AT Comanche upgrades
- Thread starter elcoyote
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elcoyote
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Interestingly enough, no. The original AX-15 manual 5 speed has been in tried and true service for the last 350K miles. Not a hiccup. No reason to change. The T-case is is the original NP231, rebuilt at 250K, not because it needed it but because I thought it was a good idea. Gears are 4:56, Dana 44 rear with Detroit locker and Dana 30 high pinion front with ARB locker. This configuration has been an extremely reliable set up for me.
Backwoods Rambler
Explorer
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elcoyote
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The Golen 4.6 stroker has been in for a week now. After the initial 20 minute cam break-in, it was time to change oil to a break-in formula and start driving. I ran a total of 28 gallons of fuel for about 400 miles before switching the break-in oil out to conventional 10-40 with a cam additive. My break in instructions were to not baby it. "Have some fun with it" to quote Chad Golen. I did exactly that last week. I drove up the Mt. Baldy road every morning before starting work. For those of you who may not know the SoCal area, this is a twisty mountain road that rises from Claremont at 1169 ft to the parking lot at the ski lift at 6500 feet over the course of 11 miles. The road grade is 6-15%.
I was able to pull this road all the way to Baldy Village in 4th gear. The balance of the road to the ski lift was 2nd & 3rd.
I also ran this same road in the afternoons with the A/C on full blast. The first day engine temp rose to 225. Subsequent days as the engine loosened up, the temps reduced with A/C on to 215. Ambient temps were in the low 80's.
The engine is a bit noisier than the original due to the performance cam. I experienced a slight ping which was solved instantly with some Lucas Oil Octane Booster. I am running 91 octane fuel. Fuel to air ratio is running right on my guage with 26 lb injectors and the factory MAP sensor so a little timing adjustment may be in order. I may use a Split Second FTC-0019 to achieve this
.
My first impressions of this power plant are really good. It has exactly the power I have been wanting for my MJ. It does not have the instant punch that the supercharger had at higher rpm but the low end and mid range torque is much better. It really growls and is fun when the rpms are up past 3500. The power curve reminds me very much of the 2.8 international diesel that was in the Ford Transit van I drove in NZ.
The engine now has 450 miles on it and is ready for a 3 week road trip of about 2000 miles. I will get a good opportunity to evaluate mileage, desert heat performance and high altitude performance. I'll post the numbers here when I return.
At this point, I like the mod so much that I am contemplating sending my original block back to Golen to build into another stroker...just in case I find an appropriate recipient vehicle.
Today, my MJ has 333,307 miles. I am looking forward to taking her past the 500K mark.
I was able to pull this road all the way to Baldy Village in 4th gear. The balance of the road to the ski lift was 2nd & 3rd.
I also ran this same road in the afternoons with the A/C on full blast. The first day engine temp rose to 225. Subsequent days as the engine loosened up, the temps reduced with A/C on to 215. Ambient temps were in the low 80's.
The engine is a bit noisier than the original due to the performance cam. I experienced a slight ping which was solved instantly with some Lucas Oil Octane Booster. I am running 91 octane fuel. Fuel to air ratio is running right on my guage with 26 lb injectors and the factory MAP sensor so a little timing adjustment may be in order. I may use a Split Second FTC-0019 to achieve this
.
My first impressions of this power plant are really good. It has exactly the power I have been wanting for my MJ. It does not have the instant punch that the supercharger had at higher rpm but the low end and mid range torque is much better. It really growls and is fun when the rpms are up past 3500. The power curve reminds me very much of the 2.8 international diesel that was in the Ford Transit van I drove in NZ.
The engine now has 450 miles on it and is ready for a 3 week road trip of about 2000 miles. I will get a good opportunity to evaluate mileage, desert heat performance and high altitude performance. I'll post the numbers here when I return.
At this point, I like the mod so much that I am contemplating sending my original block back to Golen to build into another stroker...just in case I find an appropriate recipient vehicle.
Today, my MJ has 333,307 miles. I am looking forward to taking her past the 500K mark.
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elcoyote
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When I dropped the new engine in, we also installed a 140 A Mean Green alternator. The factory alternator was rated at 90 A. It is not an exact fit and required a little grinding of the engine block and bracket to make fit. I made this upgrade so as to better recharge the National Luna Power Pack I run to serve house duties. The NLPP houses a 105 A, group 31 Deka VR AGM.
Wanting to perform some calibration to my voltmeter, I had my mechanic test the alternator and put a full load on it. We measured 13.9 volts and interestingly, when subjected to load on his Snap On test device, it was producing 200 A! WOW!
To see what that meant, I took the battery down to 11.5 volts. The Mean Green brought it back to full charge in 3 hours of driving without seeing any major voltage drop on the gauge. Not bad at all.
Wanting to perform some calibration to my voltmeter, I had my mechanic test the alternator and put a full load on it. We measured 13.9 volts and interestingly, when subjected to load on his Snap On test device, it was producing 200 A! WOW!
To see what that meant, I took the battery down to 11.5 volts. The Mean Green brought it back to full charge in 3 hours of driving without seeing any major voltage drop on the gauge. Not bad at all.
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Root Moose
Expedition Leader
Very cool.
Can you refresh my memory? What compression ratio is the engine?
Can you refresh my memory? What compression ratio is the engine?
elcoyote
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adventureduo
Dave Druck [KI6LBB]
Awesome Mario, just awesome!
Backwoods Rambler
Explorer
Yes, very cool. It sounds like it offers a more controlled power band, vs. the sudden rush of power given by the supercharger at higher RPM's.
Root Moose
Expedition Leader
9.2, eh? And you were pinging on 91 octane? Is that normal? Seems like you should be able to run lower octane with out pinging (but I'm far from expert on such things).
elcoyote
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Hi performance engines like the 4.6 and my supercharger require high octane. the pining will be solved with a timing adjustment.
elcoyote
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1st 3000 miles & MPG Numbers
I have just returned from a 3 week road trip. I was impressed with the 4.6 stroker motor performance. We ran the A/C the entire time and drove altitudes from 1800 ft to 13000 ft. Desert temps were in the low 100's. The engine ran warm but never into the red. Power was impressive, pulling 6% grades in Colorado at 10,000 ft in 4th gear at 60 mph without complaining. Over the course of 2799 miles, we consumed 177.12 gallons or 15.8 MPG avg. The MJ was fully loaded with gear & supplies. About 300 of the miles were off pavement. This is a substantial improvement (24%) over the 12 MPG avg that I saw with the super charger. The stroker was a mod without regret.
I have just returned from a 3 week road trip. I was impressed with the 4.6 stroker motor performance. We ran the A/C the entire time and drove altitudes from 1800 ft to 13000 ft. Desert temps were in the low 100's. The engine ran warm but never into the red. Power was impressive, pulling 6% grades in Colorado at 10,000 ft in 4th gear at 60 mph without complaining. Over the course of 2799 miles, we consumed 177.12 gallons or 15.8 MPG avg. The MJ was fully loaded with gear & supplies. About 300 of the miles were off pavement. This is a substantial improvement (24%) over the 12 MPG avg that I saw with the super charger. The stroker was a mod without regret.
elcoyote
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0004
Follow up here. Instead of adjusting the timing to solve a little bit of pinging that I was experiencing with my Golen stroker initially, I ran some Lucas octane booster. It did not solve it but it did help. Under the recommendation of Chad Golen, who is spot on with the customer service I might add, I put in a Hesco adjustable fuel pressure regulator today. The part number for the 91-95 engines is HES9195FR. It came preset at 44 psi. After my test run up the Mt. Baldy road at 44 psi, I can say that the ping is virtually gone and throttle response improved (I was not unhappy with original throttle response at all). I may up the psi another 2 points to see what happens but until then I will run 600 miles on it over the weekend and report back with MPG #'s & operating temperatures etc with this new change.
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