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Project TJ build with a 6.2L/6L80E/Atlas with linked suspension

Here's the finished engine compartment.

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Flexed it out today to see how well the initial shop did on building the suspension. Other than having the bump stops set up too short for articulation, they did alright. I need to trim my skid plate that goes under the engine and bit for the front driveshaft. The driveshaft also rubs on the shifter arm and retainer too. It's better to find this stuff out before we wheel it for sure.

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So now I have to find a way to extend these King bump stops. These bumps do not have pinch bolts to adjust the height unfortunately. The cans have to be installed at the correct height before getting welded in. I might fab some aluminum spacers to go between the shaft and the button.

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I also did some finish work on the arms too.


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probably need to buy myself a forklift now...
looks great!!
 
So the past couple of weeks I have been blasting hard at getting this Jeep done. The first issue that we has was overheating. This has a 2-core Ron Davis TJ radiator that they highly recommend for conversions and they say that heating issues should not be a problem with it. Well......I say different. The core itself is only 18X18 and that's not much cooling capacity for out here in the desert. The Jeep was alright in town with the A/C on but would be a runaway for heat running at 75mph. So at the recommendation of Ron Davis, I pulled the front winch and bumper off and ran it like that because they said that it blocked the radiator and the airflow. No change. So remember now that I installed panels on both sides of the grill openings so ALL of the air HAS to go thru the radiator and not around it. It would be WAY worse if I didn't do that. So after more inspection, the Vintage Air Front Runner brackets and pulleys run a smaller crankshaft pulley which in turn will slow down the water pump. So the next order of business was to machine up a new lower pulley that was the same diameter as the original. I ran the Jeep with the new pulley and it helped but it wasn't the solution. So next was to pull the PS cooler and transmission cooler from in front of the condenser. Having heat from the two coolers going thru the A/C condenser picking up more heat and then trying to cool 230 degree coolant in the radiator probably isn't the best logic. So now with the coolers out, it helped but still isn't perfect. Now it's all relative to the outside temperature. You can drive it all day long at 75mph with the A/C on as long as it's under about 105 degrees. If it's any hotter than that, you get the runaway train with temps because the radiator can not exchange the heat efficiently because of the volume/size. If you took this Jeep anywhere else in the states, most all of these temperature issues would not exist. Of course this is why the auto manufacturers do their testing out here because it's worst-case conditions. The next order of plans is to get a radiator built that goes out to or just past the frame rails. We can gain about six more inches in core size which should fix things......

So now that the transmission cooler is moved from in front of the radiator, now I have to find a place to mount a cooler that has a fan on it. With a 2500 stall converter, this trans builds some fluid heat too. Once you get some speed going and the converter gets locked up, the temps are still questionable. I never would have thought that the 6L80E transmissions could build so much heat. The question is how much heat is getting transferred thru the cases from the engine heat.... Anyhoo.... I mounted a cooler with a fan just under the front bumper and inside the frame rails. I also had a 12X12 cooler that i built a fan shroud for and mounted that in the back just under the body. It's mostly supported from the frame bracket but because of room, I had to use some rubber isolators and mount the other side on the body. There's nothing I hate worse that vibrations from anything induced into into the body. Fortunately the rubber isolators didn't allow any of this to happen. The problem is that space is at an UBER premuim under this thing and now I have to run some stainless lines up and down the frame for both of the coolers. I also have to add some wiring and relays for both fans when all of the wiring was done and everything was back in place(dashboard).

So now that it's all together and has about 400 miles on it, this thing is WAY cool to drive. I'm not a big fan of the hydro assisted steering however. With the ram used as part of the system, you lose the feel or feedback to the steering wheel(almost like a full-hydro system) where you react to what you see and not what you feel. It's kinda like a video game if that makes sense- You predict instead of react. It definitely takes some getting used to for sure. In the meantime, some 5.13 gears are going to get installed. We wanted to go deeper than that but the JK Dana 44 would not allow for a deeper gear set unfortunately. The front housing may get swapped out at some point to open up the possibility for a deeper set. With a .67 overdrive in 6th gear, you could go really deep with the gears and 38" tires and keep the motor happy.

So after Labor day, it'll be back to finish up the small stuff that didn't get finished. So far thought its one cool Jeep to drive though......
 
This first picture you can see the difference in diameters of the stock VS the supplied pulley by Vintage Air-


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And just like that......POOF! A new correct sized pulley-

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Since the bumps were not adjustable, I made some longer buttons.

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Oh yea, the Spal fan was also swapped out for a higher volume(and quieter) Volvo fan with a new shroud.
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Now the current temps

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Wow! That's just awesome! Is the owner someone famous? Or just wealthy?


 
The owner isn't famous but he likes detail and the finer things in life. 😉

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How come you didnt just install dana 60s . Looks like its going in that direction.
 
Here's a video of it that I posted in another thread. I absolutely LOVE the sound of this Jeep. It has just enough tone to hear the camshaft but quiet enough that you will not scare the soccer mom's drinking their Starbucks. You can drive this thing for hours without the need for earplugs too.

https://vimeo.com/178618814

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We definitely talked about it but you would have to re-engineering half of the Jeep to make it work. In reality, this isn't a rock buggy so the D44 when set up correctly should survive Moab when we go in October.

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