6.1 LJR Build

Changed the thermostat over yesterday to a 180. Still needs the controller on the fan to be turned almost all the way up but this is after pulling a trailer around most of the day. Stays 20-25 degree cooler even when running the AC. Of course it’s a totally different Jeep with a big motor and different transmission. But the one thing that I noticed most after the power increase, was the way it rides. It just feel softer almost and that can only be from replacing the body bushings all around. Y’all check yours out and if they even look remotely worn out…change ‘em. It’s cheap and easy to do and I promise you’ll feel a huge difference.

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Mine runs right at 183° with the 180° thermostat.
What are your IAT running with the filter setup you have now? I feel that I can do some things to reduce mine and will probably do some of that in the near future.
 
One little finishing touch…

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So we’ve run into a little bit of a drivability issue. Most of the time it feels like the throttle is a dead pedal. Example…clutch out and not in gear I can literally floor it and the RPMs will climb just a few hundred. But with the clutch in, it revs normal. My goal is not to be able to rev the motor all the time but it just seems like it should rev normally at any time. This causes an issue in normal driving. I end up having to rev much higher than I would for just normal acceleration from a stop. Throw a trailer behind it at a stop light with any type of incline and it’s near impossible to get it moving. Once I see vehicles 5 ahead of me pulling off I start trying to get a little movement and start all the revving I’ll have to do. I end up pumping the clutch a bunch just to keep the motor turning and get some momentum. Heaven forbid I’m the first at the light cause I’m gettin honked at for sure! It’s difficult to explain but when you see it in person it makes sense. It’s been back at the shop trying a few different things through tuning but haven’t been able to get it figured out. Change one thing and it causes an issue somewhere else. We tried bypassing the clutch switch and that made everything perfect. Acceleration was much better and the issues seemed to go away. But…coming to a stop, clutch in and in gear, the RPMs would drop like normal and then it would just die. So it’s a little issue that’s causing some big annoying things. I’ll probably end up having to take a trip back to to Injected for some street tuning to get it figured out. But all in all, still happy with the swap and having a blast. Pulling the top off this weekend to take a few rides in the mountains.
 
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So we’ve run into a little bit of a drivability issue. Most of the time it feels like the throttle is a dead pedal. Example…clutch out and not in gear I can literally floor it and the RPMs will climb just a few hundred. But with the clutch in, it revs normal. My goal is not to be able to rev the motor all the time but it just seems like it should rev normally at any time. This causes an issue in normal driving. I end up having to rev much higher than I would for just normal acceleration from a stop. Throw a trailer behind it at a stop light with any type of incline and it’s near impossible to get it moving. Once I see vehicles 5 ahead of me pulling off I start trying to get a little movement and start all the revving I’ll have to do. I end up pumping the clutch a bunch just to keep the motor turning and get some momentum. Heaven forbid I’m the first at the light cause I’m gettin honked at for sure! It’s difficult to explain but when you see it in person it makes sense. It’s been back at the shop trying a few different things through tuning but haven’t been able to get it figured out. Change one thing and it causes an issue somewhere else. We tried bypassing the clutch switch and that made everything perfect. Acceleration was much better and the issues seemed to go away. But…coming to a stop, clutch in and in gear, the RPMs would drop like normal and then it would just die. So it’s a little issue that’s causing some big annoying things. I’ll probably end up having to take a trip back to to Injected for some street tuning to get it figured out. But all in all, still happy with the swap and having a blast. Pulling the top off this weekend to take a few rides in the mountains.

You should talk with @NashvilleTJ about this. He had issues originally but after he started working with FRP was able to fix all his driveability issues.
 
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Did you ever get a chance to see what your IAT's are running at?

Still haven’t forgotten about you. Waiting on the Mac man to bring me back my scan tool.


So Ive developed a little bit of a vibration at 65-70. Sometimes it feels a little worse than other times. No vibration through the steering wheel or transmission(gear shift isn’t moving at all). Tracks great with no issues. But I’m feeling it through the entire body and more noticeable from the front. It’s not a violent shake but it’s very noticeable. I’ve tightened/checked 3 things so far…balanced tires, tightened wheel spacers, tightened new driveshafts. Other than the body mount bushings, every bushing on it is 18 years old. So with the Jeep turned off, when moving the steering wheel back and forth there is the smallest amount of play in the steering control arm ends but just doesn’t seem like it would cause this vibration. My brother just noticed when looking underneath it while I was moving wheel that the chunk was moving just the smallest amount. So trying to think about things to start checking…
I’m putting it on the lift later today to go through and check and tighten everything that may need it.
Thought about going through and replacing every bushing from front to back.
I probably will do the complete Curry Currectlynk steering setup just because.

Anything else y’all can think of to look at?
 
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Still haven’t forgotten about you. Waiting on the Mac man to bring me back my scan tool.


So Ive developed a little bit of a vibration at 65-70. Sometimes it feels a little worse than other times. No vibration through the steering wheel or transmission(gear shift isn’t moving at all). Tracks great with no issues. But I’m feeling it through the entire body and more noticeable from the front. It’s not a violent shake but it’s very noticeable. I’ve tightened/checked 3 things so far…balanced tires, tightened wheel spacers, tightened new driveshafts. Other than the body mount bushings, every bushing on it is 18 years old. So with the Jeep turned off, when moving the steering wheel back and forth there is the smallest amount of play in the steering control arm ends but just doesn’t seem like it would cause this vibration. My brother just noticed when looking underneath it while I was moving wheel that the chunk was moving just the smallest amount. So trying to think about things to start checking…
I’m putting it on the lift later today to go through and check and tighten everything that may need it.
Thought about going through and replacing every bushing from front to back.
I probably will do the complete Curry Currectlynk steering setup just because.

Anything else y’all can think of to look at?

No problem. Haven't driven mine anymore between working a lot and the weather being crappy.
Actually we're in Pigeon Forge right now till Thursday on a little getaway this week.
Hoping our weather will be better.
One thing I am going to do is wrap my intake tube with heat/insulation wrap that I have left over and see if it makes any difference.
 
Added Rough Country’s upper and lower adjustable control arms along with the Currie Currectlink in efforts to track down the vibration. The factory bushings, sleeves and ball joints in all parts were toast. Waiting on new quick disconnects for the sway bar to come in. Not because I think they could help the vibration but because the boots were torn and shot. Had an alignment done after installing everything and lo and behold……….still a vibration. So at this point the tires have been road force balanced twice, rotated tires everywhere, pulled the front drive shaft, pulled the wheel spacers. I even jacked up the rear end enough and put it in gear to make sure an axle shaft wasn’t bent. Still trying to find someone local with factory tj wheels they aren’t using that I can try on mine to see if it’s a bent wheel or something but when they’re spinning on the balancer they look perfectly round. I’m kind of at a loss at this point. Other than upgrading the sway bars and track bars which I plan to do soon, anything else to try or check?

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Those are the Evil Gremlins that go in deep hiding.
Don't really have to many ideas to look for except maybe try hanging a GoPro under the chassis in different locations while driving those speeds and see if you might catch something moving..?? Almost sounds like a light case of death wobble... :unsure::unsure:
 
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Been a little bit since I’ve updated. Made a few changes to get ready for Jeep Invasion to be in the Tom’s 4x4/Rock Solid Motorsports booth. Was able to find a super nice set of the Warn sliders I’d been looking for. Drove 756 miles round trip in one day for them too! Just like Warn powdercoat does, it was flaking pretty bad so I had them blasted and recoated. Had the black AEV Borahs I bought a while back blasted and recoated in a silver close to the factory Rubicon wheel. Went back and forth on just setting them up as a bead lock but I’m gonna hold off for now. Had to get new tires going from a 16 to 17 so it was a good time to try the new Toyo RT Trail. 285/75/17. Other than a little more aggressive sidewall, it’s the same at the RT. It still had the original pads and rotors on it. Figured it was time to change them. Ended up going with the Powerstop kit. New pads, cross drilled and slotted rotor and new calipers. Happy with the way everything has come out at this point. Other than a cage which I’ll work on next summer…I think I’m done. Never owned a vehicle before that I’ve done everything I wanted to to! Time to drive it for a while I guess.

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Been a little bit since I’ve updated. Made a few changes to get ready for Jeep Invasion to be in the Tom’s 4x4/Rock Solid Motorsports booth. Was able to find a super nice set of the Warn sliders I’d been looking for. Drove 756 miles round trip in one day for them too! Just like Warn powdercoat does, it was flaking pretty bad so I had them blasted and recoated. Had the black AEV Borahs I bought a while back blasted and recoated in a silver close to the factory Rubicon wheel. Went back and forth on just setting them up as a bead lock but I’m gonna hold off for now. Had to get new tires going from a 16 to 17 so it was a good time to try the new Toyo RT Trail. 285/75/17. Other than a little more aggressive sidewall, it’s the same at the RT. It still had the original pads and rotors on it. Figured it was time to change them. Ended up going with the Powerstop kit. New pads, cross drilled and slotted rotor and new calipers. Happy with the way everything has come out at this point. Other than a cage which I’ll work on next summer…I think I’m done. Never owned a vehicle before that I’ve done everything I wanted to to! Time to drive it for a while I guess.

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Those Borah’s look great in silver!
 
Been a little bit since I’ve updated. Made a few changes to get ready for Jeep Invasion to be in the Tom’s 4x4/Rock Solid Motorsports booth. Was able to find a super nice set of the Warn sliders I’d been looking for. Drove 756 miles round trip in one day for them too! Just like Warn powdercoat does, it was flaking pretty bad so I had them blasted and recoated. Had the black AEV Borahs I bought a while back blasted and recoated in a silver close to the factory Rubicon wheel. Went back and forth on just setting them up as a bead lock but I’m gonna hold off for now. Had to get new tires going from a 16 to 17 so it was a good time to try the new Toyo RT Trail. 285/75/17. Other than a little more aggressive sidewall, it’s the same at the RT. It still had the original pads and rotors on it. Figured it was time to change them. Ended up going with the Powerstop kit. New pads, cross drilled and slotted rotor and new calipers. Happy with the way everything has come out at this point. Other than a cage which I’ll work on next summer…I think I’m done. Never owned a vehicle before that I’ve done everything I wanted to to! Time to drive it for a while I guess.

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I really like the silver Borahs! Did you know that AEV published a list of "approved tires" to use on them? In the event that you switch over to functional beadlocks, it might be worth looking into to see if your tire has been tested/ approved. Or it might be a dead end. :/
https://www.aev-conversions.com/product/jk-borah/#ring-option