350 conversion help

i have an 89 cherokee that im building a trail rig with and was wondering if anyone has swapped a 350 in before. i am goin to run a 4-speed manual tranny behind it.

any help would be nice, im just wondering what i need to cut and stuff like that.
im also plating in the unibody "framerails" and there will be a interior rollcage through the floorpan and welded to the plates if that makes any difference.

i would also like to know what i could do to strengthen the rails around the motor mounts to reduce the chances of tearing them up because of torque.

thanks ahead of time

-cody

Here's mine. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1000211
It's all bolt in with no cutting. Got the engine, trans and t-case in, locked it down and built mounts.

liveforthegame1 said:

i have an 89 cherokee that im building a trail rig with and was wondering if anyone has swapped a 350 in before. i am goin to run a 4-speed manual tranny behind it.

any help would be nice, im just wondering what i need to cut and stuff like that.
im also plating in the unibody "framerails" and there will be a interior rollcage through the floorpan and welded to the plates if that makes any difference.

i would also like to know what i could do to strengthen the rails around the motor mounts to reduce the chances of tearing them up because of torque.

thanks ahead of time

-cody

Click to expand...

http://www.advanceadapters.com and http://www.novak-adapt.com/

If you want to do it, talk with those guys.

i have some advanced adapters cherokee 350 motor mounts for $50 if you interested...

thanks guys i appreciate the help

i already looked on novak and adv.ad. for parts and thats prob. where i will get them.

jbsjunk did you have any problems getting the tranny in....clearance-wise with the transfer case? and are you running an electric fan by itself or with a mechanical fan?

HERES MINE.


fender wells need to be cut, motor mounts from advance adapters

if that aint enough to excite ya, type in f44life in the youtube.com search and there is severel videos of me at the badlands, silverlake, dyno numbers. Id be happy to answer your questions.

There are sevearl on here that have done the 350 swap. LS1??? Cannot remember hsi whole nick is one that stands out for some reason.

theres only a handful

liveforthegame1 said:

jbsjunk did you have any problems getting the tranny in....clearance-wise with the transfer case? and are you running an electric fan by itself or with a mechanical fan?

Click to expand...

Didn't have any clearance issues with either. The transfer case is actually a couple inches higher than stock too. The trans is a couple inches off the floor. I adapted the XJ trans mount to the Chevy trans and moved the crossmember back a couple inches.

I'm running a electric fan only, no room for any decent engine driven fan. I'll see how the OE fan works and if it isn't up to par I'll swap in a aftermarket.

projectTK said:

if that aint enough to excite ya, type in f44life in the youtube.com search and there is severel videos of me at the badlands, silverlake, dyno numbers. Id be happy to answer your questions.

Click to expand...

what were some of the difficulties you ran into during the swap? or did you buy it this way?

89xj said:

what were some of the difficulties you ran into during the swap? or did you buy it this way?

Click to expand...

He bought it that way.

yeah there were some difficulties on the install. I still need some custom headers made because the ones on there are actually a aftermarket stock replacement for the corvette and the headers is banging on my upper control arm when i bottom it out. It hits the headers. So i just through them on there for now just cant be hitting steep inclines real hard or it bangs hard. Other then it was a straight forward install other then the fender mods and some nics and nacs here and there.

Heres a pic of my problem.





Hits the front drive shaft too and it is tucked as it can be considering where the headers comes out which is centered. When i get some money um going to order the advance adapters header that has the header outlet turn down at number 4 bank. Heres a pic of the header i need.


O here is a common one why didnt you go with an ls1, or vortec and make alot more power? well first you need a donor car and or motor which isnt cheap compared to the corvette i pulled my motor out of which was a 87 vette. I have plenty of aftermarket parts i can add on or build the motor to a 383 stroker and or add a supercharger.

It made 200hp and 300ftlbs on the dyno.
Then the next thing people will say is why didnt you just make your 4.0l a stroker you would get the same amount of power you dynoed with your v8? Then i say well a 4.0l stroker is a motor that is build as effecient as it can and has little to no more upgrades you can add. Plus my v8 has endless possibilities and id rather here a v8 gurgling then a 4.0 screaming.

Any questions just feel free to ask.

projectTK said:

Heres a pic of my problem.

Click to expand...

I'm looking at the same problem. I'm going to end up getting a set of block huggers and modding the collector end to get around this. Then build my exhaust from there. I don't forsee any problems.

what motor did you swap in? yeah first time i bottomed out was hitting a steep incline at silverlake.

I did mine with a 5.3L, the whole thing was difficult. If it wasn't everyone would have one. The hp/torque feels absolutely perfect in the XJ. The first ride around the block you will be wondering what took you so long to do it.

very cool. Did you do a write up? What kind of mpg do you get?

I'll have to look at that someday. Nice rig.

Gas mileage wasn't a motivator when I started the project. However, if I baby it, I can get to 15-16 mpg (about the same as the 4.0L when I drove it nice). Its alot more fun to drive it getting 10 mpg though!

I didn't do a write up, just took a couple pics along the way.