Tomorrow out with the old in with the new. The front bumper is off tomorrow we start taking the front apart and pull that V6!! I'me taking pictures as we go. Here is the new hood for a teaser.

Huck

Some more pics of the kit.

New Radiator

New Motor Mount

New ECU

"Wh1t3Nukle" wrote: Jason,

The most important detail you have left out is what the visiting hours are. Max number of persons per visit and duration.

I'm cereal, post up!

M-F 8-5:30p at Extreme Gear in Rancho Cordova

Should be ready early next week, provided there are no more hiccups.

Huck

The transmission I picked up was a 2011 545RFE, aparently the transmission to have is a 2010 545RFE. The original transmission that was bolted to the motor was a 6 speed and none of the kits work with a 6 speed yet. The place I picked up the motor had a 545RFE from a 2011 with 20 miles on it so that is what they swapped my 2012 6 speed for. In order to get the 2011 to work like the 2010 the valve body needs to be replace. I saw this happen and it took about an hour start to finish was pretty straight forward, but I was glad the person doing it was a mopar mechanic who had done this before.

Original Transmission

Transmission Open with New Valve Body sitting on the counter

Transmission on Bench with Valve Body Removed

*** Big Tip Here - Order Valve Body and Mopar Parts from http://www.factorymoparparts.com The Valve Body was almost $200 cheaper than the dealer, every part we ordered was cheaper and they are factory OEM. *** Complete List of what I had to get on top of the complete motor to come once we quit buying stuff...:)

To make the Truck motor ready for install we had to prep it and this is where having a 5.7L out of a cherokee would have been an advantage. Had to replace the wiring harness with the BOR wiring harness. Everything plugged in nicely and was labeled extremely well only one plug didn't match. So we had to cut one plug off the Truck harness to finish out the BOR harness. Next it was on to the steering pump. Have a PSC Hydralic steering system I have a PSC steering pump on my 3.8L motor that was removed and placed on the truck motor. It was not an exact match and we had to drill out the threads as the truck mount had bolts that went through the pump and screwed into the mounting plate and Jeep motor had a hollowed mounting plate and the bolts screwed into the pump. In any event a drill, drill bit and about 5 min and we had the PSC steering pump mounted like it was made for that Hemi. The truck exhaust manifolds shoot straight back and on the Jeep would point right at the fire wall. The cherokee manifolds angle down and therefore the truck ones had to go and the new cherokee version was installed. The throttle body points straight up on the truck motor and BOR kit comes with an adapter to point it toward the Jeep air box location. Lastly, the fuel filter on the truck points straight down and on lower lifter vehicles can come into contact with the control arms. A fuel filter adapter (cherokee) was used to angle this up and out of the way of harm. I guess its worth mentioning the motor mounts for the truck don't fit the BOR kit and Cherokee mounts had to be ordered. (I see why AEV recommends the Cherokee motor, sure hope those extra ponys are worth all this trouble)

Huck

PSC steering Pump vs. Hemi Steering Pump

Cherokee manifold vs. Truck manifold

Cherokee manifolds installed.

I am up there till close today helping, no beverage needed, but call before come I may be hungry.. 🙂

If you had purchased an 11 motor/tranny/tcase, would the tranny be the correct one you ended up with?
I see that a GC was the ideal motor to get, but what about the Jeep Camander 5.7? Is that one ok as well?

The tranny valve body would have to be replace on any 11 or 12 transmission only a 10 down works with the kits BOR, AEV, or JSS make. I reference the Cherokee but the Commander and the Charger use the same exhaust, fuel filter relocation and cherokee motor mounts

We are using the rubicon 4:1 transfer case it bolts right up to the truck transmission.

Huck

Today was a very productive day. We started the day with the V6 motor removed and hoped by the end of the day to have the Hemi sitting on the motor mounts. I spent the day at the shop helping out as I could and learning about the process. It was immensly beneficial to be there to see all the details that had to be tended to to make a hemi swap come together. We started the day by attaching the transmission to the motor so they could be dropped as a single unit. We also test fit the Rubicon transfer case to see if the wires from the harness would fit and working out where the fuel lines would run as the Jk motor has them on the passenger side and the Truck Hemi has them on the right. We installed the new Oil Dip Stick (not included with the transmission) and neatly zip-tied all the wires along the transmission and transfer case so they would be neat when in the vehicle. You want to do this before they are in as you have access when out. To prepare for the motor we had to cut off the factory motor mounts, install the BOR motor mounts (which required trimming because of my coil over shock towers) this includes welding. They were indexed to only fit one way. We had to install the new steering adapter that moves the steering shaft down and to the driver side more to allow more room for the motor to fit. We also had to take a BFH and beat the firewall back in specific areas to allow for better fitment of the hemi engine. While everything is apart it was a good time to rewire some of my switches to go through the firewall so when I install a cage down the road no wires are in the way. I know there is something I am forgetting as I upload pictures and video I will be sure to add more detail.

This is what we started with

This is the old exhaust (for sale in case your interested)

I also wanted to show a picture of the BOR air intake that points to the passenger side.

Burnsville Offroad had been very helpful everytime I have called. They need to improve thier Truck VVT Hemi instructions and they recognize that. I was told today that at Easter Jeep Safari Mopar is going to announce that this kit is available for sale through Mopar Performance at all Mopar Dealerships. I think that is saying something.

Here is a picture of the motor mated to the transmission.

Here is a picture of the wires to the transmission tied down to the transmission. There are ends that are not plugged in that go to O2 sensors. BTW You have to order 6-8 O2 sensors for install into the exhaust system unless you have the truck exhaust system to take the O2 sensors from ($35 a piece)

We had the battery tray powdercoated. I ordered a dual battery tray, the single was the only in stock. BOR sent me the single to get me to MOAB with a Double on the way at no additional charge. I will have to do another writeup on the dual battery setup when it comes in.

To install the motor mounts we had to cut out the factory motor mounts. We then had to prep the frame rail for a good weld. The BOR Motor Mounts are much larger than the JK mounts. They index off a hold cut in the frame and a tab on the mount that rests on top of the frame. We had to shave the tab down as it came in contact with my coilover towers. It was nice to weld these in as they had much more edge to weld to than the JK mounts. We cleaned everything for grease and then painted both the back of the coilover tower and the motor mounts with Black paint.

Here is the motor mounts welded in place

Here are the motor mounts painted black

Here is a picture of the Hemi Sitting on the motor mounts.

Challenges for today: When installing the motor mounts we called and were told the yellow stickers(UPS) go up and the "long" side is obvious. (one of the motor mounts is longer than the other) The issue is both motor mounts use the same bolt configuration so we actually put the mounts on the wrong sides and had to take them off and switch them with the motor simi-inplace. Also we found that the ARB compressor was in the way and uninstalled it to get the motor in place. The Alternator plug didn't match the harness so we had to cut off the Truck Harness plug and put it on the BOR harness to complete the harness install. Additionally the fuel lines on the JK are Passenger while the Truck connections are Driver and therefore we had to cut the JK lines and adapt them to fit the Driver side. The JK Transmission connection isn't a match for the Truck transmission shifter so it looks like that will be another misc part to be picked up. When picking up the motor we had to remove the air intake to find bolts to attach to. We will have to reinstall after it is in the truck.

What is left: Finish plumbing all hoses and fittings. Put front end together and install new radiator, new trans cooler, new pusher fan, and motor fan shroud (also powder coated) install battery box, connect transfer case, drive lines, weld transmission mount to cross member and install cross member, skid plates, fill all fluids, finish all wiring and take a test drive.

Our goal is Tuesday or Wednesday. That should give me a little over a week to drive the Jeep before going to MOAB.

Here is a 10 min video of when we were putting the motor in. Don't read much into it. The camera shut off before we were done. You don't get to see up remove the motor mounts and swich sides, or remove the ARB compressor. All you really see is us lower the motor and trying to get it to fit. Be warned there is strong language in this video it had been a long day.. 🙂 I think it would have gone smoother had we had the right motor mounts on the right side to begin with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDzAzd0B ... tube_gdata