Car RamRod

Thanks, I'll let you know if I need anything from that kind of rig. So XJ springs are of no use to me? All I'm lookin for is a little height over stock. Does lift really affect gas mileage where I'll see a difference with a 3/4" spacer? The main leaf, where it grabs the bushing in the front, so when I took the rear out it just swung down. I do haul stuff with this truck (firewood and sbf/c engines) so I would drop a little cash on a good set of springs. Drop shackles would work here for some lift? I have an 8.8" ford with the SUA setup so I'm actually a tad under stock height. BTW thanks for all the help......I'll be sure to make a nice writeup when I do the truck so I can help out the next guy to do this :cheers:

it currently has the 2.8 v6. I would think the 4.0 doesnt weigh too much more.

as some of you have read I am getting ready to do a bit of work to my 86 including a 4.0/5speed swap using an 87 manche donor. My suspension needs attention as well, so I might as well do it at the same time. Everything is origional, except for stock replacement springs in the front, which I would like to continue using. I definetly need new rear springs as one broke and I welded it just to finish the winter last year. As for what I need, I'm looking to have a level ride to the truck; the back is easily an inch lower now but that could be from the decrepit springs. I think a 1.5-2" lift would look nice, but I don't want to do that if it's going to kill the ride as this is my DD. And the truck doesn't see a ton of offroad usage, or any crazy stuff. So what are your thoughts on what I should do? Anything that involves welding or fabrication is no problem. Thanks, Matt[/b]

love em.

ah the old big mac HG.

looks nice. My only concern is that that pipe is rather brittle so if you smack it good on a rock it might break. That being said, just carry the stocker around just incase Edit: sorry for diggin up an old thread. I search for such then I see something and forget its old news :cheers:

Go for the reman. I really like the concept of the stroker, and I have a friend who has stroked two 4.0Ls (one XJ and one MJ). You can get gobs of power out of them, but you will NOT match the fuel economy possible with a stock Renix-era 4.0L. When my '88 XJ was new, with a 5-speed I routinely got mid-20s highway mileage and on one trip (with a girlfriend and two young children plus paraphernalia for a long weekend aboard) I notched 28 MPG on a 300 mile trip. Plus, there are numerous compromises you have to evaluate in doing a stroker. Unless you NEED the additional power and torque, going stock is probably the wiser choice. thats pretty much what I wanted to hear. Being young and dumb it's hard to turn away from more power, but I build engines like that for my cars, and to be honest I just don't want any extra costs or headaches since I really don't need them. I'm hoping I should do well on gas with a healthy 4.0/5speed. The truck has 3.55s in it now, but my tires are taller than stock so I'll see how the engine spins on the highway; I'm gonna look for the 5 speed ratios now and see what I'll be turning on the highway. If it's no good I can swap in the front 3.07s from the donor (I think thats what it has), and I have 3.08s for the 8.8 in the rear. Thanks a lot, Matt

my local machine shop wants 1100 for a long block reman, 900 for a shortblock. I have to swap over everything to the longblock them give them my old junk. I'm probably gonna go with that after seeing how much jasper engines are.

well thats kind of a concern.....did you prime the oil pump before startup?

thanks for the input. I'm not really going for a ton of power....my car has me covered there I'm really just looking for something dead reliable that will last, so maybe I should go for the reman 4.0. Matt

I should have added that I have a complete 87 that I'll be using to do the conversion. EVERYTHING is gonna get moved over. I picked up the donor for 300 with a rebuilt trans and new clutch in it, but no title. So pretty soon I'll be parting out an 87. ;)

I am going to start my 4.0 swap into my 86 manche soon. But first things first, the 4.0 needs a rebuild. I can get a reman longblock from a local machine shop for 1100, with trading in the old one. On the other hand, I know people stroke these engines and do all kinds of stuff, and I wanted to get a good idea of what my options were before I jumped into the project. As for the duty of the engine, it will be daily driven, backed by a 5 speed, and I don't do very much off roading so I don't need a boatload of power. Let me know what you think. Thanks, Matt

ah, my buddy wants to build something "different". Not too long until I have an MJ shell sittin around. I've got some persuading to do.

can't help you with the roll bar so much, but I friggin love the way your rig looks, you have any better pictures you could share?

I drove from nyc to buffalo when I was 16 for hockey. I made two pit stops along the way and went the last 3 or so hours straight, I was a zombie when I got there.

thanks for the replies I picked the donor the other day. All it needed was a battery and she fired right up on 3 year old gas. The trans shifted like butter as well, however the engine has some pretty serious blowby so it will need a rebuild, but I half expected that. I took her for a spin and this 240k mile engine feels like a beast compared to my 75k 2.8 anchor. Everything that needs to come off the donor looks solid, and I am going to changing the interiors as well so when I pull the dash I'll mod the firewall as much as I need to and then just swap it all over. I'm assuming it would be best to start with the engine bay of the 86 being completely bare and then going from there as nothing will interchange? I'm gonna be changing the dash, the cluster, pedals of course; pretty much everything. And I'm thinking the fuel system and tank will need to swap over as well? But I'm still in planning stages; I'm probably not gonna start to work on it for another month or so. Thanks, Matt.

ooh ok, but as long as the donor runs I should be in pretty good shape and not have to rig anything right?

sorry if I confused you, theres only one donor, I am just not sure if its an 88 or 89. I'm not sure the condition of the truck as I am going to check it out and probably take it home on monday. But in any event my truck has like 73k on it and the body is perfect so I'd like to stick with that truck atleast. But we'll see. As long as I'm not getting myself into too much work with this swap. Is there any computer related stuff for this swap, or any articles you guys know of that would help me out? Thanks for the quick answers, Matt

I got scattered information from a search but I just wanted to doublecheck everything here. I have an 86 MJ 4wd with the 2.8 and 3 speed auto which is just terrible with power and on gas. I can pick up an 88 or 89 MJ with the 4.0/5speed 4wd combo for 300 bucks. With the donor vehicle would this be a hard swap to do? I have no problem modifying the firewall but I think it's already set for the I6. Thanks, Matt

I have. This thing was a magnet in HS. Never christened the stang but I guess I was a little more picky about who got to go for a ride in that.

orbital sander. I usually take them off with a heat gun and pull it off. If any glue is left I use some paint thinner on a brush and a dull razor blade to get any adhesive off.

oh I know man......my pocket is already drained from my car. Oh well, hopefully I should be making more money this summer.

oh nice, I might look into doing that. It looks sweet.

Ive got the carbed 2.8 sixer and the intake tube is off so the inlet is way just below the hood. I'm swappin in something new anyway, but yea, that woulda blown.

so lets say you're using an aftermarket bumper? you'd only need the header panel, grill and lights?