Conversions & Swaps LSX Engines in Non-LSX Vehicles
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1997 Jeep Cherokee LS1 conversion

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Old Aug 29, 2009 | 05:59 PM
  #61  
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I like fabbing stuff so yeah I'd do it again. I've made and sold a half dozen or so already.
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Old Aug 29, 2009 | 06:05 PM
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They look to be high quality from what I can see. Where did you source the materials at a price that allowed you to produce them for profit? My problem is that I build cool #hit but if I sold it I have spent so much making it awesome that there is no room for profit.
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 09:41 PM
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I've been lucky and found a few local folks that give me a decent price. More than wholesale but alot less than list prices.
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 10:04 PM
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Slow progress, but some is better than none I suppose.

I pushed the rig out of the garage to free up some valuable space and took advantage of the nice weather and got started on the cowl hood. Basically a stock hood with a few stategic cuts. The filler pieces on the sides will be 16ga steel.
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After lowering the hood I quickly realized that the alternator and the purge valve were going to be an issue. Actually I knew this when I got started but untill I was standing there looking at it with the hood in place I didn't fully appreciate the "situation."

The alternator sits about 2" above the normal hood line.
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Slightly behind the alternator on the intake manifold is the Purge valve. It is higher than the alternator. I'm going to fab up a 90deg adapter for the valve so it really isn't a major issue.
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Without modifiying the purge valve and lowering the alternator about an inch or so, the hood is gonna look like crap. So I'm gonna be burning up my bandwidth looking for a bracket that will keep the alternator on the drivers side but allow me to lower it a little bit. If anyone knows of a good solution, please let me know.

Last edited by FrankZ; Sep 7, 2009 at 08:45 AM.
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Old Sep 5, 2009 | 10:36 PM
  #65  
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Glad to see this project , My daily is a 91 Cherokee, I have been thinking of a V8 swap but I was thinking more like a 6.1 hemi to stay in the chrysler family. Great progress BTW!
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 08:08 AM
  #66  
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Wouldn't an F-Body bracket put the alternator at the botton and PS up top but much lower than where your alternator is now?
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 08:10 AM
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I don't know. Time for more research.
Thanks for the lead.
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 08:36 AM
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So what donor vehicle should I look at for the alternator and PS Pump bracket?
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 09:29 AM
  #69  
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On the evap purge solenoid you can tune it out of the pcm unless you need it on your application. Its just a vent for your gas tank on gm unless the jeep needs it also. I think on the alt and ps brackets you would be best with 98-02 f body
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 09:35 AM
  #70  
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One of the folks I wheel with has a TJ with a 6.0L. They've been fighting a constant battle with the gas spewing out of the filler neck, though I don't for certain that it's related to the lack of a purge valve. In an attempt to prevent that on my rig I opted to use a GM pump from the same donor vehicle as my engine. My thought process is that since I need more fuel pressure than my stock pump can supply (non-adjustable FPR in pump assy) and I already have the required fuel lines...why not go ahead and hook it up.
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 10:42 AM
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Originally Posted by FrankZ
So what donor vehicle should I look at for the alternator and PS Pump bracket?
You can easily run the accessories from the front of the fbody on your engine, you might want to do some measuring first though and make sure your steering box wouldn't interfere with the alt then. I take it your a member on PIRATE4X4.COM if not I suggest you take time to log on and read through some of the builds that are already running your particular setup should save you a lot of headaches on your build process. Also keep in mind that to change the power steering and alt locations to another bracket setup the water pump, balancer and AC must all change as well as the offset the belt runs at is different between Fbody, Vette, and pickup.
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 10:52 AM
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Yeah I'm on Pirate. There alot of TJ/YJ swaps, but XJ's.....not really. I know of a few but those all used F-Body motors to begin with.

Replacing the alternator bracket isn't looking so hot if I've got to swap everything else on the front of the motor as well.
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 11:15 AM
  #73  
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Originally Posted by FrankZ
Replacing the alternator bracket isn't looking so hot if I've got to swap everything else on the front of the motor as well.
I kinda figured that, not sure why no one else told you. Accessories regardless what setup your wanting must all stay together. I can't think of any other way right off hand to move the alt down. There is a guy on here that makes brackets to move the alt up on fbody's wanting to go with a front mount turbo it may be possible that he could also make you a bracket to relocate your alt to another location I guess. I am sure someone will chime in with his name or you might do a search on alt relocations. I have thought about doing a 5.3 in my XJ on several occasions but have been looking at the new 4.9 stroker kit instead just for ease of instillation and it make v8 power anyways 395hp. Here is a pic of my jeep
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Old Sep 6, 2009 | 05:40 PM
  #74  
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I think you could use one of the alternator brackets that f-body guys use for a turbo swap as stated above but you'd have to shim it. Also most s-10 swap guys use truck brackets for the swap. So maybe you could swap them straight across. With your fab skills you could make some brackets pretty easily. I made mine in an afternoon with a welder and some 1/8 plate. Also gm g body seat track to seat spacers work very well.
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Old Sep 7, 2009 | 11:10 PM
  #75  
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Unfortunetly that won't work on my XJ.

Since there's no easy way to replace the brackets on the front of a truck motor I decided to mod what I had available.

Here's the Alternator/PS Pump before:
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...and after:
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I still need to add a support arm from the new bracket to the bolt directly below the alternator, maybe tomorrow.

Better clearance now under the hood.
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Old Sep 7, 2009 | 11:46 PM
  #76  
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Default Alt problems

In my first Jeep LS swap I used truck front accessories. The alt is up there a ways with the truck stuff.

My next two swaps of LS motors in to TJ's, an LS6 and a 6.0 using camaro front accessories you always need to watch the left front upper control arm into the alternator. I am running a 1.75 spring spacer with the bump stops lowered by the same amount.

The C5 Corvette accessories look to be the hot set up. Alt lower than the truck and the PS pump high enough not to cause problems. Remote res on the PS pump.

Car Craft did an article on LS front drive assemblys. I think it is Quik Performance that makes brackets for the alternator and PS pump.

On my 4.8 swap I ran the stock 2.5 intank pump and regulator, the stock single line right up to the 4.8 fuel rail. Ran great. No problems. On the LS6 and 6.0 I run a 255 Walbro in tank. Got rid of the stock Jeep regulator and ran a C5 corvette regulator. Both run great.

Just my .02
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Old Sep 7, 2009 | 11:48 PM
  #77  
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Thanks for info!!
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Old Sep 21, 2009 | 01:51 PM
  #78  
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cool build
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Old Sep 27, 2009 | 03:06 PM
  #79  
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How's it coming??
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Old Sep 27, 2009 | 03:27 PM
  #80  
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Back burner till my headers get here at the end of next week.
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