70barracuda

Got the engine stripped down and cleaned today. Was this thing dirty. Its way better now but still far to go. I also got a bellhousing and ordered the Novak engine mounts. And got the whole wire harness stripped off. Still deciding if I wanna use the factory harness or just screw it and get the holley efi system.

It's an L33 all aluminum 5.3. Kinda hopped up from the factory. I wanted to keep my weight down so i spent a tad more on this than the regular iron block. And I'm gonna try and find a Corvette intake manifold off an ls1. From what I've read It's the lowest intake possible. Well see if it fits. Or I may just get a super high rise holley and have it jumping out of the hood lol. Well see, but I'd rather have it as stock looking as possible

Well, here goes nothin...

This radio is actually pretty good. I bought it when it was 19$. I hated the look of all the aftermarket radios for the interior my Comanche. Looked way to futuristic and out of place. This one fits really well and works great. I was expecting way worse for a 20 dollar radio but it surprised the hell outta me. Bluetooth. Phone mic built in. My friends say they here my really clearly. And it fits in the stock spot super well. Lasted 6 months perfect (Comanche is away for the winter currently)

You too, and thanks alot! Can't wait to get it going.

yeah they are tough to find for sure. There are a couple around me but all are atleast a grand, which in reality isn't terrible but more than I wanted to spend. I'm also looking out for the lm4 which is exactly an lm7 but all aluminum, just no performance goodies the L33 has. Id be perfectly happy with either one. I'm just after all aluminum to help keep the weight down.

5.3 ls with ax15 trans. The engine I want though is the all aluminum L33 to keep the weight down. Plus it already makes the power I want so I won't need to do heads or anything. Just an exhaust, intake, and maybe a small cam. But I doubt it. Gonna be a while before it really takes place as I gotta gather swap parts

Well the time has finally come to put her away. We got a snow storm coming and they started to salt the roads, so the manche will be off the road until spring. Gonna start collecting parts for the v8 swap and hopefully be ready to do it once the weather breaks. My goal is have it done by August so I can drive it Michigan again this summer.

Isn't it crazy how much the rear bar helps? I was in shock how well it stays level even when I really layed into a turn.

Air dam is off a first gen blazer. Had to trim the sides down but it actually fits pretty good. And lenses I got off either eBay or Amazon. Just search clear Cherokee turn signal

Trying to decide if I want to stick with my rims I have now or get some new ones. Going with a sport/street truck style. Already lowered the jeep really as much as I want to and need to fill the wells a bit more. Picture of mine is with stock 15s with a 225 50 tire. It was the biggest I could find in a 50 sidewall. I definitely want to go wider but it'll have to be in a 60 sidewall. These are the rims I'm looking at. They are 16s which will definitely open me up to more tire sizes and street compounds. Unsure of what I want to do.

Problem is I want all the expensive speed parts, lol. Aluminum heads are a priority to save some weight up front.

so after a lot of going back and forth with myself and friends, and also dreams vs reality, I'm pretty sure i am just going to go with a SBC. I know whatever i swap in will not be left stock and for what i want to do the chevy will allow me to do it all for what i can afford. Aluminum heads, intake, cam, dressing it all up, etc. anyway, now I'm trying to decide between a 305 or a 350. I want to use a ax15 so i can't have a 500HP monster. building the 350 the way i want will definetly net over 400 HP and TQ. Building the 305, from the articles ive read, will net me right around my goal of 300 to 350, which i imagine will be crazy in the truck.

Looking for a good ax15 2wd. I'm in the central NJ area but anywhere in NJ and surrounding States is fair game

So the only melted parts were the actual switch and the part of the connector that had the dash lights wire in it. I traced as much as I could and no wire was burnt at all throughout the dash. I spliced in the new harness and plugged the switch in. Tested it before putting it all back together and the switch stayed ice Cold with all lights on for 15 minutes. I guess I'll chock it up to a faulty switch?

Thanks!

So the only spot that was melted on the switch was the orange and black wire. Haven't found a full diagram but it seems like it's the dash dimmer wire. Mine did flicker on and off when I tried to adjust it from the very beginning but I switched to led so I couldn't use it anyway. The switch was very clearly melted.

Headlights stayed on no problem. I only noticed it because of the smoke. They actually still work fine. Haven't gotten a chance to rip it all apart yet.

It was damn close. Smoke was pouring out the defroster vent. the harness should have taken the main current of the headlights off it. After I caught it the b pillar lights wouldnt turn off so I pulled the fuse. Marker lights and dash lights go through too. Everything still works fine, no blown bulbs or fuses blown either.

Pretty much as the title says, after months of absolutely no problems my headlight switch decided it wanted to get hot tonight. I preemptively installed the harness while rebuilding the whole jeep pretty much and never had an issue. Then all of sudden tonight the switch got so hot the pull knob melted off. I ordered a new switch and supposedly a harness plug that will work. Anyone have this happen? Just a bum old switch or possible short somewhere?

We're takin on water! And hopefully not anymore

Finally got the ax5 swapped in after getting it in August. Pretty straight forward swap. Getting the trans into the engine was a bear though, took probably 3 hours and it finally fit. It's sooo nice have 5 gears. 3000 rpm at 70 all day long. Before it was 4 grand at 70 and the motor wasn't exactly the happiest.

Always been a jeep guy. Xj was my first vehicle and still have it. Recently got my mj and roadtripped it this summer to a huge car show in Michigan. Went with my buddy who has a 2018 gt350. Beautiful car. He parked next to me. On my other side is a limited edition charger. And some other 50k muscle cars all around me. Before the show even started I had one guy running security come up and start to talking to me about the jeep for easily 45 min. Cool dude. Then I met these two guys which one of them is on here and he also drove is mj from PA. Talked for easily another hour. I couldn't get away from the jeep because everyone was asking me about it. All these other cars and people came right up to mine. My buddy with the mustang was pissed lol. I even got stopped while walking around by someone asking if I was the guy with the Comanche. I was just amazed at the attention it got. Even driving around town I get thumbs up and people asking me about it all the time. My xj is pretty wild looking and gets attention but no where near the amount my stock, faded paint, Comanche gets. I love this damn thing.

2nd gen blazer. 97 to 03 I think is the years? Thanks!

Finally got the rear sway bar in. Definitely a lot more involved than I originally thought. Had to make custom brackets. Then I scoured AutoZone trying to find a link that would work. Eventually came up with a jeep commander front link that I think fit perfect. Still have to clean up the bracket I made and I am going to weld them in too. But as it stands it works amazing. Absolutely zero body roll in this thing now.