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MJ truggy rebuild

cj7xjmj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
VA
Well IN 05 I had my truggy built by a local shop. Well after 3 trips I totally wasted my axles and blew the rig apart in preparation of going to 1 tons. Due to some changes at work I took a 15k a yr pay cut.

Fast forward a few yrs, with some creative trading work has begun again.

2.5" race runner 14" travel shocks


39.5 irok's on 17" DIY beadlocks


Since I had sold the remnants of myold axles had to do what I had to do. A 2wd XJ beam, and the 14FF


Here is where the fun begins

Plans are 4.3/700r4/231/d300
3 link with panhard front
double triangulated 4 link rear
21"-22" belly Pan height
108"wb







 
Now I started to cut the unnneeded stuff off



Had to see what it was going to look like





inner fenders gone



frame rails gone



Drivetrain



drivetrain at ride height


Pic of it inside the jeep. Doesnt show it.. but trans pan is higher then the frame rails.. so a true flat skid will happen

 
Yes chevy does make a 231c.. I bought that motor and trans, and it has an 23 spline out put.. so the PO spent cash on buying an adpater to do this. In fact the rig I pulled the motor out of.. the guy spent a lot of cash. Just about all the lines were A/N braided steel lines.
 
Why the 4.3? cheap? Doesnt it have the same mount and basic dimensions as its bigger brother the 350/LS engines?
 
The 4.3 is pretty much a 350 with 2 cylinders missing. They share a lot of the same parts, actually mine is mostly 350 parts, but I had a lot of parts left over lol (6 cylinders instead of 8). But... a true LS engine (as in corvette, camaro, GTO, etc) is only 2 inches longer so its not too bad to swap out. The engine mounts are different too but its not that big of a deal to change.
 
Why the 4.3? cheap? Doesnt it have the same mount and basic dimensions as its bigger brother the 350/LS engines?


I had it laying around... It is basically 4" shorter. I basically had bought a XJ with all theses parts in it.. just body wasnt that good. SO for 1k I got a 3" lift (sold for 250), Junked body (100 scrap), sold d35 (100 craigs list). so for the Paltry sum of 550 I got a 4.3/700r4 with Advance adapters trans adapter, motor mounts and exhaust, along with a Painless wiring harness.

So it was cheap and will work for what I want. If I blow this motor up, I will definately be swapping in a LS3 motor.

ANyways

A lil more work happened yesterday..



Woody taking tubes together







Side view... talk about a PITA to get the angles the way we wanted them.





Front view..







Tody will plate Make some motor Mounts, and start tieing new frame into old frame By plating it.



The motor is a true PITA to get out.. There is only 1/2 between the winch x-member bar and the front Pulley on the motor... Luckily nothing in the way anywhere else.
 
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