Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler YJ radiators

Old School 4.3 Drivetrain Swap

The separate corssmember was a cool idea, but when I got in and started measuring, there were too many clearance problems. Front driveline, exhaust, brake and fuel lines.... all solvable, but I need to keep this project on track or I'm going to be at it all summer. I've lived with the skidplate/tranny mount so far, I guess I can stay with it. I did scab together a temporary crossmember out of an old chunk of channel. It will make the plumbing, wiring and linkages in that area much easier.

Tomorrow I drop the engine in.
 
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The motor's in, and sitting on its own three feet. Using the temporary crossmember in the rear really helped a lot. I mounted it on allthread, so I could raise and lower the transmission to set the overall height and match the pinion angle. I'll probably leave this in until the rig gets back from the muffler shop. It will make a lot of things much easier to not have to work around the skid plate.

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The Advanced Adapters motor mount kit also helped a lot. This is the second project I've used this kit on, and it's very easy to get everything lined up. I also threw together the lifting bracket for the engine that you can see in the picture. it was worth it; the thing slid into place like butter.

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I'm still working, but hitting it hard evenings and weekends. I'd wanted to get this done last winter, but Work just went nuts and I ended up traveling a lot. Now the weather's turned, and it was either dive in and get it done or wait till next fall. I opted to go ahead, but this thing is my open air therapy rig, and I want it back on the road in the worst way.
 
I know that feeling 100%. Motorcycles were my open-air therapy vehicles until I discovered Wranglers.

Going a summer without something to experience the open air in would drive me bonkers, so I get that. If I were you I'd be trying to get this thing done by summer at all costs, which is sounds like that's your plan!

Keep up the good work (y)
 
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Figuring out the wiring.

The Painless wiring harness I'm working with is really nice. The proof will be when the thing runs, but at this point I can't recommend them enough. Merging the three systems (GM, Painless and Jeep) has been fairly easy, and helped a lot by the fact that a lot of the Jeep stuff is GM based, and so it ports right over.

Never mickey mouse the electrical sytstem. Hold the rest of the rig together with bailing wire and duct tape if you must, but never mickey mouse the electrical system.

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The last few days have been all about linkages. I've just about got the T-case, tranny and throttle linkages dialed in. Fittings are ordered for power steering and the fuel line adaptors. Need to figure out what I'm going to need to get flex line from push-lock fittings to -6 AN for the fuel lines.


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Transmission cooling: two 6' lengths of 5/16" brake line ran down the right frame rail. I've got the fittings ordered to get 5/16" barbs on each end. The transition from hard to soft line up front will happen just under the mini-crossmember where the front brake line runs, so it will be protected, but easy to get to.

You can't see the rear of the lines very well in this picture, but they bend up and turn towards the transmission. There will be about 8" of hose from the lines to the tranny. It all misses the exhaust downpipe nicely.

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Transmission cooler from a Ford Ranger pickup. I've used these before with good success for both transmission and power steering. They already have 5/16" barbs, and it's not hard to make the brackets work. in this case, there's a recessed area between the two right radiator mounting bolts. If you center the cooler between them, and clearance the sheet metal on the inside a little, it fits nicely. Using 3/8" spacers under the cooler mounting bolts placed the cooler just a smidge off the radiator fins. For the middle mount, I will probable make up an arm that comes from the other side. Just zip-tying it to the radiator fins and letting it ride on the rubber grommet would work too, but I'm not fond of doing that.

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By the way, no one ever budgets enough for this little stuff. I'm building this rig to be reliable and last another 10 years, so I'm trying not to mickey mouse anything. I snagged the cooler itself from a u pull it yard over a year ago, so I'm not counting that, but I'll still be into the tranny cooler setup around $80 before it's done.
 
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Isn't that how it always is? You budget a certain amount for the swap, but you never account for all the little stuff that nickels and dimes you. Brackets, adapters, trips to the auto part store, etc.

I've gotten in the habit of pricing out swaps, but then adding $2000 to the total for random stuff like this.
 
Been doing a bunch of little, non-Jeep specific stuff to the build, but here's a couple pics to keep things going...

Test fit of the lower crossover tube. Yes, the welds are big and ugly. After welding the seams, I washed them with a second pass. Don't have a nice, neat TIG, and don't like cracks or leaks...
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It turned out the Chevy park/reverse/neutral switch I mentioned earlier didn't work after all. Jeep never used it, so they designed the brake pedal to move right through the space it occupied. There was no way around that, so I needed another solution for three switches: Park/neutral, reverse, and a separate park indicator needed by the computer. My solution involved lining the plastic collar of the column shifter with aluminum and mounting three microswitches. I've got some button head screws to trip the switches. This was the first fit, and isn't quite going to work; I need to reposition the switches and bend their levers a little. Overall it's going to work fine, though.
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That crossover tube is a radiator hose, yes? Seems like being made out of metal, it could cause issues if the engine moves around too much, no? Although you've got a silicone section on there, so maybe that's all the movement that's needed?
 
Chris said:
That crossover tube is a radiator hose, yes? Seems like being made out of metal, it could cause issues if the engine moves around too much, no? Although you've got a silicone section on there, so maybe that's all the movement that's needed?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've got rubber sections at either end; there should be enough flex. I've done this before and it's worked ok. I'll watch it for a while, but I don't expect trouble from it.
 
Walt Jaquith said:
Yeah, I've got rubber sections at either end; there should be enough flex. I've done this before and it's worked ok. I'll watch it for a while, but I don't expect trouble from it.
Click to expand...

That's good to now. I wasn't sure how well a setup like that would fair in an off-road situation where the motor was rocking around as you're going over rocks and other gnarly terrain, but it sounds like you know what you're doing (y)
 
Novak Conversions Jeep Wrangler YJ radiators
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