So I have a 1991 Jeep Wrangler with a tired 4.0 inline 6cyl, all of my favorites past and current have been inline 6 cylinders from Cummins to Toyota Supras and my jeep. However I'm pushing 40" tires on the road and the 195hp/220lb 4.0 isn't satisfactory on the road and after researching every option to build a stroker 4.7 Jeep inline and either supercharging or turbo charging I'd be at $4-6k easily and on the edge of reliability.

So here I am going back to considering a LSx 6.0 preferably out of any of the truck applications. I know the LQ series will be half the price practically but I do not want to add any front end weight as it took a couple years of wheeling my jeep to get the right springs and set-up in the front for the given weight. I've heard horror stories of guys swapping LSx aluminum blocks into their rock crawlers only to warp and blow the heck out of them. Granted two of these instances were dedicated rock crawlers abused on a weekly basis in southern style heat half of the year. My jeep is 75% weekend/fair weather driver and 25% trail rig and if it's over 75 degrees I'm probably not offroad with it.

What does the collective have to say about aluminum block LSx series engine in a rock crawler type rig??

 

run an oversized cooling system and a fan-cooled oil cooler and you'll be fine

 

I have been running an oil cooler fed from an oil filter sandwich plate on the 4.0L 6 for the past 80k miles, part of the reason I have 200k miles on the original engine and 80k of that pushing big tires.

 

Why not an iron block? I think you'll find out the Jeep 4.0L weighs just as much if not more than an aluminum headed iron block V8. I've got a 5.3L with 35" tires and I love it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

Eaglefreek>Cool>>> 4x4 car

 

for that jeep and your needs dont skip the 5.3 or even the 4.8 .

a lot cheeper than the 6.0 almost every one out there is paying a lot more for .

i got mine from local yard 5.3 90k miles and all parts needed from doner delivered 1100 bucks . 5.3 from 03 yukon clean 98% rust free outside.

6.0 would have added me 500-700 more for same options. and around 40 more hp i didnt need it.

good luck and happy trails from fellow 4x4 guy .

 

Hey cwbyinjeep, I'm 40 minutes from you, and I have a complete 5.3 that ran fine when we swapped it out for more power. I'll take $300 for it. P.M. me if your interested. You probably know my friend chris in Ballground. He's a wheeling' machine.

 

I would absolutely look at a accumulator. Cheap insurance. If you have the room run a Kevko LS Camaro pan Part# LS F Body. I run the Accusump Acculator and the Hazzard Fabworx adapter, LUke at Hazzard can fix you up.

The best fan is the Flexalite 3300 cfm fan! Part #180. I run the Thomas Brice dual pass LS radiator

 

run your valve cover vacuum into your exhaust headers with a one-way valve, there should be a thread on it here somewhere. if not i have the perfect manual for you that i got from my engine guy - on how to run a lsx on a crawler, it covers how to do it.

 

Have you read up on this beast?

https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...k-crawler.html

 

I have an l33 alum 5.3 in my tube buggy. I am pretty hard on it has been a good engine. I run the kevco pan. I have starved it for oil on occasion but it's been at pretty extreme off camber angles and i back out quickly It doesn't seem to starve when climbing, I keep a close eye on it. I plan on adding an accumulator for insurance. Bare minimum run the improved racing baffle. If your not worried about the extra 75 ish # of weight, iron 5.3s can be had on CL all the time for $800 to $1k where I live. Good luck

 

...... I imagine the iron block LS will not weight more than the 4.0 does

 

I have a hard time not going all the way when I do something, a good portion of the reason I have been puting it off. My 4.0 does just fine wheeling in cold whether and it's will climb up anything off idle over most v8's out there which I like. With the closure of Tellico and doing a lot more dirtbiking lately, my 4x4ing time has suffered and most of my enjoyment comes from driving it on a fair weather day which means Atlanta interstate and not being able to maintain 75mph without putting my foot through the intake valves makes for not very enjoyable driving and if I hook up a very light aluminum dirtbike trailer it's down right ridiculous. The easy answer is to go back down to 37 or 38" tires and run it until it dies but that doesn't sound very much fun. It took me a few different spring packs to get the performance I wanted out of the front suspension so going heavier isn't on the agenda and going lighter is. Whether I go with an LQ4 or a virgin L76 6.0 left over new stock (which is what I'm really contemplating hard for at the moment) it's going to cost the same amount of conversion parts and I just don't feel like putting in a run of the mil 5.3 with 80-90k miles that are just about everywhere only to go through it and end up spending stupid money to rebuild it before puting it in. The basically new L76 is a 6.0 which means I'll easily get the torque monster I want and with giving up some ponies up top I bet I can make some nice low RPM torque gains over stock, disable the VVT and cylinder deactivate feature and the jeep would be ready for another 100k miles and 15 more years of use with no worries.

An LQ9 would be nice, but I'm shooting for at least 350ft/lbs of torque preferably closer to 400 and if I have 350hp that would be nice too, I know the L76 can produce this running 87 octane and an LQ9 with some tweaks, 5.3 not so easliy and definitely not on the cheap gas. I can spend $3k to stroke a 4.0 inline to 4.7 high compression and have a better bottom end torque curve then the 5.3 from what I've seen.

 

Cool. Just trying to get you in an LS for super cheap. Keep the shiny side up, bro.

 

Hi, I was down from Canada and talked to you at the Hammers or it's twin. Awesome rig

 

Well an LS 5.3 might be of interest and at that price I can build it up any which way I wanted.

Thanks!



As for the Hammers Jeep09, you probably spoke to a friend of mine Ken Mercer??

 

Leave me a private message if your interested. I'd love to get this out of my shop. I can get you pics and info.

 

Was your rig there? I have Picts of something similar. First saw it at happy hour on Tuesday Hammers. Nasty lookin rig...

 

look up tim cameron showtime or tim cameron hellraiser on you tube. lsx monsters and he doesn't baby it one bit. worth the look

 

I know 2 different guys who built strokers for their Jeeps. One was a YJ and the other an XJ. They both pulled them out and put in V8's. The YJ got an AMC 360 and the XJ a 5.3L Chevy. They both wish they skipped the stroker and went with the V8 first.