Jeepjeff859 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 This week marts the start of the engine swap on my 1986 MJ. Right now the jeep has a 2.5 in it with a ax4 transmission and a np231 transfer case. The old 4 banger is at its end with a rod knock and complete loss of power. Right now the jeep has 36 in super swampers with stock gearing a stock axles. I bough it last summer and have slowly found the good and bad Good : Has spring over conversion done with pucks and new coils up front. Has a rustys track bar and brace combo. There is almost no rust minus 2 small hols in the floor pan and the passenger tail light area. My plan is to start at the front with the engine and drive train and move my way to the back then to the inside. 1st. 1994 4.0 out of a grand cherokee and parts from a 1993 cherokee 2nd. built dana 44 axles ( its not a rock crawler so i don't think dana 60s a needed ) 3rd. short bed conversion. right now its a long bed so i would like to buy a short bed a cut the long bed to the shackles for a better departure angle 4th. change from red to a olive green along with rust repairs 5th. and this point i will and new bumpers and a winch and any other work i missed on the outside I don't want this to be a straight mud truck or rock crawler. I want to to be a reliable off road truck that i can go out and adventure in but not have to trailer it to trails. I am open to suggestions and advice but please be respectful, there are many different ways to do things and its up to the owner to decide how to do it . I will post pictures as soon as i have made some progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyinajeep726 Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Here's some helpful information to start you off: http://comancheclub.com/topic/39539-links-for-25l-to-40l-swap/ Also, feel free to check out my build thread... I've done this swap and it's not overly complicated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 Ready to clean and paint the engine bay and start adding in the new wiring harness Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvusse Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 In my experience, the weak point of hp d30 is the u joints. Even the larger ones. They are the exact same u joints used on d44 axles. So you would be giving up ground clearance from the larger pumpkin, while still having the same weakest link. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted June 26, 2015 Author Share Posted June 26, 2015 I have heard from alot of people the dana 30 is fine as long as your not rock bouncing; it would just be nice to have built dana 44s front and rear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 i have completed a lot since my last post 1994 zj engine is in now, for some reason when i used the engine mounts and frame brackets i ended up having to use the driver side frame bracket for everything to line up. i didn't bang the fire wall back enough to have room to get the the transmission bolts so I'm just going to cut the fire wall from the inside to get to the bolts and then weld in a new piece of metal . i have some electrical things to deal with like getting the new harness to work with the old steering column. the engine seems to sit a little high so the zj ac compressor is hitting the hood, guess i gotta swap that for a xj compressor. still need to get the radiator fitted in i have the new clutch so i can get the transmission in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted July 13, 2015 Author Share Posted July 13, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlyinajeep726 Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 i have completed a lot since my last post 1994 zj engine is in now, for some reason when i used the engine mounts and frame brackets i ended up having to use the driver side frame bracket for everything to line up. i didn't bang the fire wall back enough to have room to get the the transmission bolts so I'm just going to cut the fire wall from the inside to get to the bolts and then weld in a new piece of metal . i have some electrical things to deal with like getting the new harness to work with the old steering column. the engine seems to sit a little high so the zj ac compressor is hitting the hood, guess i gotta swap that for a xj compressor. still need to get the radiator fitted in i have the new clutch so i can get the transmission in You'll have to swap over to XJ/MJ accessories and belt configuration to get everything to clear. Also, as you noted, swapping the driver's side frame rail engine mount is necessary because the 2.5L's weight is distributed different since it's shorter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Since the last post the project went from going good to a dead stop and then jumped to going amazing I had a lot of trouble getting transmission in and basically took all of August off from working on it. But I took a whole day this Tuesday and everything just seemed to go together List of things still have to do Modify rear drive shaft (already cut to length just have to weld) Get front drive shaft ( have one but for some reason the yoke on the transfer case is a different bolt style so I need a different one or different drive shaft) Bend clutch line a bleed clutch Wire up the rear lights Fixed the fuel sending unit, it's not reading any fuel Fix coolent temp gauge Finish up the interior wiring so the courtesy lights work and so the stereo works Weld exhaust on Clean up engine bay ( make sure all the wiring and lines are not rubbing or going to melt) Fit electric fan Weld up transmission tunnel Fix horns Seems like a long list but the engine starts and runs great the rest should go easy Pics will follow soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 Since the last post the project went from going good to a dead stop and then jumped to going amazing I had a lot of trouble getting transmission in and basically took all of August off from working on it. But I took a whole day this Tuesday and everything just seemed to go together List of things still have to do Modify rear drive shaft (already cut to length just have to weld) Get front drive shaft ( have one but for some reason the yoke on the transfer case is a different bolt style so I need a different one or different drive shaft) Bend clutch line a bleed clutch Wire up the rear lights Fixed the fuel sending unit, it's not reading any fuel Fix coolent temp gauge Finish up the interior wiring so the courtesy lights work and so the stereo works Weld exhaust on Clean up engine bay ( make sure all the wiring and lines are not rubbing or going to melt) Fit electric fan Weld up transmission tunnel Fix horns Seems like a long list but the engine starts and runs great the rest should go easy Pics will follow soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepjeff859 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 Well today I worked as long as possible on it and was able to drive it down the street, now it's fixing up all the loose ends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee21490 Posted September 27, 2015 Share Posted September 27, 2015 Well today I worked as long as possible on it and was able to drive it down the street, now it's fixing up all the loose ends Congrats. It's always rewarding to drive it for the first time after doing a major swap like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roper Posted April 2, 2017 Share Posted April 2, 2017 I'd love to see how this truck has turned out. Got any updates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJeepGuy Posted April 5, 2017 Share Posted April 5, 2017 The ole 4.0 into the 86. Gotta love the modifying of the firewall for fit. When i did mine i was pretty gentle and delicate at first. After removing and installing the driveline as a whole unit prolly 6 or more times only to barely get my fingers between firewall and trans/engine I went full Hulk mode and cleared the hell out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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