1990 grand wagoneer vortec swap

[HSL 4X4]

I never planned on keeping my jeep wrangler forever like most jeepers seem to. I loved it, but when my husband and I started having the kid talk I decided that the only way I would sell it would be for an even better jeep that would double as a freaking sweet mom car. I drove 7 hours down to Sarasota, Florida and found this lovely hunk of junk

waggy (800x451).jpg

Seller - "runs and drives great! barn find, bought from an old lady", one peak under the hood and I knew this guy was a liar, but that wasn't going to stop me from buying his Jeep. I knew I wanted to do a 5.3l vortec swap so really the only thing I had to worry about was getting it back home without it exploding. After having to stop quite often for gas (averaged a solid 9mpg) and to let the engine cool off (it only overheated every 5 minutes) we finally made it into our AAA 200 mile tow radius!

tow wag (451x800).jpg

While waiting on the 5.3l to arrive I swapped the water pump, thermostat, alternator, starter, and did a transmission filter kit just to be able to enjoy my grand wagoneer for the time being. Not a complete waste of money since it does run without overheating now and I did find out just how bad of shape this 360 is in, trust me it's awful. Everything leaks, and it drives horribly...but do I love it? Darn right I do! Finally the 5.3l that I bought arrives and having never seen a v8 outside of an engine bay before I am all types of happy with it's hugeness.

engine arived (450x800).jpg

I immediately got on Alldata and started tearing into this thing. We took the heads to a great shop here in Jacksonville to get a valve job because "why not" (which has become a very common saying between my husband and I as we ponder over this engine) and we checked the rest of it over to make sure everything was in spec. Once everything was off I decided to paint the block and valve covers chevy orange (duh) with the POR-15 engine paint kit. Easy to use and I definitely recommend it for anyone that is dead set on painting their own engine.

painted engine (451x800).jpg

As I write it all out like this it makes it seems like this happened in 5 minutes when in reality it's taken me 3 months to get to this point. I have two days off coming up and I will be putting the engine all back together with new seals, timing belt kit, lifters, rollers, and push rods (why not). A friend of a friend (don't you just love those) is rebuilding me a 4l60e that should be ready in three more days at a killer price. I'm waiting on my radiator and motor mounts to arrive from BJs and I still need to track down a rebuilt NP246 that's not going break the bank. Stay tuned...

[Jjkage84]

Very cool! Can't wait to see how it goes!

[srobertsfsj]

Subscribed!

[FSJ Guy]

Funny how I can relate to the sentiment obviously expressed in that second photo! LOL!

[HSL 4X4]

Funny how I can relate to the sentiment obviously expressed in that second photo! LOL!

Right!! I was still in grand wagoneer euphoria but definitely pissed about not getting to drive it anymore

[Dusty]

Very cool!

I love seeing other crazy women on this forum, and the love for their Waggy's too!

[HSL 4X4]

Very cool!

I love seeing other crazy women on this forum, and the love for their Waggy's too!

Haha you're not alone! Thanks for stopping by!

[Atla]

People sure do throw that 'barn find' word around a lot.

Looks like a solid project!

[shimniok]

Subscribed. My little girl LOVES the "Big Jeep" and I'm sure your family will love it too

[jaber]

Welcome to the Network...

My wife has been in a Grand Wagoneer for over 9 years now and she dont like to drive anything else. Her current one is an '88 with a TBI'd 360, 4" lift on 31" tires. She likes looking down on most cars...

[Road Trip]

Welcome and enjoy the swap. Sounds like you two know your way around. There are some pitfalls, but well worth it. I'm probably an eternity from getting Road Trip running, but it is a fun ride. Good people on here will answer questions when/if you have them. Good luck and enjoy the ride!

[HSL 4X4]

Hello FSJ world! So as far as updates go this one is pretty minimal. The 4l60e has been successfully purchased and sitting in my garage! Turns out it's not a 4l60e but a 4l65...or 70...or 75...whatever! The friend of a friend thought it was a 60 until he started taking it apart for the rebuild and came to find out it was a ... yeah beefier version. He told me which but I'm a woman who rarely listens to anything so that's that. The only thing I'm worried about is the obvious, does this transmission work with my 5.3...yes, then we're good! I like to think that I get a pretty good deal on all of my purchases for this grand wagoneer but this one takes the cake. With my "mechanics" discount from a well known shop around Jacksonville I was quoted $1700 for a rebuilt 4l60e using one of their cores. Steep but I've seen transmissions cost much more and heck I'll pay it if it makes my soon to be wonderful jeep drive around town. The transmission I ended up buying costs me...$900! Sure, I get what I pay for. Which is a rebuilt transmission with a one year, unlimited mile warranty. All because I work with a guy who grew up with a guy who now rebuilds transmissions. I was also having a hard time tracking down a transfer case and was just going to pay ebays crazy prices since it is something I definitely need when low and behold, transmission guy has a plethora of transfer cases he can get his hands on for $50. What!?!?! Why don't I have these connections!?! I can rebuild a darn transfer case if all it originally costs me is $50!!! Even if it turns out horrible, I'll throw $50 at it and take my chances. We'll see if that works out and if not, I'm back to buying one off ebay.

Let's see, the motor mounts are coming in from BJ's. No radiator, because that's back ordered for 2-4 months. Probably going to go with this guy instead: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gri-8-00009-ls
And for straight giggles I'm going to get some "cheap" summit shorty headers. Not looking for massive power gains (hello, they're shorty headers) so let's just forget about that. It would be purely for aesthetics so I wouldn't have to look at the gross exhaust manifolds anymore. Again, I'm a woman. I will most certainly spend $200 to not have to look at an ugly engine bay. And if they end up being awful then I will deal with it later. Few other things I need to get done would be to order new oil pan and transmission dipsticks, get the drive shafts made (after I get the transfer case), find a shop to make me an exhaust, and also figure out how I'm going to use my stock "tree" gear indicator with the new transmission. I'm sure that might be something obvious to all the people out there that have completed builds or have a lot of transmission experience but I however am really just winging this as I go. Feel free to throw comments about that if you got any.

Anyone from Florida that enjoys fishing must know that lobster season is among us which is what I'll be partaking in this coming week. All while my husband is enjoying Maine right now for SERE training, and you Navy guys know when I say enjoying I really mean hating every minute of it. So the build wont be going anywhere until I have caught some lobsters and he get's back from SERE.

[XJChad]

I have seen where others have used the 400 linkage with their column shifter, but they have said they dont get 1st gear when shifting manually.

I have mine mocked up, with engine and tranny mounts finished so its in its final position, and was able to modify the stock Jeep linkage to work with my column shifter. I had to flip the "L" bracket on the side of the tranny, move the pivot bushing bracket that bolts to the bell housing and raise the frame mounted bushing, but it seems to work pretty good.

I did have to do some bending on the rod coming off of the column. I also had to modify some of the other parts of the linkage, but it shifts firmly into park, as well as all the other gears, including 1st.

Keep in mind this is with the Jeep sitting in my shop and hasn't been driven yet so things could change. I have tinkered with it quite a bit and it seems like it will work just fine, so we will see.

[HSL 4X4]

I have seen where others have used the 400 linkage with their column shifter, but they have said they dont get 1st gear when shifting manually.

I have mine mocked up, with engine and tranny mounts finished so its in its final position, and was able to modify the stock Jeep linkage to work with my column shifter. I had to flip the "L" bracket on the side of the tranny, move the pivot bushing bracket that bolts to the bell housing and raise the frame mounted bushing, but it seems to work pretty good.

I did have to do some bending on the rod coming off of the column. I also had to modify some of the other parts of the linkage, but it shifts firmly into park, as well as all the other gears, including 1st.

Keep in mind this is with the Jeep sitting in my shop and hasn't been driven yet so things could change. I have tinkered with it quite a bit and it seems like it will work just fine, so we will see.

I'm hoping I can get mine to work like that. I'm not super worried about losing a gear if it works that way. Thanks for the heads up! We're getting close to pulling the AMC out so I'm getting excited

[XJChad]

Ah yes the fun part, just after that the work begins!! LoL

I will try to get some decent pics of my shifter linkage set up and post them. (I guess I need to start a build thread of my own).

I'm still slowly chipping away at mine but havent been in a big hurry. Plus Im working a ton of overtime, which is what pays for my Jeep parts.
Once the temps cool back down I'll be hard at it again!

[HSL 4X4]

So there my baby sits in the driveway for my husband to get back from a mini-ployment as I like to call them. The engine and tranny are in and it only took my brother and I two days to rip it apart and put it all in and back together. A guy came and bought the AMC 360, TF 727, and transfer case for some CJ7 project he has going on. I couldn't be happier to never have to see that thing again! I ended up purchasing a NP246 from eBay because it went on sale so I swooped it up. I've been pretty side tracked without my smarter half here to help me with the wiring. I've found a few superbirds and road runners that I'd love to get my hands on during this time. And if you don't know what that is then you're really missing out. Other than the wiring I really just need to get driveshafts in there and an exhaust made and (hopefully) part 1 will be complete and I can start saving up money for part 2 (exterior). I do love our other cars but I can't wait to get back behind the wheel of this wagoneer!