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Supercharged LS3 crammed into an XJ

Cool thread, just now read through the whole thing. Glad to see you followed through to "completion" (we all know this project will never be complete!). Looking forward to further updates after your return from overseas.
 
Cool thread, just now read through the whole thing. Glad to see you followed through to "completion" (we all know this project will never be complete!). Looking forward to further updates after your return from overseas.


Thanks man!
 
LSx power is amazing. Nice work.

I recently moved out of Cali, and do not have to deal with emissions testing again!

Down the road, hopefully sooner than later, an Ls of sorts is in my MJ's future.

like you, Forced Induction is not on the list/priority, but I won't complain if that happens.

As much as I want to keep my MJ a manual trans, now that I am aware that converting a 6L80E is that easy, including the click/tap shift I am not opposed to that idea.



As far as the harness, did you tell them what you wanted/not? Since my MJ is renix, the gauge "issue" should be minimal in comparison to the later model.
 
Johnnie Walker,
Seems like we’ve met but it’s hard to remember.
As far as the gauge integration went the only one that is unusual is the tach since it is fed from the GM computer rather than directly from the position sensors. It really wasn’t that bad and the struggle was a result of my inexperience with this type of work. If I did another one it would be a breeze.
Your oil pressure, coolant temp, battery voltage, speedo, fuel gauge are all unchanged if you keep the XJ computer as a mule.
Oil and coolant temp is as easy as simply putting those sensors in the new engine.
 
No updates for a while man. I am overseas all summer. I plan on getting the ac plumbed in and the hood sorted out when I get home.
Hoping to take it to the SoCal chapter big bear event in mid October.
Right on. Stay safe and I look forward to seeing how this thing does in October.
 
Johnnie Walker,
Seems like we’ve met but it’s hard to remember.
As far as the gauge integration went the only one that is unusual is the tach since it is fed from the GM computer rather than directly from the position sensors. It really wasn’t that bad and the struggle was a result of my inexperience with this type of work. If I did another one it would be a breeze.
Your oil pressure, coolant temp, battery voltage, speedo, fuel gauge are all unchanged if you keep the XJ computer as a mule.
Oil and coolant temp is as easy as simply putting those sensors in the new engine.

I'm sure I'm going to have questions on this. Using the stock pcm to run your gauges seems like the only way I'm going to get by if I do a 5.3 swap. Especially considering my linchpin in the whole idea is keeping my aw4 trans. I just wanted to post in here to give fair warning I might be bugging you if I don't find my answers in the earlier pages and now I can find this thread by searching my posts. Meanwhile, I'll get my 4.7 stroker back in the Jeep and see if I can't anger some people by trying to make an adapter from an ls style engine to an aw4.:repair:
 
Karma
I would be happy to help. But I have to ask why you would go through any trouble to keep the aw4? GM transmissions are plentiful and not expensive plus the adapter you need to mate it with your transfer case is readily available. And they fit just fine.
An AW4 is a fine transmission but a 4LX0E or 6LX0E will hold up to the V8 better.

The hard part about gauge integration is getting the wiring harness correct. If you don’t have a no shit XJ shop manual for your year or someone has tinkered with your wiring it will be rough.
I had Novak rework the GM harness that came from my doner car and the GM side was a price of cake, the XJ side was much more difficult. Pay close attention to the ground splices on the diagrams or you will end up deleting sensor grounds while you strip it. Or don’t strip it at all, that would work too but is ugly if you care about that sort of thing.

Either way man go for it. It is super satisfying to complete a project like this and unless your striker is truly wild you will be blown away by the performance.
 
Karma
I would be happy to help. But I have to ask why you would go through any trouble to keep the aw4? GM transmissions are plentiful and not expensive plus the adapter you need to mate it with your transfer case is readily available. And they fit just fine.
An AW4 is a fine transmission but a 4LX0E or 6LX0E will hold up to the V8 better.

The hard part about gauge integration is getting the wiring harness correct. If you don’t have a no shit XJ shop manual for your year or someone has tinkered with your wiring it will be rough.
I had Novak rework the GM harness that came from my doner car and the GM side was a price of cake, the XJ side was much more difficult. Pay close attention to the ground splices on the diagrams or you will end up deleting sensor grounds while you strip it. Or don’t strip it at all, that would work too but is ugly if you care about that sort of thing.

Either way man go for it. It is super satisfying to complete a project like this and unless your striker is truly wild you will be blown away by the performance.
Thanks for the help so far. I may go with the 4l60e. I'm not sure yet. I was just thinking it would really be something if a guy could re-use everything from the engine back. It would really open up the ls swap idea to people who didn't think they could do it. I put gen 2 raptor coilovers in the front of my tundra... Anything is possible haha.
 
Do you have a line on somewhere to get a manual with the correct wiring diagrams? A quick search found this, but I don't know if it's going to be detailed enough.
https://www.emanualonline.com/cars/...rvice-repair-workshop-manual-emo-413212.html?


That’s exactly the thing you need. Paper copies on eBay are always crazy expensive, like $300+ so I bought the digital for $20. It is the full factory service manual and will have every wire in the Jeep from bumper to bumper. Just print the 10 or so pages that you will need.
 
That’s exactly the thing you need. Paper copies on eBay are always crazy expensive, like $300+ so I bought the digital for $20. It is the full factory service manual and will have every wire in the Jeep from bumper to bumper. Just print the 10 or so pages that you will need.

Awesome. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Been a while since I have made any updates. I am finally home from deployment and was able to go to SOCAL Fest in Big Bear. Had a blast and met some new friends.
I towed a 3900lb trailer from San Diego up to Big Bear with Skruffy. If any of you are wondering, it went fine. Traffic was terrible as expected but overall it was successful. The engine did get a little hot on the way up but not too hot. I think if I went when there was less traffic it would have been better since I wouldn't have been forced to go so slowly. I got about 9mpg pulling that trailer, only two less then the WK2 Hemi got on the same trip a few years ago. Power was not at all an issue. I had a 3000lb trailer that I had pulled up to big bear with skruffy when he still had the 4.0 and this was a breeze compared to that. Being able to tow was one of my inspirations for doing the swap in the first place. Coming down was no problem, being able to select the gears and having well performing trailer brakes made it easy peasy.

I ran Hocomb Creek with a few other guys and had a great time. Did manage to smash my front left quarter panel, and the windshield washer fluid reservoir under it.
Skruffy is actually at a shop right now finally getting the A/C lines connected and charged up. Not having AC sucked way way worse then I thought it would.
I couldn't find anybody that is willing to fab up my hood so I will attempt to do it myself.
 
Pics are needed!!

But I still appreciate hearing you are making progress.
 
Congrats on such An awesome build. It must be super rewarding every time you bump the key and hear that sound!

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk
 
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