Realized I never posted up some good pictures of the final upper link design:

 

Well Jeep Lost her head this weekend:






Gasket was still good on the head and no sludge was present, this coolant was just because I didn't drain it completely prior to loosening the head.




Head is currently at a local shop getting rebuilt, so I got bored with some of my wife's left over craft paint:

 

Question for anyone who's done a head swap.
I bought the ENGINEQUEST part #HB259N bolt kit as most people recommended it.

However, it only came with 2 studs instead of 7 studs and 7 bolts like before.
Which two should get the studs?

 

Oh ok, I was wondering how that was going to work with that UCA bracket being horizontal. Makes sense now.

You're gonna wind up with the blue version of mine





BTW, what plug wires are those? They look like 8mm Taylor Cables

 

Two studs should go inside the valve cover (look at your valve cover gasket). Those two studs help locate exactly where the gasket will sit down on the head.

 

Awesome Thanks!

 

Yeah, they're Taylor 8.2mm wires. I went with Blue because they were two dollars cheaper than the Reds

 

We'll still waiting on my head to get done.
So I decided to spend some more money on 13" travel shocks.

I've been eyeing the doetsch 8000 since I was introduced to them so decided I'd try them out

 

I love my doetsch 8000s with the built in bumpstops. I run with no sway bars and I've hit snow and puddles going 65 with no problems. They are stiff but not harsh and keep my wheels where they need to be.

 

Ha! Well, that's as good a reason as any. Are you able to run a larger gap with your ignition setup? I was thinking about doing a full DUI setup with the 8mm wires and the Screamin' Demon coil... says you can run a .055" gap with that coil, but I haven't talked with anyone personally that's running a "beefier" ignition setup.

Tip for your valve cover woes (for the next time), use the cardboard box that the gasket comes in and trace around it like a "map" for the bolts. Then you'll know exactly where they go...



The studs should all go on the passenger side, as they are there to act as a mounting bracket for the wire separators and the heater hose bracket

 

I didn't do any special regaping when I installed the setup.
I kept the factory .035 gap.
After 2yrs however, i've now pulled my plugs for this head job to check gap.
All the plugs look good no fouling however, the gap ranged from .036 to .055
The rest where around .040-.045

With that I've set the Gap for the plugs at .045 and plan to see how that does.

 

Right on... I'll stay tuned lol.

At least you got 2 years out of them. Not sure which plugs you're running, but after a year in mine, the champions were wore-out. BUT, mine was running really lean because of low fuel pressure for the past few months... so that probably killed them pretty quick.

 

What were you final link lengths (upper/lower)?

 

I ran Autolites last time, going with Champions this time.
I've bumped up the fuel pressure on mine so i don't run lean.

But I'm pretty sure this huge exhaust leak I had is what made the one burn out to .055
Thanks for the heads up though on the Champions I'll keep a check on them.

 

I had them written down when we finished but can't find it.
The anti-squat came out better than planned but the roll-steer did not.

I'll remeasure and redo the calcs then post back.