It's 5.3/AW4 swap time for the road racer

[John D]

Part of that is just the XJ engine bay and unibody rails. The LSx is pretty compact, but just not in the dimensions that help it fit in the Cherokee. I think if we swapped the truck intake for the Corvette or Camaro, it would be a little lower.

It is lower and it does clear the hood, but you need to deal with the accessories.
Here is mine.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

It is lower and it does clear the hood, but you need to deal with the accessories.
Here is mine.

That looks great. We actually have the parts to do it, but then it ceases to fall into the $500 car category.

Tell me more about the cone filter though.

-Matt

 

[John D]

Thanks. The filter is nothing special and didn't really work for me more than a temporary solution. I bought it at Advance Auto for 20 bucks. It sucked a lot of heat off the radiator and my IAT was constantly pegged. This was a better solution.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Yeah, I guess that makes sense (though with our hood scoop, there should be some good air flow). We've relocated our battery so there's lots of space up front to put a cone filter out of the way (and with some liberal plasma cutting) in some fresh air. And all for $30.

-Matt

 

[GSequoia]

Can you get some sheet aluminum and make a bastard CAI drawn from the scoop?

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Can you get some sheet aluminum and make a bastard CAI drawn from the scoop?

We've cut out the headlight buckets and have vents coming in through the side of the engine bay, fed through our widebody front fenders. What would make sense is to insulate the filter down where the battery used to live, but I doubt we'll have time.

Behind the IPFs is totally open to the engine bay, and off to each side we cut vents in the leading faces of the fender extensions and aimed the air into the engine bay. You can sort of see it in this pic:

 

[Root Moose]

^^ Full of win! ^^

 

[GSequoia]

It would be interesting to log intake temps with that setup open, boxed with simple sheet, and insulated.

Of course that would probably be too much R&D for a Lemons race

 

[IXNAYXJ]

It would be interesting to log intake temps with that setup open, boxed with simple sheet, and insulated.

Of course that would probably be too much R&D for a Lemons race

It would cut into our drinking time. And probably not matter all that much in the end.

 

[GSequoia]

It would cut into our drinking time. And probably not matter all that much in the end.

Like I said, it would be interesting.

Not necessarily profitable.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

...it would be interesting.

Not necessarily profitable.

Agreed. Once we get this first race under our belts and see if this thing is going to work at all, we'll start tinkering.

 

[bjoehandley]

Part of that is just the XJ engine bay and unibody rails. The LSx is pretty compact, but just not in the dimensions that help it fit in the Cherokee. I think if we swapped the truck intake for the Corvette or Camaro, it would be a little lower. Our solution:

That's right, I forgot that these were originally designed for that 2.8l turd from the S-Trucks.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

The LSx intake will definitely help with clearance.

 

[MoparManiac]

Looks and sounds great! Can't wait to see how you guys do with some more ponies under the hood.

You guys running an oil cooler or anything? Can't remember if I read that anywhere. What do you run for oil?

The LSx intake will definitely help with clearance.

I don't think you know what LSx means.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Looks and sounds great! Can't wait to see how you guys do with some more ponies under the hood.

You guys running an oil cooler or anything? Can't remember if I read that anywhere. What do you run for oil?

We decided to run an oil cooler for this motor. In addition we tossed on the F-body oil pan which has a LOT of internal baffling. We're retaining the 2 qt Accusump that we added to the 4.0. We're running AmsOil 20/50 race oil from 4x4oil.com, in addition to their high end ATF. Trying to give the AW4 every chance; we're also trying out one of child9's custom valved throttle bodies which should help, too.

I don't think you know what LSx means.

Lol

 

[MoparManiac]

child9's custom valved throttle bodies which should help, too.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...

 

[child9]

Lulz

 

[Tptrsn]

So the initial impressions of the install and the stock trans living under the new power are good I guess? Just need to sort the engine issue...?

 

[yossarian19]

Donut videos?
Powerslides?
C'mon folks -
we need to see how this will work in an everyday driving sort of situation