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98xj 5.3 swap (the poverty method).

what year wiring? I found a good one by searching for xj pcm diagram when I needed one, it was for 96 and newer style pcms, I think it was on jeepforum.

air bag was totally separate on mine
 
Yea, I can find the chassis diagram for every year except 98+. I think we got a pretty good handle on it without anyway. Probably have a few extra wires running through the firewall that won't be used, but oh well.
Removed anything we couldn't identify as lights, switches, hvac, or air bags, and everything coming from the big firewall connector.

Does anyone happen to know if the 05+ ECM's send oil pressure out via the bus? I'm trying to figure out if there are any gauges other than fuel and battery that I'll need (stuff that won't show up on the tablet).
 
Got quite a bit done today.
All my fuel stuff, trans/case adapter and VSS, and alternator connector showed up. Went across the border to pick it up. Didn't know that the case adapter was in and AA didn't put a receipt or anything in the box, and I called my order in over the phone so I had no evidence as to price for customs, so I had to just hide it in the back of the mustang. No questions, right through. I can't believe I didn't get searched either direction in the most obvious of drug dealer cars.

The AA kit went in mostly smooth. The trans/case mount wasn't drilled out quite right and needed some holes lobed out but otherwise, she's in.

Assembling the trans/case/adapter.
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Note, the 40 tooth reluctor installed.
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GM VSS lined up nicely.
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And the whole assembly fit perfect with my hybrid case (np241c long input wide bearing 27 spline + 6 pinion planetary - 2000+ GMC 1500, np231 internals, wide input bearing, and shift lever - 1992 S10, and np231 case, main shaft, SYE - 1998 XJ). A few people told me that shaft either wouldn't have enough spline engagement, or too much, or would bottom out in the front of the case, or would be the wrong gear pitch. All wrong. Everything went perfect.
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Stuck a belt and new tensioner on.
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Dropped the fuel tank to install the Walbro 255lph pump. Tank was right full. Just invited everyone to pull up beside the Jeep, stuck a hose on the end of the fuel line and bumped the fuel relay. Topped up the mustang and the civic... Still over half full *sigh*. Figured half was enough.
Spent 20 minutes blowing out all the mud from everywhere around the hoses and connections with compressed air. Too cool for safety glasses. Spent another 20 minutes crying, cause sand.
Once the tank was out, I popped the top off and removed/disassembled the pump canister.
Here's the Walbro beside the XJ (right)
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Note, I already put the fuel hose/tube and spring on the Walbro.
Dremeled out the bottom of the canister to fit the Walbro pump. Took about 20 minutes for some reason.
IMG_20150328_184820.jpg

As far as I can tell, this setup should work, but there are 3 tabs that stick up inside the canister that have to be chopped off as well so the Walbro can sit flat and seal to the bottom of the canister.
Walbro pump ready to be stuck into the canister.
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Walbro in the can.
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So the pump assembly is complete, but I still have to figure out the stock pressure regulator (which I assume is the silver part on the top of the assembly that I couldn't figure out how to remove). I've heard you can just drill something out on it and just pass fuel through unhindered. Anyone have any insight on this?

Also, I test assembled one end of the fuel hose. I tried the caulking gun with the brake line flare tool, but no luck. It just bent the shit out of the gun. Ball joint press worked WAY better. Really, what job can't be done with a ball joint press?
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All in all, a not completely unproductive day. I'd hoped to get more electrical done, but Steve (the roomie/electrical guy who will just redo all my electrical if I try to do it without him) was busy with his lady all day.
I'm thinking it'd make sense to relocate the PDC to the drivers side, since that's where a majority of what's left of the harness is located. Then it'd just be 10 or so wires over the firewall to the HVAC firewall grommet. I think I'll probably locate the ECU between the fender well and the PDC which will be right behind the headlight (elevated as high as I can before hitting the hood).


One question came up today that I'm hoping someone can answer.
The GM ECU is pretty open in terms of programming. Is there any reason I couldn't just program the ECU to use the XJ fuel sending unit? It's just a matter of matching up circuit resistance with fuel level, so I can't imagine any good reason why not, but .. ya know.. I've never worked on a GM. Idea's?
If not, I'll hit the wrecker tomorrow for a GM unit to duct tape to my fuel pump canister. ;)
 
Another question.
Does anyone know how to drill out the stock fuel pressure regulator for free flow, or is there a better/easier solution?
I'm pretty sure mine is toast already (check valve is stuck open), so I don't mind messing it up in the process.
 
I'm just throwing this out there. Make sure you really make sure the nuts that hold the trans adapter to the transfercase are super tight. I had a bad experience with my dodge cummins which has New Process transfercase. Whoever redid the transmission didn't tighten the transfercase to the trans enough. And everytime the transmission was shifted between forward and reverse the transfercase would shift its position on the transmission because the studs are not a snug fit. Caused a lot of damage over time. I'm no help to you otherwise, but enjoying your work.
 
I'm just throwing this out there. Make sure you really make sure the nuts that hold the trans adapter to the transfercase are super tight. I had a bad experience with my dodge cummins which has New Process transfercase. Whoever redid the transmission didn't tighten the transfercase to the trans enough. And everytime the transmission was shifted between forward and reverse the transfercase would shift its position on the transmission because the studs are not a snug fit. Caused a lot of damage over time. I'm no help to you otherwise, but enjoying your work.

:) Our ex room-mate forgets to tighten everything. He was working on one of our trucks at some point, and did exactly as you said :). Took us a while to figure out where the new clunk was coming from.
 
Either spend the money on a Novak kit or modify it yourself.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1108551&page=11

Yea, trying to do as much as possible without resorting to canned solutions. My original plan was to do it like JeremyB did. I'll take a look at the stock regulator today to try and figure out a way to free flow it.

On the fuel sending unit... Does anyone know if the 04+ GMC's ECU sends fuel level over OBD? I know some vehicles have this, but not all and I don't have one to test with. I was going to hit the wrecker today (during a rain storm) for a GM sender, but I suppose it doesn't make sense to do all that work only to find out my ECU won't send that info to my OBDii reader.
Anyone got a definitive answer? Maybe someone's got an 02+ GMC and an OBD reader and feels like checking it out with torque?

If the fuel level isn't sent over OBDii, I'll probably just use the stock sender, and build a little LED bar for fuel level indication. Should be easy enough, and I've gotta build a little panel on the dash for other stuff anyway (eg: CEL, Low oil pressure)
If I end up building my own gauges, I'm pretty sure this will be used for my fuel level/oil pressure/trans temp
http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/Grove-LED-Bar-p-1178.html

bar.gif

Pretty hard to go wrong for $4
 
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Wait a minute I just checked the resistance on the stock xj fuel sending unit and its 220 empty, 40 full. Stock gm is 240 empty and 40 full.
What am I missing? Can't I just stick a 20ohms resistor in line so I'd get the correct empty reading, and the full mark would show about 5% lower than full?
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Fuel system finished. Used a few 3/8 barb fittings, one side male thread, the other female. Couple hone made washers and rubber seals, and the night pressure and return lines are done.

Cut off the stock fuel stem.
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Bolted in the high pressure feed.
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Stuck a hose on that happened to be exactly the right length.
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Drilled a hole for the return. I wanted the return to dump into the cannister (just being paranoid about foaming), so the hole went in the only spot with enough room for the fittings. Couldn't get a wrench/socket to the fitting on the underside, so stuck, a 1mm chunk of hydraulic hose in as a washer to prevent it from spinning while I torqued the top.
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The pump sits through the bottom of the cannister like normal, but the Walbro filter is a tight press fit, so we had to use 4 hands and 3 or 4 tools simultaneously to hold the pump down against the bottom of the cannister to press the filter on the bottom.
Here it is all assembled.
20150329_163908.jpg



Also cobbled together the rest of my harness. The donor motor was missing most of it's harness, so as mentioned, I had to grab one from the wrecker. The wrecker harness was missing the transmission end, but luckily that's the one part I got with my donor motor.
Took a few minutes to figure out which wires went where (2x yellow/black, 2x black/white, and 2x pink), but a bit of cross referencing of the ECU pinouts from lt1swap.com and 10 or so pinouts for various 4l60e's, and we got it figured.
IMG_20150329_205920.jpg


Also stuck some quick connect fittings on the tank end and stuck'm to the c5 regulator/filter, which is bolted to the cross member just in front of the tank. Not an ideal location, but the hoses I had stuck on the tank "temporarily" for fitment, wouldn't come back off and I didn't have any more 3/8 hose anyway.



Tomorrow I'll probably finish up the engine harness and hopefully relocate the PDC and ECM to the drivers side, and maybe drop the motor back in.
I'm hoping to have all the wiring, exhaust, linkages, fuel, and cooling done this week. Still haven't found a suitable shifter yet. This is turning into a show stopper. Can't find a 98+ floor shifter anywhere nearby, and all the ones online are missing the bezel. I get this horrible feeling I'm going to be going for my first test drive with the shifter cable wrapped around a set of pliers.
 
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Wait a minute I just checked the resistance on the stock xj fuel sending unit and its 220 empty, 40 full. Stock gm is 240 empty and 40 full.
What am I missing? Can't I just stick a 20ohms resistor in line so I'd get the correct empty reading, and the full mark would show about 5% lower than full?

I used an autometer fuel gauge and I think it was 0-220. I simply bent the float arm to give the correct resistance at empty. I don't care if it reads accurately at F, I know when it's full. I just wanted the E to be accurate and this seemed like the easiest way for me. I'm pretty sure it's in my instrument cluster swap link in my sig below.
 
In 02 don't know about GM's network protocols. If it was CAN driving the cluster, they were early adopters.
I know that the stock GM sender will work with a plain old aftermarket gauge, though. The ECM doesn't *have* to be involved at all.
 
Anyone have pictures of how they adapted a stock XJ shifter to the trans? Did you use the XJ or GM cable? I'm goona try to go hunt for a shifter today.
I know the Corvette shifter just has a lever on the bottom that the GM cable just clips into, but looking at pictures of the shifter housing online, I can't quite tell if it's too deep to fit between the tunnel and the trans (not much room there). I believe the XJ shifter connects from above the pivot point somehow?
 
the computer reads fuel level, so you can get it through torque over obd. Pretty much any value the computer receives our calculates is available through torque unless torque hasn't yet been set up to show it. Since these are about the most common engines on the planet I would guess just about anything you could dream of reading can be found through torque.
 
Yea, I figured as much, but ya know.. Chrysler didn't allow probing of the fuel level in the 98 XJ, and that's all I really have heaps of experience with. Just wanted a definitive answer so I can move on with the swap and forget all my gauge problems :p.

ECU is waiting for me at the parcel place just south of the border. If I get the pickup put back together this afternoon, I'll be able to bench-test the ECU tonight!
 
Update:

Harness is complete. All depinned, somewhat cleaned up, and all external connections labeled.
PDC cleaned up and ran all necessary wiring over to the driver side.
Threw in some fittings for the trans cooler and got hoses on.
Dropped complete drive train back in the Jeep.
Cut and welded the GM pedal to fit properly and wired up the TAC.
Ran main fuel line to front.

Tomorrow I'll have the downpipe finished, hopefully get the rest of the harness together, bolt the new pedal assembly in place, cut off the clutch pedal, and start putting the front end back together so I know where my rad is going. Should have a test fire before the end of the week!
 
So did you do the resistor trick for the fuel gauge? Let me know if that worked, Ill copy it for mine.

Not sure yet. Been focused on the big stuff first. I just want it running :).

So far today, I got part of the exhaust done, but the upper control arm mount that I'd neglected to cut out years ago, got in the way of the passenger side down pipe. I gave up on it for a bit to work on the cooler.

New radiator is in. It's a hack job for sure, but looks okay and will definitely hold. Just cut out the top of the front CM so the rad sits on the lower portion of the CM. Welded some angle into the bottom to give it a lip, cut a hole in the upper rad support for the cap. Used some rubber hose as bushings (because hard mounting your rad on an XJ, even if braced, is a bad idea), and a few set screws to keep the rad in place front/back. I won't show it off to anyone up close, but it should do the job it's meant to do.
Used the rad hoses from the stock cooler, cut to length. They JUST work. Not pretty, but no kinks (yet) and should move coolant.

Discovered I've got a leak in the trans/tcase adapter (in the join between the two parts). Not sure why. There's a big o-ring in there. Will have to tear it off later to figure it out.

Front drive shaft is about 1/2" too long, and I'm guessing the rear will be 1/2" too short. Will ghetto booty fab them the right size tomorrow.


Almost ready for a fire up. I think I'm bang on my original schedule, which had my first test fire tomorrow. Just need to finish the down pipe, throw on a few hose clamps, and solder on the new harness connectors (external stuff).
No pictures today. Too much anger after trying to cut that upper control arm mount off with a dull sawsall blade.
 
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