Jeep Grand Cherokee 4bt swap.
I've been looking into this project for a month or so and hoped to hear back from folks that may have some specific experience with the Jeep Grand Cherokee. There is a very nice swap posted from a guy in upstate NY that sets a high standard for looks and quality of the build, nice job. I have a few basic questions.
I have found a 1994 Grand Cherokee with 220K on the 6 banger gas motor with a 5 speed manual, presumably the AX-15 (?). I can probably buy it for $2.5K, the body and interior are in very good shape.
From what I can tell the 4bt 'should' bolt up to than bell housing and flywheel. Is that right? My plan was to drive it as is for the winter and accumulate a 4bt motor, and other parts then start the swap in the spring.
It also seems necessary to do a 4 " lift to make the engine fit. Is that the general consensus?
If I boost the 4bt up a bit to say 170 hp, some readers think it could trash the manual (especially one with 220K on it). Perhaps a potential problem, but one that could be remedied with nv4500 5 speed.
My second question relates to trying to build the 1999 or newer Grand Cherokee. From what I can tell, these came in automatics only or the 5 speed manuals are even harder to find in this model. Is a 5 speed manual available in the 1999 or newer body style? If it's not there would obviously be a greater cost to put in a manual, bell housing, pressure plate clutch transmission, pedals etc. What worries me a bit is how much extra custom work would be required to mate the 4bt, with a manual tranny setup to the rest of the drive train, i.e., could I use the existing transfer case, drive shafts or would I need to custom make drive shafts and use a different transfer case? I'm not very familiar with compatibility between such different setups and wanted to have a reasonable idea about how easy or difficult this might be.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I've been looking into this project for a month or so and hoped to hear back from folks that may have some specific experience with the Jeep Grand Cherokee. There is a very nice swap posted from a guy in upstate NY that sets a high standard for looks and quality of the build, nice job. I have a few basic questions.
I have found a 1994 Grand Cherokee with 220K on the 6 banger gas motor with a 5 speed manual, presumably the AX-15 (?). I can probably buy it for $2.5K, the body and interior are in very good shape.
From what I can tell the 4bt 'should' bolt up to than bell housing and flywheel. Is that right? My plan was to drive it as is for the winter and accumulate a 4bt motor, and other parts then start the swap in the spring.
It also seems necessary to do a 4 " lift to make the engine fit. Is that the general consensus?
If I boost the 4bt up a bit to say 170 hp, some readers think it could trash the manual (especially one with 220K on it). Perhaps a potential problem, but one that could be remedied with nv4500 5 speed.
My second question relates to trying to build the 1999 or newer Grand Cherokee. From what I can tell, these came in automatics only or the 5 speed manuals are even harder to find in this model. Is a 5 speed manual available in the 1999 or newer body style? If it's not there would obviously be a greater cost to put in a manual, bell housing, pressure plate clutch transmission, pedals etc. What worries me a bit is how much extra custom work would be required to mate the 4bt, with a manual tranny setup to the rest of the drive train, i.e., could I use the existing transfer case, drive shafts or would I need to custom make drive shafts and use a different transfer case? I'm not very familiar with compatibility between such different setups and wanted to have a reasonable idea about how easy or difficult this might be.
Any advice would be appreciated.