Ok,
I've been told by a few of my buddies to do a write up for my build. Because everyone runs into different things during their builds I hope the things I ran into will help someone else with theirs.
I've been wrenching since before I could legally drive. I've built up a few vehicles from my 407whp 405wtq EVO 8, to my 05 Ram 2500 CTD with 1000tq, and pretty much every vehicle I've owned I've modified in some way to get more power, capability, handling what have you.
Please excuse the lack of pictures of the actual build my phone with the pictures got broken so I'm working on recovering them at a later time.
To start off I picked up a 5.2 Magnum out of a 98 Durango. I had already planned on rebuilding the engine because the engine was by itself, i never heard it run or anything and I planned on building it up anyways so do it right the first time and have a brand new engine to last for a while. I used an Engine Tech rebuild kit, the pistons, rods, crank, block and cam bearings were all in great shape so did a refresh kit with new rings, rod and main bearings. Dingleball hone to hone the cylinders.
I worked a lot with Backwoods Offroad and a big shout out to Evan over there for all the help he has given me. After he sees this write up he'll probably know exactly who I am lol.
Anyways I got their stage 1 cam for the engine, works with stock heads and springs, their budget headers which work and fit nicely, MSD ignition upgrade, their stock length hardened push rods, Radiator hose kit, some other stuff, and I had them do the wiring. Although it was expensive to have him do the wiring it was absolutely worth it.
Put a Comp Cams Performance Double Roller timing chain set, Mopar Performance Roller Lifters. I had to add a grade 8 washer measuring .050 +/- .003 underneath the rockers for the valves to close all the way with my set up.
Picked up a pair of new EQ heads from AA midwest in Las Vegas. Got a great deal on the heads from Kevin being a Veteran.
Put Harland Sharp 1.6 ratio non-adjustable roller rockers on it. From Kelly, he has an Ebay store and has the best prices around on them. I think that's what his name was.
Anyway the engine went together nicely outside of AA Midwest sending me the wrong heads from an LA block then had to get the right ones so that set me back a couple weeks.
I picked up an engine mount kit from Advanced Adapters at a Jeep/4wd show at the Puyallup fair for a discounted show special price and it worked out great.
Ok so now onto my build and how I did it. Once the engine was built and ready to go in I had already pulled the old motor out. I was keeping my Manual NV3550 transmission and transfercase, everything stayed in the stock location. I got a bellhousing from a 94 dakota off of Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market I paid about $90 for it shipped from Florida.
Radiator is an aluminum Champion. 1987-2004 Jeep Wrangler YJ Chevy V8 Conv Champion 3 Row Core Alum Radiator
I got it off Ebay for $211.96 with free shipping. Great deal. I am using a Flex-o-lite 180 fan for the cooling and it doesn't have any problems.
I couldn't for the life of me find a dust cover for the transmission so I had to buy a dust cover from Mopar for a newer 2002-2008 Dodge truck part #52107753AC. I had to line it up and redrill a couple holes but it worked great. I replaced the stupid PITA bell housing torx bolts with regular grade 8 bolts. Works much better. The clutch and flywheel I used for it was from a 2001 dodge ram 5.2. I believe 11" Clutch it was a Sachs Clutch and a Luk flywheel. Since it was out of an automatic I got some ARP Flywheel bolts ARP part #240-2801 from Summit Racing. I had to get pressure plate bolts and got Mr. Gasket 910 Pressure Plate Bolt - Set of 6 from Amazon. Used Blue thread locker on the pressure plate and the flywheel bolts.
When it came to the motor mounts on my Jeep I cut the old ones off using a cutoff wheel on my grinder. After I did I realized that I have a portable band saw that would have made it much easier and much cleaner, that or my sawzaw, but didn't think of that until after the fact. My transmission, transfercase, and drive shafts all sit where they originally were.
The mounts were exactly 1/2" too narrow on each side from the frame so went and got some cold rolled steel 1" wide by 1/2" thick and my buddy did the welding for me, since I don't know how. He helped me line everything up, which took a while, some hammering in of the tub, some cutting of the tub with a grinder on the driver side, just the metal lip that comes out towards the front, I think it's part of the mounting plate for the Brake Booster. Anyways got that all banged out and fitted properly, then on the little part where I punch a little hole in the metal on passenger side with sledge hammer I filled it in with Hi-temp silicone, let it dry then repainted it silver.
Once we got everything lined up and tacked on to measure it all we welded everything in place.
For the ECU to save everyone the trouble I'm dealing with B&G Performance I'm getting beyond pissed with them, but I'll go into that later.
For the ECU check backwoods offroad in their FAQ section to see what type of communication you need whether it be PCI or CCD. I needed PCI. If you need the same, find one out of a 2002 Dodge Durango 5.9 R/T it can be reprogrammed to run the 5.2 and all your gauges will work nicely.
For the Exhaust I had to have custom Y-pipe made, there is nowhere online that I was able to find that had a pipe you could buy that would fit. I had Rob and Pro Exhaust in Auburn do my exhuast and he did an incredible job.
I already had a Magnaflow hi-flow cat, and bought a Flowmaster Hush Power 2 shorty. From the headers its 2.25" to where it joins at the Y, then goes up to 2.5" to the cat and all the way back. Rob made the tail pipe go up over all my suspension and everything.
I had the fuel sync done at the dealership. I later ended up getting a Snap-On MT 2500 off Ebay for $300 with cartridges. I had to get a K-13 Key to work with Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler products. I ended up having to adjust the Fuel Sync from 0 to between 4 and 6. Then reset all of the learning parameters.
I had a ground hooked up to the wrong place when I first tried to fire it up and the fuel pump wouldn't come on. Got the ground put in the right place and everything works and it fired right up the first time go.
That is pretty much everything, I know I've forgotten some odds and ends with little parts and I will add them in once I remember.
Now before I say this I'm not one to bash anyone or talk bad about someone because I'm unhappy or solve my problems whatever people do it for. I have legitimately had a terrible experience with them and am completely fed up.
With that said, now onto the horror story with B&G Performance that I'm still dealing with. I've done everything they have asked me to, I have been through everything on my engine and vehicle and verified that there is nothing mechanically wrong and nothing causing the issues. I called them to ask what ECU I should get and they said anything Dodge from 2003 V6 V8 it didn't matter, so I got one from and 03 Dakota 3.9L V6 is what I could find, that one came back and the tune was wrong, the gauges and everything worked except check engine light is on and throwing absolutely no codes at all, but is still on. With the tune it was over fueling like crazy to where it sucked through a quarter tank of fuel in 30 mins of idling. It is over fueling so much that it just washes the oil off the cylinder walls and can't seat the rings and build up compression. I called and told them the issues, and had to send the ECU back to them, keep in mind it costs me roughly $15 each time I have to ship USPS priority 2 day mail. The ECU cost me $90. They adjusted the tune and sent it back. Still had the problems with them lowering the fuel 12%. I called and talked to Dave the actual tuner there, he told me I needed an ECU out of a 98-2003 Ram 5.9. I went to the junkyard and found one out of a 99. Mailed it to them and had them load the same tune they put on the old ECU because I was under the impression the voltage regulator was bad for alternator in the 3.9 ecu and the check engine light issue. Anyways I got the ECU back and the tune was still over fueling, just not as bad and wanted to let learning curve see if it sorted itself out but I had no gauges. Sent the ECU back and they changed something else to try and get the gauges to work. Didn't work.
To cut to the end, I'm now awaiting my 3rd ECU from an 02 Durango. I called Evan and asked him what I needed as he has been doing these swaps for over 15 years. The fuel curve has been adjusted again and will hopefully be correct. Installed a wideband O2 to monitor and will work it out.
Everything in this swap has been pretty good and overall difficulty of the actual swap I would rate it at a 5 out of 10, just going through and getting everything done. The ECU tune is the biggest headache that I've been dealing with and eventually it will get sorted out.
Even with over fueling I have way more power and torque than the 4.0. Before it would struggle to accelerate on the freeway up to or from 60, on one of my test drives on the freeway it took off. I am excited to get the Jeep up and running exactly perfect and will enjoy a lot of times on the trail.
If you have any questions of how to do this swap just ask away.
I'll add some pictures of it now that it's done and a couple videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75MuDEnT9lQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qUHUSwCNE
I've been told by a few of my buddies to do a write up for my build. Because everyone runs into different things during their builds I hope the things I ran into will help someone else with theirs.
I've been wrenching since before I could legally drive. I've built up a few vehicles from my 407whp 405wtq EVO 8, to my 05 Ram 2500 CTD with 1000tq, and pretty much every vehicle I've owned I've modified in some way to get more power, capability, handling what have you.
Please excuse the lack of pictures of the actual build my phone with the pictures got broken so I'm working on recovering them at a later time.
To start off I picked up a 5.2 Magnum out of a 98 Durango. I had already planned on rebuilding the engine because the engine was by itself, i never heard it run or anything and I planned on building it up anyways so do it right the first time and have a brand new engine to last for a while. I used an Engine Tech rebuild kit, the pistons, rods, crank, block and cam bearings were all in great shape so did a refresh kit with new rings, rod and main bearings. Dingleball hone to hone the cylinders.
I worked a lot with Backwoods Offroad and a big shout out to Evan over there for all the help he has given me. After he sees this write up he'll probably know exactly who I am lol.
Anyways I got their stage 1 cam for the engine, works with stock heads and springs, their budget headers which work and fit nicely, MSD ignition upgrade, their stock length hardened push rods, Radiator hose kit, some other stuff, and I had them do the wiring. Although it was expensive to have him do the wiring it was absolutely worth it.
Put a Comp Cams Performance Double Roller timing chain set, Mopar Performance Roller Lifters. I had to add a grade 8 washer measuring .050 +/- .003 underneath the rockers for the valves to close all the way with my set up.
Picked up a pair of new EQ heads from AA midwest in Las Vegas. Got a great deal on the heads from Kevin being a Veteran.
Put Harland Sharp 1.6 ratio non-adjustable roller rockers on it. From Kelly, he has an Ebay store and has the best prices around on them. I think that's what his name was.
Anyway the engine went together nicely outside of AA Midwest sending me the wrong heads from an LA block then had to get the right ones so that set me back a couple weeks.
I picked up an engine mount kit from Advanced Adapters at a Jeep/4wd show at the Puyallup fair for a discounted show special price and it worked out great.
Ok so now onto my build and how I did it. Once the engine was built and ready to go in I had already pulled the old motor out. I was keeping my Manual NV3550 transmission and transfercase, everything stayed in the stock location. I got a bellhousing from a 94 dakota off of Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market I paid about $90 for it shipped from Florida.
Radiator is an aluminum Champion. 1987-2004 Jeep Wrangler YJ Chevy V8 Conv Champion 3 Row Core Alum Radiator
I got it off Ebay for $211.96 with free shipping. Great deal. I am using a Flex-o-lite 180 fan for the cooling and it doesn't have any problems.
I couldn't for the life of me find a dust cover for the transmission so I had to buy a dust cover from Mopar for a newer 2002-2008 Dodge truck part #52107753AC. I had to line it up and redrill a couple holes but it worked great. I replaced the stupid PITA bell housing torx bolts with regular grade 8 bolts. Works much better. The clutch and flywheel I used for it was from a 2001 dodge ram 5.2. I believe 11" Clutch it was a Sachs Clutch and a Luk flywheel. Since it was out of an automatic I got some ARP Flywheel bolts ARP part #240-2801 from Summit Racing. I had to get pressure plate bolts and got Mr. Gasket 910 Pressure Plate Bolt - Set of 6 from Amazon. Used Blue thread locker on the pressure plate and the flywheel bolts.
When it came to the motor mounts on my Jeep I cut the old ones off using a cutoff wheel on my grinder. After I did I realized that I have a portable band saw that would have made it much easier and much cleaner, that or my sawzaw, but didn't think of that until after the fact. My transmission, transfercase, and drive shafts all sit where they originally were.
The mounts were exactly 1/2" too narrow on each side from the frame so went and got some cold rolled steel 1" wide by 1/2" thick and my buddy did the welding for me, since I don't know how. He helped me line everything up, which took a while, some hammering in of the tub, some cutting of the tub with a grinder on the driver side, just the metal lip that comes out towards the front, I think it's part of the mounting plate for the Brake Booster. Anyways got that all banged out and fitted properly, then on the little part where I punch a little hole in the metal on passenger side with sledge hammer I filled it in with Hi-temp silicone, let it dry then repainted it silver.
Once we got everything lined up and tacked on to measure it all we welded everything in place.
For the ECU to save everyone the trouble I'm dealing with B&G Performance I'm getting beyond pissed with them, but I'll go into that later.
For the ECU check backwoods offroad in their FAQ section to see what type of communication you need whether it be PCI or CCD. I needed PCI. If you need the same, find one out of a 2002 Dodge Durango 5.9 R/T it can be reprogrammed to run the 5.2 and all your gauges will work nicely.
For the Exhaust I had to have custom Y-pipe made, there is nowhere online that I was able to find that had a pipe you could buy that would fit. I had Rob and Pro Exhaust in Auburn do my exhuast and he did an incredible job.
I already had a Magnaflow hi-flow cat, and bought a Flowmaster Hush Power 2 shorty. From the headers its 2.25" to where it joins at the Y, then goes up to 2.5" to the cat and all the way back. Rob made the tail pipe go up over all my suspension and everything.
I had the fuel sync done at the dealership. I later ended up getting a Snap-On MT 2500 off Ebay for $300 with cartridges. I had to get a K-13 Key to work with Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler products. I ended up having to adjust the Fuel Sync from 0 to between 4 and 6. Then reset all of the learning parameters.
I had a ground hooked up to the wrong place when I first tried to fire it up and the fuel pump wouldn't come on. Got the ground put in the right place and everything works and it fired right up the first time go.
That is pretty much everything, I know I've forgotten some odds and ends with little parts and I will add them in once I remember.
Now before I say this I'm not one to bash anyone or talk bad about someone because I'm unhappy or solve my problems whatever people do it for. I have legitimately had a terrible experience with them and am completely fed up.
With that said, now onto the horror story with B&G Performance that I'm still dealing with. I've done everything they have asked me to, I have been through everything on my engine and vehicle and verified that there is nothing mechanically wrong and nothing causing the issues. I called them to ask what ECU I should get and they said anything Dodge from 2003 V6 V8 it didn't matter, so I got one from and 03 Dakota 3.9L V6 is what I could find, that one came back and the tune was wrong, the gauges and everything worked except check engine light is on and throwing absolutely no codes at all, but is still on. With the tune it was over fueling like crazy to where it sucked through a quarter tank of fuel in 30 mins of idling. It is over fueling so much that it just washes the oil off the cylinder walls and can't seat the rings and build up compression. I called and told them the issues, and had to send the ECU back to them, keep in mind it costs me roughly $15 each time I have to ship USPS priority 2 day mail. The ECU cost me $90. They adjusted the tune and sent it back. Still had the problems with them lowering the fuel 12%. I called and talked to Dave the actual tuner there, he told me I needed an ECU out of a 98-2003 Ram 5.9. I went to the junkyard and found one out of a 99. Mailed it to them and had them load the same tune they put on the old ECU because I was under the impression the voltage regulator was bad for alternator in the 3.9 ecu and the check engine light issue. Anyways I got the ECU back and the tune was still over fueling, just not as bad and wanted to let learning curve see if it sorted itself out but I had no gauges. Sent the ECU back and they changed something else to try and get the gauges to work. Didn't work.
To cut to the end, I'm now awaiting my 3rd ECU from an 02 Durango. I called Evan and asked him what I needed as he has been doing these swaps for over 15 years. The fuel curve has been adjusted again and will hopefully be correct. Installed a wideband O2 to monitor and will work it out.
Everything in this swap has been pretty good and overall difficulty of the actual swap I would rate it at a 5 out of 10, just going through and getting everything done. The ECU tune is the biggest headache that I've been dealing with and eventually it will get sorted out.
Even with over fueling I have way more power and torque than the 4.0. Before it would struggle to accelerate on the freeway up to or from 60, on one of my test drives on the freeway it took off. I am excited to get the Jeep up and running exactly perfect and will enjoy a lot of times on the trail.
If you have any questions of how to do this swap just ask away.
I'll add some pictures of it now that it's done and a couple videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75MuDEnT9lQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0qUHUSwCNE