Great Lakes 4x4. The largest offroad forum in the Midwest banner

Just Empty Every Pocket - The Project - IT LIVES!!

48K views 311 replies 50 participants last post by  TVJunkie 
#1 · (Edited)
Here are a few shots of my current project. It's a 86 XJ that came stock with 2.8 that was busted and a missing trans when I acquired it.

As it currently sits, it now has newer 4.0 XJ springs in the front. I have the small block mounted along with the 700R4 and 207 t-case. The t-case linkage is now finished and works great. Need to do the shift linkage to finish off the trans. I'm waiting on money so I can get the radiator and a boatload of small crap to wrap this up.

Here it is in all it's glory.






 
See less See more
6
#87 ·
Hey man, I am installing the 350 as we speak. I am having trouble getting it to fit. I got the tranny rebuilt and upgraded to 4X4 specs. Got the novak motor mounts, but can't get the motor low enough to fit into the holes. I thought the site said you can retain your original linkage. I don't think the tranny is going to fit with that linkage bracket on top of the tunnel. Do I need to cut that out of there?
 
#88 ·
The pivot bracket on the front of the tunnel was cut out, it got in the way and I didn't need it. I went with a Lokar universal shift rod that works perfect with the OE shifter. You can see pics of it in this thread.

I'm not sure on the motor mounts, I reworked my own. But you could try loosening the mount bolts a bit where they mount to the frame rail then wiggle til it fits.

On my project note, I'm going with shock extensions up front to get some shock travel back and relocating the rear shock mounts on the diff for the same reason.

My plans changed a bit on the rear shaft. To use my current shaft I would have to drop my trans mount, crossmember and rework all the various shift linkage as well as dropping some coin into a new ignition system. The reason is it dosen't drop enough and if the rear would hand, it's most likely the tailshaft of the t-case would break. In dropping the t-case, it would put my HEI in the firewall meaning I would need a smaller set up. My new plan is getting a c/v-double cardon shaft built for a slip yoke t-case. I would be money ahead since it would eventually be needed anyway if I decide to lift if more.

*Sigh*
 
#89 ·
Yea, I ended up cutting out the pivot bracket. I will also go with the lokar shift linkage. I finally got the motor mounted but it was alot of f-ing work. I would tell anyone not to go with the Novak motor mounts, they are poorly designed. Almost impossible to get the motor in. It took me two days just to get the motor mounted and I finally ended up having to modify the mounts to make it work. I am also going with an HEI distributor. Are you telling me that it won't work if I get the proper engine geometry set-up? Is there enough room on the firewall for it? I'll just cut it out if I have to. I really want that HEI distributor. I was going to do the trans mount tomorrow.
 
#90 ·
When I built the mounts, I had everything so it wouldn't move and had the trans about a inch from the floor, which is probably why I'm going to have to either mod everything again or get a custom shaft made and that will allow me to lift it more down the road. Your Novak mounts may put the engine forward and down from where mine is at. I wanted to avoid the upper control arms from hitting the mounts. When I put the coil spacers in, I also put in bump stop extension to make sure that don't happen.

Bottom line is, you won't know til you put everything together weather you need further mods to make everything work smooth. The life of a project.
 
#91 ·
The heart of the Beast is in!!!!! After alot of hard work and headaches. Don't ever get the Novak motor mounts. I have thought of a name for my project. Drth V8r. I am going to paint the whole thing flat black, rims, bumpers, everything. I saw a suburban while I was out in california last week that was painted that way and it was very cool. Started to take the top end off the other motor to swap it over. Will take the heads down and get rebuilt. I hope the HEI fits. You made me nervous now. Here are some pics.
 

Attachments

#93 ·
Not with A/C! I am going to try to save the A/C unit. My son threw away the old compressor when he tore down the 2.8 and took it to the junk yard. It probably wasn't any good anyway, but now I have to line up a new one. Right now I just have the tranny resting on the stock crossmember till I figure out a mount. It looks about right, but when I look at the angle back to the axle, it seems a bit too high. Too much of an angle. Can't really tell until I get the t-case on. What did you do for a tranny mount?
 
#94 ·
I'm using the stock crossmember and trans mount. I built an adapter to go from the Jeep mount to the Chevy trans. It actually works nice. I also moved the crossmember back a couple inches too.

I thought about keeping my a/c, but without some major rework there is no place to mount the compressor. I might go with a Vintage Air system if things go well.
 
#97 ·
Here is the adapter I built to go from the Jeep trans mount to the S-10 trans.



And my high dollar shock extensions. My shocks are good yet, so these will work dandy.



Looks like I'm going to drop the trans a fuzz to get the driveshaft to lay where I want it when it hangs. Ahh, more lo-buck moves.
 
#98 ·
Nice, thanks for the pics. I was looking at getting the trans mount from Novak but if seem to me my tranny is already too high. I have it just resting on the bare crossmember. I took all the stock mounting brackets and stuff off and it is just resting on the tranny tailpiece. If I put in a mount, it looks like it will lift it another couple of inches at least. I have room to lift it higher, but the angle back to the differential looks pretty steep. How much of an angle can I get away with?
 
#99 ·
I'm not sure what the numbers are, but you should be a couple degrees down on the pinion compared to the t-case end to figure in axle wrap. I have no idea what mine is, I'm just working things so they work and not go into a bind anywhere. I might check angles when I'm done. Don't want numbers to scare me or throw me off.

I did move the trans crossmember back a couple inches then drilled new holes in the rails for it. Also used a small holesaw on the side so I could drop bolts in.
 
#100 ·
I ordered the tranny mount from Novak. I think it will work out fine. I jacked my tranny up a couple of inches to see what it looked like and just eye balling it, it looks good. I have been putting the motor together the last couple of weeks and things are starting to look pretty good. I will post a couple of pics. One thing I am worried about is exhaust clearance on the drivers side. After putting the oil filter in it looks like it will be pretty tight getting an exhaust pipe out through that side, especially after the front drive shaft is installed. Do you have an issue with that?
 
#102 ·
Yea, I might have to do that. I found a set of shorty headers in the summit catalog for $99. That is cheaper that the Hedmans that JBS said he is using. The only difference looks like the summit's are made of 1 5/8" tubing into 3" collectors and the hedman's are 1 1/2" tubing into 2 3/4" collectors i think. I wonder if I would be better off using the smaller hedmans? I'm not really hurting for room up around the headers, it isn't until you get down to the frame rails that you start running into trouble, so smaller diameter headers wouldn't help in that area. How do you like the headman's JBS? Do they dump out in the right location so there is room to attatch the pipes and route them out through the back?
 
#103 ·
I don't think there is going to be any issues. Things are a bit tight, but that can be worked around once I get around to building my exhaust. My current debate is either running a pipe down each side, or have a y-pipe by the engine on the pass side and run down the pass side only. The hole I have to work with on the drivers side don't leave alot of room for heat to move around and might cook the brake fluid and fuel line. I might get it on the hoist at work to do all my cut and paste one of these days.
 
#104 ·
I am going with the Y pipe idea. I still have the exhuast system intact all the way up to the motor. I just need to come from the headers down through the rails and to the existing exhaust. So I am just going to take the easy way out. It hink the dual exhaust would be the way to go if you can make it work. So you do like the hedman headers I can assume? I think I am going to order the summit's. They are the block hugger design just like the hedmans, so they should work. And a hell of alot cheaper than Novak! I'll just have to paint them properly. I'm thinking of using some header wrap. Has anyone heard anything bad about that stuff? It's supposed to reduce engine bay temps.
 
#105 ·
The Hedman's fit perfect. There are different block huggers, dimension wise. Some are wider than others. I figured the max width I had to work with then went thru the Hedman book.

As for the wrap, pass. It'll make the headers brittle and crack from keeping the heat inside. Most companies won't warranty headers if they've been wrapped.
 
#107 ·
My new JK shocks.


Took a few of these to widen them for the front shocks.


Ans finished. They are slotted so it fits the stock T-bar bolt holes in front and makes the shock a bolt on.


The first shot, stock shocks with the T-bars removed then sleeved.


BLING!! Thanks Creepy.



Slow but sure. More slow............
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top