05 LJ Rubi LS Swap and the kitchen sink

Mouse said:

I might need to stop by and learn some LS-swap wisdom

Click to expand...

Wisdom might be a stretch, how to spend 3 years working on a jeep, got that covered.

To me honest, the Holley motor mounts, headers and the terminator ECU and harness made things super easy. That could be done in a "weekend". It's all the custom stuff that has me in the rabbit hole and money pit. I have a stock ECU from the other LS and de pinning that and incorporating it does not seem that tough either, after all of this I have been thinking about and doing. Time will tell on if this thing runs.

But come on, Ill put you to work and hope things get moved forward.


Did a bunch of counting for boots and math on the heat shrink. Came up with more than I want to spend. So I need to be more accurate with my counts or decide to spend more cash, or go a different route. As always, buying more is less costly per part, but how many extras do I really need. I'll make some decisions in the next few days and continue up on building the harnesses.

The other routing I need to figure out is the heater and AC hoses. That should be a bit simpler, just need to figure where I can have them leave the tub and go to the compressor and block. Should be simple...

Then ill have a plan together which also means I can start multitasking again and it might just be time to pull the body and do the final frame work. Basically final welding and placing the bump stops.

figured out the engine harness wiring plan. Basically, like the power harness there will be two of them, one for each bank. Within the bundle there will be the oxygen sensor cable, enough sensor wires, sensor power and sensor grounds for 5 sensors per side. The outer bundle has the injectors and coils with discrete wires for each cylinder. IT just worked out better way to do dedicated runs. If you are not familiar with the coil and injector harnesses many of the harnesses only have a single power ground and eco ground and all cylinders share them at the engine. Because of the way the bundle was coming out, I was able to move the shared wire way back to the source. I don't think it will be any different, but at least they won't be starved for amperage.

the main bundle is about 6 feet long, but only about 2 feet is wrapped now. The end will need to go off to the individual areas as I build that out. the pin



now its time to replicate the second front, second engine, then the rear harness. Should just be time since they are duplicates.

I stil need to figure out all my switching sources, not sure why this was a gap in my thinking. Oh well. Hope to get time on the jeep tomorrow or later today.

Went to mock up the AC and heater system. And of course, needed to order a different condenser or order some expensive adapters. The adapters may of worked, but of course the fitting size is not what my AC like kit had, so that was going to be an additional cost. So, a new condenser seemed like the best answer. Once it gets here, Ill need to figure out mounting it, of course that won't be simple.

The mock up was suppose to figure out where the hoses would route through the firewall. Still not sure where that will be since I couldn't get much hooked up and routed. Oh well, par for the course.

I did break down and order a bunch of DR25 heat shrink. Found a place a bit cheaper, but still more expensive than I originally thought it would be. I may even rethink the long run to not have a break out. The "T" heat shrink boot is like $25, wondering if not doing that break out in 3 places and just having straight runs would be more cost effective. Man I am sounding cheeeeeeep. Time will tell on the boots and Ts what I do. No real big rush on that now.

Tomorrows project, and hopefully just tomorrow, involves the Radiator, heater and AC system. I need to get it all positioned for hoses and such things. I am going to try to raise the radiator so the lower hose outlet does not hit the cross member I added. Not sure if in the genright design they run a body lift or not, guessing yes based on where this lower radiator hose outlet is. So, if I can raise the radiator the inch of so, problem solved. If not then I will either notch the cross member or something like that. I really don't want the body lift option just for there. At initial look it should work just fine an inch or two up.

From the radiator position the new condenser needs to be mounted up. No big deal, right... Might need to do some aluminum TIG work on the mounts, what could go wrong there.


Next will be all the routing of the hoses and the heater control valve and heater bypass thingy. If you all don't know, the LS needs to have coolant always flow out the heater port and back. If you just block off the heater ports, the cooling system will not work right. If I didn't want a heater, I have a loop that could be put in the system, but I want a heater. The heater control valve does not accommodate the return path for coolant. I guess you could try to trick it to always be a bit open with the controls, but really really that aint gonna work. So I picked up a piece of aluminum all machined for this purpose and will need to figure out where to mount it.


So somewhere on the firewall the condenser, Heater Control valve and this "H" adapter need to be mounted. Well some where between the water pump and AC compressor area to the firewall all those things need to live. I guess technically they could live in the passenger footwell area, but thinking the less connections they're the better. Not to mention the hole in the firewall that will be needed. Not sure if I can make it all work through the stock AC hole.

The non crimp AC hose kit is kind of cool, smaller hoses and can easily be made to the length needed and mostly reused. If too long, easy to make shorter and easy to re clock. Should be better than messing up a crimp on traditional AC hoses.



Ohhh, and some heat shrink arrived, hope I got enough of the right sizes for that project. Still need to make some boot and "T" decisions as well. While I am thinking of wiring, I will probably try to get some bundle attachment points figured out as well. Just some places to zip tie the bundle to and all that stuff.


Should not be a boring weekend figuring all this stuff out.

So, hoses messed me up. Who woulda thought...

The AC hoses are simple and work great. I can easily run them into the tub and looks like I can get them to make the high turns needed to fit them up. The bulkhead I got with the ez lines allows for a non spliced or no extra fitting to be run through the firewall. They also include one adapter to convert a heater line to the AC line that runs through the bulkhead. Problem is, a second heater line needs to run through the firewall as well. So, just get an additional adapter, well the adapter in the correct size is not in stock anywhere...

Here is what is going on.
The heater hoses are 5/8 and 3/4 ID out of the water pump. I have a "H" adapter that loops the coolant back if the heater control box is shut off. The "H" adapter is 3/4 and 5/8 fittings. So the hoses from the water pump to the "H" are great. The heater control box is 5/8, so that is fine. Well the hose connections are fine, space is a bit of a concern, that much stuff on the firewall does not fit so well, but looks like the "H" can float on the hoses that will be mounted to a bracket on the head. The control box, not sure. But I still need to get the 3/4 down to 5/8 or smaller in less than 2 feet.

I am tempted to convert the hoses out of the water pump to 5/8 for both sides. That just requires a new 3/4 NPT to 5/8 ID bung. Then one 5/8 to AC line adapter, that is in stock. Then a new "H" box with 5/8 in on both sides. This seem to me like the way to go, vs 2-3 adapters and reducers. But of course, a few bucks.

The other option is to convert the heater lines to AN fittings and use a different AC bulkhead that takes AC fittings. They work, with a small adapter for the heater lines with AN fittings. Part of me thinks this is more complex as well.

So, thinking just convert the heater hoses to 5/8. If I do this, I also need a new heater hose with a bend like the other one I have. just to make things look clean. I also think I will run all the lines up through the upper cowl area and the hoses down the blend door area of the cowl. That will allow me to hide some of the components and its just dead space anyway.


So, dam hoses messed me up. I have a few days to decide, traveling most of the week for work then that easter weekend stuff next weekend.

have not got much done, between the holiday and not feeling well for the past week.

Today, waiting on Saia to deliver me a pallet from genright. Hoping this order make finishing this project easier than all the fab work that I was going to do to make some things right.

My analysis paralysis lately is on how do I finish the LJ and what am I going to do with the TJ. In all honesty I want to make the TJ a LJ as well. The TJ has been more of the "off road" rig for years. Trying to decide if that will hold true or they should switch places. I would like one of the jeeps to be street worthy and I guess more overall useful the other can be a trailer queen.

So, for those who don't know, the TJR is an 03 stretched to a 100" WB with Pro Rock 60s I picked up years ago. The axles are narrower than todays convention, but still 60s and good. I need to go measure them again. I need to re do the seals in the rear axle and figure out why the rear brakes don't work great. But more importantly I have never like the rear control arm setup. The lowers I ended up using JK like rear axle brackets to keep the arms from hitting the frame with any decent suspension travel. So the arms are at an angle I don't like and it does not ride all that great on the road any more. That needs to be fixed, the front seems all good. The main suspension work I did years ago when I lived out west. It was my first big welding project and most of the original stuff was with shielded wire. It's held up fine, but has been on my mind to fix this thing next and sort out the suspension better. Then along came genright with their TJ to LJ stuff. The back half of the TJ has been hacked up over the years and I would not mind cutting it off and starting over.

On the LJR, the tub is not perfect and I need to fix the passenger side still and get it straightened out better than it is. That is the main issue for me mentally. I also messed up bit on the rear shock tower mount. It should be pushed back 3-4 inches for the total suspension stretch I would like. I think I would be pissed if I didn't fix that now. Well and overall finish it, but finishing it means my paralysis on some of these things needs to stop.

So, during this LJ project I have managed to basically acquire enough parts and supplies to fix the put a LS in the TJR as well. I picked up a used LS with 4l80 what feels like a year ago for parts I thought, but also in my mind for the TJR. I also have a dual triangulated rear cross member of the TJR I have been planning on putting in it as well. That should fix what I don't like about the rear suspension.

I ordered the TJ to LJ Frame kit form genright. I am not sure if it will go on the LJ to fix my rear section, or it will go on the TJ to make it a LJ. Or if I will do some reverse engineering, or decide its so cool and saves so much time Ill use it on the LJ and get another one in months for the TJ.

Either engine would go in either jeep, heck they could be swapped back and forth if needed. I could make duplicate wiring harnesses...

I could even just sell the TJ and just have the one. Another side note, I still have the LJR dana 44s I need to do something with like sell. Although I have been looking at getting a cheap TJ or LJ and putting them in it and selling it all together. Put them in the TJ and keep the 60s for more of a buggy...

I may overthink this stuff...

Pics of the TJ as it sits out front waiting on my design choices. I cut out most of the center of the tub years ago for shock clearance. I never got around to closing it back in. I have ideas, but never had time to do it. Now the genright inner kit would make it a breeze, I didn't order that, but its only a click away.



A pic of my finger for good luck, I need to chop down a hood for this one as well. Trying hard to not have the LJ engine compartment look like this as well. It does bug me and some OCD stuff in my head.


So here I sit at the While You Are At It club

I should be making progress on the LJ this weekend, as long as I feel better.

Finally did some work and made some decisions. Not sure I needed the pallet of stuff, but it sure helped the decisions.

So, leaving the LJ frame as I have it. I moved the rear lower shock mounts to a different location on the axle. This was on area that I was having issues with with the full wheelbase I was gong for. I really hated to leave close to 5 inches between the rear housing and the fuel tank. Now it's about 1/2 inch or less from the tank.
The other thing that is cool, I guess, is the jeep sits level on the bump stops. So even front and rear up and down travel. Not sure if they is always the case, but it was something I was trying to make sure I had. It's easy to get more rear travel than front, but I wanted them the same for some strange reason. Now they are.
A couple pics below sitting on the shock bumps. It should work good with 40s


I'll need to re do the corner armor mounting locations, should be fun. Ill need to either replace some body panels or weld up old holes. Basically to mount the new armor they use different holes in the body. Should be fun to figure out which way to go.

I now need to clean out the garage and get back to the rest of the stuff now that this part is figured out. Basically do the interior and engine build and wiring. Then pull the body, weld up the frame and assemble. At least that is how I hope it will go.

@FLLJ I have lots of stuff to sell, I need to make a plan to sell things though.