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.

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On lift just before sitting it down with the 4" BDS Suspension Lift and 35" KM2 tires/ATX Crawl wheels.
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Backed outside the shop after just barely sitting her on the ground with new lift and tires/wheels.
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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.
 
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zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I put the last item on the Jeep last night for this project. I wasn’t going to put any badging on it revealing what’s under the hood, but I changed my mind and decided to give a little hint, just in case the tone of the exhaust isn’t enough. Unfortunately I wasn’t unable to find any L94 badges but seeing as how the L94 shares the same basic architecture as the LS3, it would be fine.
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I was not going to install my new tires & wheels until after a few miles and road tests but my son convinced me otherwise.
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After installing the new tires & wheels I couldn’t stand it any longer even though we had a pretty good snowstorm this morning and the roads were wet, I had to go for a drive. I think I’m gonna really like this, the thing pulls like a freakin' freight train. :D

Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Nothing too hi-tech going on last night. Mainly I cleaned the shop and discarded a lot of parts and boxes that are no longer needed then decided to tackle my engine cover mounting.

Many of these taller truck/SUV LS swaps that I have seen aren’t running the engine cover due to hood clearance issues but from the get go I had it in my head that I was going to run an engine cover for the real OE look.

After a little trimming and messaging of the cover I got it to sit without rubbing any wires or interfering with anything but had to trim down the two mounting bosses where the rubber grommets reside that actually snap the cover fine securely to the intake. Then the issue became the ball studs that screw into the upper manifold and pop into the grommets were way too tall. I’ve seen some just screw a mounting plate onto the top of the engine and then use a nice looking large flat headed screw through the cover and they look okay but not the OE look I was going for. I was nearly ready to go that route when I decided to attempt machining the studs down to lower the mounting point.

This is what I came up with and they work perfect.
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I was even able to install a 6mm-1.0 nut to use as a jam but and hold the stud firmly in place. The cover pops into place perfectly and clears the hood, barely but it clears.

Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Well? Have you been able to wipe the grin off of your face yet?

I've tried Russ, but I simply can't get rid of it.:D

I have about 300 miles on her now and grin like an idiot every time I turn that key and hear that V8 roar to life. It is Soooo nice to be able to get up to speed on the on ramp and actually merge in with traffic without having to wait for people to feel sorry for me and move over to let me in.

Sunday the wife and I were going to breakfast and stopped for fuel. There was a guy with a new JL two pumps over fueling up. I loved the look on his face when I fired ours up and pulled away from the pump. I burped the throttle just a bit as we were turning onto the street and he couldn't take is eyes off of us. I'm sure it wasn't registering by the look on his face.

Thanks for asking Russ and following along Russ.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
So I crossed a couple more items off of the list the other night on the Jeep.

I’ve always ran 12-volt air compressors for airing up my tires after off-roading. With all of my previous Jeeps I used portable units that I merely took out of the back and connected to my battery when finishing up the trails. In my current Jeep I have had about every variety of electric air compressors from a full blown closed on-board air system with tank to an open compressor without tank and to be perfectly honest none of them have impressed me all that much. I was going to build me a York engine mounted system several years ago but at the time I was also starting the planning phase of my LS swap and knew there would be no spare space in the engine bay after the engine swap so didn’t waste my time.

The best setup I’ve had thus far has been my dual ARB compressors that I mounted under my passenger’s seat but it is still a bit slower than I would like. I have been contemplating a CO2 System for the past year and trying to decide if I was going to build a DIY system or splurge and just go with the king of CO2 systems, Powertank. My wife and I were trying to come up with something to get our son for Christmas and he wanted a Powertank System so while I was researching I ended up doing some dealing on two full 10 lb. systems with a spare 10 lb. tank.

With as many week long rally’s that my wife and I attend each year I don’t think a single tank will get us through a full week, especially when some days we are airing down and back up more than just once. With my large Mac’s toolbox a 15 lb. tank won’t fit so dual 10-pounders made perfect sense. My ARB compressors are out of the way and not interfering with anything so they will stay put. Besides, you know the old saying, “two is one and one is none”.

I’m relocating my fire extinguisher and mounting my dual 10 lb. tanks on my roll bar rear bars. Here is where they will reside.
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Driver’s side aluminum mounting bracket mounted in place. This one will be mounted just a little lower on the rear roll bar because it will have the handle and regulator installed on it.
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My passenger’s side tank will be a little higher because it won’t be equipped with handle or regulator but also so I can mount my fire extinguisher just inside the rear gate for easy access, fairly close to where it was mounted on the roll bar previously.
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Mocking up a little bracket for the fire extinguisher.
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Bracket welded.
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Painted with bracket bolted in place.
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Bolted in position.
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Final shot of the rear storage area.
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Lastly after finishing up CO2 tank mounting and fire extinguisher relocation I pulled items out of my toolbox that were specific to the Chrysler 3.8/42RLE combination and replaced with items specific for my new GM LS powertrain. Items like fluids, spare belts and assortment of fasteners specific to my GM powertrain are now being carried in my toolbox. I also changed the battery in my VOM and double checked my assortment of tools in preparation for the upcoming off-road season.

Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Truly a sexay beast you have there

Thank you. I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out, especially this last upgrade. She's still in pretty good condition for being 8 years old and having nearly 100k on the clock. And it is now even more fun to drive, which I didn't think was possible.:cool:

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I think I forgot to post another little project that I completed over this past week.

I couldn't get my driving lights on my front bumper to work and before thinking I wired something wrong during my wiring condensing exercise, I figured I would test power at the relay. I had power going to the relay so I checked ground, yep ground was good. Next I checked to ensure the switch was sending a signal to the relay, check. Wouldn't ya know it, the relay was bad. I didn't like where it was located anyways and I had the individual wires ran to the prongs on the relay and wanted to install a plug/pigtail assembly so it looked more factory so I ran to my local NAPA and purchased a relay and pigtail assembly.

I ran the wires to the front core support and only had to run the load side hot back to the battery.

I soldered and heat shrunk the battery lead and decided on the new mounting location. I also added some abrasion loom to the wire to the fuse block.
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Load, control and ground wires ran.
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Relay mounted and completed.
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After another day of putting some miles on the ole girl.
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Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I get jealous of how clean you keep your workspace. I'm gonna work on tidying up more, which I usually do but while I'm in the middle of a project my shop is a disaster.

Thank you. I just can't seem to function in clutter or a mess. It makes my mind to silly things.:rofl:

I sometimes have to stop mid-project, depending on how big the project is, and clean up or I simply can't function. Something with my wiring I guess.

Mike
 
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