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]

How have the engine temps been? My friend has a big hemi in his and its a bear to keep cool.

So far temps have been great, sits right on the thermostat most of the time (195*). Occassionally while sitting at a light it will creep up to around 206-208~ish but the fan comes @ 210 then it comes right back down. That PWM fan is awesome, can't hear it at all. I've watched it on my Snap-on Modis and @ 210 it will come on and ramp up to around 15% is all which has been enough to pull it back down in short order. Or if I leave the light before the fan comes on it will come right back down to the thermostat.

As for the Hemi's, that seems to be an inherent trait with them in the JK's. The JK engine compartment just isn't conducive for that big of an engine which is why the LS makes more sense. Not to mention the Hemi's are tall and heavy so they change the handling characteristics of the JK as well. Every one I've wheeled with or driven had heating issues, especially at low speeds. Two years ago it was unseasonably warm when we were in Colorado wheelin' with our group of RV Jeepers, one of them had to stop numerous times to let his cool down, he was over 250* a couple of times. The other issue with the Hemi is that it isn't an LS.

I'm expecting my temps to climb slightly in the summer but the guys I've talked to say they seem to stay under 220 even when crawling off-road in high 90* ambient which really isn't that hot.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

The wife and I went for a nice long drive yesterday so I could put some more miles on and put her through its paces.

I wanted to go up and over a mountain pass or two and get a couple thousand feet of elevation change on a single ignition cycle so I could monitor temps and Fuel Trim numbers.

I think I can call this minor upgrade a major success.

What a pleasure to drive. Definitely upped the “fun factor” to driving my Jeep, and I thought it was fun before.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Pile of parts]

I love that you call it a "minor upgrade."

 

[zmotorsports]

I love that you call it a "minor upgrade."

Thanks for picking up on that.

Mike

 

[pkrfctr]

Beautifully done! I'm running the Hemi and never have any heat issues at all, mines the AEV kit. I'm not a huge fan of the torque curve but HPTuners has a solution. If I were to do it again Id look at an LS just for the aftermarket support.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

Have you done any mpg calculation? I’m curious how it compares to the old engine/transmission combo.

 

[zmotorsports]

Beautifully done! I'm running the Hemi and never have any heat issues at all, mines the AEV kit. I'm not a huge fan of the torque curve but HPTuners has a solution. If I were to do it again Id look at an LS just for the aftermarket support.

Thank you. Glad to hear you don't have any overheating issues. I have not wheeled with anyone with a Hemi yet that hasn't fought overheating issues at crawling speeds. That has seemed to be a common topic at lunch stops.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Have you done any mpg calculation? I’m curious how it compares to the old engine/transmission combo.

I just ran my first full tank through it and filled up today and so far I'm getting pretty much the same mileage as I was before. I'm sure once the newness wears off and things settle down I may pick up a little economy but seriously doubt much as moving weight takes a certain amount of energy and I think it was doing about as good as it could before. Maybe a little increase since this engine shouldn't have to go into power enrichment like the 3.8 did.

Mike

 

[pkrfctr]

Thank you. Glad to hear you don't have any overheating issues. I have not wheeled with anyone with a Hemi yet that hasn't fought overheating issues at crawling speeds. That has seemed to be a common topic at lunch stops.

Mike

well lets go wheeling....I will say with mine being a manual 6 speed the fan is either on 100% or off its not variable maybe that makes a difference. I also leave mine running the entire trail because the wife and kids like the A/C.
I would like to know your take on the crawling torque once you get it out.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

I just ran my first full tank through it and filled up today and so far I'm getting pretty much the same mileage as I was before. I'm sure once the newness wears off and things settle down I may pick up a little economy but seriously doubt much as moving weight takes a certain amount of energy and I think it was doing about as good as it could before. Maybe a little increase since this engine shouldn't have to go into power enrichment like the 3.8 did.

Mike

That's amazing. I suspected it would be similar but its really cool you got a huge performance upgrade and from what it sounds like have no negative driving or side effects. This is just a fantastic Jeep that looks amazing and is next level clean on everything. You are a very talented man with great taste.

 

[zmotorsports]

well lets go wheeling....I will say with mine being a manual 6 speed the fan is either on 100% or off its not variable maybe that makes a difference. I also leave mine running the entire trail because the wife and kids like the A/C.
I would like to know your take on the crawling torque once you get it out.

I'm curious about the crawling torque as well. I have an idea of what it should be in my head, I just hope that actual matches what my head is thinking. As low as the torque comes on and as smooth as it is, I'm expecting it to get up and over things a bit easier with less throttle.

With my OEM powertrain, I was actually pretty happy with the way it handled the trails in 4-low. My two biggest complaints if you will when off-roading were when crawling up an obstacle if it was in second gear and I pulled it back into first for a bit lower gearing, that sudden lurch would often times cause a loss of traction if even for a moment. I'm hoping with the smoother shifting 6L80E and being a dual clutch setup that it shouldn't get that lurch even though RPM's climb it is still quite a smooth transition, I am anxious/excited to see what that is like in 4-low.

My second complaint off road is that many times the road is not bad enough to be in 4-low but due to my needing the added torque to get around I found myself in 4-low the majority of the time. I'm hoping with this powertrain I won't need to be in 4-low nearly as much. It would be nice to be able to run around most of the time in 2WD and then just go into 4-low for an obstacle or on those really slower trails.

I'm also anxious to see what my temps are off-road, especially with the variable PWM 19" Camaro SS fan. I've seen guys with the two speed fans with temps all over the place so I am anxious to see if the fan being on idle speed (~15%) if it will be enough to keep the engine bay evacuated and then just ramp up as the temperature dictates. That alone could in fact be one of the issues with the Hemi engine that guys are experiencing.

Thanks for following along and I hope to have a trail report as soon as I get some more miles on the engine, I think my gears are now broke in so I just need to get some more on the engine and then exchange my axle fluids as soon as I get time.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

That's amazing. I suspected it would be similar but its really cool you got a huge performance upgrade and from what it sounds like have no negative driving or side effects. This is just a fantastic Jeep that looks amazing and is next level clean on everything. You are a very talented man with great taste.

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate the feedback and am flattered. I think for being 8 years old and having 90k miles on her it still looks good and is a very tight and rattle free Jeep. It should provide many years and miles of life yet.

Although I must admit, when I wheel my Jeep I drive it like a baby carriage. I don't hit every obstacle as I definitely don't have anything to prove to anyone. I will have fun with it but I drive it respectably as to not damage it. It is my daily driver, weekend wheeler and our toad for our coach so I drive it respectably and try to avoid trails that have a high probability of body or undercarriage damage. I avoid mud and trails that are overgrown as well. For the most part when we are traveling with the FMCA 4-Wheelers club we generally will stick to 2.5-3.5 rated trails with a few 4's in the mix but not much more than that. Some of the club members have a lot more money than we do and have full blown custom builds that they trailer to the rallies whereas we flat-tow ours now and still need to get home and go to work on Monday morning. Again, I'm out to have fun but not flog on my Jeep. I want to get to the back country, enjoy the scenery with my wife and drive back to camp without incident or event. I keep my vehicles a long time and my goal is to still have this Jeep looking and running the same way 15-years from now.

Thanks again for following along and commenting.

Mike

 

[rholbrook]

Mike

You probably should have bought an extra set of rear tires until you can get over the newness of that V8. My dad used to ask me why he always wore the rear tires off of his cars before the fronts. I acted stupid because I knew that spinning donuts in parking lots was the cause. He can't blame me for it though, he was the one that showed me how to do it first.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike

You probably should have bought an extra set of rear tires until you can get over the newness of that V8. My dad used to ask me why he always wore the rear tires off of his cars before the fronts. I acted stupid because I knew that spinning donuts in parking lots was the cause. He can't blame me for it though, he was the one that showed me how to do it first.

I see no donuts in my future Russ. I do enjoy the power but I'm not going to abuse it. As hard as it leaves a stop, I'm sure I could break them loose quite easily but tires (and other things) are too expensive to try. I guess I'll just have to continue to wonder.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

So with about 1200 trouble free miles on the new drivetrain and all fluids changed and everything looking good I decided to tackle my navigation setup installation.

I had a little bit of time yesterday so I decided to install my Vector Off-Road full-width dash bar that I picked up a while back. I was really torn here as it was not exactly what I wanted to mount my accessories on but with limited space on the face of the dash in the JK’s there’s not a ton of options and many of the smaller components that I’ve seen advertised and used over the years haven’t offered enough support and either look like hell or they end up cracking and destroying the dash due to the weight of the mounts and tablets bouncing around on the dash.

After much deliberating I came to the conclusion that a bar mounted to the body and not directly to the dash was the best option to preserve the dash's integrity. I was going to fabricate one myself but I ran across one that a guy bought and never installed and it would have cost me more than what I paid just for the powder coating so I snagged it a few months ago and finally installed it yesterday.

Pretty clean and simple installation. It compliments the interior nicely.

RAM mount hardware.

Central command setup and operational. While I was ordering the RAM mount for my Samsung 10.1” tablet I also ordered a mount for my camera. The el’ cheapo windshield suction cup camera mount that I have been using is just not quite rigid enough and my video quality hasn’t been that great. I would like to post up more off-roading videos to my YouTube channel in the future so I opted to pick up a mount that would hold the camera more securely and hopefully help the video quality a bit.

After taking the above pictures I actually turned the tablet to the landscape position and it now resides slightly lower than the stereo and well below the dash. It really didn't block any view in the upright position but now it is well below the dash yet still just above the switches for the power windows so I think this is where I will run it for a while and see what I think but so far I really like it here. The camera is above the dash but actually blocks the windshield much less than the suction cup mount that I have been running for the past couple of years.

To be honest, I have prolonged the navigation setup for many years because I really hadn't decided on a mounting setup nor a tablet so I couldn't justify spending the money even though many of our RV'ing and Jeeping friends continually gave me crap about using BLM maps and guide books on the trail.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

A little change of direction tonight. I took a break from my son’s WJ bumper to try and abate a slight belt chirp in the belt train on my Jeep. Upon initial startup I’d get some belt chirp until the belt warmed a bit in which it would then reside.
Visual inspection wasn’t revealing anything so I broke out the Dayco laser tool.

My A/C compressor was ever-so slightly out of alignment. I was able to loosen the fasteners just enough to use a small pry bar to tweak the compressor enough to bring it into alignment without having to remove the stretch belt. That did the trick and it is now chirp free.
Upon inspecting the rest of the accessory drive I also noticed on my main serpentine belt that the belt was riding a bit to the outside edge of the upper idler. Upon inspection after releasing the tension and slipping the belt off I could move the idler pulley radially which told me the spacer was undersized.

I decided to machine a new spacer to a tighter tolerance and remove the play and hold the idler pulley more precisely to keep the belt in the middle of the pulley vs letting it walk outward slightly.
Measuring the pulley to get the correct dimensions.

Machining the new spacer.

After all that I forgot to take a picture of the final product and installed but it much more solidly supporting the idler allowing the belt to run in the middle of the pulley.

I think I may still machine a new pulley in the near future with a snap ring retaining the bearing for easy bearing replacement. I machined one similar on my old Ford 460 that I had a Vortex supercharger on many years ago and it turned out great and then just carried a spare 6303 bearing in my toolbox.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Jinx]

You know when I see a post in this thread it is usually a start to a good day!

Thanks Mike!

 

[zmotorsports]

You know when I see a post in this thread it is usually a start to a good day!

Thanks Mike!

Thank you. I'm glad I could help make your day.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Well I “nearly “ did my entire engine swap on my Jeep without any custom parts. No big deal though as I at least machined a part that I can replace bearings in and only have to carry a spare bearing with me.

The reasoning is twofold, first I wanted to have just a little larger pulley to get the tensioner in the upper middle part of the tension indicator as it has been on the stretched end of the indicator even with a new belt. Secondly the belt has been walking slightly to the outside of the flat idler so I thought I would machine one with a recess to keep the belt in the middle of the pulley, again not a big deal but I figured what the hell I would just machine a new pulley and utilize a little larger bearing while I’m at it.

I didn’t have any 3” diameter round aluminum so I started with a square chunk of aluminum.

I cut the bulk off using my vertical bandsaw then put it in the lathe to make it round.

Facing each side to bring everything square and to 1.25” thick.

Sunk a recess into the pulley with tapered ledges.

Bored the I.D out to the minor size in which will be the inner shoulder.

Bored the major I.D to a .0015” interference fit for the bearing.

Machined the snap ring groove then test fit the snap ring.

Deburred and ready to press the bearing into place.

Completed and ready for installation on the motor.

Runs smooth as silk and accomplished both objectives.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Jinx]

another good morning!