Doing the Dirty, 83 Cherokee LS Swap

[ThatJeepGuy]

Stumbled upon this 83 FSJ through marketplace and watched it for a few months. Eventually talked myself into atleast asking questions... Naturally that lead me to making a day trip with a buddy of mine to another state, also convincing the guy to accept my reasonable offer.

 

 

I've wanted one of these FS Cherokee's for some time now and finally have one to explore and modify.

 

 

I did try and find a cheap amc360 to put into this engine bay BUT the amount of money i was willing to spend on a used engine and the actual availability of them were not even close.

 

The plan is to do another one of them Jeep LS swaps. Nothing special just dirty and cheap.

 

Honestly playing catch up making this thread but I absolutely wanted to document the evolution of what this jeep may become. 

[Pete M]

[derf]

Nice.  I've had half a dozen FSJs before.

 

FSJ Network and IFSJA are two forums with lots of knowledgeable (and a few not as knowledgeable) people, along with many swap threads.

 

If it has the column shifter and you're going to swap in a 4L60E, converting the column shifter from 3 speed to 4 speed is pretty straightforward.  They all have GM steering columns already and swapping parts in them is easy.  Otherwise, a floor shifter is the way to go.

[ThatJeepGuy]

Than along comes the donor vehicle, a 2000s Chevy tahoe with a recently replaced engine just months before the PO had an accident and totalled it out.

 

 

The relevant bits, 5.3 engine, 4l60e trans, complete engine bay harness and gas tank should be enough to get me through.

 

All said and done after pulling my needs and partingout/scrapping whats left I'm pretty sure i actually made money off this thing, id have to check my notes for sure but definitely broke even at the least.

[ThatJeepGuy]

While this is supposed to be a cheap LS swap I splurged and got this set of swap motor mounts. Pretty sure they are still made by Flop Shop but BJs seemed to be the only way to get them?

 

 

With the new mounts painted and ready for install it was time to pluck the original trans and tcase out

 

And then we dump the new drivetrain in

 

More to come

[hgeranium]

Interior pics?

[ThatJeepGuy]

22 hours ago, hgeranium said:

Interior pics?

 Surprisingly I have no pictures at the moment. The bulk of the floor pans are a couple sections of plywood thanks to PO. This jeep did come with a set of mastercraft front seats, actually pretty nice for my standards as well! 

 

I'll nab a few pictures this week/weekend though to establish the starting point for the inside as well.

 

Haven't set much sight for any work inside just yet. My plan is to have this thing run and move under its own power before I bother with any floor pan or panel repairs.