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Say I bought an engine/trans like the one below, is there a cost effective way to install it on a 12+?
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Why are LS/LT swaps so expensive on 12+ JKs?
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Depends if you want everything in the jeep to work as before then you need a kit from a company that specialize in LS-JK swaps. Or do all stand alone and have things not working well...
Nothing is cheap about doing these swaps correctly.
You might want to look at all the JK's that have a LS and 1 tons etc for sale, may be a better option to sell yours and buy one built.
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FWIW, I have two friends who paid a lot to have their JKs converted to LS. Both had so many issues they sold their rigs. I know one fellow who did an AEV Hemi swap (actually done by a dealer) and he had no issues whatsoever. This is a complicated process to make work, no free lunch.
Its down to who does the kit if your doing a self install which I recommend. You need to know how it all goes together so if something happens you can fix it. ..IMO only person I trust is John, he knows what he's doing unlike M and that's from personal experience.
Overland Performance
John Schumacher
13427 PACES Pointe Drive.
GONZALES, LA 70737
225-304-6288
Overland Performance
John Schumacher
13427 PACES Pointe Drive.
GONZALES, LA 70737
225-304-6288
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286 Posts
Plain and simple, LS/LT swap is mixing two different product families. Hemi swap is an "in-house" mix. As stated in messages above, mixing different products may lead to all kinds of weirness unless adapters and programming is top notch, and those are expensive.
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Don't know if you guys follow Marvin at Flex Rocks Rollovers, but he had an interesting experience with his Hemi when he flopped. That alone would make me go with a LS/LT.
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What happened there, and more importantly, why wouldn't that happen to an LS?
If you roll over you Jeep, don't start it up straight away, no matter what engin it has...
If you roll over you Jeep, don't start it up straight away, no matter what engin it has...
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LS you pull the plugs and you're good. The Hemi oil got caught in the intake (I think) and hydrolocked when they tried to start it.
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It does seem (many) Ls engines come with the same intake manifold design as Hemi engines have. So oil should act the same. I'm guessing if oil is not a problem when flipping LS rigs, maybe it's about PCV system?
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It's possible for oil to accumulate in the manifold from normal use esp. without a catch can and high mileage blowby. Not a problem as long as it never flips over.
Different engine, but my son and I disassembled and replaced his Mustang 4.0L V6. After about 130,000 miles, the intake manifold had at least a cup of PCV garbage trapped inside.
Sent from my LG-H918 using Tapatalk
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Yea, I hear on Hemis the catch can is a must.
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I added a catch can to my 6.4 swap as soon as I could. I check it monthly and get a few ounces out every time. I'm not sure that would have saved Mr. Jeepster McJeepface during a roll over.
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Last I checked john wasn't doing the lt conversion and 8-10 speed transmission. I'm in NY so la is closer than Vegas. I thought these companies worked together though?
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RPMEXTREME GEN5 LT We have been GEN5 LT's for several years. The most important thing it to make sure you get the matching TCM that came with the transmission originally.
I have been doing a sh# ton of research on swaps and superchargers (keep your turbos) I believe Im going with a sprintex supercharger due all the probs with v-8 swaps. im not a hot rod but when i want pwr i have it and in the trails i still get v6 feul eco rather than v-8. ( i know you dont buy a jeep for fuel eco) and yes potetial probs with the v-6s later in life of the eng but oil changes and treat her nice and she will do the same in return. I have full flow intake to a 08 viper throttlebody long tube headers and matching exhaust and put this supercharger on GOLDEN.
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I think you need to keep researching.
The Sprintex has issues. RPM became like the defacto support for them because they couldnt get their own tune right. Regardless, get a true screw type blower. Maggie, Holley, a used Avenger if you can find it etc... and find a good local tuner to dial it in perfectly. This is the only way.
Your Viper throttle body will throw the lighting bolt of death with a blower.
just to share some personal and recent experience on superchargers and 3.8’s… I had a magnuson SC plus intercooler on my 3.8 with RIPP headers. The Maggie tune was awful, had to go full custom and it still took most of a year to get it to run without a Check engine. It was very nice after that in terms of power, definitely some boost lurch at 2,000 rpm’s when it kicked in and it did seemingly bust my timing chain AND it would randomly die while turning or coming to a stop for no diagnosable reason - we never figured that one out. The tune we settled on stopped throwing codes but I think was also too rich and fried my cats AND the extra power seems to have killed my 42RLE transmission after only 30k miles (I did run an auxiliary transmission cooler, too). My engine only lasted another 12k or so after that - about 45k miles of SC life. You can’t pay me to do an SC again ever on anything. I guess I’ll try the pain of a V8 swap instead, because after all, as my wife constantly notes when she asks me where the Jeep is, I’m an idiot.
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Love to do an LT swap from motech on my 2010 but being in NY it might not be even legal. Might just keep it for what it is and put the $35K to $40K conversion money towards a used BMW hardtop convertible. Their 3 liter turbos are sweet. From what I researched no one has ever swapped a better more modern transmission behind the 3.8. An 8speed would really help out the 3.8, and the swap would be a non issue.
I looked for a better transmission back last year when I killed my auto transmission on mine and agree, while the engine lacks, it’s the transmission that is the real problem. i even tried to figure out if I could do an auto to manual swap (yes but…) I stupidly decided then to put a reman in and keep going instead of using that as the excuse to swap motors. Oh well. Still love this Jeep and think most of my mechanical problems are my own fault for tangling with mods so I’m going to see if we can straighten it out with some more mods, LOL. (Not to hijack here - On the Bimmer - I have the TT V8 M5 and yes, BMW do have some sense on motors! That said, depending on your needs but for a sporty convertible, I’d totally go boxster instead. Just one of the purest driving cars there is.). I decided to go Bruiser on my swap. REALLY like Motech and what they are doing, probably my first choice. But this isn’t something I’m going to tackle myself, Motech are many months out to even start, AND they are thousands of miles away for problems or whatever and local trusted shop has had very good luck with Bruiser and lots of challenges on Motech. I drove a Bruiser they did and then hopped into a new 392 and think I’ll be happy with the Bruiser, it’s in the 392 league performance wise so long as it’s reliable. So… fingers and way too many dollars crossed it all works. I’d bet the bruiser wouldn’t work with emissions in a state like NY but to be fair I haven’t researched.
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