5.2 Magnum Swap Part 12: Custom Exhaust & Driveline

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We knew we would need a custom exhaust and after looking around for some pre bent kits, we couldn’t find one we liked. All of the kits came with a lot more pipes and bends than we needed. We only needed bends from the headers to the Y collector, then it would be a straight shot to the muffler and it will dump out before the rear axle.

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 9: Leaky Plenum Gasket

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We are still tearing apart the motor, this week’s goal is to fix our leaking Plenum gasket. We knew we had a bad plenum gasket after taking a peek down the throttle body and seeing a good coating of oil, but after removing the intake we got an idea of just how bad it was.

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 8: Broken and Performance Parts

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While we are still moving forward with the motor swap we took a side track this week through ‘Magnum Performance Land’ to see what we could add to the build.

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 7: Cutting and (not) Fitting

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Welcome to part 7 of our 5.2 magnum swap, we are shooting to be out testing for Halloween. Although we keep finding parts we want to upgrade so Halloween is a soft goal with the real goal of building it right and building it strong. Read The Rest Part 1: It’s Finally Happening Part 2: […]

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 6: The Test Fit

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This is Part 6 of our 5.2 magnum swap, we had previously set a goal of September 26th to keep us motivated, but now that we have both motors pulled there are more upgrades we want to add into the overall project. We could rush and finish it all by September 26th, but we would […]

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 5: Pulling the 5.2

With the TTB WJ still without brakes and steering it stood still in the garage this weekend and we set up to pull the 5.2 outside. Conveniently, we had better lighting outside and were able to do a timelapse of the day. Check out 6.5 hours of work compressed into 35 seconds.

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 4: All About Brakes

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This has been a big week for the parts department. We finally have all of the tools and parts to rebuild our overdrive and hopefully fix reverse in the 46RH. We ordered a new Grant 414 wheel and Grant quick release, because why not. Also our new CNC dual master cylinder pedal assembly is finally in. We are ditching the stock brake booster to eventually make room for more shocks...

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 3: The Last of the Stock Components

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Over the years we have been slowing replacing, and in some cases, flat out removing stock parts that we didn't need. While some parts have been upgraded like the driver seats and axles, we have removed little things we don’t find necessary...

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 2: Out With the Old

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This week we started out with a simple goal, remove the old 4.0, transmission and transfer case. On a typical WJ this is easy enough and the motor and transmission can be lifted out together after removing the headlights, grill, radiator and anything else in the way. The TTB WJ is a little more difficult.

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5.2 Magnum Swap Part 1: It’s Finally Happening

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It has been a long time coming and we are finally ditching the trusty i6. We have been wanting to do a v8 swap for years but it's hard to throw away a perfectly good 4.0 i6 with less than 70K. These motors are reliable and with proper maintenance can last 300,000. Our i6 has never let us down, but it is time for more power under the hood.

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