98 SE 5.3 Swap and Other Stuff

[jbsjunk]

The 6 planet gear is a hoax. I've had several apart including mine that were 3 planet. The S-10 chain is wider across the board.

 

[John D]

The 6 planet gear is a hoax. I've had several apart including mine that were 3 planet. The S-10 chain is wider across the board.

Careful with this guy, he's a 6 planet gear denier!

I became really frustrated when trying to sort out/find what I needed when I did the upgrade. It was really easy to find all the parts on eBay and it wasn't too expensive.

 

[racer32]

The 6 planet gear is a hoax. I've had several apart including mine that were 3 planet. The S-10 chain is wider across the board.

I must have lucked out then... Good to know-

Careful with this guy, he's a 6 planet gear denier!

I became really frustrated when trying to sort out/find what I needed when I did the upgrade. It was really easy to find all the parts on eBay and it wasn't too expensive.

I nearly went the same route as you John. Had all the parts from the same eBay seller saved on my watch list and decided to try my luck at the pick and pull. $87 for a complete tcase isn't too bad. Plus I had to buy another early Jeep case to get the early anulus gear. The S10 case got damaged during disassemble due to frozen bolts so I'm probably over $200 into this case not including the original part cost. I do have enough parts to assemble another complete case and try selling on craigslist to recoup some cost.

 

[cleenrob]

An np241 planetary will work as well, they are all 6 pinion and same gear cut generations as the s10, its what i used on my case.

It was cheeper to buy the chain and planetary of ebay yhan it was to find a cheep s10 case

 

[racer32]

Got my transfer case all buttoned up. Gave it a coat of paint too. You can see in one pic below I had to bore out and tap the VSS hole to M22x1.5 for the 05 VSS. Had to make a little spacer to go below it too. Also got my adapter plate drilled and tapped. Just waiting on a new countersink from McMaster so I can finish the other 6 holes. Should be able to bolt it up this week sometime-

I ordered a bunch of exhaust tubing too so I can get that finished. Hopefully I can hear this thing run in the next week or two.

 

[racer32]

I got my countersink and studs in so I finished up the adapter plate this weekend and got the tcase installed.

I also ordered an exhaust system. Some assembly required

 

[racer32]

You might want to watch this episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYQsCFuc8B4

 

[PhotoJared]

NIIIIICE! Congrats on getting it started! Should be fairly smooth sailing from here!

I'd say your shop has sufficient lighting lol!

 

[John D]

Cool, that's a good feeling.

 

[Redsnake]

Congrats on getting it running!! I love my XJ but boy do I miss the sound and feel of driving a V8 powered sports car... I'd love to have a 5.3 or 6.0 LS swap done on my '01 XJ but that's a pipe-dream for me. Glad to see others doing it!

 

[racer32]

NIIIIICE! Congrats on getting it started! Should be fairly smooth sailing from here!

I'd say your shop has sufficient lighting lol!

Almost enough. 48 - 4ft bulbs in there :roflmao:

Cool, that's a good feeling.

Thanks John

Congrats on getting it running!! I love my XJ but boy do I miss the sound and feel of driving a V8 powered sports car... I'd love to have a 5.3 or 6.0 LS swap done on my '01 XJ but that's a pipe-dream for me. Glad to see others doing it!

Thanks!

I'm going to be less than $4k into this swap. Others have done it for cheaper... Scrape, save, sell extra unwanted junk and you would be surprised how quickly your funds build up

 

[jbsjunk]

I like my small block, until I get an LS. Your pile of pipe looked like mine.

 

[Redsnake]

It's not necessarily the price... it's the down time and having the actual ability to do it myself. I could only realistically be down my XJ for the weekend as it's my DD and I rely on it to get back/forth from work.

 

[racer32]

It's not necessarily the price... it's the down time and having the actual ability to do it myself. I could only realistically be down my XJ for the weekend as it's my DD and I rely on it to get back/forth from work.

Makes total sense. I had the ability to borrow an extra vehicle from my inlaws during my swap. Otherwise I would have had to buy another cheap car to drive...

 

[racer32]

Made some progress on my fuel tank and got some wiring cleaned up. I'm using a classic industries fuel sender. I posted a video on my channel showing my bending process for the steel sheet too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwp9_iK_oyg

And my interior is finally looking like an interior again.

Here's my power steering/tesioner bracket. I'm not going to show my god awful welds. First time using an aluminum spool gun. Hopefully the powder coat covers some of them up

Thanks for looking...

 

[racer32]

I've been working on my fuel tank and I took some parts to powder coat last week. Also made a cool air intake into the cowl. Ended up buying another set of tank straps as I cut mine when I took them out. Had to extend them to fit under the new tank.

I also need a new camera lens for my phone. These pics are getting super cloudy and look like shit...

 

[cleenrob]

i dig that intake but wouldn't that smaller tube in the cowl restrict air flow quite a bit?

 

[racer32]

i dig that intake but wouldn't that smaller tube in the cowl restrict air flow quite a bit?

Not sure... I'm going to test it out and see how it does. It's a 3" inlet into the air box and 4" outlet to the intake. If it chokes it down too much I may end up doing something through the hood in sort of a ram air/scoop type setup. You may be right though...

 

[cleenrob]

Not sure... I'm going to test it out and see how it does. It's a 3" inlet into the air box and 4" outlet to the intake. If it chokes it down too much I may end up doing something through the hood in sort of a ram air/scoop type setup. You may be right though...

i was thinking about doing something very similar, i have a hole in the cowl from my previous 4.0-based cowl intake, except with 4" piping all the way thru

OR

since im using a 19x22 radiator, im also thinking for the a/c ill use and early xj 2.5 condenser for the a/c since its 19x22ish as well, ill end up with an open space on the driver side of the grill, so maybe ill fab some kind of block off with a ram intake built in..just a thought.. :sunshine:

 

[racer32]

...early xj 2.5 condenser for the a/c since its 19x22ish as well

This is interesting. I didn't know this. I'm running a 19x22 radiator as well. I'll have to look for one next run to the pick n pull.