5.3 swap done cheap...ish

Im a long time lurker and was always timid to post up but its time. I have finally decided to 5.3 swap my long time xj and post it up for others to see.

This Forum has aways been so great that i knew this was the place to do it! so lets get this show started!

ill start by giving you guys some background.

I bought the jeep stock while in highschool about 5 years ago. it has been through many different build stages but heres the latest.

stock 4.0(for now)
stock aw4 controlled by radesigns "rail" and "bajaII" shifters.
Dana 300 with jb lowmax 4:1 and nwf cable twin sticks
ford high pinion kingpin dana 60 front. spooled and full of chromoly.
ford dana 70u rear. spooled
Foa 16" coilovers all the way around
42" bias pitbulls on 20" ATX Alloy Beadlocks
Full hydro steering, suspension seats, Jaz fuel cell, air bumps, currie antirock, blah blah blah.

You can look for it on the cover of one of your favorite hardcore wheeling mags in the coming months!

you get the idea. on to the pics!









I really was never planning on doing this swap but the right deal happened at the right time. It was always in the back of my head that i needed to do something for a motor but just kinda left it in the air.

One of my good friends decide to build a new buggy and go with a 6.2 which left his 5.3 from his old buggy up for grabs. A drunken night after a wheeling trip and the deal was made.



I am now the proud owner of a filthy 5.3 and a built Th350. :cheers:

The motor came with a complete 2 wire hookup wait4me performance wire harness and tuned ecu.
he was even nice enough to throw in a pair of hooker block huggers.
The motor is out of a 2002 pickup with 100,000 miles.







I pulled the acessories and the intake and started cleaning. you can see paint stripper on the side of the block doing its magic.

looking good so far....we need some more action shots of the rig itself

DeftwillP said:

looking good so far....we need some more action shots of the rig itself

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Its pretty sad how few action shots i have. i always seem to be the one taking the pictures so in most of the shots of my own jeep my wife is driving.










this is from one of our local comps. we have a lot of them around here!

I like the spare tire mount.

So I drew up some motor side mount and cut them at work. they will utilize a bushing. I will figure out the frame side after i get the motor sitting where i like.

the brackets are keyed and can be flipped or reversed for different heights or header clearance.










I also started working on the intake. to save on cost for the time being i will run the truck intake. i cut off and smoothed out all the ribs and bolt bosses on the top. still needs some more work and paint.

I know it wont even come close to fitting under the hood but i am willing to cut and let it stick through or build a cowl. i do have a couple lines on car intakes, but for now this is the plan.

holy cow what a pain!

Nice rig you have there.

Hopefully, the headers you have will fit between the uni-frame rails. Otherwise, the Novak conversions headers seem to be the go to for ones that work out of the box.

I really wanna put an LQ/LS engine in my heep. Someday.

Ya wow. After reading the first post I expected something with like a 4"in lift and 35s hahah.

Any more pics of the build? Really would like to see how you did the fenders.

Johnnie Walker said:

Nice rig you have there.

Hopefully, the headers you have will fit between the uni-frame rails. Otherwise, the Novak conversions headers seem to be the go to for ones that work out of the box.

I really wanna put an LQ/LS engine in my heep. Someday.

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Thanks!

Yea i know they arent going to fit in stock form. i think i have read every ls swap thread out there and the novaks definitely seem to be the way to go. however, i enjoy a challenge and i have these hookers so im gonna make em work. :looney:

As im sure you can tell, im not afraid to take cutting tools to the jeep. haha

sardo_67 said:

Ya wow. After reading the first post I expected something with like a 4"in lift and 35s hahah.

Any more pics of the build? Really would like to see how you did the fenders.

Click to expand...

Haha, yea shes no baby.

I do have quite a few pics of the build. once upon a time i started working on a build thread on another site and got lazy and never finished it.

for now try this.

http://s84.photobucket.com/user/minimulisha247/library/

theres a few pics in there. let me know if there is anything more specific you are looking for and ill see what i can dig up! :cheers:

sardo_67 said:

Ya wow. After reading the first post I expected something with like a 4"in lift and 35s hahah.

Any more pics of the build? Really would like to see how you did the fenders.

Click to expand...

i do have quite a few pics of the build. once upon a time i started working on a build thread on another site and got lazy and never finished it.

for now try this.

http://s84.photobucket.com/user/minimulisha247/library/ look under jeep build

theres a few pics in there but they are pretty old. let me know if there is anything more specific you re looking for and ill see what i can dig up! :cheers:

So i scored a pretty good deal on an F body oil pan, windage tray, pickup, and dipstick. it was a take-off from a crate motor than was never ran. it is on the truck and scheduled for delivery monday!

With the known oiling issues and the fact that i drive my rig on its side alot, i decided im going to run a Improved racing baffle and a 3qt oil accumulator.

http://www.improvedracing.com/baffles/ls1-camaro-firebird-body-racing-oil-pan-baffle-p-30.html

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ctr-24-006/overview/

after spending the money on the f body pan and baffle i kinda wish i would have just sacked up and got the Kevko baffled pan. I like the idea of it being sheet metal and potentially taking hits better than the cast aluminum pan.

Oh well. live and learn. I will just build a beef engine skid and hope it holds up. :laugh3:


For accessory mounting I had a hard time deciding what to do.

The requirements i had were:
-move the alternator below the hood line for potential cchange to car manifold.
-utilize truck accessories
-belt routing that would allow for car manifold
-ability to mount my current TC style steering pump (most brackets only mount p-pumps)
-look good and not take up too much of my time.

I really liked some of the homemade brackets i saw guys building in other threads but i just knew with how busy i currently am and the small amount of time i have to work on the jeep that i would never build something that lived up to my expectations. The ability is there but the time is not.

After some research i found Dirty dingo. they offered a bracket for exactly that i wanted and i liked the looks so i pulled the trigger on it.

http://dirtydingo.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1_355&products_id=1400


It is scheduled to be delivered today. :smoker:

Those acc. brackets look nice.
I was thinking about going with one of these pans when the time comes.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/moto...rmance/1103004-lsx-stamped-steel-oil-pan.html

Johnnie Walker said:

Those acc. brackets look nice.
I was thinking about going with one of these pans when the time comes.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/moto...rmance/1103004-lsx-stamped-steel-oil-pan.html

Click to expand...

That is the other pan i was considering other than the Kevko.

I came across my fbody pan that was a killer deal and bought it on impulse. If I could do it a gain i would go with the Kevco or Pacific fab pan.

Got the motor mostly cleaned up! I also finished sanding and painting the truck intake but forgot to take a pic of it.

Dont mind the nasty truck oil pan. My F-body pan is scheduled to be here today.






This week im hoping to have the 4.0 out of the jeep and start cleaning the engine bay.
Im going to completely strip the jeep of any unnecessary wiring and begin to rewire. should be fun.

What aftermarket gauges do you guys like? I'm going to be needing to order some soon!

I'm using a set from Omega Kustoms. Sticker says Made in USA, 5-gauge set ran me $250 or so. That's on my hobby truck. Only ~75 niles on them but so far, so good. Available through Speedway Motors.

yossarian19 said:

I'm using a set from Omega Kustoms. Sticker says Made in USA, 5-gauge set ran me $250 or so. That's on my hobby truck. Only ~75 niles on them but so far, so good. Available through Speedway Motors.

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Thanks. I will check them out!



Last night I got the front end pulled apart and the motor mostly ready to pull. i just need to drop the cross-member and pull the Dana 300 off and pull the motor and tranny together.

A buddy that races Jeep Speed is buying the motor for a spare and my AW4 is going into another buddies YJ.

I have to admit that I'm kinda sad to see the trusty old 4.0 go. this motor has been great to me! i have never had a single issue. never even had to replace a sensor and lord knows i treated her bad. lol She spent a good amount of her life hovering around 6000rpm. :laugh2:

IMMA WATCHING

Phantom II gauges. Need I say more? Haha.