GonzoTheGreat

Same. I went zero to hero with that car. When I bought it I didnt even know what a torque converter was. A few years later I was manual swapping it. That really raised the fun factor. I'm glad it rotted out before I got into any real trouble

In high school I learned to drive in my moms toyota sienna, and to drive stick in my dads corolla. Immediately after I bought a clapped out old bmw e30 as my first car, and I had a lot of fun with that thing.

I also vote "HAF JEEP"

I took an electric worm out of an XJ (rear door because I figured it had less wear) the trolley assembly is completely different, but the worm is the same, (just a little longer--maybe the front one is equal length. ). Manual on left, electric on right: To take the worm out, you have to uncrimp the end of the tube, I used pliers, then recrimp when the new worm is in. I drilled out the rivets on the electric regulator trolley and drilled out the stamped bits on my old manual regulator. I was able to bolt the new worm onto the old trolley, just slightly off-centered, but its been working great so far. The problems with the old one were obvious. A bunch of hairs had fallen off and caked up with grease and rust. I had sprayed it wil pb blast a year ago, and it was a bit better, but it didn't help for long. I have a lot more confidence in the worm swap as a permanent repair.

If you swap to a 4.0, you don't need to make custom motor mounts, crossmember, tranny mount, exhaust, standalone wiring, etc. like you would with a different drivetrain. You end up with a good, reliable engine thats engineered for that chassis. Also if youre completely devoid of any load, on flat ground, and not crossing 55mph, there is not much difference in pull between the 2.5L and 4.0 because the 2.5 has deeper axle gearing, but under ANY normal driving condition the 4.0 has LOADS more power, and gets as good or better fuel economy. I have a 2.5 and a 4.0. I like them both for what they are, but I would say if you have a good deal on a donor vehicle, and you plan to do more than just drive around town, I wouldn't hesitate to swap up.

No, I think the gm style has a stamped piece of metal sealing the housing shut. I think the later, chrysler tumbler is the one where you can change the blocks.

Kody is on eBay now

An update here is long overdue, and ill come back to the suspension situation later, but this week I got my brothers old jetta TDI running to investigate the engine swappability. Its been sitting for awhile and the turbo actuator is seized. We initially thought the turbo vanes were coked up, so I had the pleasure of removing the crusty old manifolds and cleaning everything. All in all it has potential, so I'm gonna soup up the engine while its still in the jetta, then strip down the wiring to be stand-alone, and mate it to the ax15/np231 out of the '88. This will all be dropped into the donor '89 chassis. For those familiar with that scene, its an '02 ALH engine getting .260 injector nozzles and a Burpod tune, keeping the stock turbo, for now, which should put the torque output somewhere around 230-240ft/lbs, which is about the same as the stock 4.0L, but with half the weight. This is not going to be a quick process, but I will try to provide updates as often as things occur.

Last week I put in a '95 dual diaphragm booster, and it made a night and day difference in braking. I waited way too long to do that. Feels a little naked now without the cap on, but I really like being able to see again. (Also take note of where the cap is, and the Jetta TDI in front of it... )

Like this?

Haha, as always, I wish I took better pictures, mid-process. I think that worm came out of a 97+ XJ, possibly even a rear door, but I pulled it from a junkyard like 3 years ago. Maybe someone can recognize the window attachment part and confirm?

Ok, the part about painting the studs, marking the header panel radiator support, and drilling 6 holes is wrong. I read this walk-through, and tried to do that part before realizing that those studs are meant to mount the top isolators, and the upper radiator support has holes, pre-drilled, for the two isolator studs (at least it did in my 89). Also the 6 little studs will never reach the the top crossmember if you install The bottom isolators and drop the radiator into the punched holes in the lower radiator support. Also, if you only keep the stock mechanical fan, with no shroud, you're not going to move enough air across the radiator at low speeds. I installed a stock, 97+ electric fan with a sensor in the lower radiator hose. The electric fan proved incompetent on very hot days under heavy load, so had to add a second one on a toggle. In the end I found a system that works, but it begs the question, was there actually a problem here in the first place? In hindsight, I would prefer to have a well-maintained stock system over this expensive re-invention of the wheel.

I found out the "worm" gear from an electric window regulator can be made to fit a manual one. It's been a long time since I could open my window all the way.

When I was in Italy, I used autodoc.de and ebay.de. I don't speak german, but with google translate, and part numbers, I found what I needed, and germany definitely had the most parts available from within the EU (no need to pay VAT or wait for transatlantic shipping).