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Scrambler meets big ugly

43K views 218 replies 21 participants last post by  CJWoodman 
#1 ·
I have owned my scrambler since 2005. After numerous upgrades to my 258 4.2 including Davis ignition and Weber carb I decided to go the v8 route to improve driveability. Here is my lm7 swap project. Started research years ago and began purchasing materials in January 2017. The engine was in great shape inside so we cleaned painted and replaced what I thought should be. Here are photos of the Jeep tear down that started Saturday 5/13. I'm sure I will have questions as I go.
 

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#32 ·
I have the front axle back from the shop and have been finishing the details up. I painted the axle and knuckles but have hit a dead end on my axle joints. I bought two spicer 5-260x axle ujoints at Napa but when I went to install them I found the cross is to large to fit in between the axle ears. I returned them and bought a pair of moog 365 joints but one of them blew apart while attempting to press it. I found a dana 15260x svl but I'm not sure what to make of it and it looks more like the part I took out. The cross looks a bit smaller in heft which may help me but I think the SVL in the part number stands for lower quality??? Called dana help line. They have no solution. Going back to Napa in the am.
 

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#36 ·
Still fighting with the front axle. Ball joints would not seat so I had to sit on each one with a demo bar to get them torqued. That was a good plan tll I ripped the lower ball joint boot on the passenger side lower. So I'll be changing that boot out. Here is the driver side finishing up.
 

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#37 ·
I was able to get new Centric loaded calipers mounted and get the u bolts snugged up so I can get it back on the ground. I was wanting to freshen everything while I am in there. Anyone know where I can find new OME Dakar decals to replace my worn ones? No big deal, guess it will only look new for a short time anyway.
 

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#42 ·
So I got the two front brake lines mounted. I was going to mount the main supply lines when I decided to remove the master cylinder for paint which then led to the old while your at it diversion. Then I wound up pulling the dash for removal of the old mcu and wiring that will not be used. After looking at the dash on a fender stand I found myself researching how to refurb the gauges and next thing I know I'm looking to order led light upgrades for the dash lights. Now I'm wondering about the heater core? That's why it takes so long. Thanks John Strenk, Gary2138 and bicyclemonkey for great threads.
 

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#43 ·
This is where the rear break line shock bend was located as classic tube presented it. All in all the quality of the tubing itself was good. After some reworking I was able to get them to fit but they definitely required some tweaking. Make sure you have a tube bender handy. Additionally here are some views of the rear axle lines. The lines from the mc to the proportioning valve were left pointing into the sky at the mc once installed but that photo did not come out. In the end they did bleed fine with my wife's help and the pedal feels nice and firm. Freshening up the steering wheel and shaft next.
 

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#45 ·
Dash and harness went in smoothly enough but I did't get pics. The steering wheel and steering shaft are in place now too. I sat in the driver seat and held on to the steering wheel for the first time in a year, felt great!
 

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#47 ·
Thanks for checking in. Hope your clutch burned in smoothly for you. Any new videos? I had a productive day today. My brother came over and helped me shoehorn the motor in today. We didn't have the right equipment so we made do. It wasn't pretty but we got it done.
 

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#49 ·
I love the ratchet straps on the fork lift! lol If it works, it works!!

Clutch broke in smoothly and is working great!! No new videos, hopefully I'll have some soon.

What engine management and wiring harness are you using for our LS ?
In doing research for the project I found a connection on ebay for a service to rehab the original harness with plenty of good reviews. https://ebay.to/2JbMw3J He cleaned up the loom and fabricated the relays, idiot light, three wire set up and soldered all together. He also did gauge feeds should I choose to use them and flashed the computer to my specifications. The fee was $300 so I went for it. Quality is good and he turned it around in a reasonable amount time. Also offers free tech support. I started to put the harness back on today and I am usually pretty good at reassembly but man this was removed and sent off over a year ago. I'll be contacting Mike to get me over a couple of missing memory cells. The electrical is the tough part for me, hopefully it goes smoothly and I don't burn it down.
 

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#50 ·
Came across basic wiring 101 here on the forum and that was a big help. I also reviewed plenty of other builds and decided to use a 40 amp circuit breaker fed from the battery by 10 gauge wire. I connected that to a terminal block with room for expansion. You can see a tan colored14 gauge fusable link in the photos coming off the terminal block that I will use to feed my main power supply to the firewall connector. Then the rest of the wiring can begin. I need to figure a way to wrap that circuit breaker to protect from arcs.
 

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#51 ·
This is the tough part if you're not good with wiring like me, the good news is that it turned over by the key so I know I'm on the right track these small steps took over 12 hours most of that was research. I tied the gm computer into the blue and red wires for the old spark module that come out of the firewall. The red one is hot and the blue one is keyed and there is a second blue wire that I ran to the starter solenoid. I still have lots of clean up to do.
 

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#52 ·
Last week I continued roughing in the wiring and was able to crank the engine and even achieved spark. What a great feeling of relief that was seeing the spark tester flashing. I also now have power to the fuel pump circuit. Over the weekend I was able to get the Novak fuel pump installed in the fuel tank and install the tank. The Novak unit was pricey at over $300 but easy to install with the 5/16 return built right in so that was done quickly. Today I finished plumbing in the rest of the 3/8 fuel line. Nothing fancy just bent up some hard line to attach to the Novak rig up the side of the frame and back to rubber high pressure at the block. Getting ready to hear the open header roar soon. Oh yeah.
 

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#59 ·
Awesome! Sounds great. Certainly feel good when it actually fires.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks. I did enjoy the brief rumble. I let it cool for an hour while working on the throttle connection. Then started it again for a few seconds and revved it to check the fly by wire. Boy was I caught off guard at how loud that sucker is! My ears were ringing for an hour. Oops. Now I am researching exhaust. It seems dual exhaust isn't worth the trouble due to space issues. I cant figure a good place for a cross over. I'll contact the local muffler shop tomorrow see if they have any thoughts.
 
#61 ·
I have had a couple of productive days. Starting with the fly by wire throttle, I had to grind a bit of the steering wheel support to make a flat surface for the pedal to mount on and I was able to get it in a position that I can live with. Next, I re bent the transfer case shifter to fit the new powertrain lay out and it seems to work pretty well. I got the Lokar shifter partially mounted as well. I was anxious to see how the boot lined up, I like it. The Lokar directions were just ok. I couldn't use the shifter frame tail mount supplied , it wouldn't fit, so I had to use the mounting tensioners on the top of the tranny instead to hold the shift frame stable. The threaded rod supplied in the kit for the upper tensioners was not long enough to work so that's where i knocked off for the day to go to the hardware store for longer tensioning bolts, pita. I'll provide pictures of the tensioner set up when I get back to the shop and finish that up. Other then the hardware issue the quality of the shifter seems fairly good to this point.
 

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#62 ·
So the top picture is a look at the Lokar shifter mounting frame up close with one of the two threaded tension mounts installed that are to keep the frame from moving. Once the rod's are secure then you install the jam nut to keep the rod from backing out. The supplied rods weren't long enough so I had to go buy two bolts and put the jam nuts on them to make it work. The bottom pic is the bolt with the jam nut on it. I also used some blue thread lock just in case.
 

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#63 ·
The mission today was to get the transmission off it's milk crate perch and get it supported by the belly pan by installing the tail mount. Sounds simple enough but this this presented yet another challenge. In the first picture you can see the transmission pan sitting on the cross member leaving the transmission mount dangling in the air. The solution would obviously require some cutting. Once I cut the hump out of the cross member that provided the relief to allow the mount to touch down on the pan. Now a small patch will finish things up.
 

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#64 ·
I drilled and tapped the oil pressure switch in to the delete cover for the oil cooler so my dash oil pressure gauge will work. I worked up to an 11/32" bit and used a 1/8 npt tap. Turns out the power steering lines will work fine with the gm ps pump with a couple of tweeks to the hose bends.
 

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