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Ls swap value?


Callmehickross
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I've been researching the benifits of the ls swap but was wondering what the value of the mj would be after I've done the swap obviously other mods come into play but I don't wanna drop money into something and just "throw it away" say the swap cost

Me 3k and it only added 1.5k in value. That would kind of frustrate and figure it wouldn't be worth doing , anyone have any input or has anyone seen a v8 Comanche for sale and what it was going for?

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Honestly, you can add it all up and put a price on it and try to justify the price anyway you want. The price someone will pay is what it's worth. A LS in a light 4x4 truck sounds appealing to me, but it may not be to someone else. It's like beauty, all in the eye of the beholder.

 

 

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Honestly, you can add it all up and put a price on it and try to justify the price anyway you want. The price someone will pay is what it's worth. A LS in a light 4x4 truck sounds appealing to me, but it may not be to someone else. It's like beauty, all in the eye of the beholder.

 

 

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I'm just scared to dump 10 grand into something that I won't be able to sell for 5 haha I really love my mj but I'm trying not to make dumb financial car decisions as I have in the past

 

I dumped thousands of dollars Into an xj just to have people offer me a grand on Craig's list I feel like the mj will hold its value better because they are pretty damn rare but it's just always in the back of my mind

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It's all in the way it is done also. I bought my MJ with "a fresh rebuilt motor, only 800km, spent $3000". Found that the previous owner had used all the old gaskets and lots of RTV, I had to spend $300 in parts to get it to stop leaking. Typically you modify a vehicle for yourself, if you make money on it down the road, then that's a bonus.

 

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After owning and playing with several "hobby" cars over a long time, One thing I can tell you is that you do this for the pure fun of doing it and you will not regret it.  But, if you try to make a business of "hobby" cars, you will spend a whole lot of money on your education, trial and errors, (lots of errors) before you ever get close to making any money.

 

With a Chevy engine conversion, parts are so cheap relative to the cost of good labor that everybody "thinks" they can do a great job way cheaper than most other people.

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After owning and playing with several "hobby" cars over a long time, One thing I can tell you is that you do this for the pure fun of doing it and you will not regret it. But, if you try to make a business of "hobby" cars, you will spend a whole lot of money on your education, trial and errors, (lots of errors) before you ever get close to making any money.

 

With a Chevy engine conversion, parts are so cheap relative to the cost of good labor that everybody "thinks" they can do a great job way cheaper than most other people.

 

I do really enjoy modifying the mj and I really don't plan to get rid of it so I think I'm going to just pull the trigger and assembling/collecting the parts I need

 

I would still be interested to know if anyone has need n ls mj/xj for sale and what the price point was

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Probably the only thing I would do with an LS comanche..

 

Reason I'm doing a swap is my 2.5 does not like my 35's , I know I could swap a 4.0 in but I figure for all that effort I might as well go 5.3

 

She should get good fuel economy as I don't really beat my stuff up ....all the time haha

 

Not to meantion I have the complete 97+ interior waiting to be installed as the 5.3 gets slapped in

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I'd look on eBay for the aluminum block 5.3. There are companies that sell the complete stand alone package. I'd also look into Novak, advanced adaptors, and might even call around to some shops that specialize in LS swaps. Motech being a leader in LS swaps for jeeps, Robbie runs the place and is stand up fella. Jeep Speed Shop is out of cali but they made their name with hemi's.

I'd put it all down on paper and do all the figuring on price before I spent a dime. Then weigh the options and see if I could stomach it. Honestly 10,000 seems high to me, but I haven't done one. 6 to 8 sounds right, but that's doing everything yourself.

 

 

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I'd look on eBay for the aluminum block 5.3. There are companies that sell the complete stand alone package. I'd also look into Novak, advanced adaptors, and might even call around to some shops that specialize in LS swaps. Motech being a leader in LS swaps for jeeps, Robbie runs the place and is stand up fella. Jeep Speed Shop is out of cali but they made their name with hemi's.

I'd put it all down on paper and do all the figuring on price before I spent a dime. Then weigh the options and see if I could stomach it. Honestly 10,000 seems high to me, but I haven't done one. 6 to 8 sounds right, but that's doing everything yourself.

 

 

 

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Well I'm taking about the whole build I'm going to do lockers and all that nonsense it's going to definitely run me over 10k by the time I'm done the project especially because I wanna keep it standard transmission and the ax5 I have in there just won't cut it

 

Not sure what I want to do with the wiring harness yet if I want to make it my self or not I may just pay the money and get it done professionally

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After owning and playing with several "hobby" cars over a long time, One thing I can tell you is that you do this for the pure fun of doing it and you will not regret it. But, if you try to make a business of "hobby" cars, you will spend a whole lot of money on your education, trial and errors, (lots of errors) before you ever get close to making any money.

 

With a Chevy engine conversion, parts are so cheap relative to the cost of good labor that everybody "thinks" they can do a great job way cheaper than most other people.

I do really enjoy modifying the mj and I really don't plan to get rid of it so I think I'm going to just pull the trigger and assembling/collecting the parts I need

 

I would still be interested to know if anyone has need n ls mj/xj for sale and what the price point was

I have been in a couple of the situations you mentioned. Rare Comanche? I've been there with street Comanche #59 of 100 made... Sold for 800$, LS Comanches? , I've got one of the cleanest most well done LS Comanche s and I will tell you, I didn't pay even close to 10k for that, with a built t56 behind it. A expensive build? I've been there also, 25k into an xj and sold for the high value of 5500$. Jeeps don't have collectors value yet.

 

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If you want it to hold its value mind the details. There's far too many engine swapped Comanches out there that have a half assed job done on them. I'd rather have a 2.5 than a badly done LS swap. It's worth way more money if it doesn't look like Bubba and Cletus did it in a weekend with 5 different red wires that all do different things criss-crossing the engine bay.

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If you want it to hold its value mind the details. There's far too many engine swapped Comanches out there that have a half assed job done on them. I'd rather have a 2.5 than a badly done LS swap. It's worth way more money if it doesn't look like Bubba and Cletus did it in a weekend with 5 different red wires that all do different things criss-crossing the engine bay.

Yep.  I saw one locally about a year ago.  Everyone was talking about this Comanche getting a V8 swapped in.  A mutual friend invited me over to look at it.  I didn't say anything but as I drove away I shook my head.  They ruined a really nice MJ. 

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I am wrapping up a Vortec swap in my CJ7.  I've been collecting parts for about 10 years.  Got most of them secondhand at a big discount.  However, I bought the motor and harness complete ready to run from BD Turnkey.  Not cheap but worth every penny in my case.  I did  modify the harness to get rid of the standalone fuse/relay block and incorporated that into a stock jeep power distribution center (not stock to a CJ7 of course).  I'm a professional auto tech, and portions of this swap were still challenging. 

 

IT WILL ALWAYS COST YOU MORE THAN YOU PLAN FOR.

IT WILL ALWAYS TAKE LONGER THAN YOU PLAN FOR.

 

My 2 cents, I would never try to swap a V8 into a XJ/MJ that was never designed to have one.  At least a CJ did have an optional V8.  If I felt I needed more power in an XJ/MJ, I would go with a stroker I6.

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As you might guess from my signature, I'm interested in preserving MJs, not butchering them. I admit to being an olde pharte as well as somewhat of a purist,-- IMHO, swapping any V8 into a nice MJ is butchering it, not preserving it. If the job is done well, it will appeal to a small number of prospective buyers. It will also instantly elininate a number of prospective buyers, because they won't be interested in an MJ that has been highly modified. (That would be me, for example.)

 

FWIW, I have seen multiple XJs and MJs with small-block Chevy conversions, and they ALL had cooling issues. That problem has been discussed here, and some people seem to have found solutions that work for them, but just be advised that it will be something you have to address.

 

Another concern is the amount of horsepower an LS1 puts out. The front half of an MJ is a unibody, and it wasn't designed for that much power. I think it will need to be beefed up, and that's another modification that detracts from the value of the MJ as an MJ.

 

There's an old saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." If that's what appeals to you -- it's your truck, go for it. Personally, I don't see the point and, if I encountered an LS1-powered MJ for sale, I wouldn't even answer the ad.

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As you might guess from my signature, I'm interested in preserving MJs, not butchering them. I admit to being an olde pharte as well as somewhat of a purist,-- IMHO, swapping any V8 into a nice MJ is butchering it, not preserving it. If the job is done well, it will appeal to a small number of prospective buyers. It will also instantly elininate a number of prospective buyers, because they won't be interested in an MJ that has been highly modified. (That would be me, for example.)

 

FWIW, I have seen multiple XJs and MJs with small-block Chevy conversions, and they ALL had cooling issues. That problem has been discussed here, and some people seem to have found solutions that work for them, but just be advised that it will be something you have to address.

 

Another concern is the amount of horsepower an LS1 puts out. The front half of an MJ is a unibody, and it wasn't designed for that much power. I think it will need to be beefed up, and that's another modification that detracts from the value of the MJ as an MJ.

 

There's an old saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." If that's what appeals to you -- it's your truck, go for it. Personally, I don't see the point and, if I encountered an LS1-powered MJ for sale, I wouldn't even answer the ad.

Amen!

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As you might guess from my signature, I'm interested in preserving MJs, not butchering them. I admit to being an olde pharte as well as somewhat of a purist,-- IMHO, swapping any V8 into a nice MJ is butchering it, not preserving it. If the job is done well, it will appeal to a small number of prospective buyers. It will also instantly elininate a number of prospective buyers, because they won't be interested in an MJ that has been highly modified. (That would be me, for example.)

 

FWIW, I have seen multiple XJs and MJs with small-block Chevy conversions, and they ALL had cooling issues. That problem has been discussed here, and some people seem to have found solutions that work for them, but just be advised that it will be something you have to address.

 

Another concern is the amount of horsepower an LS1 puts out. The front half of an MJ is a unibody, and it wasn't designed for that much power. I think it will need to be beefed up, and that's another modification that detracts from the value of the MJ as an MJ.

 

There's an old saying that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." If that's what appeals to you -- it's your truck, go for it. Personally, I don't see the point and, if I encountered an LS1-powered MJ for sale, I wouldn't even answer the ad.

I fully understand where you are coming from I just want to be able to take to the highway on my 35's and the 2.5 is a slug , I was considering a 4.0 swap but for a little bit more in parts I can have the 5.3 in , I also have a 97+dash I like much better that I want to install , the goal is to keep it as jeep looking as possible the 5.3 was just attractive to me for fuel mileage and a more updated and efficient power train , I really don't beat any vehicle I own and I'm not going to be killing this one I just want a reliable and some what efficient vehicle I can take trail riding on weekends

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I would also suggest a stroker I6 over a V8. Much cleaner swap overall, and it stays Jeep. A stroker will be plenty entertaining in a lightweight MJ. Won't have any trouble turning big tires either. Personally, GM engines in MJs don't do anything for me, but that's not relevant to you.

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I would also suggest a stroker I6 over a V8. Much cleaner swap overall, and it stays Jeep. A stroker will be plenty entertaining in a lightweight MJ. Won't have any trouble turning big tires either. Personally, GM engines in MJs don't do anything for me, but that's not relevant to you.

Yea but I would still need to buy a all new power train , mounts and wiring harness along with a pcm the 4.0 would destroy my ax5 let alone if I stroke it , I feel as if I'm going to spend that money I could just do the ls and be done , the more I get into this thred the more I want the ls in , not to mention I've had a few bad 4.0's kinda have a bad taste in my mouth about them

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