I’ve wanted to make a build thread for a while. It won’t be super technical because I just honestly don’t know a ton about all the specifics but as long as I can remember I have wanted a six speed LJR. I was an Internet sales Director at a dealership in Georgia for a few years and we took this LJR in on trade with about 40,000 miles on it in 2012. I’ve had an LJ before but never a Rubicon. Always wanted a white one. I was walking from our new car building to our used car building to do the paperwork on it and one of my used car guys was buying it for himself. So about every six months, I would send a text to him asking if he was ready to sell it. I. Sent him a message August of last year and he said I had caught him on the right day. So I was finally able to buy it from him with only 67,000 miles. My goal from the beginning was to eventually do a hemi swap of some kind since that’s what I had wanted since I had my first LJ in 2006. Along the way I’ve made a few changes, but it is currently in the middle of the swap process getting a 6.1 Hemi. Since it is my daily driver, I wanted to make it as comfortable as possible so since I have purchased it…
-I pulled the old lift off of it and put a 2.5 inch RC lift.
-285/75/16 Toyo RT tires all the way around.
-Replaced the soft top with a new Bestop.
-Pulled off the Rustys front and rear bumpers and replaced it with a Warn front and rear bumper that I have had sandblasted and re-powder coated.
-Added a Warn winch I won in a raffle.
-Replaced the headlights with an LED set up.
-Hella Value fit fog lights.
-Added the cover craft seat covers front and rear to protect the near perfect interior.
-Pulled the carpet and dynamited the floor to help with road noise and insulation.
-Had the hard top refreshed with a coat of hot rod black and had the inside of the hardtop painted black before I added the Hotheads Headliner, which also helped with road noise and insulation.
-Replaced the factory stereo set up with a Kenwood touchscreen, added Memphis components and sub along with a five channel Memphis amp.
-To help out with a little bit of power and hopefully help with fuel efficiency, I added an AirRaid power tower, along with a Banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer.(Now that the 6.1 swap is underway I’ve got a banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer for sale. If anyone is looking!)
The 6.1 swap is out of a 2010 Challenger with 75,000 miles. I purchased it off of a GEN III Hemi page on Facebook. The guy delivered it to North Georgia for me from Missouri, and I immediately started tearing into it. The motor was extremely well taken care of and one of the cleanest I’ve seen inside. My hope is to have around 400 hp at the tires, so I added an Inertia Motor sports cam and replaced the lifters. All new gaskets and seals everywhere. Repainted the block and cleaned it up as best I can. Holley makes a great set up to do the swaps in these Jeeps, and I have a friend that works there, so I was able to get all of the parts needed that they make. So the motor mounts and motor mount inserts, headers, exhaust and a lot of other little odds and ends. Went with a Flex-A-Lite radiator with their fan set up. A new AX15 transmission from Novak. Decided to use a Luk clutch kit. The jeep will remain my daily driver, and it will never be abused on the trails so this set up will be more than sufficient for me. Got a great deal on an AX15 bell housing to mount it all together. Hotwires is currently working on rewiring the harnesses and fuse box so it’s kind of a waiting game at this point. Hopefully within about eight weeks we will have everything back from them and we will be able to finish the swap. Tom‘s 4 x 4 and Rocksolid Motorsports in Chattanooga Tennessee is completing the swap for me. These guys are super knowledgeable and have done a ton of swaps in all kinds of jeeps utilizing not only the Hemi platform but LS as well. Their work is second to none. I’m truly looking forward to having this thing back as a daily driver. I’ll post pictures along the way as things are completed and will be happy to answer any questions as best I can but here’s a few of the Jeep from the day I purchased to its current state.
-I pulled the old lift off of it and put a 2.5 inch RC lift.
-285/75/16 Toyo RT tires all the way around.
-Replaced the soft top with a new Bestop.
-Pulled off the Rustys front and rear bumpers and replaced it with a Warn front and rear bumper that I have had sandblasted and re-powder coated.
-Added a Warn winch I won in a raffle.
-Replaced the headlights with an LED set up.
-Hella Value fit fog lights.
-Added the cover craft seat covers front and rear to protect the near perfect interior.
-Pulled the carpet and dynamited the floor to help with road noise and insulation.
-Had the hard top refreshed with a coat of hot rod black and had the inside of the hardtop painted black before I added the Hotheads Headliner, which also helped with road noise and insulation.
-Replaced the factory stereo set up with a Kenwood touchscreen, added Memphis components and sub along with a five channel Memphis amp.
-To help out with a little bit of power and hopefully help with fuel efficiency, I added an AirRaid power tower, along with a Banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer.(Now that the 6.1 swap is underway I’ve got a banks, cold air intake, exhaust and programmer for sale. If anyone is looking!)
The 6.1 swap is out of a 2010 Challenger with 75,000 miles. I purchased it off of a GEN III Hemi page on Facebook. The guy delivered it to North Georgia for me from Missouri, and I immediately started tearing into it. The motor was extremely well taken care of and one of the cleanest I’ve seen inside. My hope is to have around 400 hp at the tires, so I added an Inertia Motor sports cam and replaced the lifters. All new gaskets and seals everywhere. Repainted the block and cleaned it up as best I can. Holley makes a great set up to do the swaps in these Jeeps, and I have a friend that works there, so I was able to get all of the parts needed that they make. So the motor mounts and motor mount inserts, headers, exhaust and a lot of other little odds and ends. Went with a Flex-A-Lite radiator with their fan set up. A new AX15 transmission from Novak. Decided to use a Luk clutch kit. The jeep will remain my daily driver, and it will never be abused on the trails so this set up will be more than sufficient for me. Got a great deal on an AX15 bell housing to mount it all together. Hotwires is currently working on rewiring the harnesses and fuse box so it’s kind of a waiting game at this point. Hopefully within about eight weeks we will have everything back from them and we will be able to finish the swap. Tom‘s 4 x 4 and Rocksolid Motorsports in Chattanooga Tennessee is completing the swap for me. These guys are super knowledgeable and have done a ton of swaps in all kinds of jeeps utilizing not only the Hemi platform but LS as well. Their work is second to none. I’m truly looking forward to having this thing back as a daily driver. I’ll post pictures along the way as things are completed and will be happy to answer any questions as best I can but here’s a few of the Jeep from the day I purchased to its current state.