Turd Bomb, a pavement bound MJ project.

[Hawk]

I've had this little 88 MJ for a while. It originally came with a 2.5/4 speed/2wd. It was supposed to be my little gas sipper so I drive it back and forth to work.

Beautiful shit brown interior...

After transplanting another 2.5 into it, I found out that it needed a timing chain. At this point, I had been working on it for a few weeks with no luck getting it running, and I was about fed up, so I decided to stick a 350 in it.
First I brought it into the garage to depanel it, since I have a 99 front clip for it.

I pulled the nasty old interior out of it and discovered no rust.

Built my own brackets to put a set of buckets from a 98 explorer into it. Power, with inflatable supports, and leather.

Then my engine mounts showed up. AA mounts found on CL for $80

I had a buddy parting out a CJ5 with this fresh built 350, punched .60 over, edelbrock aluminum heads (the mild ones with 64cc chambers) roller rockers, roller timing, centerforce clutch, msd ignition and dist, accel coil, and a pretty mild cam that I'll be changing out eventually.

I ordered the first handful of gauges for it, all autometer C2. So far I have boost, pyrometer, tach, water temp, and oil pressure. I have yet to buy fuel level, volt meter, and their 160mph speedometer.

I did this woodgrain on my own, but I don't care for it, I'll probably pull it and paint it black.

Here are the switches for my ected and my reverse lights

 

[Hawk]

I pulled the bed off, because I'll be making a skinny flatbed for it.

I'm also contemplating a rear 4 link with either coil springs or coil overs, since I'd be able to cut a few feet off the back of the truck, to make it nice and short.
Here's a video of the truck running for the first time. The whistling noise is the water pump.

Since that video was taken, I got the aluminum radiator hooked up, ran the stock fuel pump and decided I wanted to use my holley fuel pump. I also got the engine to start from the ignition, and the gas pedal works too. The transmission that's in it is a BW Super T10 with a cast iron case, close ratio gears, and a hurst super shifter.
Next up, I'll be pulling the crappy tan dash to replace it with a black one. I'll also be pulling all the stock wiring out of the engine compartment so I can rewire it cleaner. I'm trying to find a wood grain dash bezel for it, the dark kind like this;

I also need some exhaust headers for it, there's no room at all under there. Any questions are welcome, suggestions too, although I have it pretty much finished in my head. It'll probably be gunmetal blue when it's finished, or glossy OD green with some flake, the bed and engine compartment will be black, and I want black DC1 wheels on it. I'm hoping to have it on the road by next summer.

 

[Hawk]

Forgot to mention, I have an explorer 8.8 with disc, and 3.73 posi for this project. I'll be keeping the 3.73 to see if I like it at first, then pulling them to replace the posi with the ected.

 

[ehall]

That looks really promising man

 

[HMGanja]

Kick ass

 

[Timmy2XJS]

now that just looks like its gonna be a hellofa lot of fun!

 

[yossarian19]

Yee-haw.
Tradeja a 98 with rear discs when you're done

 

[HMGanja]

Did you not have to lift the truck to fit the 350?

 

[Hawk]

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

Did you not have to lift the truck to fit the 350?

No, since it's a 2wd, it doesn't have a differential in front, saves a lot of space. It's also got aluminum heads and intake, and the front clip and doors are off, so it's light right now. I'll fine-tune the suspension with better springs and appropriate bump stops when all the panels are on it.

*note-I forgot exactly where I saw the weight's of the engines side by side, but with the aluminum heads on this engine, it should be within 20lbs of the 4.0. Also, not having a x-case or a front diff is going to cut off a lot of weight. I can't wait to take it to my buddy's and put it on the scales when it's done.

 

[Timmy2XJS]

i cant wait to see a vid of that thing throwing the ass sideways bc of the power.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

I thought the SBC was supposed to be much lighter than a 4.0/ With those heads I would have guessed close to 100lbs lighter.

 

[Hawk]

I thought the SBC was supposed to be much lighter than a 4.0/ With those heads I would have guessed close to 100lbs lighter.

Looking right now, the common weight I'm finding for the sbc fully dressed is 575. The only number I can find for the 4.0 is 515, but I don't know if that's dressed or not. Either way, the difference shouldn't play a role on how high the front end sits. I'll just have to address the front suspension according to how far the axle beam is from the pan. I'm not overly concerned, since it's a pavement pounder and won't be flexin like the XJ.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

OK, the number I had for the 4.0 was 550 as it sits in the bay. I think I was thinking of an Aluminum LSX platform. And yea, it really should not affect the weight much, the 4.0 is a heavy block

 

[JJacobs]

Sounds like a Procharged boat. I like it, I like it a lot!

 

[Hawk]

Do any of you have that woodgrain dash bezel from a cherokee country that matches the wood on the door panel above? Is there an appropriate place to ask for that here on ?

 

[#1 Moses]

Nice job! keep up the good work! Cant wait untill you get it finished. should be real nice for you.

 

[Nomercy]

you should do a write up on the motor swap. ppl on here have been asking about doing V8s. id like to see that.

also, why not do a 97+ dash? you can get them in wood grain

headers: block huggers? custom?

 

[Nomercy]

btw...thats bitchin

do a some bambo (i think) floor boards for the bed and some stainless strips in there and make it Hot Rod!

i like it

 

[Hawk]

What would you like to know about the actual swap? It was very straight forward, except for the wiring, but a few hours with the multimeter took care of that.
I had headman block huggers on it, but there's NO room on the passenger side. I cut them off (which I feel bad about destroying a good set of headers) and I have a buddy that's going to do a lot of work to it soon, including the cam install/carb rebuild, making the headers, and welding the 4 link brackets on the 8.8 and frame.
Today I messed with the cross member and got the engine/tranny at the correct angle. When the truck sits flat, the transmission points down at approx 1.5 degrees. If I decide I want to hike up the rear, it'll be easy to drop the tail shaft a little more.
I wish I needed to do some more fancy fab work to get it to work, but I had this piece of tubing that was exactly the right size....

That's the only picture I have of the ST10 transmission. That's the only part of the truck I'll swap out to keep if I sell it. It's getting too hard to find those transmissions.
Here's where the shifter is now, much more comfortable.

I'll at least paint the piece of tubing so it doesn't look all bubba-joe'd up.

 

[MTBracer367]

can you say vibrations?

solid trans mount are nice for shifting and power transfer but not for comfert but i don't think thats the main concern with this project