I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee that I'm looking to swap an LS engine into. I'm going to get a kit from novak conversions. I have 3 options for engines - LS1, LS4, or L33 (or some aluminum truck block). Here are the pros/cons of each:

LS1 - it's a drop in engine, basically, but they're getting old and they're mega expensive.

Truck aluminum block - needs to have the AC compressor relocated using a $700 kit (!!!) and the truck intake will have to be swapped out. They're a better price, though, until you factor in moving the AC and needing a new intake.

LS4 - this is my main choice. They are the newer and cheaper and make less power (yes, this is good. i'm using a jeep NSG370, which is a decent tranny, but i'm not sure how strong it is). However, The LS4 uses a different block - uses the metric bellhousing bolt pattern instead of SBC, and i've heard that the RH of the block has no motor mounts.

Here are my solutions - for the bellhousing bolts, i could just have a different adapter made. no big deal. I'd rather not, because the kit that novak sells is for the SBC pattern, but i could just not buy it.

Now, if there are no motor mounts on one side of the block, that is bad and I can't use it. However, when i rebuild this engine (which i'm planning on doing) I could just swap out the L33 block for the LS4 block, and essentially use have an LS4 with an L33 block. bare blocks are pretty cheap, and I could recoup some money by selling the LS4 block. No extra work, because I'm rebuilding the engine anyways.

would the hybrid engine thing work? I know the crank is shorter, but that isn't affected by the block. From the research i've done, all the block differences are external - starter mounting (not a problem in my application, starter mounts on the NSG370), no RH motor mount holes, different bellhousing.

Thanks!

 

LS1 intakes are cheap. I've bought them for $35 including rail, bolts, gaskets.
And is the AC bracket made of gold? There are plenty of passenger side top AC brackets for under $300. I made one for about $10. The Classic Air I put on another car was supplied with the Kwik bracket for $100.

 

why not an low mileage iron block? lq5 or lm7?

~80lb difference

 

I did some more research and it turns out the intake manifold points backwards on the LS4. There's not really a way around that because if you tried to turn it around it would interfere with the water pump manifold. So, scratch that. The truck manifold is almost 5 inches higher than the LSx one, which sucks, because it's a better manifold, especially in a jeep application. I was thinking about doing a cowl hood anyways, so that may be my solution. I was comparing pictures of the vortec and LSx engines and it looks to me like the AC sticks out farther on the LSX. I'd have to verify by measuring an actual engine, but I think I may just get an L33. KISS and all that.

do you have a link to that upper AC bracket thing? The novak one is expensive because they're selling the bracket with a bigger AC compressor, so the one from a suburban. I don't need that, though, XJ's are not that big.

 

found it! nevermind.