terrawombat

The electric radiator fan on the 1998ZJ 5.9L Limited also moves a good deal of air. It's able to keep the 5.9L cool in the ZJ engine bay (which isn't much bigger than the XJ engine bay) so I should be okay with that. Some other good alternatives are the electric radiator fans out of a 4.6L V8 Thunderbird or a Ford Taurus. There are some options - just need to figure out which will be best...

I have a build thread, here: http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/view ... =7&t=15010 Around the end of page 2 is where I decided to change the course of the project and drop in a V8. Here is a summary of the project: I will be using a 5.9L V8 Mopar Magnum engine and 46RE transmission out of a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9L Limited. The interior is going to be converted to the 97+XJ style (I have a '99XJ Sport donor). The exterior will also be converted to the 97+XJ style. I intend on using the body and engine harness from the '98ZJ 5.9L Limited and I will splice that into the interior wiring harness from the '99XJ Sport. I've done quite a bit of research on this and have talked to some other people that have done similar swaps and it looks like it can be done and the XJ instrument cluter will talk to the ZJ PCM over the Chrysler CCD Bus network (at least that's the hope). The gas tank is still up in the air, but I believe that one out of a Dodge Dakota will work and I can adapt a fuel pump to work - I just need to check to make sure that my operating pressures are where they need to be. Cooling system is still iffy, but I'm still researching that and have some ideas. The engine mounts are going to be entirely custom and I intend on using as many factory tie-in points that I can to minimize the amount of drilling into the body/frame. The transmission cross member is out of a '98ZJ and was slightly modified to bolt up to the factory mounting locations. Axles/gearing is another in-the-air item, but I'm thinking either 8.25 or D44 in the rear and a D30 up front with 4.10 gears. Once the swap is complete and the vehicle can move under its own power and is running flawlessly, a Powerdyne supercharger and all accompanying modifications will be added to the engine. Tuning will be done via my SCT handheld device with the engine tunes coming from a professional tuner in North Carolina (Sean Powell). O2 readings will be continuously monitored and recorded with a Innovate Motorsports wideband and logger.

http://southjersey.craigslist.org/cto/2436616756.html

5.9L V8 Magnum is going into my '88MJ. It fits with room to spare, but I will be making completely custom engine mounts for it. I suspect cooling may be an issue, however, this engine came out of a 1998ZJ that had a similar engine bay and grill opening size and no cooling issues. I will be using a very large, high flowing electric radiator fan to keep the temps down at idle. I hope to have the engine mounts completed by the end of this week.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, Jeff.

In order to complete the passenger side mount, I needed to get the engine squared up in the engine bay and make sure that the output shaft of the transmission was in line with the rear differential. To make this easier, I got to work on what will become the permanent transmission cross member - it's out of my donor '98ZJ 5.9L. The center-to-center distance between the frame mounting holes on the stock cross-member from the MJ was roughly 34 3/16". On the ZJ, it's just about 35", so, I simply slotted the holes on the ZJ cross member and bolted it up for test fitment. After some tweaks and additional slotting of the holes, it is mounted and the engine measures square in the engine bay. I noticed that the entire drivetrain was tilted downward slightly, but a side-by-side comparison of my '98ZJ 5.9L shows that the angle of tilt on the MJ is less severe than how the ZJ came from the factory (but it could also be worn engine/trans mounts that is allowing it to sag). Either way, I feel comfortable with how it currently sits and I should hopefully be able to complete the passenger mount sometime next week. I'm either going to make an entirely new drivers side mount from scratch (like I did for the passenger side) or modify the existing mount I already made (a hackjob combination of a ZJ and MJ/XJ drivers mount).

Thanks Bo! The mount is only about 60% complete - there will be gussets between the legs both on top and on the bottom, but I'll still leave enough clearance to allow the motor to be pulled from the engine bay without having to remove the whole frame mount. I also plan to run a vertical strip along the top of the frame rail, weld it to my monstrosity of a mount and drill some holes through the frame for some extra tie-ins...kind of like how the drivers side mount and track bar mount are bolted together up top. The trans is attached to the engine, but no transfer case. I already see that I'm going to have some issues there, but the good thing is that a lot of the drivers floor pan and transmission tunnel are currently cut out of the truck for rust repair so I'm already part of the way there in terms of floor clearance modifications.

I got a decent portion of the passenger side frame rail mount finished tonight. I wish I was better at welding... I can already see Bo from across the country shaking his head wondering why I'm putting in so much extra work. Well, it was certainly good practice with the welder! :D

My first test fit had the stock ZJ manifolds on and I had no clearance issues with those. But, I really really really really really want to use these header pipes since this MJ is going to be a little bit more than just a V8 MJ ;) They're not quite block huggers...I think those would actually fit. These are Mopar Performance headers (same as the Doug Thorley headers) for a ZJ. They're ceramic coated and I've got the Y-pipe to match. Everything is all welded up to use V-band clamps. Should flow nicely with the supercharger going on this thing. I've got the passenger side engine mount base all fabbed up and welded. Need to take some measurements and fab up some "tabs" to extend out to the mount on the engine side.

After finishing up the drivers side motor mount, I decided to drop the engine in the bay to measure for the passenger side mount. I also decided to throw on the Mopar Performance headers I intend on using with the engine. Unfortunately, with how I had the drivers mount setup, there was simply no way to get the passenger header to clear the body. I had to bring the motor about 1.5" forward and drop it about half inch to get my desired clearance. I think I'm going to scrap my original idea with the motor mounts and start from scratch and build a custom set of mounts.

Seems like everywhere in the continental US is tornado prone this year. Had one touch down 20 miles north of me a couple weeks ago and another ripped through CT around the same time. Soon we'll start having earthquakes...

Yea, the site I linked to in my previous post had the -3AN hose length I needed with the correct hose ends already installed plus they had the stainless steel brake line fitting as well. I checked ANplumbing.com too, but their costs were higher than Race Part Solutions. AN stuff gets really expensive really quickly. The fuel rails on my 5.9L Magnum Comanche project use only AN fittings and hoses. There isn't a whole lot on there, but it was a couple hundred dollars in parts.

I didn't search around much, but it was the only fitting of its type that I could find. A little pricey at about $10 shipped, but it didn't break the bank.

Stainless steel.

Here is where we're at so far: Remove female quick disconnect fitting: Now you're left with a 7/16"-24 inverted flare male fitting on 1/4" OD tubing: Install 7/16"-24 inverted flare to -3AN fitting:

My '01XJ with a '98XJ engine in it has a very soft, but noticeable, knocking sound. It has been there since I dropped the engine in two years 30K+ miles ago (has 184K on it now). It doesn't matter if the engine is cold or warm, but it does seem more pronounced when the engine is up to operating temperatures. It definitely seems to be coming from the bottom end, but I've just learned to live with it. Of the many Jeeps I own with a 4.0L under the hood, this one is by far the most powerful and has the best oil pressure so I'm not too worried. My '88MJ Pioneer (4.0L) makes a similar noise - 78K My '92MJ Sport (4.0L) does not make any noises - 240K+ My old '91YJ (4.0L) did not make any noises - 116K Who knows? Someone once told me that if a 4.0L isn't making some strange noise, it's not running right :D

Will do. I should have the adapter and hose today to go from the 7/16"-24 clutch slave hardline to a -3AN fitting. The -3AN adapter for the clutch master cylinder should be here tomorrow so I should probably work on getting the MC removed from the truck so I'm ready to swap the fitting in tomorrow. As things seem to go, once my MJ went down, the radiator on my ZJ started to leak bad enough that it leaves a nice puddle in the driveway. Now, all of a sudden, the rear brakes on my XJ are making some odd noises. When it rains, it pours. Down to my motorcycle as my main mode of transportation...

I like the tailgate hinge rattles. Reminds me that I'm driving a pickup truck :D

Go big or go home! The Niner's are fun. Extremely fun, especially with a 242 transfer case installed an the ability to spin the rear tires on the pavement. However, it doesn't sip gas - it chugs it! Best I've done with mine is 17MPG all highway driving keeping it around 70-75MPH. Although I've enjoyed my time with the the ZJ, I won't be holding onto it much longer. It gets driven the least of my insured vehicles and I can't seem to justify keeping it around. I would rather someone else enjoyed this beast! The Orvis edition ZJs are pretty neat and I've always been drawn to them, but mainly only the '96 and '97 models that got the newer snowflake rims. I personally think those look much better than what came on the '95's. In fact, I believe that the '96 and '97 Orvis edition ZJs are rarer than the '98 ZJ 5.9L Limited. Edit: According to the Wikipedia site (which may be inaccurate), even the 1995 Orvis edition is rarer than the 5.9L Limited :D

Should have all of the parts by Friday. I'll take some pictures along the way. The thread diameter and pitch on the clutch slave line turned out to be 7/16"-24. Total cost of the parts was: Clutch Master Cylinder Adapter to -3AN fitting: $26.42 shipped (from Advanced Adapters) Clutch Master Cylinder to Slave Cylinder 60" -3AN Stainless Steel Braided Line: $31.26 shipped (from RacePartSolutions) Clutch Slave cylinder -3AN to 7/16"-24 hardline adapter: $9.46 shipped (from RacePartSolutions) Total: $67.14 Customer service at both places was top notch and they shipped both of my orders within 12 hours of placement. This should ensure that my clutch line doesn't randomly pop out anymore - driving without a clutch isn't too much fun.

There were also XJ straight bracket seats that folded forward out of the 2-doors. Ive got a set.

Also known as "rocker" or "curved." Basically, instead of reclining the rear seat back, you rock the seat backward and forward to obtain your desired tilt. Also, see pic:

The height difference also heavily depends on the style of XJ seat you're using. The "rocket-ship" style ones out of a 2-door XJ sit higher than the regular 2-door XJ doors that just slide back and forth (I'm speaking about both when they're mounted to MJ seat mounts taken from a bench seat).

Me too, but it will cause the XJ seats to sit a bit on the high side. I would say between 2-3 inches higher than where they are in an XJ.

Yep, put a small dab in each of the corners otherwise the oil will seep out. I usually put a small dab directly in the middle of the corner and then it spreads out when I torque the oil pan to spec.