One Year

I've now had the Jeep for one year and I've done a good deal of work to it in that amount of time.
Can you spot the changes?
August 2008



August 2009

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!

I fired up the new engine for the first time on 7/20 at around 9pm. I ran it long enough to bring the engine up to normal operating temperature and then I pulled it out of the garage and hooked it up to the Tahoe, so I could drop it off at the exhaust shop first thing Tuesday morning.

My first choice for Exhaust shops (Snohomish Exhaust and Transmission) in Monroe was busy, so I had to go with Dicks Tire Haus.
They (Dicks Tire Haus) told me to be back by 3pm to 4pm on Tuesday night and it would be ready to go, so I showed up around 4pm and they hadn't even started on it. I explained to them again that I need the jeep back by EOD Tuesday, because I was leaveing town in the morning and I needed the jeep.
They worked on it until around 7pm (two hrs past closing) and ended up only finishing one side of the dual exhaust, but it was drivable. Even thought they didn't finish they still charged me a whopping $472 dollars. What a rip off!!!
I drove it home and it ran great and sounded OK.
First thing in the morning I fired up the jeep and took off for downtown Seattle for work and about 15minutes into the drive it started getting really loud. I blew out the collector gaskets at the header. Dicks Tire Haus SUCKS!!!!
I was stuck downtown until 8/1 and I never fired it up while I was down there, but as soon as I got home I replaced the collector gaskets and took it to Snohomish Exhaust and Transmission and had them finish the exhaust and the did a great job at a good price.

As of now I have around 400 miles on the engine and so far it runs great and has a ton of power.
I towed it over to Moses Lake last weekend and ran it a little hard in the dunes and it did a fantastic job. I can't wait until it's fully broke in so I can really get on it.
The only issue I had was that I bottomed out the suspension a few times and smashed the exhaust up pretty good. I took it back to my friends at Snohomish Exhaust and Transmission and they fixed it up and gave me a few tips on how to fix it, so it wouldn't happen again.

Engines In, But Still No Intake Manifold

I just found out that the new intake manifold won't be here for another week and 1/2, so hopefully it will be here by Friday 6/12.
That means the jeep will have been out of commission for over two months.
I went ahead and put the new engine in and over the next two weeks I'll bolt everything that I have back on.
I might also tow it over to the exhaust shop and have them hookup the old exhaust to the new header.

Still waiting for the intake

The new intake should be here next Thursday (I Hope!!), so I'm going to put the engine in, so all I have to do is bolt the intake on when it arrives.
I went ahead and bolted everything on that I could and I plan to put the engine in tomorrow morning.

The New Engine Is Here

Well, the new engine has been here since April 10th, which is around 6weeks now.
I thought I had every thing that I needed, but it turns out the new intake manifold doesn't fit the new engine and either does the old one.
It took me a few days to track down one that does fit, because the new engine originally had fuel injection and I'm putting a carburetor on it.
I ordered the new intake manifold from Clifford Performance out of California and I was told it should take around 4 weeks to get here. After 5 weeks I called them to see if they have an ETA on the manifold and they told me it will be another two weeks.
I'm expecting it to arrive around June 4th.
I'm going to go ahead and put the new engine in the Jeep and finish assembling it when the intake gets here.

Project Engine Swap; Day One

Really it's day two, because I started on it on Saturday, but I actually pulled the engine today.

The engine came out with no issues and I went ahead and degreased the engine compartment, transmission and eventually the garage floor with a product called Purple Power and it seemed to work really well. I wish I had a pressure washer, so I could get a little more of the oil and grim build up off.

Will everyday has Good news and bad news and the good news is the new engine should be here between 7am and 2pm tomorrow and I'm just about ready for it and now for the bad news; I just found out that the new exhaust header that I received was the wrong one, so It looks like I'll be going with the stock exhaust manifold for now.

Busy Day

I'm still waiting for the new engine, but I was informed that it should be here by this Thursday... WOOOO HOOOO!!

Today, I went ahead and unboxed some of the items I've received so far and here are a few pics.


Next, I unboxed and put together my 2 ton foldable shop Crane that I just received from Harbor Freight Tools.
It was super easy to put together and it seems to be really will built and folding it up, is a breeze.
In Process..

Completed..

Folded Up..

and it fits nicely in my small garage.

Lastly, I installed the new dash pod and gauges from Auto Meter.
I replaced the stock Fuel, Volt, Oil, Engine Coolant Temp gauges and removed the clock and added a Transmission Temp gauge.
I plan to disassemble the dash and paint it black, so it will all match.
Before.. After..

Still Waiting For My New Engine

I'm still waiting for the new engine and a few of the items I ordered and it's looking like its going to be another week or two before everything arrives.

I've changed the exhaust header I'm going with to a stainless header from Rugged Ridge. I changed because I didn't hear very good things about the Pace Setter one and it was on back order for weeks.

I've decided to replace the mechanical fuel pump with an electric one from Jegs.com, just to give it a cleaner look and I also picked up a K&N Air Filter Assembly from Jegs along with all new engine gauges from Auto Meter. I also ordered a dash pod for the new gauges.

Awhile ago I removed all of the emissions crap, but I never removed the computer, wiring etc…, so last weekend I did it along with mounting and wiring up the new fuel pump.

More to come…

Here's a pic of the mess I tore out

Engine Time

We'll my engine decided to lose all oil pressure and start making noise :( , so after much thought on which way to go (Rebuild, replace or swap it out with a V8), I decided to go with replacing it with another 6 cylinder, but this one will have a little more power :).

I chose the 4.7L Stroker engine from ATK High Performance Engines with the following options:

• Ported Head
  
• Roller Rocker Arms
  
• Aluminum Valve Cover, Oil Pan and Timing cover
  
• Rods Upgraded with ARP Bolts
  

I also ordered the following equipment to bolt on the new engine:

• Offenhauser 4 Barrel Intake Manifold
  
• Pacesetter Header
  
• Holley Truck Avenger 4 Barrel Carburetor
  

I already have an HEI Distributor from CRT PERFORMANCE that I plan to re-use on this engine.

The new engine should put out around 300 HP and 350 lbs of torque with all of the upgrades, compared to the 112 HP and 210 lbs of torque the stock engine puts out.

The engine and all of the add-ons should be at my house in the next couple of weeks, with plans to have it done within a few days after receiving everything and I plan to take pictures and update this blog as I go, so check back, if you're interested.