Armando's Build Thread: Past, Present, and Future

let us know of all the headaches of doing this swap in your garage. i dont wanna hear "oh it just all fell together so easy"
 
Amazing! That's crazy, to be able to say that you built it all yourself when it's done is gonna be a great feeling!

Don't follow me, I'm lost too! O|||||||O
 
Amazing! That's crazy, to be able to say that you built it all yourself when it's done is gonna be a great feeling!

Don't follow me, I'm lost too! O|||||||O
I
t will be very rewarding to say " I did this" when its all said and done. Just hope i get to that point without too many issues.

Today i painted up the frame. Prep work is a pain, pressure washed, degreased, scrubbed, degreased some more, wiped down, and hung plastic sheets in the garage. Then the painting began

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No pics to show but i talked to Robbi yesterday and my kit ships out this week, hoping to have it by friday. I also went ahead an pulled my wiring harness, computer, and a few other things and sent that off to MoTech help speed up the process of getting the swap done. Today I decided my beadlock rings needed a makeover so i ground all the burrs down started prepping for paint, will have pics tomorrow.
 
Wow u don't mess around! It's a great feeling when someone asks u if the local 4x4 shop, or whom did the work and u say I did. Great progress! :beer:
 
The wait is over had some goodies show up today from brown Santa. Also started mounting up the freshly painted beadlock rings, diggin the black on black. Hopefully I'll have the motor sitting in the frame by the end of tomorrow. ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1382752013.749330.jpgImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1382752022.180844.jpgImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1382752041.406710.jpg
 
First "real" day of getting the jeep put back together. Spent the better part of the day test fitting the engine and trans in the frame mount and transmission mount. It took quit a bit of adjusting to get things to line up just right. Once that was done i measured and remeasured the frame mount placement, with a couple different measuring devices lol, and was satisfied with it. Point of no return, I burned the mounts in and painted them up. I also got the transfer case tore down and on its way to reassembly. Going to finish assembly of the t case tomorrow minus a seal that i thought i had but it wasn't delivered with the rest of my order. With some luck I'll have the engine and trans in place tomorrow as well. No big issues today just a few small things that required a little googling to find the answer.
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Wow!!!! Talk about doing it yourself very impressive brotha can't wait for the final result it's going to look awesome subscribed
 
Today went pretty well. Motor and trans are bolted up, one side mounted up no problem the other side i had to loosen hydraulic mount from the block a little to get the holes aligned just right. Finished swapping out the input shaft on the transfer case. Spent a little time chasing down a input shaft seal and i also managed to knock the t case on the ground and bend two of the studs, luckily i didn't crack the case and was able to bend the studs back. I went through the ranges and everything seemed to be working without issue. I also installed the harmonic balancer and installed a pin kit on it so it doesn't slip. Installed the bracket for the alternator and the a/c compressor. I was going to do the power steering pump too but i was missing the bracket. First big issue, My driveshafts (j.e. reel 1350) are too long (rear) and too short (front), going to make a few call tomorrow and see what my options are.
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The last two days have been progress but on the small scale. Spent monday try to get the alignment of the a/c compressor pulley just right, I also go the shift and t case cable bracket mounted up. Had to do a little bending and trimming to clear the drive shaft. This morning i remeasured the alignment of the a/c compressor pulley and wasn't quit happy with it so i made another attempt at getting it just right ( i'm a perfectionist). Once that was done are started working on getting the crank shaft position sensor adjusted and properly gapped, I spent a majority of the day getting this within spec, it took a few attempt and a little bit of bending to the mounting bracket. During this process I realized that the sprocket that is mounted to the harmonic balancer has some imperfection, its a little warped and the teeth aren't all the same length. Im having a touch of rubbing between the sprocket and a sensor that is mounted directly behind it in certain part of the balancers rotation. Going to figure what to do about that tomorrow. I finished the day off by drilling and tapping the block for the coolant temp sensor.
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Update on progress this week.

Had to pull the harmonic balance because the reluctor ring was warped, sent it back to MoTech to be outfitted with a new ring. Probably damaged during shipping, Ace Ventura pet detective style. I was able to get the gm wiring harness run, swapped out the exhaust manifolds, installed sensor from the 3.8l, connected the fuel lines, and took care of the evap modifications, installed the gm gas pedal, and upgraded my t case cable. Other than running some heat shield sleeves in a few places and putting fluids in it, Im at a stand still. Hopefully I'll have some more part show up at the beginning of the week to keep things moving forward.
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