Franken yj

[superj]

Thanks for the reply superj, i looked into the engine only swap but there seemed to be lots of problems there. The motor mounts and the fact that jeep doesnt seem to make a transmission strong enough for my taste. It also seemed that it was going to be a more expensive and harder swap than gutting everything out and starting over. Those people that make the adaptors are sure proud of them not to mention that they seem to not give you enough details to know that the swap will work with thier parts. I guess there are just not enough ford guys to make this a popular swap huh? No worries, we will make our own and save money.....

i cannot believe how expensive the adapters are. that kills me. i don;t understand the pricing on those things

 

[bignasty1987yj]

Update on the beast: I attempted to put the drive train in this past weekend but snag after snag prevented me from doing anything productive. It seems that i may have to can the idea of using the modified skid plate and make a crossmember. No problem i guess but i wasn't quite ready for that when i was ready to work on it this past weekend. The reason why i couldn't use the skid plate is, i did'nt have the room i needed to mount a fan and i didn't want to can the good fan that i have now in trade for a smaller slimline fan. I want to use my black magic fan at all cost so, i opted for moving the motor back even farther.

This causes me some concern since the wheel base is so short. My concearns are, it may tend to want to wheelie some. Hope not but if any of you have ever worked on hot rods, you know that the farther a motor and trans sit in the vehicle, it tends to get light in the nose. Now, this motor doesn't have 500+ horse power but i have seen jeeps that are fairly stock that look like they stretch the front shocks all the way out. I want it to be safe also so i hope this will not be an issue. The motor has about 400 horse power at the crank and the motor is lighter than a normal 302 due to all of the aluminum parts and the lack of any accessories except for an alternator.

I wouldn't worry too much except for the fact that this jeep was put on a huge diet of fiberglass, missing factory parts and light weight aluminum. It has also been lifted up a good bit from its stock form.

Please let me know if anyone has had a similar related issue with thier jeep due to engine placement. I am new to jeeps so i want to know anything that will help me.

 

[superj]

i have only seen the video of that jeep racing a Ferrari and the jeep killed him. it didn;t try and pop a wheelie though but it looked closer to stock then how lightened yours is

 

[bignasty1987yj]

I finally got the engine, trans and transfer case in the jeep this past weekend. It went pretty well overall. The mustang fox body radiator hoses even worked out perfect with a little trimming. I did not move the engine back due to driveshaft concearns. It appears that i will have about a 12 inch driveshaft when i am done so i didn't think i needed to shorten it any more than it already will be. I also kept the skid plate for now because we ran out of day light. The engine sets at a 7 1/2 degree down angle in the rear and most driveline companies and factory specs recomment 8 degrees of angle. I think i can live with that. The motor mounts worked out nice and appear to be very strong even though we welded some gussets in to beef it up. The engine does set more to the passenger side due to the 8.8 rear end pinion offset.

We also welded the rear end mounts, shock mounts and we made some mounts for some axle braces that will come off of the lpw rear end cover. I sent the rear end to a friend that sets up my gears aalong with a new ford racing 4.56 gear, new ford racing 31 spline limited slip differential, new parking brake shoes, new axle bearings and seals and a new unit bearings and shim kit from rattech. The rear end should be just about bulletproof except for the stock axles. I priced all the other parst such as calipers, rotors, brake lines and such but have not purchased them yet.

When the rear end comes back to me, i will get it in and get started on the work that i can do underneath the jeep such as putting the gas tank back in, running fuel lines, brake lines and painting. I just dont like to lay under something on jack stands.

All in all, i am very satisfied with my project and the direction that it is going. It seems that everything is just as figured in my initial measurements and figures. It took a long time in the beginning to come up with a reasonable driveline that will be streetable and strong enough to handle the abuse it may encounter. My advice to anyone considering this type of transplant is to do some homework and try to consider every angle and your project shoudn't give you much problems. My only issues with the stock jeep engine and trans combo is that they seem weak and not very durable. Keep in mind that this project came to light after canning a mustang foxbody car. I am a ford man through and through and it was hard for me to consider any other option for a drive train.

I appreciate the couple of people that made comments and gave input during this conversion of mine. I didn't get near as much as i wanted but everything helped. I will be providing information as it happens involving this jeep project. Until next time........

 

[bignasty1987yj]

Here are some pics of the install, more coming later

 

[jps4jeep]

I hope those aren't the finished motor mounts

 

[bignasty1987yj]

I hope those aren't the finished motor mounts

no, they have gussets in the middle now and a gusset in the front that runs at an angle but thanks for asking

 

[bignasty1987yj]

I got the rear end in the jeep this weekend, here are some of the newest pics of the progress.

 

[superj]

i cannot wait for the final pictures. then i can hang it up for what i want my jeep to be like when it grows up

 

[bignasty1987yj]

i cannot wait for the final pictures. then i can hang it up for what i want my jeep to be like when it grows up

thanks for the posting superj, i'm sure your jeep will be nasty as well

 

[bignasty1987yj]

Update: I have been playing around with my jeep the last couple of weeks and here are a few of the things that i have accomplished.

I pulled the wiring harness out of the firewall sleeve and started cutting on some of the wiring that is not relavent to my conversion. A lot of the wiring looked as if it went to a hook up to do diagnostic related things. Well, it's not there anymore now. I also cliped all of the wires going to the electric gauges since i am going mechanical on the gauges.
I also lined up the body and tightened all of the body bushings

i hooked up the radiator hoses, installed the starter, headers, some ground wires to the engine, and the wires to the starter. My plan over the next couple of days is to take the dash out and to delete some more wires to make things a lot more simple. I also will replace the heater core so that it will not be an issue later on. When i accomplish those couple of things i will plumb everything and hook up all of the ignition parts.

I do have a little bit of painting around the windshield and under the hood as well as some body work to do on one rear corner of the jeep but will do that at a later date. Until then take care all......

 

[superj]

cool

 

[bignasty1987yj]

This is what a new years weekend of working on the bignasty1987yj looks like

 

[superj]

dude, that looks so badass!!

when you get it started, you'll have to post a video so we can hear it

 

[flatie46]

Looks good! Glad to see you didn't hit a snag or two and just give up. I'm not a ford man at all but if I had it I would have used it too. I know what your saying about the price of the adapters. I'm a tight wad and have access to a machine shop where I work. I make alot of things to save $$$. I had help from some friends at work but we made an adapter to bolt a T-5 trans to the flathead in my old 46 Plymouth. Keep after it, you'll be slingin mud for long.

 

[RudeDog]

Very nice... Your post, & constant the updates was/is really nice and informative. Hats off to you for posting this! I just signed up so was able to take most in all at once which was like fast forward. I hope the project works out well, you enjoy it, and it's mostly what you expected.

 

[Lee3333]

I have not been on these forums much lately, but just checked in and saw your creation. I have been working on a similar monster myself. I think I got my hood from the same place you did, only I chose the front opening. Pain in the a$$ cutting all of the openings. I reinforced part of the hood, also, since it seemed a bit flimsy. Was it in Florida? I have the same Autometer gauge panels, too.
I ditched my power steering for a manual box. The only problem I have is with the number of turns lock to lock-getting out of a parking space is great exercise.

 

[bignasty1987yj]

NOT MUCH PROGRESS LATELY ON THE JEEP, I'M WAITING ON TAX MONEY SO THAT I CAN BUY THE LAST FEW ITEMS I NEED TO FINISH IT. I HAVE POSTED SOME VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE OF IT RUNNING. THE TWO MUSTANG VIDEOS ARE JUST A HINT OF WHAT THE ENGINE RAN LIKE. THERE HAVE BEEN NO CHANGES TO THE ENGINE OTHER THAN A CARBURETOR CHANGE AND BBK LONG TUBE HEADERS. PLEASE CHECK THE VIDEOS OUT WHEN YOU HAVE TIME

ONE OF THESE VIDEOS WAS SHOT AT NIGHT AND RAN THROUGH THREE GEARS, THE OTHER WAS THE MUSTANG IN DAYLIGHT IDLEING, THE LAST ONE IS OF THE MOTOR AFTER IT WAS INSTALLED IN THE JEEP AND STARTED FOR THE SECOND TIME.

 

[superj]

NOT MUCH PROGRESS LATELY ON THE JEEP, I'M WAITING ON TAX MONEY SO THAT I CAN BUY THE LAST FEW ITEMS I NEED TO FINISH IT. I HAVE POSTED SOME VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE OF IT RUNNING. THE TWO MUSTANG VIDEOS ARE JUST A HINT OF WHAT THE ENGINE RAN LIKE. THERE HAVE BEEN NO CHANGES TO THE ENGINE OTHER THAN A CARBURETOR CHANGE AND BBK LONG TUBE HEADERS. PLEASE CHECK THE VIDEOS OUT WHEN YOU HAVE TIME

ONE OF THESE VIDEOS WAS SHOT AT NIGHT AND RAN THROUGH THREE GEARS, THE OTHER WAS THE MUSTANG IN DAYLIGHT IDLEING, THE LAST ONE IS OF THE MOTOR AFTER IT WAS INSTALLED IN THE JEEP AND STARTED FOR THE SECOND TIME.

1987 MUSTANG 3 GEAR BURN - YouTube

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX1gCHhpFIw&feature=player_detailpage

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pK7tiEpq-Y&feature=player_detailpage

That is so sweet!! Man, I am so jealous

 

[mcgrnr0013]

Update on the beast: I attempted to put the drive train in this past weekend but snag after snag prevented me from doing anything productive. It seems that i may have to can the idea of using the modified skid plate and make a crossmember. No problem i guess but i wasn't quite ready for that when i was ready to work on it this past weekend. The reason why i couldn't use the skid plate is, i did'nt have the room i needed to mount a fan and i didn't want to can the good fan that i have now in trade for a smaller slimline fan. I want to use my black magic fan at all cost so, i opted for moving the motor back even farther.

This causes me some concern since the wheel base is so short. My concearns are, it may tend to want to wheelie some. Hope not but if any of you have ever worked on hot rods, you know that the farther a motor and trans sit in the vehicle, it tends to get light in the nose. Now, this motor doesn't have 500+ horse power but i have seen jeeps that are fairly stock that look like they stretch the front shocks all the way out. I want it to be safe also so i hope this will not be an issue. The motor has about 400 horse power at the crank and the motor is lighter than a normal 302 due to all of the aluminum parts and the lack of any accessories except for an alternator.

I wouldn't worry too much except for the fact that this jeep was put on a huge diet of fiberglass, missing factory parts and light weight aluminum. It has also been lifted up a good bit from its stock form.

Please let me know if anyone has had a similar related issue with thier jeep due to engine placement. I am new to jeeps so i want to know anything that will help me.

haha mines stock and i can pop wheelie's there pretty small but they still count