason I had someone do it for me is because I did not have the time, tools, or the place to build something like this myself. Being in the army, having a girlfriend, and living in the barracks is not conducive to building something like this myself. It killed me to have a shop do it, and Im still paying for it by fixing things that were not done correctly or should have been done differently.

As for broken parts while raceing, those are the what if scenarios that plague everything in life. What if I am driving up a mountain and have a steering box failure.... well Ill probably flip it down the mountain. There are inherent dangers to anything you do, and sometimes you just have to mitigate them, and accept the remaining ones.

Again, I do appreciate the reply, and I do take what you say about being careful seriously. Im over the shock value of having 400hp and now that most of the kinks are ironed out, my jeep will see much more off road use. Ive actually had it on trails a number of times, but I have few pics or videos to show for it being that I rarely remember to bring my camera.

472cid · 02-11-2009, 01:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brokenyoujoint

by the way curlee some one started a thread on here who would win your jeep or mine if you want a good laugh

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f9/472cid-5-0-v8-vs-curlee-ls2-yeah-im-bored-692127/

SmokEaterHD · 02-16-2009, 11:33 AM

Sweet build!! I understand your frustrations wanting to do all the work yourself. I don't live in barracks, but really don't have the garage or all the tools to do all the things I want to mine either. I also went with the V8 conversion. I put a 4 bolt main small block bored out to 355ci in my YJ. At the time I used my AX-15 tranny, which lasted about 2 months. Then I started saving pennies until I had enough to do a NV4500 swap. Unfortunately, I used NV4500.com and went with their recommendation to use the Dodge version of that tranny. I think that just caused extra effort and heartache on my end. However, when I was installing my tranny I ran into the same problem you had with the tunnel clearance issue. I put a hockey puck body lift on mine which resulted to only being 1/2-3/4" of lift. That was enough for me to clear the tub. Not sure why you needed 3". There has to be a better way of getting around that. I haven't done a belly pan yet so that may be the deciding factor. The extra power is nice and I always wanted a small block in a Jeep. Now I have it and I think next time I'll just stick with the straight 6 and put some mods on it instead. You have a good-looking Jeep. Enjoy it and thanks for your service.

BamaLonghorn · 04-29-2009, 04:42 PM

Curlee what kind of gas mileage are you getting?

**waynehartwig** · 05-03-2009, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BamaLonghorn

Curlee what kind of gas mileage are you getting?

He hasn't answered, so I'll answer for myself. I'm getting about 3 mpg better than with my 4.0l, while pulling my camper trailer. With the 4.0, I would pull my trailer at 55-65 mph. Now with the 5.3, I pull it at 75 with ease and with better gas mileage. I really don't have any experience as of yet, as I only have ~3200 miles on the transplant and ~2400 of that was from Spokane to Moab (EJS) and back.

Without the trailer, driving around town, my Edge shows the mileage at 22-24 mpg. I didn't have the Edge controller when I went to Moab last month to compare to....

....That's another advantage, now this is technically an 08 Sierra and Edge makes a controller for that

BamaLonghorn · 05-04-2009, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waynehartwig

He hasn't answered, so I'll answer for myself. I'm getting about 3 mpg better than with my 4.0l, while pulling my camper trailer. With the 4.0, I would pull my trailer at 55-65 mph. Now with the 5.3, I pull it at 75 with ease and with better gas mileage. I really don't have any experience as of yet, as I only have ~3200 miles on the transplant and ~2400 of that was from Spokane to Moab (EJS) and back.

Without the trailer, driving around town, my Edge shows the mileage at 22-24 mpg. I didn't have the Edge controller when I went to Moab last month to compare to....

....That's another advantage, now this is technically an 08 Sierra and Edge makes a controller for that

Is the 5.3 in your Jeep or in a Sierra? Your profile says you have a 4.0L.

**spyder6** · 05-04-2009, 08:35 AM

he has a 5.3 FROM a sierra IN his jeep

**waynehartwig** · 05-04-2009, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BamaLonghorn

Is the 5.3 in your Jeep or in a Sierra? Your profile says you have a 4.0L.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshal

he has a 5.3 FROM a sierra IN his jeep

Correct - Donor was an 08 Sierra SLE 4x4 that was 6 months old and less than 5k miles. I took the 5.3 and 4L60E and put it into my 04 Rubicon.

Since I have the VIN, I googled it and found the truck
http://www.sapulpapool.com/new/StockDetail_new.asp?StockID=407182
...I wonder if the guy lived? If so, he looks pretty ****in' lucky!

**spyder6** · 05-04-2009, 03:44 PM

id like to know the story on that one

i think it'd be sweet to get the Vortex MAX motor, ****s crazy

Brandon97TJ · 05-04-2009, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by waynehartwig

Correct - Donor was an 08 Sierra SLE 4x4 that was 6 months old and less than 5k miles. I took the 5.3 and 4L60E and put it into my 04 Rubicon.

Since I have the VIN, I googled it and found the truck
http://www.sapulpapool.com/new/StockDetail_new.asp?StockID=407182
...I wonder if the guy lived? If so, he looks pretty ****in' lucky!

How is that motor still running? Thats nuts