06 LJ Randy Rebuild

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Randy Bobandi
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Finished welding the valve cover bungs, as well as the intake manifold heat shield bosses.

Valve cover has one -16 ORB oil fill, one -10 ORB to -10 AN breather and one 1/8 NPT crankcase pressure sensor.

Intake manifold has 4, 1/4"-20 aluminum weld nuts to fasten the .018" 304 stainless heat shield. The heat shield will eventually be trimmed to fit the primaries. I also drilled and tapped a couple NPT ports into the manifold.
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Randy Bobandi
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Custom fuel hat is finished. Just have to fit the 525 ""Hellcat" pump and it'll be good to go. The hat features a -10 AN supply, -8 AN return, 4 wire bulkhead, and a rollover bulkhead to -6 AN that will tee into the factory vapor lines. It's the exact dimensions of the OE hat to fit the OE module, fit the OE lock ring and take the OE O-ring tank seal. This is a good setup especially off-road. The OE module contains what they call a "swirl pot". The swirl pot is basically a surge tank. In the OE configuration, the swirl pot is fed by the in-module regulator through a barbed fitting. Excess fuel is released by the regulator, straight to the swirl pot which keeps the pump constantly flooded by fuel in any situation. With this fabricated hat, the regulator in the engine bay releases fuel back to the -8 fitting, directly into the same barbed fitting. All functions of the OE module will be unchanged, even the fuel level sending unit.
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Randy Bobandi
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Picked up the transmission today. AW4/A340 from a 2000 Cherokee with 160 K Mi. Got it cleaned up and I'm about to tear into it. Converter is headed off to Import Performance Transmissions in Hawthorne, NJ for some fin brazing and 3000 stall.

I'm having trouble finding the Raybestos Red Clutches. Part No. RCPS-45 is what I need and they seem to be out of stock everywhere.

They guy I get all my cores, used and hard to find Jeep parts is local to me. He has a well organized inventory and he gets parts shipped out fast. So a vendor to keep in mind when looking for OE parts is Rich @ Only Jeep Parts. You can find his inventory on Ebay and Car-Part. He's not lazy and out of shape where it takes 2 weeks to ship out a damn clockspring like most vendors.

http://www.onlyjeepparts.com/home.html
https://www.ebay.com/str/onlyjeepparts
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Randy Bobandi
I made it to triple digits!
I made it to triple digits!
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Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Trans is just about wrapped up. I'm assuming that the converter is still several weeks away. I ended up having to just grab a Raybestos high energy friction module and a basic overhaul kit. Red clutches are about a year out. Good thing I tore this unit down. There was some corrosion on the steel parts from sitting in the scrap yard. I ended up replacing way more o-rings and seals than anticipated.

I cleaned, resurfaced and did a driveway cryogenic treatment of every part except the valve body, case and center support. The cryo treatment simply consisted of 30# of dry ice and 3 Gallons of ethanol. The parts reached -140'F.

Now I'm focused on getting a decent flexplate for this setup. Anybody have experience with thicker than stock straight 6 to AW4 flexplates? All I can find are AMC V8 to 727 or 904 flexplates, as far as SFI rated units are concerned. Aren't all AMC flexplates (including 4.0L) the same OD (13.813), 6 bolt crank pattern and 164 tooth? (Except 42RLE tiny converter 11" flexplates)
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Randy Bobandi
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Flexplate Update: Mr. Olan Teves of "Reactor Products" has accepted the challenge of machining Jeep/AMC to AW4 flexplates (Probably universal, AW4/32RH/A727). It will be an SFI 29.1 rated aluminum plate with a replaceable steel ring gear. His units typical sell in the $400-$500 range.

https://www.reactorproducts.com/mainProducts.html
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Randy Bobandi
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I made it to triple digits!
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Received a call from Olan today. He mentioned that the OE flexplate has been 3D scanned and they will begin the machining process shortly. I hope that this product gets some traction so he can machine them in batches and we can have a true high performance flexplate option in the future.

I also received the torque converter today. Pretty quick turnaround. About 3 weeks. John at IPT is saying that it should be spot on at 3000 RPM stall speed. They cut it open, replace the bearing, machine the stator, braze the fins and weld it back up. That pretty much wraps it up for the transmission. It's completely rebuilt with all of the available performance/strength upgrades. I welded an 1/8 NPT bung into the pan for a temp sensor as well. Now I just have to Cerakote the thing.
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Brianj5600
I think I'll order a "tab"
I think I'll order a "tab"
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Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 2004
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Wrangler

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Brianj5600 »

Impressive build! Have you picked a camshaft yet? What is the intended purpose of the Jeep?
Randy Bobandi
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I made it to triple digits!
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Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Brianj5600 wrote: August 9th, 2022, 8:13 am Impressive build! Have you picked a camshaft yet? What is the intended purpose of the Jeep?
I would like to run the late model, thrust plate style camshaft, but it seems like there aren't any blanks available. Russ is currently trying to track one down for this engine. If he can't find one, no problem, Brian Crower has already ground a custom thrust pin style cam for this engine. Brian Crower, will also soon be releasing new flat tappet lifters for the Jeep platform. They haven't told me much about the lifters, so for all I know, they could just be standard Hylift lifters. Though from our discussions, it sounds like their own, unique design. Camshaft will have .525" lift on both intake and exhaust, 222 intake duration @.050 and 228 exhaust, 115 LSA.
Randy Bobandi
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I made it to triple digits!
Posts: 152
Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

The block is back home and ready to start putting this unit together. Something that I wasn't mindful of was how the line bore and hone effect the deck height. I planned on around .005" compression height. Now it looks like compression height will be exactly .000". But, either way, no problems with billet main caps. .003" main oil clearance and .005" piston to wall clearance.


Also, the Reactor Products flexplate is in. Hopefully some others are interested in an SFI 29.1 rated flexplate for the Jeep engine. What you'll need to do is send Mr. Olan a core of the flexplate you need. Mine is a 4.0 to AW4 unit. They need the core for the ring gear. I guess you could send them a ring gear by itself as well. They 3D scanned the 4.0 to AW4 core and cut the felxplate from 6061. They have it anodized and press on the ring gear as well as bolt the ring gear to the plate. It's a $500 unit but I'm sure it would be cheaper for someone else, now that they have the CAD file for it. $500 is worth the peace of mind regarding the flexplate exploding at 7000 RPM.
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Randy Bobandi
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I made it to triple digits!
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Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Aluminum cylinder head? Nope. Cerakote Satin Nickel.

Cerakote air cure is an awesome coating. The only drawback is surface prep. Sand blasting is pretty much required. So you can imagine how much of a pain sand blasting an engine block is.

The Head, intake manifold and cold side will be Satin Nickel. The block will be Burnt Bronze. Valve cover, oil pan and hot side will be Glacier Black.
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Randy Bobandi
I made it to triple digits!
I made it to triple digits!
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Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Cerakote Burnt Bronze has to be the sickest engine block color out there. Cerakote really sticks well to cast iron, and it cures into a really hard coating. It's like a shell. Though, again, Cerakote will not adhere well to a surface that isn't sandblasted. I spent days cleaning the block after blasting and spent about 5 minutes spraying the coating.

I also wanted to show the theory with the core plugs. After listening to the AMXJ series on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0GHoL ... zDzfRs5zQQ , I decided to use the 3/8 NPT water drain and the rear most core plug as water inlets into the block. This was discussed by Rick Mudge, a Chrysler cylinder head engineer, as a good way to get extra water circulation between cylinders 4-6. He noted that this engine went through immense thermodynamic testing throughout it's production run. They concluded that most of the engine has excellent water circulation, cylinder 1 and 2 being so close to the pump and cylinder 6 where the water wraps around the back of the block, always remain cool no matter the conditions. Yet between cylinders 4-5 and 5-6, the water showed almost no movement. No turbulence. He says that it looks like a toilet bowl swirl rather than the wild flooded river that is optimal. Between these cylinder is where heat builds, stays and is probably the cause of 90% of overheating cases and piston slap issues. That can be confirmed by almost all of the piston slap cases we see is from cylinders 5 or 6.

I welded a -10 ORB bung into a steel core plug for the rear most bore, which is adapted to a 1/2" hose barb. I'm also using a 3/8 NPT to 1/2" hose barb adapter for the water drain port. The water that feeds these inlets comes from a radiator hose adapter. I welded a hose barb bung into it and I cut the lower radiator hose in half. The adapter will be clamped into the lower radiator hose and feed these two inlets with cool water straight from the radiator. This should give these cylinders plenty of water movement. I have two block heaters installed as well. I also made some core plug retainers, that you see on a lot of drag racing LS engines, to ensure that the other plugs don't pop out under boost. The back of the cylinder head also has one of these retainers.
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Randy Bobandi
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Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

I've been working on the reinforcing the main girdle and I also put together a one piece rocker stand. The Harland Sharp rockers for this engine are pretty good quality but there is now way that the stock setup is stable enough for 7000-8000 RPM. A single shaft would be optimal or a single stand with individual shafts like the Jesel system. I decided to weld all pedestals to a .070" steel plate and then reinforce the underside of the plate with double clipped washers and 1/4" hex bar. This is essentially the same design as the LS rocker stand. Given the thickness of the steel plate, .070" was removed from each pedestal to shorten them. I had to remove another .050" from each pedestal to achieve the proper valve tip contact due to the work previously done to the head.

I also decided to run "solid lifters". I think this lifter design by Trend is pretty optimal. Pretty simple. Trend calls them "Low Movement" "With EDM Hole" It's an uncoated tool steel lifter with a fat spring inside of it. The spring loads the valve of the lifter but the valve is locked into only .015" of travel. It's a simple limited travel tappet. This should allow for some pretty consistent valve events and it should prevent any loft on the closing ramps. The camshaft is a nitrided Comp custom late model 99-06 core. It came out nice. It looks pretty much perfect. Measured perfect.
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Randy Bobandi
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I made it to triple digits!
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Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Chamber Softening to match the full dish pistons
cs.jpg
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Randy Bobandi
I made it to triple digits!
I made it to triple digits!
Posts: 152
Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

I'm currently wrapping up the rough draft on the intake manifold. I still have to clean up the surface finish some, sand blast it and coat it. I concluded that the most cost effective/power productive design would be a custom plenum welded to the straight runners of a 98' and earlier manifold. I picked up a straight runner manifold, chopped the plenum off of it and ported the runners as much as possible. The cast runners welded to the 6061 plate just fine. An interesting note is that the runners of the curved late model manifold are all different lengths and they're up to 4 inches longer than straight runners of the early manifold.

I also decided to go with a dual throttle body design based on similar theory of the new Cosworth GMA V12 intake. One center mount throttle opening per bank seems to be the resounding consensus for optimal induction. That is, opposed to the front mount single throttle body that we see on 2J's and RB's. I cut an Ebay throttle body spacer in half, tapped the bolt holes for 5/16-18 and welded the halves to the plenum. The throttle bodies are linked by a 4340 bar, keyed on the TPS end and welded with silicon bronze onto the opposing linkage. TPS and IAC motor will both be mounted to the rear throttle body and I bolted a plate w/ gasket to the front throttle body. The throttle cable will actuate the front linkage. There is a 3/8 NPT bung between the the throttle openings for the IAT sensor and there are several 1/8 and 1/4 NPT bungs welded to the front portion of the plenum for various boost reference and vacuum lines. I made a .030" stainless heat shield that bolts up to the bottom of the intake as well.
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Randy Bobandi
I made it to triple digits!
I made it to triple digits!
Posts: 152
Joined: December 22nd, 2020, 8:50 am

Re: 06 LJ Randy Rebuild

Post by Randy Bobandi »

Just wrapped up coating the intake, heat shield and throttle bodies...
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