SJ’s TJ

One of the issues I was running into was setting up the idle in the Terminator X. It says the IAC value should be between 2-10 when at title and up to temp. It was sitting around 44 and when I took it out for a spin, it would stall when you let off the throttle.

The way you setup the IAC is using the adjustment screw on the throttle body that opens/closes the throttle plate. If the value is to high, like in my case, you need to open the plate until the value comes down. The problem I had is the screw stripped out on my original TB.

I picked up a used OEM TB of eBay and cleaned it up and soaked the screw in penetration oil overnight. I then hit it with a lot of heat and she came right out. I also flipped it so I could adjust it from above. After a lot of back and forth I got the IAC to 6.

I took her for spin and everything was working as it should. Trans shifted great, all temps were good and I started the braking bedding process. I ended up driving if for about 45 minutes in total. This motor turns the tons and 40s with ease. I’m really stoked being done with this part of the build!!
 
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Sj's TJ said:
One of the issues I was running into was setting up the idle in the Terminator X. It says the IAC value should be between 2-10 when at title and up to temp. It was sitting around 44 and when I took it out for a spin, it would stall when you let off the throttle.

The way you setup the IAC is using the adjustment screw on the throttle body that opens/closes the throttle plate. If the value is to high, like in my case, you need to open the plate until the value comes down. The problem I had is the screw stripped out on my original TB.

I picked up a used OEM TB of eBay and cleaned it up and soaked the screw in penetration oil overnight. I then hit it with a lot of heat and she came right out. I also flipped it so I could adjust it from above. After a lot of back and forth I got the IAC to 6.

I took her for spin and everything was working as it should. Trans shifted great, all temps were good and I started the braking bedding process. I ended up driving if for about 45 minutes in total. This motor turns the tons and 40s with ease. I’m really stoked being done with this part of the build!!
Click to expand...

Glad you got it figured out....
 
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Wildman said:
Glad you got it figured out....
Click to expand...

Thanks Rick, it's a pretty big weight of my shoulders for sure. I only have a couple of small items left to tackle like installing my winch rope, trans dust cover and build a tail pipe. The rig sounds mean, but it is to loud for my taste. I'm shooting for an early March shakedown run which aligns with friends who are also doing V8 swaps. So that will be 3 rigs with new V8 swaps and 1 rig which got a back half kit/stretch in his already V8 swapped TJ. Exciting times are ahead!
 
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One of things this past weekend was to figure out my engine skid. I have an aluminum UCF skid from before with the 2.5. What I didn’t know was the skid is not as long as the 4.0 counterpart. So instead of buying a new skid, I modified my new belly skid (which is now steel) to make up the difference in length. Here is what I came up with:

IMG_4231.jpeg

Here is the finished product installed and the front supports attached to my motor mounts:

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And finally a picture of the Atlas support I attached to the steel belly skid:

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Now to finish up the last few little items and she’ll be ready for a shakedown run in early March.
 
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Sj's TJ said:
One of things this past weekend was to figure out my engine skid. I have an aluminum UCF skid from before with the 2.5. What I didn’t know was the skid is not as long as the 4.0 counterpart. So instead of buying a new skid, I modified my new belly skid (which is now steel) to make up the difference in length. Here is what I came up with:

View attachment 496072
Here is the finished product installed and the front supports attached to my motor mounts:

View attachment 496073

And finally a picture of the Atlas support I attached to the steel belly skid:

View attachment 496075

Now to finish up the last few little items and she’ll be ready for a shakedown run in early March.
Click to expand...

Nice. I love seeing fab work to make use of things we already have.
 
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Big milestone today. I finished the last large item left on the list. I still want to tidy up some of the wiring in the engine bay by adding some wire loom. The last big item was building a tailpipe for the exhaust. I didn’t want it just dumping after the muffler. Here is what I came up with:

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I think it came out ok. It does the job and the sound is much more tolerable than before. It was a PITA, but I’m glad I did it and glad it’s behind me.
 
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Wildman said:
Nice job on the tailpipe. I keep looking at mine and trying to figure out how I could route it.

Watch your tailpipe coming down off ledges...

View attachment 496689

Spent over an hour trying to pry it open enough to get the engine to run above an idle.

View attachment 496690
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Wow, that’s impressive. Mine isn’t exposed beyond the tank itself and with the 5” of rear stretch and 40s I’m hoping I should be covered. Anything is possible though.
 
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Sj's TJ said:
Wow, that’s impressive. Mine isn’t exposed beyond the tank itself and with the 5” of rear stretch and 40s I’m hoping I should be covered. Anything is possible though.
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Those were 35's and that tip was a PITA to bend back open. I never thought I'd smash it either. This was on Pritchett Canyon in Moab.
 
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Alright, I got everything pretty much disliked in at this point, just need to tweak ride height a hair on the ORIs. I took her for an extended drive today to finish bedding in the brakes. I even got on the highway and it cruised at 60 without much issue, but the full hydro steering is a bit twitchy 😂😂 Here’s a beauty shop of the completed rig:

IMG_4253.jpeg


I’m very please with how she looks now and she sounds even meaner with the LS. Pretty much ready for the trails. I do need to buy a trailer though, so that next on the docket. I’m stoked.
 
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Sj's TJ said:
Alright, I got everything pretty much disliked in at this point, just need to tweak ride height a hair on the ORIs. I took her for an extended drive today to finish bedding in the brakes. I even got on the highway and it cruised at 60 without much issue, but the full hydro steering is a bit twitchy 😂😂 Here’s a beauty shop of the completed rig:

View attachment 499605

I’m very please with how she looks now and she sounds even meaner with the LS. Pretty much ready for the trails. I do need to buy a trailer though, so that next on the docket. I’m stoked.
Click to expand...

Congratulations dude, I'm very happy for you. It looks great 👍.
Can't wait to see the first trail ride pictures and impressions.
 
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Wildman said:
Congratulations dude, I'm very happy for you. It looks great 👍.
Can't wait to see the first trail ride pictures and impressions.
Click to expand...

Thanks Rick. The how it started picture on the first page to how it looks now is mind blowing to me. It's really come a long way. Not much left from that first picture when it was a bone stock SE.
 
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Sj's TJ said:
Alright, I got everything pretty much disliked in at this point, just need to tweak ride height a hair on the ORIs. I took her for an extended drive today to finish bedding in the brakes. I even got on the highway and it cruised at 60 without much issue, but the full hydro steering is a bit twitchy 😂😂 Here’s a beauty shop of the completed rig:

View attachment 499605

I’m very please with how she looks now and she sounds even meaner with the LS. Pretty much ready for the trails. I do need to buy a trailer though, so that next on the docket. I’m stoked.
Click to expand...

Looks great. Driving it must feel fantastic.
 
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NashvilleTJ said:
Looks great. Driving it must feel fantastic.
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Thanks for the kind words. It feels great driving it. Just the power I have now is like night and day. Even with those tons and 40s, the V8 is such a difference especially coming from the 2.5 on 35s. I can’t wait to get her on the trails so I can learn how to drive the new setup. Hopeful for a beginning of March shakedown.
 
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Sj's TJ said:
Thanks for the kind words. It feels great driving it. Just the power I have now is like night and day. Even with those tons and 40s, the V8 is such a difference especially coming from the 2.5 on 35s. I can’t wait to get her on the trails so I can learn how to drive the new setup. Hopeful for a beginning of March shakedown.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I get it. All the other ladies on this forum with their little I6’s just don't understand.

Edit: Oh crap - I thought this was a PM.

🙂
 
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Well the first shakedown run is officially on for tomorrow. I got her all loaded up on the trailer I bought:

IMG_4336.jpeg


I’m heading up to Rausch Creek in PA with my buddy with his one ton TJ. He’ll be shaking down his mods as well. He went fuel cell, additional rear stretch and 43s so it should be a fun time. Biggest concern for me at the moment is with the 5:1 atlas I currently drive through the brakes. So that’s something I’ll keep an eye on. I’ll report back on Monday with the results.
 
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Ok, so I completed the shakedown run yesterday and I have some good news and some bad news.

Bad news first. My drivers side front ORI strut now has a full on leak that causes it to lose support which makes that side dive more than it should so that needs rebuilt. Turns out I did not trim my upper CA frame bracket enough to clear the drive shaft at full stuff so I ground a slight notch in the driveshaft which ended the day prematurely. We tried adjusting the track bar to move the axle over, but it wasn’t enough given all the other tight tolerances I have for the front axle. Also, I would occasionally stall out when on climbs which didn’t make sense since I’m now in an automatic.

Luckily, the whole point of the trip was to find things that need to be addressed before going on bigger trips. So in that regard mission completed. Trimming the bracket more shouldn’t be an issue so that should be a fairly easy fix. The strut rebuild is annoying, but not terrible (tried to save buying used and it got me). I’m guessing my stalling issue is just more adjustment on the IAC so that shouldn’t be too hard either.

On to the good news. Holy crap is this Jeep capable. The one ton axles made a huge difference with overall stability of the rig in hairy situations. There is something to be said about having heavy wide axles. Those bad boys just stay planted. The 40” tires provide a lot of ground clearance which makes everything easier. Going from 4-banger to a V8 is amazing. When I gave it throttle, it just went without hesitation. It was really mind blowing. We didn’t wheel for very long so only got a few pictures:

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I wouldn’t even attempt an obstacle like this before and it was a total non-event and super fun. I will say overall nothing really felt sketchy like they did before. Positions that used to fell tippy just felt fine. This goes back to my comments about the axles previously. Overall still had a blast even though it wasn’t long enough.
 
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