5.3L MJ D44 and Junk.

[kastein]

you have the same welder I have. I need to start using mine sometime... it's been too heavy for me to want to lug around the yard.

 

[Exxon Valdez Jeep]

then why bother repairing it! :laugh:

 

[xj+rcks]

I just don't like the color red, and after bobbing it it needed paint.

 

[frijolee]

Been watching this on norotors... Glad to find you here as well. I finally started a build thread on my XJ.

http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=245623542#post245623542

...but it's going to be a while before I jump up to 8 cylinders.

 

[Vanimal]

out of curiousity, why is the 5.3l so much more popular than the 4.8 or 6.0l for swaps? seems like everyone is using the 5.3.
i had the 4.8 in my silverado, damn good motor and pretty peppy. lots cheaper than the 5.3, but it doesnt come in an aluminum block. the 6.0 does though, doesnt it? just too spendy for minimal gains or something? my van is going to need a motor soon (287k, stock SBC tbi 350). i'm considering options. seems like a vortec 350 is probably the easiest.

 

[John D]

out of curiousity, why is the 5.3l so much more popular than the 4.8 or 6.0l for swaps? seems like everyone is using the 5.3.
i had the 4.8 in my silverado, damn good motor and pretty peppy. lots cheaper than the 5.3, but it doesnt come in an aluminum block. the 6.0 does though, doesnt it? just too spendy for minimal gains or something? my van is going to need a motor soon (287k, stock SBC tbi 350). i'm considering options. seems like a vortec 350 is probably the easiest.

5.3L are really easy to come by and they can be had for a decent price depending on miles. The 4.8L requires the same amount of work for less gain. The 6.0L requires the same amount of work for more gain. If I was doing mine over, I would only consider the 6.0L.

 

[xj+rcks]

The 5.3 is so plentiful that it's not much more money than a 4.8. I can buy 5.3's from my local yard for $400 with harness and ECU. For this build I don't want the extra power of the 6.0, I want to keep my axles light so I can go fast in the woods. I'm thinking of putting a 6.0 in the RX7 and using the 5.3 in the MJ.

 

[xj+rcks]

Bed is back on the 'Manche

I'm thinking of starting on the cage next, but I'm not sure if it should go into the bed or not. I want as much useable bed space as possible, and my shock cage is going to take a good bit of that already.

 

[MoparManiac]

I won't splatter your build thread with pics, but you can check out my cage work on my MJ in the adv. fab section.

I still have 99% of my bedspace available, though I did bob it about 12".

 

[yossarian19]

You could do a passenger compartment halo & portal the lengthwise tubes out the back of the cab & angle them down along the sides of the bed to the upper rear corners, land them on some plate & add a cross beam along the top of the tailgate if that wouldn't interfere with intended use. Put one along the bottom front of the bed, too, or if you got really crafty underneath the bed running left to right with verticals tying the cross piece into the diagonals.
If that makes any sense.

 

[tbburg]

I would recommend running at least diagonals down from the B pillar hoop into the bed for triangulated support. Also having fooled around with 2 caged Comanches, I'd recommend putting the B hoop outside the cab. There's little enough space in there as it is, and loosing 3 inches at the back to fit the hoop and cross braces makes things even tighter.

Consider making the bed cage removable. Makes life simpler if you have to pull the bed in the future.

 

[kastein]

My plan if I cage mine is to put the B hoop inside the cab, but the roof section of the cage as a halo on the outside with the verticals in the B pillar going through the corners of the roof to it. I need to stare at it with a beer in my hand for a while longer before I'll be sure it will all work though.

 

[xj+rcks]

I need to do the same, maybe after a few beers. I'm going to play with some masking tape and see how it looks tomorrow. This has slowed me down quite a bit just thinking about this damn cage.

 

[xj+rcks]

Approve?

 

[Swamprat]

wait what?

 

[xj+rcks]

It's not mine, haha. Just throwing cage ideas around.

 

[Goatman]

Cages are for safety, as well as chassis rigidity. It's not safe to hit your head on the cage in a barrel roll. Personally, I would only consider building an MJ cage with the top cage bars outside the roof. The down bars can go through the roof to the inside (since exo's are ugly and get hung up on rocks and trees). But, I would put the A pillar down bars outside the A pillar and through the top of the fenders, like I did my XJ cage, and like has become the popular way to build an XJ cage. I'd run the B pillar down bars through the roof to the inside, then diagonals off the top of the B pillar to the bed. If you want to be able to remove the bed then use tube clamps so the rear ward tubes are removable. You can flange the bed bars at the floor of the bed with another flange underneath to the frame.

 

[xj+rcks]

Do you have any photos of your A pillar setup? I appreciate the advice! Don't worry about putting photos up on here, it's already full of them.

 

[Swamprat]

It's not mine, haha. Just throwing cage ideas around.

haha, i was about to say. all that work on the bed then just chopping it off.

 

[xj+rcks]

I've been heming and hawing over when to take my Cherokee apart so I can swap stuff over to the Comanche. It would help to have axles and suspension underneath it to mock everything up. Well..... I took the Cherokee out for a little romp today and flipped her onto her lid. I guess it's time.

The most comfortable roll ever. She just leaned over. I'll say this, harnesses are awesome, and the Comanche is going to have more cage. oke: