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My Whippled Jeep w/new Modern Muscle 405 Project

28K views 77 replies 21 participants last post by  bullettrain 
#1 · (Edited)
I have spent a lot of hours on this site over the years. My father has an 07 300C SRT8 and thanks to this site we've made it into a pretty tough sleeper. Lately we've been working on my Jeep and even though this is a forum dedicated to the LX platform., I thought I'd share part of our build here.

I'm 40 and my dad is now semi-retired.
He works from home and we built his garage so we could spend time in there doing things like this.


This project started over a year ago.
Dozens of phone calls to several vendors and lots and lots of research led me to Dave Weber at Modern Muscle PerformanceGroup. I've worked with and bought several things from most all of the vendors in the Hemi community and Dave was the best fit for me. Our goal is a street oriented, driver friendly, powerful machine that can launch hard on the street. We are not interested in any track records. After a lot of discussions, Dave, my dad, and I decided on a 6.1L based stroker with Thitek heads. The actual pistons and pins Dave had in mind didn't exist at this time other than in his head. We had nothing but time and were in no hurry for the engine so we gave him the go ahead to start things rolling. He worked with Mahle over the next couple months and the pistons came to fruition. Dave also worked with ATI to get me a 17% overdrive damper that was lighter weight than the norm.


It was apparent from the beginning that the limiting factor of the engine would be the Magnuson sitting on top. Initially, the plan was to build a bottom end that could support the Maggie maxed out but as things escalated, as things often do, the Maggie became the weak link. Whipple had a new 2.9L twin screw out that would be a better fit but they didn't have one for the WK1 engine configuration. Dave talked us into a Whipple and challenged us to make it work. So that's what we did. We pulled the Maggie off and sold it. Put the Whipple on and redid the fuel system completely for the future goals.

Dave finished up the engine and we received it late in June. We've been sitting on the engine waiting for the winter when we can take the Jeep down for a few months. We've used that time to fine tune the Jeep and get it as ready as possible for the new power plant. I've had a lot of fun driving it and the weather has been unseasonably awesome for the last month so I've been taking advantage of that and been enjoying the Jeep. I expect to take a couple months to tear down the engine and build it back up. I want to redo some custom brackets I've made and that will be time consuming but so much easier with the engine out of the way. Same with the wiring. The stock wiring harness is going on 10 years old and needs a lot of tlc.

6.1L based iron block 405.

The build up.
















The heads.
Thitek 100-2125
2.125" hollow stem intake
1.65" exhaust
Beehive











 
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#52 ·
It was a beautiful weekend out so I got my pop's 300 out to stretch it's legs. There's just something about a naturally aspirated well tuned heads and cammed Hemi.



We added the first 4 quarts of oil through the oil temperature sensor port. We rotated the engine over and watched the oil come out the pushrods and rocker shafts.



Then I buttoned up the valve covers, installed the rest of the spark plugs (we pulled one from each cylinder to release compression), and then I installed the coil packs. The alternator and A/C compressor are mounted for hopefully the final time.



Starting to really go together now.



The lower tub is installed. Here's a picture of the before.



And the after.







 
#53 ·
Awesome build man - I am curious are you going to be able to share where you sourced all these pulleys from? I was mid-phase of planning out an 8rib dedicated drive and ran into some snags.

I am currently running a 17% OD ATI with a 2.75" blower pulley, no slip now but I am trying to downsize the blower pulley and overspin it a little. SO an 8rib is absolutely necessary.
 
#55 ·
Do you still have your stock AC pulley? I think I have found an over the counter option, but need a few measurements on the back spacing etc to make sure. Most important is going to be the outer most edge of the pull to the mounting flange on the condenser. Thanks, really appreciate all the info!
 
#57 ·
I worked on the Jeep for a couple hours and redid the heater core lines, tucked away some wiring and installed the supercharger.







Then I measured for a belt. With the adjustable pulley at it's mid travel and the tensioner fully relaxed I got 121 inches. With the tensioner at full travel it was 118 inches. Gates has a 119.5" that I will try first. I used a 20 gauge wire to measure, this picture is with a string for effect.

 
#59 ·
One of the side effects of using a larger power steering pulley was the inability to use a pump mounted reservoir. The backspacing of the pulley we are using causes the pulley to encroach on the space where the tank normally would be. So we had to go to a remote power steering reservoir setup. This is how the hemi cars are set up so this is not that hard of a change. We are using a pump fitting from a car where the tank would be attached. We decided to try mounting the tank behind the driver's side headlight and under the cover. My dad found a Canton tank that we thought we could make work. The only issue is the cap is a little bigger than I had hoped. Because of the cap size, the tank is right up against the headlight but still doable. And because I want to keep the tank hidden under the cover, we can only go so high. We used an old headlight for mockup. The tank centerline is even with the top of the pump fitting which only leaves me a couple inches of pump head so I will have to keep the level high in the tank but we will still have to account for expansion of the fluid. This may be as simple as filling up the system and it working, or this may be a pain in the azz. We will find out one way or another.
New Canton Tank.














We installed the AC lines and new radiator.


I painted the cap black to help hide it under the headlight cover.


Now I'm waiting on some 3/4" power steering hose to make it from the tank to the pump suction.
 
#62 ·
Nearing the home stretch for the fire up of this build. I can tell you that systems are being checked out. Power steering fluid is in , air bled and pump tested with a drill while vehicle was jacked up and steering wheel being rotated side to side. New intercooler liquid is in, air bled and hi volume pump working great. Lots of water movement going on. After the Easter holiday, final check for the fuel system will happen. A lot of lines and fuel fittings to check for leaks. NO fuel leak of any kind is acceptable. Than it's on to engine coolant final fill and bled. A new radiator was installed to maximize cooling for the extra cubes and high boost planned.

Really expect to hear some noise out of this beast fairly soon.
 
#63 ·
Update:

Finally had some time off again and played with the Jeep. Installed the AC condenser/transmission cooler and the power steering cooler (hidden under the bumper in this picture) and the cooler for the supercharger coolant system.



Installed the front brace and support arms and the hood latch.





Award winning bulldog keeping watch this week.



Used my airlift vacuum fill for the coolant system.





Filled all the fluids that hadn't already been filled and then leak checked the fuel system. Then started the thing for the first time. Video of it running to come.
 
#66 ·
I installed the first revision to the base tune today and got a better video of the Jeep idling. We are still in the heat cycle phase for the engine and will load the engine next as soon as I get a thumbs up from my tuner and my engine builder. No leaks so far. Fuel system is solid. No oil leaks. No transmission fluid leaks. Coolant system is still burping which is to be expected and playing nicely. No error codes of any kind which is absolutely afu(kingmazing! Knock on wood. We haven't turned the steering wheel yet, which will be a big step. That will load the power steering pump and pressurize the lines and that entire system has been reconfigured so wish me luck on that.

It's starting to sound a little better to me. It doesn't have a lot of lope but this is a supercharged engine designed around low rpm torque and not high rpm horsepower. Give and take, right?
Deep! Holy crap is the sound deep! Sounds louder than it probably is due to being in the garage while running but the deepness is such that you feel it in your chest. So far so good.

 
#67 ·
Looking and sounding very nice! Gotta be honest and ask, sounds like belt was chirping a little at idle? Tough to tell but sounded like power steering belt.
 
#69 ·
All blowers squeal with pleasure :drool: whether it's riding the pistons or doing the headlights doggy style. :hitanykey OCD is a good thing if controlled and utilized as an advantage.
 
#70 ·
I see, mine is def quite a bit louder since I am using the 2.75" pulley but it is a great sound. Sounds very similar if not identical to yours. Keep us up to date!
 
#71 ·
Update on the jeep.... No engine codes and has just been through the alignment shop. Our Complete refurbish of front end components had no problems other than usual adjustments. Engine break in is underway and more data logging. Mods to all the pulleys and steering pump seem to be successful....no problems yet. The one comment I heard about a short acceleration run... "Violent"
 
#73 ·
Had zero slip on mine @ 16-17psi on the 6 rib. Went to a 2.5" pulley on the six rib and couldn't hold, slipped horribly.

My decision to go 8 rib was actually more for the accessories and overall belt tension. The six rib belt would slip the power steering pulley at idle with my choppy cam and on any sudden rpm changes (1-2 shift, free rev, etc), and also my idler tensioner struggled to keep up with the belt's stretching, would fly all over the place. Hoping these issues go away with the 8 rib (first fire up will be today).
 
#75 ·
Thanks again for all the help and giving me recommendations, my 8 rib is successfully installed and up and running. Ended up just buying the entire kit from our Canada guy, and sourcing the additional idlers needed for the Whipple, which you provided. One thing I will say is the power steering pump pulley, both the one the supplier provided and the Ford one you mentioned, neither of them can be pressed on more than about 1/3 of the way onto the pump, otherwise it wont line up with the other pulleys. We ended up threading a screw and washer on the end to ensure it hangs on. And the pulley supplied by the supplier was HEAVY HEAVY, hope my pump bearing lasts.
 
#76 ·
Did I miss the install thread? We worked on the p/s pump a lot and have it spaced out from the head to line up the pulleys. The pulley is pressed on all the way to the pump and we also installed a screw and washer. We were already spacing the pump out to fit the larger pulley. So far, so good.
 
#77 ·
FYI - the bearing behind the blower pulley let go completely in under an hour of normal driving. Still determining the cause of the failure, unsure if its from the additional side load of the 8 rib or something with the install of the bearing (it was removed when the inlet was welded for the throttle body). Just thought I would share, keep a close eye on yours.
 
#78 ·
Been a lot going on with this red jeep. I know the transmission was upgraded to a pro model and just made the rollers at Modern Muscle Xtreme. Thanks Dave Weber for all your help and experience. Jeep is on facebook today making

716 rear wgeel hp on a low boost 93 octane tune. That's probably 850 plus crank hp . Small upper blower pullies coming soon. Check out Modern Muscle Xtreme on facebook.
 
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