ZMotorSports 2011 JKUR Build Thread

I am new here but thought I would throw up some pictures of my latest Jeep build. It is not real time as I have owned it now for almost two years.

I bought the Jeep with only 3208 miles on the odometer and commenced building my "Dream Jeep". This is my daily driver and weekend wheeler.

On lift just before sitting it down with the 4" BDS Suspension Lift and 35" KM2 tires/ATX Crawl wheels.

Backed outside the shop after just barely sitting her on the ground with new lift and tires/wheels.

More to come as I dig through the pictures. Also pictured here is the Warn Rockcrawler bumper/Powerplant combination that I purchased used just to get me by until I could fabricated my own bumpers.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on pictures and documentation. It's been a long weekend.

Here is my progress from last Friday night's work. I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped to on Friday due to when I arrived home from work my neighbor was practically waiting on my doorstep to take a look at his generator. He and his wife recently purchased a new to them coach and they are new to RV’ing so I’ve been tutoring him and assisting his for the past several months. They are getting ready to head south for a month or so and his generator wouldn’t power his coach so I ended up helping him for a bit which really took a bite out of my shop time.

Once I did get back to my shop and on the Jeep I was able to get some more wiring completed in the engine bay and get it ran through split loom around the brake booster as well as my accessory wiring across the firewall. I think the wiring in the engine bay is really coming together nicely.

On my way home today I stopped by my local hydraulic supply house and picked up a couple of adapters to go from the 1/2” tubing on the GM transmission lines to my -6 JIC hose ends on my transmission cooler.

While I had the Jeep up in the air I filled the transfer case with fluid and then before I lowered it back to the ground I dressed the winch cables in abrasion casing and heat shrink then snaked them under the core support and up along the right fender to the battery tray.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Jinx]

I was wondering if you had gotten sick and couldn't work... .

Thanks for sharing.

 

[zmotorsports]

WooHoo. SUCCESS!!!!

She runs.

Saturday was a long day of knocking items off of my list but she runs.

But before I get to the details some teaser shots of the new tires & wheels. I dropped off my new 37” Nitto Ridge Grapplers and my new Raceline Avenger wheels at my local tire shop this morning and about and hour later went back and picked them up. Evidently it was a slow morning as I wasn’t expecting the call so soon telling me they were done.

I think they will look awesome and provide the ole girl with just a little cosmetic face lift.

Here is my new GM accelerator pedal.

Now here’s according to my wife my first “senior moment”. She said she can tell me that now that I’m 50-years old.
Anyway, while I was waiting for my tires to be mounted I was wandering around the shop enjoying my morning coffee and decided to gather up some boxes from parts and put a couple of piles together of parts that I’m going to discard and some that still have value and I may be able to sell or give away. While I was moving parts around I found a bubble wrapped part that I didn’t remember seeing before and definitely didn’t remember ordering.

Upon cutting it open I found a powder coated metal bracket with a couple of elongated slots and a couple of bends. Wouldn’t ya know it, this was an accelerator pedal bracket from Motech that I definitely don’t remember ordering but yet it was sitting on my workbench in the slowly shrinking pile of parts. This is a very nice bracket and pretty much exactly what I was thinking of fabricating but I probably wouldn’t have been able to build such a nice bracket.
Here’s my new GM accelerator bolted to the bracket ready for installation.

Here is my Chrysler pedal after cutting the arm off and ready to reinstall.

The GM pedal for normal accelerating duties and the Chrysler pedal for resetting my oil life monitor.

Bolted in place. I’m not gonna lie, that upper bolt was a bitch to get the nut installed. Between being high up on the firewall and trying to squeeze my big ass up under the dash it was a PITA to say the least. I couldn’t get both hands up there at the same time which complicated reinstallation of the pedal and bracket.

Here is the MoCAN module that is basically the bridge between the GM and Chrysler CAN networks. This is during the wiring process and running of the interior wires and plugging into the CAN bridge. One connection goes to the back of the gauge cluster where I need to make four solder connections. Also plugged into the CAN bridge is the new ALDL or data link connector. Lastly there are two wires from the CAN bridge to my tap shift switch for the transmission.

CAN bridge mounted to an aluminum brace under the dash where it nearly looks factory.

The GM data link connector that will be used for engine performance now resides in the bracket and the Chrysler data link connector that will be used for the remainder of the chassis such as ABS is zip-tied alongside but within easy access.

Below dash items completed.

Now moving up to the top of the dash. Running the wiring up the side towards the gauge cluster.

Gauge cluster removed and wires at the ready to make the solder connections.

Wires soldered and heat shrunk.

Wire loom taped back up and ready to plug the gauge cluster back in.

Connectors plugged back into the cluster.

With the interior connections all made I moved back to the engine bay to finish up the cooling system and install my surge tank and add coolant.

Intake duct, air filter and MAF sensor installed. I also added transmission fluid.

At this point I threw the battery in and cycled the ignition a few times, bled the air from the fuel rail then cycled ignition a few more times until I got fuel. This should minimize cranking time and promote a faster start.

Sure enough, she only cranked over a few revolutions and fired right up with nearly instant oil pressure.

That pretty much wraps it up for the weekend's work as I didn't make it out to the shop yesterday. A little more wiring of my accessories and install my Aeroforce gauge then I can finish putting the interior back together and move on to exhaust and driveshaft installation.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[rholbrook]

Nice as always. I'm excited for you to get this running. Tires and wheels look great too.

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice as always. I'm excited for you to get this running. Tires and wheels look great too.

Thanks Russ, I appreciate that.

Mike

 

[ID Bronco]

I cannot believe how clean you have done this, I'm awed by your skill and patience. This is an awesome rig.

 

[zmotorsports]

I cannot believe how clean you have done this, I'm awed by your skill and patience. This is an awesome rig.

Thank you. I appreciate that. I've tried to take care of her even though I use it quite a bit off-road. I feel like it's in very good condition for as much off-road use as it sees and being 8 years old with nearly 100k miles. I felt like it was the perfect candidate for a little upgrade in power.

Mike

 

[I Lean]

What is the process for resetting the oil life monitor using the stock pedal? I had no idea you'd need to keep the stock pedal in there ..

 

[zmotorsports]

What is the process for resetting the oil life monitor using the stock pedal? I had no idea you'd need to keep the stock pedal in there ..

It's pretty "high techy techy". Turn the key on/engine off and push the accelerator pedal three times in less than 10-seconds and the oil life monitor resets. Then just cycle the key and start it and she's ready to go until the algorithm decides the oil is ready to be changed again.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Major milestone on the project last night.

Everything in the engine bay is complete as well as the interior and interior all put back together. To the untrained eye this thing pretty much looks factory, which was the exact visual affect I was going for.

I wasn’t able to get my air intake duct sitting where I was happy with it so I had to make a slight alteration to engine placement. I loosened the motor mounts and transmission mount and slid the entire powertrain rearward about 3/4” and that was the ticket. Everything now fits much better, my intake duct now clears the power steering pulley with ease as well as clears the upper radiator hose and I also still have at least 3/4" between the passenger side head and the firewall for clearance. I did however have to relocate the large connector for the radiator fan but I like where I now have it almost better as it is lower and not seen at all.

Once I got the intake duct sitting properly and fan wiring relocated I moved to the interior to tidy up the wiring, install my momentary switch for tapshift, wiring and mounting standoff for my Aeroforce gauge then reinstalled my dash and lower panels.

Interior appears stock with the exception of the A-pillar gauges I installed about seven years ago and the Aeroforce gauge I just installed in my column.

With the interior complete I moved back to the engine bay to resecure the motor mount fasteners that I had loosened earlier then set out to finish up my accessory wiring and install my new fuse block.
Once the mounting location was determined I found a piece of 1/8” thick aluminum that would work perfect.

Transfer punched mounting holes for the fuse block.

Drilled & tapped the mounting holes, bead blasted and painted the plate and it was ready for installation.

Fuse block mounted.

Eight gauge wire feeding the fuse panel covered in abrasion proof sleeve.

Accessory wiring completed and loom in place.

Another small item on my list was to machine a couple of 1" diameter by .375” thick spacers for the upper transmission cooler mounting. The cooler was up against my A/C condenser when I installed the radiator & condenser package so I stacked up some washers temporarily but wanted something a little nicer so this was one more item marked off the list.

Now there is a good 1/8”-3/16” gap between the trans cooler and condenser fins.

Passenger side engine bay shot. I still have to connect winch cables and 10-gauge wires for ARB compressors under the passenger’s seat to the battery.

Driver’s side of engine bay.

Overall shot of the completed engine bay, other than a 4” T-bolt style hose clamp for the air filter that I need to pick up today on the way home.

All that is remaining at this point is the exhaust system and to reassemble the wiring at the left taillight and it’s ready for test drive and hopefully many, many miles and years of trouble free service.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Trate D]

I know it’s been said a lot, But I really enjoy watching your attention to detail. Thinking it all out in advance and executing the plan. It really does look like a factory style install.

 

[zmotorsports]

I know it’s been said a lot, But I really enjoy watching your attention to detail. Thinking it all out in advance and executing the plan. It really does look like a factory style install.

Thank you, I appreciate the comments.

Mike

 

[Bart]

So cool that it started on queue, and congrats on the final steps. Very nice swap.

 

[zmotorsports]

So cool that it started on queue, and congrats on the final steps. Very nice swap.

Thank you.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night was a long night. I thought I would throw the exhaust in if and be on a test drive but no such luck. Clearances were a bit more problematic to get everything perfect to allow for both full droop as well as full compression of the suspension.

Rather than mess around with random cuts I ended up purchasing Motech’s exhaust kit which was actually a pretty fair price for everything I got. It came with two 49-state legal aftermarket hi-flow catalytic converters , a nice pair of exhaust flanges with Felpro gaskets, a stainless steel common chamber muffler and 2-1/4” bent tubing and 3” tailpipe all with slip fit ends for some adjustability.
Here is the exhaust laid out on my shop floor.

The next several pictures are of the exhaust getting mocked up in the vehicle and tack welded before dropping the exhaust and fully welding it.

All tack welded and ready for removal and final welding. I also marked where I wanted my upstream O2 bungs located so they will be properly located for replacement and without interference issues.

Exhaust system fully welded.

O2 bungs welded in place.

Also installed my new Tom Woods driveshafts.

After finishing up the driveshaft and exhaust installation I fired it up and ran the transmission through its gears while on the lift to ensure all fluid passages had oil and she’s ready for a test drive.

She sounds fantastic. Not loud at all but very mild with that deep throaty V8 sound. LOVE it!

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[I Lean]

Looks good! Does the exhaust just dump after the rear axle, or does that reach out far enough to get outside the body?

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks good! Does the exhaust just dump after the rear axle, or does that reach out far enough to get outside the body?

It comes with the length to exit under the rear bumper but I didn't like that and dumped it right after the rear track bar. The same place my MBRP system dumped on my 3.8 liter engine. I like it much better for departure angle and less chance of getting damaged.

Thanks for following.

Mike

 

[rholbrook]

Where is the line at for a ride when you are done?

 

[zmotorsports]

Where is the line at for a ride when you are done?

It'll cost ya Russ. There's no free rides.

Mike

 

[mbryson]

gas, grass or ???