Junior—My 04 TJ 5.3 / Auto Swap Build Page

I just watched all five videos. Great info and it looks like a badass build. Congrats on a job well done!
 
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Watched all your vids, that build is fire man! You definitely did your homework and worked hard on it. Looking at that trans skid plate and those mufflers, I’m sure a tummy tuck is not an option for you?
 
Would be cool to see a ride-along video of this sometime. I'd love to see how it drives.

How is the gear ratio with the 4l60? Is overdrive at a good rpm with the 35s and 4.56? How is it off the line?
 
MtnRanger160 said:
Watched all your vids, that build is fire man! You definitely did your homework and worked hard on it. Looking at that trans skid plate and those mufflers, I’m sure a tummy tuck is not an option for you?
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Not sure, I don't mind the stock skid plate and I'm not really a rock crawler but I bet it would cause some issues.
 
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MaritimeTJ said:
Would be cool to see a ride-along video of this sometime. I'd love to see how it drives.

How is the gear ratio with the 4l60? Is overdrive at a good rpm with the 35s and 4.56? How is it off the line?
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Sorry I missed this, I will post a video of a ride along, I just finished the a/c but waiting on a few more parts to get it inspected, then I can get a decently quiet video on the highway. It's much quicker than stock, gears on highway seem fine but honestly I don't drive it much on the highway at this point, I've only ever read people debate 4.56 and 4.88 gears with my setup and it seems more with the 4l60e are content with the 4.56, I have nothing to compare it to so I'd say mine works just fine.
 
longhorn84, very well done on the videos and content. The best on youtube. When I consider doing this swap I think about the time and money to accomplish such a feat. with this in mind after doing the swap would you do it again if you could rewind the clock?

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AP_jeep said:
longhorn84, very well done on the videos and content. The best on youtube. When I consider doing this swap I think about the time and money to accomplish such a feat. with this in mind after doing the swap would you do it again if you could rewind the clock?

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Thank you for the kind words. I answered this question in the comments of one of the videos so I'm just copy pasting from there. Happy to answer in more detail if you'd like.

Probably would have torn down the engine and tweaked it a bit, put a better cam in. I didn't want to get sidetracked with the engine rebuild if I couldn't actually get it in the jeep so that's what I prioritized but in hindsight I would have done that. Jeep is reliable but I do have an issue with the o2 sensor test and therefore I haven't been able to get it inspected, something wrong with the rear o2 sensors but other than that, it's super reliable so far, I don't drive it much. MPGs suck, I'm not sure if its the tune or my lead foot but it blows, maybe 10mpgs, I'm mainly driving it around the neighborhood though, not sure what highway would be. I would have taken longer on the initial jeep wiring to make it cleaner, it gets overwhelming so I just wanted to lay it our raw to make sure it worked but theres still a mess I have to clean up with loom, etc, so I would have taken longer initially instead of just trying to get it on the road. Once you have it on the road it's hard to go back in and do a deep dive or take stuff apart again. I might have gone with a better transmission for future upgrades to HP. I would have put exhaust cutouts in, electronic, to show off the v8 when I have the chance. I would have learn to weld vs paying a welder to do the motor mounts, it can't be that hard. I wouldn't have bothered with the evap system as the novak harness doesn't even connect it all up (missing the in-gas tank level sensor which is necessary for the evap test to work). That's all I can think of at the moment, I picked my battles and love the final outcome but those are a few things I might have tweaked.
 
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Longhorn84 said:
Thank you for the kind words. I answered this question in the comments of one of the videos so I'm just copy pasting from there. Happy to answer in more detail if you'd like.

Probably would have torn down the engine and tweaked it a bit, put a better cam in. I didn't want to get sidetracked with the engine rebuild if I couldn't actually get it in the jeep so that's what I prioritized but in hindsight I would have done that. Jeep is reliable but I do have an issue with the o2 sensor test and therefore I haven't been able to get it inspected, something wrong with the rear o2 sensors but other than that, it's super reliable so far, I don't drive it much. MPGs suck, I'm not sure if its the tune or my lead foot but it blows, maybe 10mpgs, I'm mainly driving it around the neighborhood though, not sure what highway would be. I would have taken longer on the initial jeep wiring to make it cleaner, it gets overwhelming so I just wanted to lay it our raw to make sure it worked but theres still a mess I have to clean up with loom, etc, so I would have taken longer initially instead of just trying to get it on the road. Once you have it on the road it's hard to go back in and do a deep dive or take stuff apart again. I might have gone with a better transmission for future upgrades to HP. I would have put exhaust cutouts in, electronic, to show off the v8 when I have the chance. I would have learn to weld vs paying a welder to do the motor mounts, it can't be that hard. I wouldn't have bothered with the evap system as the novak harness doesn't even connect it all up (missing the in-gas tank level sensor which is necessary for the evap test to work). That's all I can think of at the moment, I picked my battles and love the final outcome but those are a few things I might have tweaked.
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Very nice. I sent you a PM.
 
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I messaged you on YouTube. My email is [email protected]

I have an 06 LJ and a source for a 5.3 and 4L60E complete. When you email me I have a story to tell about going to 4.6 strokers which didnt work out prompting me to look towards thw LS
 
Great build. Did I read something about you having trouble with the Lokar shifter coming out of park? Looks wise, that thing is spot on awesome
 
kmas0n said:
Great build. Did I read something about you having trouble with the Lokar shifter coming out of park? Looks wise, that thing is spot on awesome
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Appreciate it! Yes the lokar shifter isn’t as smooth as I’d like, I would probably look at a different brand just based on my limited experience
 
Longhorn84 said:
Appreciate it! Yes the lokar shifter isn’t as smooth as I’d like, I would probably look at a different brand just based on my limited experience
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If I still lived in the woodlands I would drop by to drool over your jeep. Do you have the cable or linkage shifter?
 
How did you mount the transmission? Did you just use the Jeep skid plate or an aftermarket crossmember? Thanks.
 
Longhorn84 said:
Tu e mia moglie entrambi! Darò sicuramente dei costi, ho deciso di andare con Novak e pagare per comodità, ho solo così tanto tempo e non sono un fabbricante, quindi ho scelto le mie battaglie. Finora, il motore completo/trans era $ 2k, il materiale Novak era $ 6k (fornirò un elenco completo). Questa è la maggior parte del costo, ma ci sarà la fabbricazione dello scarico, ho pagato un ragazzo $ 200 per saldare i miei supporti del motore (che suppongo che molte persone qui non avrebbero bisogno di esternalizzare), ho dovuto acquistare dei sensori / adattatori, tubazioni del carburante nuove, ovviamente ho fatto molti viaggi in grandi magazzini per attrezzi/dadi/bulloni/olio/grasso/sgrassante/refrigerante/guarnizioni/ecc ecc ecc. Direi che sarò tutto per $9k per lo scambio e se avessi dovuto farlo di nuovo avrei potuto risparmiare un po' di soldi in pochi posti.
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😮 9k?????? Anche in Italia si spende così tanto per montare un ls2 messo bene ….. pensavo che in America si riuscisse a farlo con molto meno
 
Silvioziga said:
😮 9k?????? Anche in Italia si spende così tanto per montare un ls2 messo bene ….. pensavo che in America si riuscisse a farlo con molto meno
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I made a video on YouTube on what I spent, I could have done it for less but it would have taken more time
 
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