bigwalton's Postal Stroker

[bigwalton]

yeah but it is a JK....it has a/c, good heat, cushy springs, touch screen stereo, where is the fun in that...I mean where is all the sweating, freezing, jolting around and having to sing yourself for your tunes.....

I know, but that one has to serve other duties too, it can’t JUST be a Postal replacement.

 

[bigwalton]

Well, $#%^ just got real last night... I put in the main order of parts from Holley that are going to run this thing because they had some insane deals in their labor day sale. Parts list below.

Thanks to @Jeeperdd, I reached out to Eli Lalich of ElifixesJeeps and worked with him to get a plan going to run this stroker entirely via a Holley Terminator X Max ECU. Eli went to the Holley training program and is sort of specializing on doing 4.0 swaps with the Holley Terminator stuff. He builds custom harnesses (using the Holley universal harnesses as a base) and has base starting programs that he loads into the ECU which he tweaks to your setup. He also bench builds the entire system and tests it before sending it to you. After @CJ8LVR and his expeirence with his stroker and a lot of highway driving, I'm convinced that the bigger strokers are just out of the range of what the MOPAR stuff can handle when you run for hours on the highway in addition to around town/wheeling. This is also the route that Daryl at JCR Offroad went to finally get their SICK supercharged Comanche running right. They had tried piggy-back systems, programming hacks, etc and nothing got it properly right until they went to basically exactly what I'm doing here. They LOVE that Jeep now and it's been sorted for over a year with this system.

For what we have planned, we aren't currently going to use the drive-by-wire features of the Max (thats the big difference from the regular X), but this will functionally allow me to do whatever I want down the road. Yes, basically, I'm saying that I could go to an LS or anything else that uses any sort of engine control. This decision is more driven by how we went down a path talking about changing over the stroker to DBW and also swapping the guts of my AW4 over to Toyota bits to make it fully electronic, then using a shift controller alongside the X Max to completely control the drivetrain electronically. However, given how perfect my AW4 setup has been since I installed it with the rail shifter to do (almost) full manual control, we're going to keep what I have and just add the stroker/Holley. The key there is that I have to keep my throttle pressure cable from the throttle body to the transmission to allow it to shift properly in full-auto mode. I'll still have the option to go down the fully electronic mode later and can swap the Toyota bits into the trans with it in the Jeep from what I can tell.

Anyway, here's a list of what I ordered. There are some other small parts that I need Eli to get because his pricing (he's a Holley dealer) was better because not everything was on sale. I'll add them when I get that sorted. (For the record, Eli fully supported getting this stuff on sale rather than through him, I just drop shipped it to him)

Holley EFI Terminator X Max Service ECU
Part # 554-153

Sniper EFI HyperSpark Distributor - Jeep 258
Part # 565-307

Sniper EFI HyperSpark 2 Ignition Box
Part # 556-154

Sniper EFI HyperSpark Ignition Coil
Part # 556-152

Unterminated Universal Main Harness
Part # 558-105

Universal Unterminated Injector Harness
Part # 558-204

Main Power Harness
Part # 558-308

ACCEL - Fuel Injector - 44 lb/hr
Part # 150144
Quantity: 6

Coolant Temperature Sensor
Part # 534-10

These two weren't strictly necessary, but I got them because I plan to get a Windows tablet to be able to connect to the ECU when/if needed and I wanted to be able to have the handheld programmer attached at the same time, so the USB is needed to connect the tablet and the splitter lets both be attached at the same time.

Holley EFI CAN to USB Dongle Communication Cable
Part # 558-443

Holley EFI CAN Splitter
Part # 558-465

Important note here: Eli and others have pointed out that the Holley handheld is NOT to be left plugged in all the time. It is susceptible to dust getting between the case and screen and will start changing parameters on you. I plan to get a water/dustproof box to stash it in the console when not in use along with the connection cables.

One of the greatest parts of this, and keys to this entire setup, is the dual-sync distributor. Once it's installed and phased properly, it provides BOTH crank and cam signal to the ECU and that allows full timing control. No more CPS on the bellhousing! The timing control is key to all of this working for the stroker.

I'm WAY geeked out that this is happening finally!

In other news, Sam (guy selling the stroker ) has been delayed getting moved into his new place but he's there now and will start working on getting the engine pulled and looked over so we can get it headed north I cleaned up the garage this weekend and got new shelves in to get crap off the floor to hopefully give me all the room I need to make the swap work.

IT'S HAPPENING!!!

 

[CJ7Pilot]

I'm looking forward to watching this come together. What a cool engine!

 

[bigwalton]

I downloaded a TON of Sam’s build pics for the engine. I’ll get them added sometime.

 

[TexasAg77]

Is there a Klifnotes version of that post? 😉

 

[bigwalton]

Is there a Klifnotes version of that post? 😉

You're retired, you have all week...

 

[spankrjs]

 

[bigwalton]

So I'm biting another bullet with this project and rewiring the entire Jeep. I've done so many electrical things between my pre-4.0L swap mods, the swap itself and then I decided to use the PDC out of the donor XJ for a lot of accessory functions post-swap. That was a great way to get a TON of circuits and relays pre-wired for cheap/free, but it's really overkill and I've only used a handful of the circuits while giving up a ton of space under the hood. I've known that it all needed redone "right once" and this is the time.

Luckily for me, I was able to pick up an American Autowire "Classic Update Kit" CJ wiring harness at a good price. It's not intended to be a stock replacement harness, it's got circuits built in or additional wiring you can add in for extra accessories, an HEI distributor, electric fuel pump, aftermarket speedo, etc. it's a really smart way to come at a replacement harness and now I'm really glad that I didn't pull the trigger on a Painless replacement harness. Oh, they have the wiring for the dash going through a couple of larger connectors so that you can disconnect the dash really easily and wire the gauges on the bench to make it simpler to install and connect (which may be key with me and the RHD).

I'll probably add a relay center to replace what I am using out of the XJ PDC and repurpose the sweet Blue Sea terminal block under the dash unless I can go to a smaller one. I already have it mounted nicely on the heater box, though... I'll see how it shakes out.

I honestly wasn't aware of the details of this kit until this opportunity came up, so I thought I'd share...

Classic Update Kit - 1976-86 Jeep CJ

Classic Update Kit - 1976-86 Jeep CJ

americanautowire.com

Connected to this, I put in an order for four sets of four sizes of heat shrink tube label material for my Dymo Rhino 5200 labeler. I've been out of heat shrink for a couple years and for this project EVERYTHING is getting properly labeled (the AA harness has labels printed on most wires, but I will be repurposing some and will need to add a bunch). I'm likely going to need to add to some wires and I'm not going to buy 50 spools of different color wire to do that and match everything perfectly, so the labels will be key for those.

I'll also be getting good wire loom/wrap and cloth tape.

 

[spankrjs]

That looks like a really good harness for modified Jeeps for sure

 

[bigwalton]

Oh boy!

 

[FLCJ8]

Starting to feel more real now?

 

[mysunnshine]

44lb injectors are BIG

 

[bigwalton]

“The calculations I did had 34’s at 80 percent duty cycle and it’s recommended to keep them around 70, so 44 was the next size up.”

This was Eli’s comment when I asked about that. I’m going to a 68mm throttle body and opening up the intake bore to match.

 

[mysunnshine]

How much horsepower are you expecting and what fuel pressure will you be running?

 

[mysunnshine]

The larger the injectors are, the more difficult they can be to control at idle(depending on the injector style/model). It's kinda like getting a drink of water from a fire hose with too large of injector. That's the control you need to have to flow minimal pulse rates at idle conditions. There are also minimum pulse width that may be of concern too. That engine even if it made 300hp would only need 30lb injectors at just over 80% DC at 43psi fuel pressure.