PASSING POWER : Jeep JK Wrangler with a Motech 6.2L LS V8 Engine

There's just something great about a big American V-8 at full song! That right there is what a Motec LS is all about. Two thumbs up...and a snap!
 
wayoflife said:
:cheesy: Believe me, before we did the swap, I didn't know we were allowed to pass other vehicles either :crazyeyes:



Depends on how you do it. We found a salvaged motor out of a CA 2011 Denali complete with transmission for pretty cheap and that helped out a lot. But, if you were to do a crate motor and have everything installed for you, I think you'd be looking at about $25k. Basically, about the price of a HEMI swap. Where something like an LS has an advantage over a HEMI is in the fact that it'll fit in the engine compartment without having to pound in the firewall, it weigh close to what the old 3.8L motor weight (HEMI is a LOT more), doesn't have the kind of over heating issues that a HEMI has and is completely programmable (HEMI cannot be programmed). When we did the install, we still lived in SoCal and so we paid to have everything done to meet CA smog laws and that cost more. Had we known that we were going to move to NV, we would have skipped all that crap, saved a ton of money and gotten more power to boot. Moochie here on the forum is the only other guy I know personally who has an LS and lives in CA and has been able to get it smogged.



I think we've got almost 50,000 miles on it now. We did have a few minor wiring issues early on but Motech help to resolve them quickly and have been great about providing us with all their updates for FREE. Also, their current kit is just so much nicer and more complete - way easier to install. I can't say for sure if there's anything we would have done differently being that there wasn't anything more we could have done at the time. If we were to do this today, I think we would do a crate motor and with an all new wiring harness. A lot of the problems we had early on had to do with the fact that our old Jeep wires are almost 10 years old and they're literally crumbling on us.
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Thanks for the info Eddie. I've been thinking a lot about having this done. Just trying to justify dropping $25,000 + :hmm:
 
Linebacker said:
There's just something great about a big American V-8 at full song! That right there is what a Motec LS is all about. Two thumbs up...and a snap!
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Yup, couldn't agree more :cool:

SJ21XDC said:
Thanks for the info Eddie. I've been thinking a lot about having this done. Just trying to justify dropping $25,000 + :hmm:
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Being that you're from TN, I would think you could find a salvaged motor for cheap and if you can do the work yourself, you could probably shave off as much as $10k.
 
Being that you're from TN, I would think you could find a salvaged motor for cheap and if you can do the work yourself, you could probably shave off as much as $10k.
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Thanks - I'll look into this option. I do like the idea of starting with everything new though.
 
As for the smog thing, it depends on the county in which you live (at least in Nevada). Eddie happens to now live in a county with not much in terms of smog requirements. Even though I only live 30 miles away, my county is much less forgiving and has the most strict smog requirements in all of Nevada. Moral of the story, if I ever get the money to drop a V8 into Shark Tank, I might have to "find" an address in Douglas or Carson City County to borrow. ;)
 
Sharkey said:
As for the smog thing, it depends on the county in which you live (at least in Nevada). Eddie happens to now live in a county with not much in terms of smog requirements. Even though I only live 30 miles away, my county is much less forgiving and has the most strict smog requirements in all of Nevada. Moral of the story, if I ever get the money to drop a V8 into Shark Tank, I might have to "find" an address in Douglas or Carson City County to borrow. ;)
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:doh: Forgot about that!

As Sharkey said, we live in Carson City County and we have NO smog laws here. :yup:
 
wayoflife said:
For those of you who haven't seen it before, this is a short clip of Moby, our 2007 Jeep JK Wrangler after getting a Motech 6.2L LS v8 engine installed. In spite of weighing about 7,000 lbs. and pushing 40", this is the kind of passing power it now has. :cool:

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Basically the same as my 3.6 running 37's on 4.10s... :naw:
 
Oh my god!! Drool! That was awesome! I thought I wanted an LS swap before this video, now I have motor envy to go along with my tire envy!!!
 
JAGS said:
Damn ozone killers you are. [emoji35]
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It's been a cold winter. We're just trying to warm things up a bit ;)

KrazyKilo said:
Did you have to relocate the Transfer Case?
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Not sure what you mean by that. We did install an Atlas and it does sit a bit further back due to the transmission but I don't know how you'd actually relocate it.

Roverrich said:
Very cool, dare I ask what kind of on tarmac mpg you get?
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Honestly, way better MPG then we were getting with our old 3.8L v6. With it, we were getting 8-10 MPG. With the LS, we're getting 11-13 MPG. I'm sure we could get more if I could keep my lead foot off the skinny pedal but it's just so much fun :D
 
That sounds sweet. By smog laws, do you mean emissions checks? They have them in certain cities here in New Mexico. I'm sure they're not as strict as CA, but I have to have emissions check on my jeep every other year.
 
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