Case's Build Thread (06 LJ) |
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unlblkrubi
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 24 February 2008 Location: Green Mtn Status: Offline Points: 702 |
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This should extend this thread for another year.
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'18 Renegade Trailhawk
'15 JKUR-Warn-AEV-Rigid-KC-ARB |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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this thread is just getting started.
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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Bump
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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98TJ
RCRC Club Member RCRC Club Treasurer Joined: 10 May 2005 Location: Maysville, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
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Who is that that guy? He looks kinda familiar. I think I seen that Jeep before too.
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1998 TJ 4.0 5spd Atlas 36" Swampers RE4.5 ARB's 44/44
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CJ7OX
RCRC Club Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1869 |
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~Sean
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan MOLON LABE 85ish CJ-7/06 CTD |
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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Project was sold due to lack of time cause he was spending so much time on Jordan's KOTH build. Moderators can close this thread now. Thanks for your interest...
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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JRTOffroad
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 21 January 2008 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 193 |
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I heard the bank came and repossessed it.
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[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab! |
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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98TJ
RCRC Club Member RCRC Club Treasurer Joined: 10 May 2005 Location: Maysville, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 8368 |
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When is the estate sale?
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1998 TJ 4.0 5spd Atlas 36" Swampers RE4.5 ARB's 44/44
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cj8lvr
RCRC LLC Member Joined: 10 February 2005 Location: Madison, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 7946 |
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I heard he got it painted and moved to Kalifornia.....
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___/| [_\__\],
l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
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JRTOffroad
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 21 January 2008 Location: Colorado Status: Offline Points: 193 |
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J$, you going to post up that back lit pic?
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[URL=]JRTOffroad[/URL]
ULTRA4 Racer #4580 - Thanks to Extreme Rock Rigs (XRR), Nitro Gear, BFGoodrich, Tom Woods, Ruff Stuff, FOA, Fusion Works Fab! |
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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Oh, alright....
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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unlblkrubi
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 24 February 2008 Location: Green Mtn Status: Offline Points: 702 |
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Hell, there ain't no trails that wide!
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'18 Renegade Trailhawk
'15 JKUR-Warn-AEV-Rigid-KC-ARB |
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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I wasn't wrong you know. Man, things sure have changed a lot since I started this thread. So what happened to my build in the last 10 years? Short answer: Nothing. Long answer: I sold my drivetrain when I didn't have another one to plug back in. That was a poor decision on my part. I was thinking with a different mindset by that point in my project. So what happened? Short answer: My priorities changed. Sometimes life comes at you fast. Long answer: As documented in this thread I went to King of the Hammers. I became addicted to the need for speed. My buddy Jordan and I started a team and became very successful. Unfortunately, this meant obligations to the race car over my own projects. My money and my time were 100% focused on helping the team win more and more races. With each win, more and more sponsorships started to come in and we started thinking bigger. This included moving the team to Colorado for the more lucrative western series and eventually moving up from the "every man" 4500 class to the pro 4400 class. In 2012 I had my first daughter. She was born with some challenges that many of ya'll know about already. In fact, this club held a very successful fundraiser to raise some money for the care of my daughter. My humble thanks will never be enough for all ya'll have done for me. Without a doubt, Charlotte's medical condition greatly affected my time and finances. Obviously, her care became the #1 priority for myself and my family. At this point I was struggling to make time for the race team already so this project was pretty much shelved. I tried to stay involved however I could, but I think most of the people in this club only know me as the redneck a-hole with the stupid turd brown Wagoneer" that shows up randomly once every couple of years. Its true. I'm a seagull member of this club. I show up make a bunch of noise, sh*t all over everything and disappear! As some of ya'll know things have changed a great deal with Charlotte's care. We have been accepted into a medical trial for a drug that is having a miraculous affect on my daughter's condition. This has led to a reprieve in some very stressful things in my life. We're not completely cured, but our quality of life is soooo much better. We were forced to take a break from racing this year to welcome Jordan's new daughter, Sawyer, to the world and to rebuild after a pretty violent roll that pretty much totaled the car. So, here we are. I'm 10 years older, fatter, with way less hair, and henpecked to death by my wife and our two daughters. Its just me and my old dog Lugnut to keep the juices flowing and remember what its like to be a man. I've been trying for years to put away money for this and its finally starting to trickle down to actual parts being purchased. I need to see this journey through. I also feel like I owe ya'll some closure, especially after all the support you have given me. The updates will not be nearly as frequent as before. But this thread will hold me accountable to make progress on things so I can share them with you. Whats the plan? Well, thats something that I've been asking myself for a long time. Basically the way I setup the jeep before no longer reflected how I wanted to use it now. The suspension is setup for stability, low up travel, long down travel. Piddly little ol baby 2.5" coilovers and all the stock frame. I decided I was going to start over, reset the supsension for go fast, get better suspension, cut the frame and body all to hell, and maybe add a few ponies. But, thats not really setup for the terrain here. Sure, it would be fun for a yearly trip out west or whatever, but I would sacrifice much of the capability I originally built for: wheeling in the south east. With how much I was planning on cutting, I may as well start with a buggy anyways. Therefore, I am not going to do that. I am going to keep the suspension the way it is. I'm going to cut the frame a little bit, but not quite to the levels I was planning before. I'll strip the interior down to the firewall and make a custom dash. I'll build interior and cage around my comfort, the passenger seat probably wont get used much, but I'll still have one. My last picture I posted was a powertrain on the back of my truck that was intended to be the new heart of my jeep. Over the years I collected parts and slowly realized that my original plan may not be the way to go. Originally I planned on a 5.9 magnum swap because we've used that in the race car and its now in my Terrokee, however despite it being a very tourqey, strong motor I was wanting to dress it up a little bit. So I took it to a machine shop, had it bored .30 over and dropped a stroker kit in it. I also got a small supercharger, just to give a tiny nudge of help to the 6.7. The trans was also a Dodge 46re, transfer case would be my old Rubicon one. The problem is, magnum motors are hard to find programmers for, they are very hard to tune and I was wanting some very specific, trick stuff. Learning from some of the stuff we were doing with the race car, I slowly began to bow before the pressure of the LS swap scene. I just hated putting anything other than a mopar motor in this thing. Well, as it turns out, if you take a 10 year break on your project, Chrysler (or Fiat or whatever the hell they are now) will crank out enough Hemi's to begin to be relatively price competitive with the LS scene. So my last picture was a picture of a drive train. I'll finish this post with a picture of the new drivetrain: This is a 5.7 Hemi Eagle with a Hellcat supercharger sitting on top. The parts in the box are whats going to help me reach Hellcat numbers despite not starting with the 6.2 Hemi. Trans will be a NAG1 5 speed auto out of an SRT8 Grand Cherokee. Transfer case will be an OEM that fits on the NAG1. I wont be using low range very much. Since the Hellcat makes 707hp from the factory, that's my goal with this setup. Alright, thats enough for now. Progress will be very slow at first. Probably the first thing I'll do is hire Indiana Jones to extract my jeep from the layers of detritus that now cover my jeep and get the thing out in the sunshine for the first time in 10 years. I look forward to finishing this thread and with anyone who reads this, I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to keep up with my stupid jeep.
Edited by Case - 27 March 2019 at 11:13am |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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bluetoy
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: Skyline, Jackson County Status: Offline Points: 2222 |
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That’s great news Case! Maybe I’ll finish up a buggy that I’ve been collecting parts for over the last 10 years and we can go wheel them together!
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TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more?
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alabamatoy
Admin Group I dont work here anymore... Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Signal Mountain Status: Offline Points: 9364 |
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The nine-year thread is nine pages long. Will it fill another page in the coming year? I think we need a couple garage crawls at Case's place to jumpstart this thing.
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"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
BRC Life Member |
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stout22
RCRC Club Member Joined: 18 June 2008 Location: Athens, AL Status: Offline Points: 763 |
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That's great news about Charlotte. Lugnut looks ready to get this project started.
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stout22
76 Bronco 302, EFI, C4 Auto, 4.3 Atlas, 3.5" lift, 1" body, locked d44 and Locked 9" |
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83K10
RCRC Club & Business Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: Huntsville, AL Status: Offline Points: 3173 |
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That's great to hear about Charlotte.
Think of all the experience you have building and rebuilding stuff now due to the race team. You should be able to whip this thing out in a couple of weekends now, right?
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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I wish, but several factors stand in my way for completing this quickly. However, at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel now. I have a decade of neglect to overcome first. The first step was to update the build thread so that I had some accountability to someone other than myself.
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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unlblkrubi
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 24 February 2008 Location: Green Mtn Status: Offline Points: 702 |
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It will qualify for antique plates by the time you are done.
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'18 Renegade Trailhawk
'15 JKUR-Warn-AEV-Rigid-KC-ARB |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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That may very well be true. But when it gets done, it will be the most bad ass war machine that will put a huge smile on my face and probably require me to consult my physician after 4 or more hours after I use it... Over the last 6 years I've seen and experienced things that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I need something that I can take my frustration out on and get that release one gets only from an adrenaline rush. This will be my therapy jeep.
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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CJ7OX
RCRC Club Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1869 |
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Case, I love your seagull analogy! LOL! I'm right there with ya on that one! Glad to see you were 1) still able to find this thread, and 2) able to remember where you left all your Jeep parts! You ever get this thing paid off?
I'm happy that Charlotte has got to a point, health-wise, where you are able to spend some time on this project again. I've been following her progress on FB, and it is truly amazing. God definitely has his hand on you all.
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~Sean
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan MOLON LABE 85ish CJ-7/06 CTD |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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So just a few months later and already things are a changin'. Since I've taken so long to complete this project, I've become comfortable with the goal posts moving. I've decided to make a change already to my drivetrain. The NAG1 is a great transmission with a very low first gear and 2nd gear ratio much closer to 1st than most commonly used transmissions. This means that in the critical gears we typically use off roading (1st, 2nd, ...3rd if you really want it) the vehicle stays in the power band without a big fall off of power when the trans shifts gears. The NAG1 also is fully tuneable and shift points are controllable and swift. It's also a very strong transmission being used in some very high horsepower applications (4488 has made north of 700 rwhp on the dyno)
But what if there was something else out there that was even better???? As it happens, there is. The ZF 8HP70 is a german 8 speed electronically shifted auto trans used in a variety of domestic and foreign cars. Dodge happens to use a version of this transmission in their vehicles. Several high end sports cars and some exotics also use a version of this transmission. By almost all accounts, this transmission may be one of the best autos especially in a high horsepower application. The version I'll be using is slightly stronger than the NAG1, has a higher first gear, tighter ratios between the gears, and faster shifting. This sounds very expensive right? As it turns out Dodge uses this transmission in the Charger, Challenger, and Durango. The RAM 1500 also uses it. Therefore with some careful shopping we should be able to find one without spending a ton of money. I have found what I was looking for: A wrecked 2015 Dodge Durango: With just 46k miles on it, there should be plenty of life left in this transmission. The Transmission, t-case, ecu, shifter, and accelerator pedal were secured. I still lack some of the wiring necessary as it was so intertwined with the chassis wiring harness, the seller was unwilling to part with it. I may have to source this through the dealership or other official Mopar parts sources. Another unique thing I am determined to do is to operate without any traditional gauges. There is so much information available from the ECM that to display by analog gauge would require a significant amount of money spent on just gauges. There are some all digital race oriented dash displays, but I don't want to spend that kind of money and I want to have more control/access to the data I want than what I can get from those displays. So I have ordered a 8" android tablet that is built to military standards for ruggedness (shockproof, vibration proof, water/dust proof etc). Using a combination of Apps, I can set this tablet up to display whatever I want, turn on instantly without having to wait for the tablet to boot up, touch screen that will allow me to change display on the fly, handle other tasks such as navigation or entertainment, etc. It also has its own 4g Verizon service which will allow me to setup some Apps that will track my Jeep's location, provide dynamic text message updates, provide radio communications, and possibly allow me to remotely start and/or shut down the Jeep. All of this capability can be delivered for way less money than I would have spent on gauges, radios, stereo units etc. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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cj8lvr
RCRC LLC Member Joined: 10 February 2005 Location: Madison, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 7946 |
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Nifty.
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___/| [_\__\],
l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
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bluetoy
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: Skyline, Jackson County Status: Offline Points: 2222 |
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That’s awesome Case! Who’s would have thought anyone would ever swap a dodge transmission in anything? The nag1 is a great transmission, this sounds even better!
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TOYOTA FOUR WHEEL DRIVE................need I say more?
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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welllllllllll, technically its a german transmission not a chrysler. I still don't think anyone would want a trans chrysler designed on their own for their project
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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CJ7OX
RCRC Club Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1869 |
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Digging it, Case!
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~Sean
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan MOLON LABE 85ish CJ-7/06 CTD |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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Back at you with a quick update:
After a few months of collecting parts it was time to make some progress on the new engine. I want this thing to be powerful, but reliable. I want to be able to absolutely thrash on it without having to worry about pushing it to hard. With that in mind, I've gathered some quality parts. So off to JRT Racing World Headquarters we go! A quick plane ride gets me to the state of the art engine assembly facility located in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado. My motor was all ready disassembled by the world class technicians employed by JRT Racing. So after a brief tour of the Springs to get parts and deliver them to the machinist, hit the junk yard looking for some valve covers, and consumption of margaritas we ended the day. The next day we were able to get the heads stripped down and assembled with new, heavier, springs. I cleaned and lapped each valve and valve seat. These are stock 6.1 Hemi heads, which flow really well for a stock application. At this point we got a call from the machinist that my block work was done and it was ready to be picked up. Since he stayed late to finish the job we hurried over to his shop to pick up the block. You know its a great machine shop when you pull up to a dirty building with no sign and just 1 door. Inside 1 old man surrounded by engine blocks and machining equipment works all his manual machines while country and western blare from an old speaker. You had to pay with cash since he didnt have a computer or any way to process cards, my receipt was hand written on legal paper. One of the problem we encountered was we thought we had a stock 5.7 so I bought pistons and rings for a +.005 bore, but the machinist determined that the block had already been rebuilt (poorly) once before so I ended up with a +.020 bore. That meant I had to overnight new pistons and rings from the manufacturer in Jersey, who only sold their products through Summit Racing, which was a giant pain in the rear because the Manley Performance stuff wasnt on the web site. Fortunately, the customer service department was able to arrange the transfer and I got my parts in time. I'm using Manley Performance "extreme duty" pistons, rods, and wrist pins. Here they are all assembled: Now at this point I must confess. We were supposed to be watching the new JRT Racing baby while momma worked, but we were determined to get as much done as we could. We nominated ourselves as "Best worst fathers in the world". I dont know why the photo loaded sideways. I'm not really good with computers. At this point, we were ready to assemble the motor. We are using a polished stock crank, as the 5.7 cranks are pretty healthy. Pistons and rods are forged of course. Because of the quick turnaround on the emergency reorder of parts I ended up with grind to fit rings. This is where I ran into this evil sumbitch: Next time, I think i'll try my luck with the dremel . I painfully adjusted each ring by turning the handle hundreds of times, but finally was done and it was time to install the shiny parts. Of course we painted the block hemi racing orange. Head studs because we are going to be throwing boost at this little guy and we want everything to stay put! Next up was to bolt up the rebuilt heads: Next, we measured for new pushrods and I'll be ordering those later today. At this point we were running out of time so we wanted to see what the final product will look like. The baby wasnt impressed but we were pretty excited. In this picture the supercharger is not bolted down to the heads yet. We are going to need to make a spacer that will make the bolt down work. The aluminum we ordered was not thick enough so we'll have to order new material. But it sure is nice to see it sitting up there! Next morning we added the hellcat oil pump to the crank, the pump didnt fit the stock location but we were able to machine a spacer using the stock oil pump drive gear to get it to work. The stock cover is not going to work, and probably we will need to make modifications to the oil pan. Also because hell cat valve covers are hideously expensive, we will need to make some modifications to some old aluminum valve covers. Unfortunately, I was out of time and needed to catch my plane so this is as far as we got. Next step is to find some parts that will work, or modify what we got and get the supercharger spacers made. Then final assembly and bolt it to the transmission. I havent figured out what kind of t-case i'll be running yet. I don't really need low range, but I want to run drive slugs so i dont have to get my big lazy butt out of my seat to get 4wd working so I'm thinking single speed t-cases are out. Maybe i'll find a jk t-case for cheap and just use that? I dont know yet.
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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50Willys
RCRC Club Member RCRC Vice President Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Trinity, AL Status: Offline Points: 2910 |
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Looking good!! It's great when a plan comes together!!
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Bob S.
'96 Cherokee, 4.0L w/Auto Trans & locked D44s '99 Dodge 2500 CTD Tow Rig |
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