Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts

I Just Scored The Deal Of The Century - My Second "TJ" - A 2006 LJ

@zachpeakee Damn you....How dare you find such a clean LJ for such a lowprice too :mad:
I hope both sides of your pillow staywarm for life and on top of that i will come break into your house to steal your cookies 😆

Jokes aside you struck diamonds with that jeep there Sir ! im happy with the 11k i paid for my Lj could've gotten it for less but after looking for 6 months and needing a vehicle i just got the Jeep i now proudly have that now has 222k miles 😁
And like you said maintenance is WAY more important than milage,cause ive seen jeep Ljs with around 80-110k miles and they were far more worse than mines at 193,938 when i got it the frame was amazingly clean and still is with no rust ,engine purrs like a kitten (valvetrain noise of course cause flat tappet lifters) tranny shifted like a dream for being a 42rle and so on and so fourth. But some of the other Ljs anything from lifted ones to stock ones I mean damn....the frames and just about everything was just badly taken care of and obvious abuse was done offroad which i dont mind but Maintenance is key

People around me ask how and why my jeep runs like and performs good even though im always bashing it i.e doing donuts,drifting,hitting and being on limiter for minutes on end and abusing it offroad (which i still manage to break stuff but ehh...whatever ) but my response always is "Its because of me being ontop of my maintenance,theres no point of driving it like a granny and babying your vehicle when you completely look over simple maintenance such as a simple little oil/filter change for example ! "
And thankfully the P.O took great care of this jeep LJ cause after opening my motor when i changed my Valvecover gasket and after doing a head&cam swap, surprise surprise it was a beautiful scene of Golden colored metal i.e the rocker arms,springs, ect. Went to change the tranny fluid after i bought the jeep, Wham the fluid was clean and clearly red ! Everything checked out but the only dirty fluids i found was the coolant and brake fluid

Edit- Damn...once i get to typin i just don't seem to stop
Sorry! not sorry😅
 
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@zachpeakee Damn you....How dare you find such a clean LJ for such a lowprice too :mad:
I hope both sides of your pillow staywarm for life and on top of that i will come break into your house to steal your cookies 😆

Jokes aside you struck diamonds with that jeep there Sir ! im happy with the 11k i paid for my Lj could've gotten it for less but after looking for 6 months and needing a vehicle i just got the Jeep i now proudly have that now has 222k miles 😁
And like you said maintenance is WAY more important than milage,cause ive seen jeep Ljs with around 80-110k miles and they were far more worse than mines at 193,938 when i got it the frame was amazingly clean and still is with no rust ,engine purrs like a kitten (valvetrain noise of course cause flat tappet lifters) tranny shifted like a dream for being a 42rle and so on and so fourth. But some of the other Ljs anything from lifted ones to stock ones I mean damn....the frames and just about everything was just badly taken care of and obvious abuse was done offroad which i dont mind but Maintenance is key

People around me ask how and why my jeep runs like and performs good even though im always bashing it i.e doing donuts,drifting,hitting and being on limiter for minutes on end and abusing it offroad (which i still manage to break stuff but ehh...whatever ) but my response always is "Its because of me being ontop of my maintenance,theres no point of driving it like a granny and babying your vehicle when you completely look over simple maintenance such as a simple little oil/filter change for example ! "
And thankfully the P.O took great care of this jeep LJ cause after opening my motor when i changed my Valvecover gasket and after doing a head&cam swap, surprise surprise it was a beautiful scene of Golden colored metal i.e the rocker arms,springs, ect. Went to change the tranny fluid after i bought the jeep, Wham the fluid was clean and clearly red ! Everything checked out but the only dirty fluids i found was the coolant and brake fluid

Edit- Damn...once i get to typin i just don't seem to stop
Sorry! not sorry😅

Making me proud!
 
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Not trying to be a dick at all so hopefully it doesn't come across that way. But what you asked about (swapping axles and everything else) is probably worth an entirely separate thread itself.

Also, throwing it out there, have you thought about selling the Sahara as is and doing all of the work that you want on your new LJ? Selling the Sahara would give you a pile of cash to throw at the LJ. Also, since you have gone through the learning process with the Sahara, you can do even better on the LJ.

Sure thing. i considered throwing a separate thread, but also figured since it pertained directly to the LJ in THIS thread, I'd just toss it here.

I have considered selling the Sahara as is, yeah.
But I JUST paid for Re-Gear & Lockers 213 miles ago.

The TJ literally drove out of the axle shop on the 18th of this month.

I'm all for throwing cash at the LJ, but that's a steep bit that is damn near brand new.
 
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I know I will be in the minority but I wouldn't tear both of them apart and start swapping parts. I would sell the sahara as is for a pretty penny and then build the LJ as you want. I realize nobody will agree with me and that's ok lol.

That's initially what my thought process was, and what I plan to do for the 99% of the Sahara.

BUT, the gears/lockers JUST came out of the axle shop on the 18th.
They're brand new.

If they had some miles on them, I wouldn't be concerned, but that is two freshly built axles under the Sahara, that will more than likely NOT fetch the additional $3k+ that I paid for them.
 
I think the biggest drawback to that is having 4.88 gears with stock size tires (maybe they're 31's?) and the NSG370. Here's the numbers from Grimm Jeeper for 29's. I think that would be an annoying rig to drive. If it has 31's the rpm's in 6th at 70 are 3110.

This was one of my concerns as well.

It's sitting on 31" road tires now.
I don't plan on staying stock size long enough for it to bother me, is what I'm thinking.

Planning to build out the suspension and then do what's needed to throw some 35" tires on.

It'll be mildly street driven until the 35"s, with no highway driving.
 
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I dunno, I have mixed feelings. After watching him spend money like a drunken sailor I was inspired to move a couple more things from my wish list to my cart.

29 and no kids.

Wife has a new car. I just have my toys.
What else am I supposed to do with this green paper stuff. :ROFLMAO:
 
If he wants to keep having the deal of the century, swap the tires and wheels and axles and sell the Sahara in near stock configuration.

THIS was another option I manipulated in my head.
Seeing that I want to go 4" on the LJ as well.

The only hangup is that I want to do it a bit differently this time.
But I think for the price of parts I've ALREADY paid for, it would be the smartest move.

Started tearing some small stuff off the Sahara tonight, and swapping over to the LJ.
(Headlights, Morryde, Light mounts, switch panels, etc)
 
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I noticed real quick we were in different tax brackets, or different debt brackets! lol

Combined, between the two, I paid $6000 for the Sahara (plus about $6k of mods) , and $5500 for the LJ.

I PROMISE it's not as bad as it looks.
I'm a major penny pincher outside of getting good deals.:LOL:

1706688865445.png
 
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It's sitting on 31" road tires now.

It is...and while they aren't aggressive looking enough for many Jeep people, they appear to be fairly fresh and are probably one of the best light truck tires on the market. If I lived nearby I'd probably make you an offer for the wheels and tires (except the spare).

You may or may not appreciate the deal you got, assuming the worst of the new one is the mileage. I spent well over a year trying to find an '05-'06 LJ with no rust and a manual gearbox that hadn't been modified....and when I did find mine I spent a bit for wheels and rubi flares to get it legal in the People's Republic of Maryland as well as putting a hardtop on it (that needs some TLC)....and black wasn't my first choice of colors but that's what I ended up with. Beggars can't be choosers. Now I do love my LJ and it's in pretty good shape, all things considered for 113k on the clock, but for as clean as that appears to be and what you paid, you could put a spanking new power plant in that thing and still have me beat by at least the purchase price of your white TJ. You stole that thing, I tell ya... ;)
 
It is...and while they aren't aggressive looking enough for many Jeep people, they appear to be fairly fresh and are probably one of the best light truck tires on the market. If I lived nearby I'd probably make you an offer for the wheels and tires (except the spare).

You may or may not appreciate the deal you got, assuming the worst of the new one is the mileage. I spent well over a year trying to find an '05-'06 LJ with no rust and a manual gearbox that hadn't been modified....and when I did find mine I spent a bit for wheels and rubi flares to get it legal in the People's Republic of Maryland as well as putting a hardtop on it (that needs some TLC)....and black wasn't my first choice of colors but that's what I ended up with. Beggars can't be choosers. Now I do love my LJ and it's in pretty good shape, all things considered for 113k on the clock, but for as clean as that appears to be and what you paid, you could put a spanking new power plant in that thing and still have me beat by at least the purchase price of your white TJ. You stole that thing, I tell ya... ;)

This was my logic as well.
Surprisingly enough, even at the mileage, the engine sounds/feels significantly healthier than my 140k Sahara.
Not a single weird noise or vibration. (except for the odd shudder when the heat/ac are on?)

My main concern was body, rust, undercarriage. Just to have that super solid platform to wrench on.

Going to start a build thread for it here in a few minutes, as I plan to start tearing them both apart today, and swapping axles/suspension/etc over.

Will post tons of photos.
 
Nice score there! At that price, the only thing that would make me walk is rust. Even with no engine at all, it's still a good deal. If the engine started and sounded ok, I'd be driving that home too. Just the hard top alone is worth $1500 - $2000.

Sometimes these deals get offered to the person they like the most. Personality goes a long way.
 
Keep that bumper on the Sahara. 😉
View attachment 496208

LMFAO. I'm going to pull it off, and sell it separately.
Take the Sahara back down to super stock.

Realistically, everything on the LJ will go onto the Sahara, including bumpers/lights/suspension/wheels.

I'm not a fan of my front bumper.
Have been eyeing the Barnes stubby.

If I can get the Sahara back down to this condition, and get the alignment into spec, I should be golden to post it for sale.
I think it'd be a bit more appetizing to potential buyers, versus keeping it how it sits currently.

(even bought new marker lights for the Sahara, just to spice up the deal a bit more... :ROFLMAO:)

1706747638850.png
 
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LMFAO. I'm going to pull it off, and sell it separately.
Take the Sahara back down to super stock.

Realistically, everything on the LJ will go onto the Sahara, including bumpers/lights/suspension/wheels.

I'm not a fan of my front bumper.
Have been eyeing the Barnes stubby.

As long as it goes away! That is an unusually unflattering bumper. 🤣
 
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It's way too damn box-y right?! :ROFLMAO:

I hate looking at that enlarged lego on the front.

The added bulk and height above the frame rails and the way it visually cuts off the grill is disgusting. It's the first thing I noticed on the Jeep when you showed up. And the big floppy D-rings are silly.
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler TJ engine mounts