The "NOT SO" Ice Cream Getter

[Newcomer]

FYI, this will be another typical “build thread” from me, not a lot of detail and not a lot of step by step pictures, sorry, I am bad about that.


After I sold the Ice Cream Getter I ended up with a 1999 two door XJ that my wife was NOT in love with. I assured her that I could fix it up and make it cool. Since the top doesn’t come off, she will never agree. But, that is alright. The Jeep had lived a pretty typical XJ life, it was a 4cylinder, 5 speed, two door and it had 207,000 miles on it. I bought it with the thought that I would fix it up a little bit and just drive it to work every day. So, I got a few things fixed on it, like a different rear hatch and new front bumper, I built a rear bumper for it and a few things under the hood needed attention as well. I then found a set of Rubicon wheels for it and sprayed it with raptor liner and drove it like this. It already had a front spacer and some extended shackles in the rear when I got ahold of it.

 

[Newcomer]

The 4 cylinder overheated and cracked a cylinder head on me about 6 months into owning it. So I parked it in the back yard and decided what to do. 6 months went by before I could no longer fight off the urge to do drivetrain swap.

 

[Newcomer]

I picked up a Chevy 4.8 out of a 2002 Chevy from Matlock’s, along with that I got an NV3500 from a 98 s10 and an np231 from a slightly older S10, whatever year had the fixed front output.

 

[Newcomer]

I cleaned up the engine and the engine bay, I used Novak engine mounts and Novak headers. The clutch set and slave cylinder are for a 2002 Silverado. The drivetrain fell into the Jeep nicely and I only had to do some minor trimming of the transmission tunnel to get the shifter to come up into the cab. I modified the stock transmission cross member and made a mount, sorry I do not have a pic.

 

[Newcomer]

 

[Newcomer]

The engine is a tight fit, there is not a lot of room in this XJ engine bay. If you use Novak engine mounts, it is likely that the Novak headers are the only headers that will fit. They are actually Sanderson headers that Novak has made.

When I first installed the engine I was hoping to be able to use the truck intake, but it very quickly became clear that was not going to happen and still get the stock hood to close.

I scored an LS1 intake and I rearranged the front drive a bit. I moved the idler pulley and the alternator so that I could get the stock hood to close.

 

[Newcomer]

In the end I ended up doing a different shift level than this one.

Once I had the majority of the mechanical parts sorted out I started on the wiring harness and the gauge display. I just simply cut down the stock GM harness and used HP Tuners to turn off the stuff I did not use.

 

[Newcomer]

The Jeep harness and gauge setup was slightly more complicated, because this XJ is a 99 the factory gauge cluster is CAN bus. I could have gone the route of making the GM ECU talk to the Jeep ECU to send signals to the factory gauge cluster. Instead I opted to remove the Jeep ECU and replace the gauge cluster with my own Auto Meter setup.

 

[Newcomer]

Once I got the Jeep running I quickly discovered that my original pipe dream of using the stock radiator to cool this engine was not going to happen. To remedy the problem I ordered an aluminum circle track radiator from Speedway motors and made it fit in the Jeep. I had to cut the stock radiator core support out and fabricated my own. I used a Taurus fan and I made a fan shroud. This setup has been keeping the truck cool with no issues so far.

 

[Newcomer]

 

[Newcomer]

I ended up taking out the coil spacers that were on it and stuck 3” springs in the front, I also stuck an add a leaf in the back in addition to the extended shackles that were already on it. I got some Duratracs from a friend and I think it looks pretty good.

Exhaust is 2 ¼” into a single 3” that runs through a cat and a Flowmaster 10 series with a single exit out the back.

 

[Newcomer]

 

[Newcomer]

I really don’t have much for pictures other than what I have shown. As a summary for someone who may want to tackle this.

-Biggest headache is hood clearance, my advice is to use F-body front drive and intake on a truck motor and you should be fine, that or if you have the coin go ahead and use an actual LS1.

-Keeping the thing cool with the factory radiator did not work for me, I think that my factory radiator was plugged up, but I am unsure it would have worked even if it wasn’t.

-The factory fuel pump is capable of supporting the Chevy engine, I used the C5 Corvette filter/regulator to get the fuel pressure regulated to the correct pressure.

-There are A LOT of details that I have just glazed right over. Any of you guys who have done drive train swap know how things go, there are a lot of small things that take up a lot of time and extra money.

 

[Blue70]

That looks like a tight fit, but damn, you made it look like it came from the factory that way.
I love it!

 

[Newcomer]

Thank you, sir.

 

[Mulishajoe]

As always great job.

 

[Newcomer]

Thanks

 

[Chris_Keziah]

So......is it fast?

 

[Newcomer]

Faster than it was, that is for sure. It goes pretty good, it needs a good dyno tune and it would be a little better. That 4.8 might be confused about those ls1 injectors.

 

[Wes]

Clean build. Looks great. As said above that is a tight fit, but who want's loose one.

 

[Newcomer]

I am thinking I am going to sell this thing, look for it in the Swap Meet section if anyone is interested.

 

[D.Loflin]

I am thinking I am going to sell this thing, look for it in the Swap Meet section if anyone is interested.

I am the proud new owner!

 

[Leroy_cocke]

What was he asking for it I can't find it

 

[Leroy_cocke]

?

 

[D.Loflin]

I had been planning the same type of swap with a 92' Xj and had bought a 2000 Silverado with a 5.3 as a donor when I came across it on Craigslist. It cost about what I had saved to do the project.