Jonathan_JK

Most people that are doing engine swaps know that this is going to take the Jeep down for at least a week. Also most people who do this the Jeep is not their DD usually. I think 8K is very affordable. Especially when you bought a 30K Jeep as a Toy. My Jeep was bought specifically as a toy bought it with 5 miles on it and it just rolled over 16K after 3 years of ownership. Jeeps are endless money pits. Some people put their hard earned cash in a Harley or classic car... its all relative to how much expendable cash you have. 8k might seem like a lot for someone who has 3K in their checking but if you have 100K in your checking its not that big of a deal.

VEGASROBBI

Using our kit a generation 4 LS engine can be installed for under $10,000; that is with you supplying the labor. This is not much more than some supercharger and turbocharger installations.

Most of our customers are into their JK's for the long-term. A V8 makes no sense in the short-term however if you keep your Jeep for years a V8 can run 250 to 300 thousand miles and get good mileage. The V8 will pay off for several reasons, the V8 will outlast two or maybe 3 V6's during its life span. In addition the maintenance, oil consumption and the fact most V8's get similar if not better mileage than the V6 means the cost of ownership is not much more if anything less.

I just had a local customer trade in his 2008 JKUR for a new Pentstar JKUR because he felt the performance was dramatically better. He paid $45,000 for a new Rubicon and installed 37-inch tires. It became apparent the Pentstar could not pull his heavy JK up the mountain passes efficiently so now he is stuck putting a V8 in it. Now he wishes he upgraded the 2008. We pull a lot of superchargers off Pentstars not because they don't put out power but because our customers are not happy with their driveability.

We just had a price reduction on or install kits and our in-house builds due to the efficiencies of 8 years of making LS JK kits. An in-house TurnKey install can be had for about $15,000 with a 5.3 Gen 4 engine and 6 speed automatic, it's a great combination.

In addition the V8 is a dramatic improvement over the V6, the driveability is perfect it's OE. It's not like a supercharger or a turbocharger where you have flat spots, hesitations or cruise control that surges. It is a pure operating system that is emissions compliant in most areas and uses all factory hardware and software so it can be serviced worldwide.

On top of that the V8 is fun to drive. Here's a quick clip of a generation 5 direct-injected 6.2 engine. It will roast the 40's but still should return 18 miles per gallon.
https://youtu.be/0_DG_1zJKDE

Rednroll

Thanks for the great details Vegasrobbi. I've always wanted a V8 in my JKU. I bought my 2009 JKU new and have taken great care of it, if FCA would have offered a V8 option I would have gotten it. My JKU is paid off and now has 120K miles on the 3.8L. So, I know there will come a day this engine will need to be replaced and have been considering getting a V8 installed in it when that time comes. So I started looking at the HEMI installs which seemed to run in the $25K-$30K price ranges installed which just seemed a bit much, unless you just have money to burn and that's definitely not me.

With the LS install does that require and include a transmission replacement as well?

Edit:
I'm guessing that what you described here.
I'll likely be looking for the install to be done by someone. I've watched some of the engine swap builds and it looks like it requires the cabin to be removed from the chassis where I don't envision myself having that type of capability.

VEGASROBBI

It can be done with the body on or off but I believe it's a cleaner install when you remove the body. We can get the body off in about an hour and back on very quickly as this video shows.
https://youtu.be/vDoqQIrbWsI

Monte417

What jeeps on the east coast? Do you guys have or plan on having another shop or is shipping the vehicle out there a reasonable option $ wise

jchappies

What's the California rules\emission for converting over to V8? How does that apply when it comes to smog time every 2yrs.

VEGASROBBI

We have shops doing swaps all over the country. I have a shops in NJ, NY, FL all doing swaps. As far as certified installers we only have a few, one shop in Louisiana and another in Michigan. In many cases it is preferred to ship to us in Vegas because shipping rates are reasonable if you live near a major interstate. We can arrange transport for you and in many cases credit part of the transportation costs to the invoice.

VEGASROBBI

As a G2 emissions inspector of 20 years, and working in California, I know the challenges involved. We currently have over 25 LS JK's certified by the BAR and registered in California.

As required by the USEPA engines conversions MUST run all the OE hardware and software from a compliant donor vehicle. This means no modified, hacked or patched calibrations. You must run all the DTC's, Mode 6 data, and pure calibrations. This is where things go wrong for many swaps, we help a lot of guys out with this.

We run pure calibrations and OS's, this means the ECM, TCM, BCM, PMM...... right from GM. All trouble codes and monitors are supported. Mode 6 data is approved by the USEPA for production vehicles. This is basically what OBDII is all about - On Board Diagnostics. Unlike OBDI OBDII must store emissions related trouble codes and freeze frame data that can help diagnose the problem and use on board monitors not off board equipment to ID problems. Monitors run based on the manufacturer Mode 6 data checking O2's, EVAP, misfires, Cats............This mode 6 data is in stone, the USEPA has basically locked it in. Now if you import a 5.7 Hemi calibration into a 3.8 operating system it will run okay but all your mode 6 data is basically out the window. The monitors cannot run and set properly if at all.

For years emission analyzers looked at what monitors were supported then determined if the supported monitors were set. To set a monitor can require one or more drive cycles and heat cycles as determined by the Mode 6 data. Well since monitors will not usually set in modified tunes it became the norm to turn the monitors off, then you would pass an inspection because the analyzer was only looking for supported monitors.

You can imagine the emission labs got on that right away. Starting about 2 years ago California, Nevada and Arizona added software to allow the analyzer to compare the supported monitors to the manufacturer required monitor support as required by the USEPA. Well registrations started getting pulled. I have 3 customers right now in this dilemma.

Problem is the manufactures of these kits promote them as "off road use only". This is a cop out in my opinion and a disservice to the customer. It is well known the consumers of these installs are registering and driving these vehicles on public roads. Technically it is illegal to tamper with or sell a tampered vehicle in the US. We all know you can get a vehicle through smog but it is getting tougher every day.

I spent hours on the phone last week with California referee's getting our first LS3 certified there. Denver is a difficult jurisdiction and actually went after a popular manufacturer of Hemi kits when they determined they are sold as "off road use only"; however they had customers coming in for certification with monitors turned off.

We went the other way, since 2009 we have made our best effort to keep LS JK's emission's compliant. We run pure GM operating systems and calibrations. We add a fuel tank pressure sensor and vent solenoid to the crappy JK EVAP system and upgrade it. We support all monitors and Mode 6 data as the USEPA requires. In California we must prove the origin of components, the engine, transmission, exhaust and intake. We must purchase new GM California exhaust systems from GM to satisfy the referee. We run air intakes with executive orders and make sure zero monitors are unset, a requirement now with engine conversions.

California now has dropped the waiting period for modifications, you may remember it was 3 years then 8 years. This is great news and one of the reasons we have put so much effort into the Gen V engines. We can now support 2015 and 16' JK's in California with Gen V engines.

I get a lot of guy come to us after they had a non compliant swap done, we do our best to help them out. Heres a quick video of a LS JK California build we shipped last week, and were shipping another California JK next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxWkJK3D1Bs

Rednroll

One of the things I'm confused about with an LS Engine swaps is how it works with larger tires and axle gearing.

For example, the Jeep JK has many programmers/tuners available like the Superchips Flashpaq which seems to reprogram the stock JK's ECM which then adjust stock engine and trans tunings, etc. Since it seems the electronic modules are swapped with the LS engine/trans swap, how does one go about programming for gears and tire size after doing a LS swap?

VEGASROBBI

The vehicle speed signal in your JK is controlled by the ABS module. Four wheel speed sensors send data to the ABS module which supplies VSS data for the rest of the network. None of this changes and your current programmer should still work.

As far as gearing the 6l80 has a very broad gear spread. First gear is 4:1 and the second overdrive(6th gear) is .6:1. This means even a heavy JK can run 37's with 4:10's and launch hard while running low rpm's on the highway.

The GM computers are about the best supported controllers in the aftermarket. We supply a pure tune but you can do anything to your JK that the GM engine has available to it. The Camaro's and Truck's have a virtually unlimited amount of hardware and tuning options out there. Superchargers, cam's, intakes....... EFI Live, HPTuners, CMR, ........ It's truly astonishing the amount of aftermarket support the GM engines have.