Abu Dhabi Off-Road Club Forums

Jeep Wrangler JK Owners do have one problem :

na ok ... not only one ... but lets see. First Problem :

Fuel consumption : the engine is weak as hell, has only about 300 Nm torque but still needs around 19l / 100km onroad (if driving 130+)
Offroad i can differentiate between slow newbie trips (around 26-29l / 100km) or faster trips ( around 35-40l / 100km) .

So as a brave JK owner i got out and bought a bigger nose (aka cold air intake) db Catback (after) to make my jeep breath better.
Then i thought well... some new shoes will fit nicely as well - and i got ahead and bought some of these common Cooper shoes (285/70/r17) ... well then i thought my jeep will be happy - because it was not only true offroad tires, i also made sure, that my little jeep got high-heels well ... not exactly dubai standard (14cm ... depends on what legs you look ) - but 2,5 inches .

Well the only thing what happened is : Jeep got slower and even more thursty.

For going into the sand i need to drive in 4lo all the time so at least i can do half of the things i want to do... And the jeep needs a lot of momentum - you better not loose it .

Ok so i was thinking and thinking ... and finally i had the idea i'll do my jeep the absolut economic favour :
I'll give him a new heart, which has now 8 instead of 6 little combustion chambers and as such is running a lot smoother.
And won't die on heartstroke that soon in the desert...

And well in germany everybody was talking about a 3l car ... so i compared it to the 19l my JK takes and thought ...
"If i at least bring him down to 6l this will be enough."

So now i got to a nice garage in mussafah and asked them if they can give me a 6l engine so i'll be better to nature ...
And they said :

Well malte, can be done look at this :



i looked and asked - well ... what is this ?
And they told me : you know this little birds ( german: kolibri ) there are cars named like that (of course not kolibri but translated) they have this nice engine - and behave bravely. Well and your JK is a lot lighter then a "kolibri" so it will fly around in circles and accelerate like a rocket .

And the best thing : fuel consumption is far better then your actual engine. And basically stays almost the same if playing in the city or in the sand.

So it's decided :

Project i'll swap a v8 (6,2l GMC) together with a nice 6speed automatic with quick shift and manual mode (no automatic shifting if wanted) into my sweet little JK has started now.

Progress :
Step 1) Project started by today. The next 10 days they'll collect all necessary parts.

Step 2) After 10 days my little jeep will stay in mussafah for around 5 weeks while i will go mad, because i don't have a car to get into the desert (will try to rent one from offroad-zone for 1-2 weekends - lets see if they do it....

Step 3) Have fun! And try to bring my bank account into the green zone again

Step 4) Directly necessary front axle housing reinforcements & inner sleeves

Step 5) Steel bumper & more light (thought about getting a 22inch led light bar hood mounted together with a shovel

Step 6) Winch

Step 7) Unsure - eventually upgrade the liftkit to 4,5 longarm and change the tires to 35'' or 37'' but this is far far away.



After this, the real work starts.
I expect around 560Nm torque and around 450Hp so basically doubled and then i need to train my little cutie in the desert Mhwahahahahaha .

Thanks to cybershot, pointing me to http://alyasy7performance.com since they will do the swap.

nice very nice mabroook bro

Good luck with your project

Good one, Man.

Have a look @ Advanced Adapters, they have resonable engine and transmission mounting adapters ready made and easy to go with.

They also refer to a ready made harness for the panels and the ECU. Manuals are also downloadable on their website.

I hade a look before on their website when a Hemi swap was an option. but I gave up this cause I hate welding to the frame

Wish you the best of luck in your project.

there will be no welding or cutting on the frame ...

And this is actually one of the most important things considering i want to get this monster through rta test
btw... a pajero owner looks for hemi swap ... mh mh ... you're not going to buy a jeep, don't you??? ... well they don't loose half of the fender and half of the front bumper.
If they'll loose something then only whole parts

so how are they going to figure out the wiring on this one?

I'll get a custom made harness. As well as a 2nd ECU . The original ECU will stay in place. I will loose ESP but i'm not so sad about it, since i'm used to have cars with rear wheel drive and without ESP they begin to make fun.

The rev gauge will be changed, since it's not possible to emulate the signal to the gauge (it's digital as well on the JK although not looking like that... ) .
Speedometer, Fuel Consumption, temperature and so on will all stay the same. The wiring harness will be universal, so once i decide to swap in another engine, it's possible to reprogram the ecu and go on ...
ABS will still be functional, as well as tire pressure sensors and so on. Barely everything except for the rev gauge.
Engine and auto tranny match the same wiring scheme so they're compatible and that's the most important thing. They just bolt on.

good stuff, good luck..keep us posted....

MalteJK wrote:there will be no welding or cutting on the frame ...

And this is actually one of the most important things considering i want to get this monster through rta test
btw... a pajero owner looks for hemi swap ... mh mh ... you're not going to buy a jeep, don't you??? ... well they don't loose half of the fender and half of the front bumper.
If they'll loose something then only whole parts

mmmmmm, I guess you didn't read this one : http://www.ad4x4.com/club/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=11453

This was supposed to be the host of the Hemi, but I will not mess with frame.

Good to hear that there is no cutting and welding , but I'm wondering if the new V8 and transmission tuck to the original mounts or 7p will do adapters to the original mounts or what?

oops of course i read it ...

Sure - take a look at mine if you want after it is done. I'm sure there exist a lot of fine solutions for the TJ as well ...
A nice 5,7l ala 350hp is also nice and much cheaper then the 6,2 vvt ...

Or you build a 4,7 stroker out of your tj, like cybershot did. He ended up with around 280hp (correct me if i'm wrong) starting with 177hp ... so this might be a nice option for you as well ?
And this one for sure does not have the problems of engine swap ... The engine still looks exactly the same.

Thats all good, but need to do some further readings and testing, as stock, before I decide. The Hemi swap is a granted huge amount of power, so I was considering without the above.

Thanks for the advice , will see what will happen after some further research.

Good Luck with your project and keep us tuned

mmmmmhhhhh ... coool ... and no welding of new engine mounts !? now thats innovative!

actually I have done lots of reading for the TJ ... and AA and Novak(!) http://www.novak-adapt.com/ have everything, but all with shaving off old mounts and welding new ones in.
EDIT: MMTJ-G6 from Novak allows for Gen III+ GM V8 small blocks to be BOLTED into TJs with 4.0I6L engines !!! (those mounts are only mentioned in their instructions and not in the product list !?)

The biggest advantage of swapping in the V8s is torque and a (much!!!) better auto tranny! And the GM engines and trannies(!) are tuneable, chippable and have a huuuuuge after market. The stupid chrysler ECUs are all STILL uncracked

But one more little word of advice
looking at the numbers of your new V8 engine:
The new tranny can handle the torque ... but you need to look for a HD 231 transfercase or at least upgrade kit (look at JB conversions (http://www.jbconversions.com/)) ... you need to beef up your stock drive shafts (the rzeppa CV front drive shaft already IS a PIA) ... you need to look into chromoly axleshafts ... and for the front axle: I would get a bigger housing for bigger ring gear diameter (regardless of the ratio)! D44 front is a very goot investment. And with the chromoly axleshafts with higher spline count and bigger high quality U-Joints witch full circle clips you are good to go
the reinforcing thing is for the higher weight IF the new engine is much heavier than your old one (not necessarily ... some GM engines are all alloy).
The metal bumper and the winch have some disadvantages : even more weight at the nose... you sure want that?

Actually when I was looking for the right engine I was determined to keep hp and torque below certain numbers ... for a SWB TJ a 5.3 vortec with a 4spd 4L60E engine would be lighter than stock and power and torque wise cooool ... and with donor harness and ecu the TJ will think its a chevy (well ... it would need a new gauge cluster) ... AND STILL ... I would need at least chromo axleshafts (front and rear) with bigger u-joints (front) as well.
If I wanted to stay chrysler and keep my gauge cluster I would look into a milder mopar magnum 5.2 from a old grand cherokee with tranny, ecu and harness ... more torque and more or less easy plug and play swap (except the mounts ) ... but as thursty as the 4.0 and about 50kg heavier. But the people who did it are very happy ...

Engine and gearbox, then proper T-case and stronger drive shafts, followed by heavyduty axles, reinforced axle housing, heavy duty R&P with proper size to meat the tire size and torque, Engine compartment wiring harness, computer unit, dashboard modification to get the proper readings. Then with the heavier additions and replacements you need better suspension setup to deal with the new weight scheme not only add height to a standard Jeep

Unless you wanna transport it on a trolly and use it as an off-road toy only, add to all the necessary formalities to pass the new born monster from traffic registration dept every year

All the best man.

The engine is an alloy engine and slightly lighter then the stock one.
So less problems on this.

I also thought about getting a dana44 in front - but i was told that for now it will be ok.
Heavy Duty Driveshaft is already on my list - and one of the first things to change. Chromoly Axles with bigger splines as well.
The Axle reinforcements are more or less necessary not because of the added weight (which will be basically the same, given that the tranny will be a bit heavier ) but i guess i need to pay more attention to not jump every dune ....
If i find a front dana 44 somewhere later on, i'll think over swapping it in. But this also includes having to change the ring & pinion in the front and back ( most front stock d44 are 4,10:1 ) . The trucks using this engine do have a 3,73 stock ratio as well - so i'm eager to test it, before i change it completely. For the bigger diameter i think it will be ok, the stress on the pinion really happens if you have a manual tranny and let the clutch snap in. But i will have automatic so maybe it is going a bit softer due to the torque converter.
But let's see.

For the transfer case - for now i'll go with the stock one and take it easy. But i'll be looking for a NP231D or get an upgrade kit (larger chain + 6 pinion planetary gear) later on. The Stock NP231J can handle up to 600lb-ft and i will have around 433 lb-ft (correct me if i'm wrong - i calculated with 560NM) ...

I'll get the needed papers from 7p. They also promised to assist if there are any problems on registration / technical check.
If the car got through the first check, then the new engine is saved in the state data for this car and i don't have the hassle once more.
Except that some new modifications will prevent them from letting me pass the check.

The steel bumper ... yes my stock bumper is already a bit bend but for now it will still stay on, until the whole drivetrain enforcements are done. But then .. i think i'll need it. And i will go for a light one.
Mh why a winch ? sure i can use the hilift for winching or get a manual winch or a transportable one - but i like the idea of having it there and accessible all the time - and i was told that for Liwa ... it's a must. And of course i want to go playing in the big dunes with this monster .

great workk man..what about the cost??
dont put musch wight in ur vehicle,,and choose light bumber for desert