jpndave
Member
- Location
- Hyde Park, UT
At Greg's request, I have decided to start a build thread for my 2007 JK unlimited. This project shows quite a "Transformation" and that will make more sense later on.
The starting point is a Low mileage, clean title 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 2WD. The end will be VERY different. Here is photo as it showed up.
At this point I should give a little history of myself. I have been involved with Jeeps since the late 80's and have built up several other vehicles.
I purchased a new frame from Jeep and the necessary parts to bring the front end back up to spec. A short shafted and adapted HMMVW (H1 Hummer) 242 Transfer case will be used. Plans for this project include a 6.2L L92 GM engine with multiple additional power parts along with the 6L80 6 speed auto transmission adapted to the 242. Teraflex has been great and I am using their 3 inch Elite LCG Long Arm Kit. Some of my favorite pieces are the taillights and fuel filler, which I'll get a picture of later. Axles will be a quick Currie centered 9 inch front mated to stock outer with the stock rear for now (which will be for sale after the new set is ready) and then some more extreme fabricated axles at both ends including 35 spline shafts. 1350 driveshafts connect both ends. 4.10 gearing should give the best of both worlds due to the extreme spread of gearing in the transmission and 500+ horsepower should be enough to move it around comfortably and hopefully better mileage than the stock V6 had.
So, for the story on the theme. My three year old saw a local postal deliver JK which is yellow and decided that our Jeep should be “Bumblebee”. After a little consideration, I thought, why not? I like the yellow JKs better than the other colors, it will basically have the Camaro's "heart" why not go that route? So, color is the exact color of the movie car, House Of Kolor “Sunrise Yellow”. The stripes were painted on along with the rest of the paint job by Wolford’s in Logan (who I highly recommend!). I did the body work.
Here are a few progress photos.
A shot of the empty engine bay
Engine mount prior to welding
Engine in the engine bay. I have added the LS3 intake, Camaro pan (for clearance), Meziere electric pump for increased power and cooling, Superdamper, KRC pump, Competition Cams cam, engine coatings and some other minor mods. I am planning on a dyno tune when things are up and running. I did the harness and computer. It will have a custom pulley system. This is just set in and not permanent. Wiring, plumbing, etc. is yet to be completed. I decided to go with AN braided lines on everything after mocking up this way.
This shows the underside with the Lizard Skin coating. Multiple coats of this stuff both the sound control and the ceramic were sprayed on inside and out, inside all the doors and under the hood. We’ll see if it is as cool as they say it is.
Here are a few full shot showing some of the progress.
During assembly
Progress lately has been very slow a Clavicle repair surgery I am recovering from. However, the clavicle is feeling much better so I hope to have this running in the next couple of weeks. Then, the fine tuning can begin.
Two new photos. Sorry, it's a bit dusty but I wanted to show the taillight and fuel filler detail. Also, notice the filled in doors (no mirrors) in the photos above.
The taillights are from Off Road Only and are super sweet pieces.
Here are the heads, just back from machining and ready to be coated then installed. Notice the 823 casting number
Engine bay a little empty without heads but you can see the "insides" of a Gen 4 GM V8. This one has the VVT but no DOD.
Stainless Battery Box, ECM mount and Power Center mount. Still needs the billet hold-down:
VVT Cam Phazer with limiter installed to accomodate the new cam:
Coated Combustion Chambers:
Coated new Comp Cams cam on top, stock cam (with a little practice blasting) on the bottom:
Engine Bay - Finally making some progress!
Front Cover Showing the VVT solenoid:
Headers Merge collector. These were added to both headers as they are smaller (for clearance), transition the exhaust into the collector much more smoothly and increase power, mileage and efficiency. I had to custom fab these as the JK engine mounts and the headers were just touching the frame on the right side. While I was in there, I did a few "upgrades". The headers are welded and ready to coat. I'll post a photo of the full complete headers in a bit. The exhaust is 1 3/4" primaries to 2 1/5" dual exhaust through SS cats and then a "Y" into a single 3 1/2" pipe through an Aeroturbine muffler and out the back. I completed these with less than 100lbs. of Argon to spare on Saturday!
Headers w/cats:
The starting point is a Low mileage, clean title 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 2WD. The end will be VERY different. Here is photo as it showed up.
At this point I should give a little history of myself. I have been involved with Jeeps since the late 80's and have built up several other vehicles.
I purchased a new frame from Jeep and the necessary parts to bring the front end back up to spec. A short shafted and adapted HMMVW (H1 Hummer) 242 Transfer case will be used. Plans for this project include a 6.2L L92 GM engine with multiple additional power parts along with the 6L80 6 speed auto transmission adapted to the 242. Teraflex has been great and I am using their 3 inch Elite LCG Long Arm Kit. Some of my favorite pieces are the taillights and fuel filler, which I'll get a picture of later. Axles will be a quick Currie centered 9 inch front mated to stock outer with the stock rear for now (which will be for sale after the new set is ready) and then some more extreme fabricated axles at both ends including 35 spline shafts. 1350 driveshafts connect both ends. 4.10 gearing should give the best of both worlds due to the extreme spread of gearing in the transmission and 500+ horsepower should be enough to move it around comfortably and hopefully better mileage than the stock V6 had.
So, for the story on the theme. My three year old saw a local postal deliver JK which is yellow and decided that our Jeep should be “Bumblebee”. After a little consideration, I thought, why not? I like the yellow JKs better than the other colors, it will basically have the Camaro's "heart" why not go that route? So, color is the exact color of the movie car, House Of Kolor “Sunrise Yellow”. The stripes were painted on along with the rest of the paint job by Wolford’s in Logan (who I highly recommend!). I did the body work.
Here are a few progress photos.
A shot of the empty engine bay
Engine mount prior to welding
Engine in the engine bay. I have added the LS3 intake, Camaro pan (for clearance), Meziere electric pump for increased power and cooling, Superdamper, KRC pump, Competition Cams cam, engine coatings and some other minor mods. I am planning on a dyno tune when things are up and running. I did the harness and computer. It will have a custom pulley system. This is just set in and not permanent. Wiring, plumbing, etc. is yet to be completed. I decided to go with AN braided lines on everything after mocking up this way.
This shows the underside with the Lizard Skin coating. Multiple coats of this stuff both the sound control and the ceramic were sprayed on inside and out, inside all the doors and under the hood. We’ll see if it is as cool as they say it is.
Here are a few full shot showing some of the progress.
During assembly
Progress lately has been very slow a Clavicle repair surgery I am recovering from. However, the clavicle is feeling much better so I hope to have this running in the next couple of weeks. Then, the fine tuning can begin.
Two new photos. Sorry, it's a bit dusty but I wanted to show the taillight and fuel filler detail. Also, notice the filled in doors (no mirrors) in the photos above.
The taillights are from Off Road Only and are super sweet pieces.
Here are the heads, just back from machining and ready to be coated then installed. Notice the 823 casting number
Engine bay a little empty without heads but you can see the "insides" of a Gen 4 GM V8. This one has the VVT but no DOD.
Stainless Battery Box, ECM mount and Power Center mount. Still needs the billet hold-down:
VVT Cam Phazer with limiter installed to accomodate the new cam:
Coated Combustion Chambers:
Coated new Comp Cams cam on top, stock cam (with a little practice blasting) on the bottom:
Engine Bay - Finally making some progress!
Front Cover Showing the VVT solenoid:
Headers Merge collector. These were added to both headers as they are smaller (for clearance), transition the exhaust into the collector much more smoothly and increase power, mileage and efficiency. I had to custom fab these as the JK engine mounts and the headers were just touching the frame on the right side. While I was in there, I did a few "upgrades". The headers are welded and ready to coat. I'll post a photo of the full complete headers in a bit. The exhaust is 1 3/4" primaries to 2 1/5" dual exhaust through SS cats and then a "Y" into a single 3 1/2" pipe through an Aeroturbine muffler and out the back. I completed these with less than 100lbs. of Argon to spare on Saturday!
Headers w/cats:
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