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89 xj

3K views 17 replies 6 participants last post by  millercat23 
#1 ·
bought this this weekend and decided to just keep my 94 zj as a DD, but here it goes, its an 89 xj, blown 4.0 in it, i need to put a new front axle shaft on it, going to have to rewire everything, would like to put all new gauges and such in the dash. its got a 4.5-5 inch long arm lift. its spray painted black, but ill have it maco painted all black and thinking doing the new fender flares and other trim work a monster lime green. but thats just the start for now, i will post more pics after we get the motor in and get it running :)
 

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#3 ·
Well update, pulled the hood back off and spray painted it black to match the rest of the jeep until I get it all painted, also started to tear apart the top of the motor to see what I can salvage. I now have the grill off and head lights out. will probably continue to work on tearing out the motor this week before work and ill take pictures and update them tomorrow if I get a quick second.
 
#4 ·
If you decide to do a v8 swap you would be better off going with a chevy 5.3 IMO 318 trannys have alot of problems, but if you want to keep it mopar at least go with a 360 you wont complain about the extra power.
 
#6 ·
Not 100% sure on the swap now, got a guy on here holding an I6, tranny and tcase for me right now. Ill probably drop that in it to get it running for now. but Im still doing about an hour of work on it day to day, got the power steering unbolted, injectors pulled out and a few other things done today. so we'll see where she sits in a few weeks.
 
#12 ·
Update:

Going to probably pick up the built 350 my dads had in the garage for a while tomorrow, then gotta pick up some new motor mounts and a 350 turbo tranny. Then its time to start rewiring everything and do the small stuff, should be done in roughly 6-8 weeks.
 
#13 ·
update, sorry for not posting anything on this, it sat for a few months.

Currently have it sitting in my girlfriends cousins barn, we have the motor, trans, and tcase all pulled out (all still together) ;) and he has another 4.0 with a trans on it we are going to drop in, and then put the tcase on my tranny on the new set up and see if we can get it started, we plan on doing a semi-full restoration/build. since this is a group build with my buddies, we are all working on it, and they are teaching more about the "art" of fabrication. list of things that still need to be done.

Swap the front axle and put new shafts in (i have the new axle)

drop the new 4.0 and new aw4 in with the 231 tcase (i have all of these)

weld and remount the rear passanger shock mount

put a new coat of paint on it and put the shop logo on it

for now thats all i can think of, but i will try to put more pictures up soon, we've made quite a bit of progress on the dis assembly of the jeep, now we just have to start putting it back together.
 
#14 ·
Heres a few photos of the progress:

The dash is all re-assembled, im gonna think about lining the roof with something so i dont have to worry about leaks down the road. The subs are out of my old DD zj that are probably going in this xj. etc etc etc.
 

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#15 ·
this week marks the time im finally going to have a chance to put in the new I6 and aw4 with a 231, nothing to extreme for now, just want to get it running, it needs new brake lines i believe since i havent had a chance to go through and see why i have no breaks at all, could be something as simple as it needs fluid or the lines need to be bled, but i will keep it up to date with the progress this week, also, if anyone reading this happens to have a drivers side axle shaft, let me know, i know im going to need one :p lol

but as far as building it, i believe im going to get her road worthy for the winter and let my GF drive it since i would feel a little more comfortable if she drove this instead of her car. ;)
 
#16 ·
have "some" brakes now, got the new motor mounts in, pulling the tcase off my other tranny tomorrow and putting it on the new one, then dropping the motor/trans/tcase in this weekend, and hopefully firing it up, then do some fine tweeking which will probably be needed after that, and then time to start on cosmetic things and the inside of the rig.
 
#17 ·
Well as of last night, motor is in (I6) along with the aw4 trans, hooked a battery up for the first time since I've owned it, and to my amazement, the power locks and Windows all work lol.

Also went to remove the tcase, noticed a hairline crack in it. so right now there is no case in it.

also was looking and I need to change the track bar since the tires in the front stick out about 3" further on the drivers side than the passenger, but we made a big amount of progress on it last night, ill try to upload pictures later.
 
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