98 XJ 5.3 Swap and Other Stuff

[stomperxj]

Geez mate, you got that thing together quickly! No restrictions in that that I can see. No drama getting it in and out once all together? Should sound pretty awesome too.

Thanks mate. 2.5" mid pipes into 3" all the way out. Hoping it sounds really nice without being too loud. We'll see

Final piece of the exhaust puzzle completed and installed today.

I'm going to try to drop off my driveshafts this week for shortening/lengthening/balancing. Then its on to radiator/trans cooler/AC condenser mounting.

 

[stomperxj]

Got a couple things done last weekend. Finished my belt tensioner and found a belt that fits. 05 Chevy Malibu. Found a really neat cruise control switch at the JY so I swapped out my blue LED button I had already put in. Got my overflow mounted and my wiring is at about 99% and will stay like that until I figure out my AC stuff. No clue how that works so that will take some research.


Dropped off my drive shafts at a local shop last Friday. Total to have one shortened and one lengthened was about $245 until he called me today. Both slip joints were garbage so now my total is about $480. Ouch. Wasn't planning on that.

Working on a radiator mount later this week and the driveshafts are going in so there's a slight possibility it may get run longer than 30 seconds this coming weekend.

 

[indiedog]

Very clean work as per usual Jess.

 

[stomperxj]

Very clean work as per usual Jess.

Thanks mate-

Driveshafts got picked up today:

 

[VanIsle_Greg]

Thanks mate-

Driveshafts got picked up today:

Wow. Nice shafts. Er, I mean nice rebuilt drive shafts.

#LessAwkward

Sweet build man.

 

[stomperxj]

Wow. Nice shafts. Er, I mean nice rebuilt drive shafts.

#LessAwkward

Sweet build man.

Thanks

Been busy the last couple weeks. I"m getting really close to a test drive.


Lower rad mount. Welded on the bottom side of the frame rails.

Upper mount/core support

Fan and shroud are done

I bought a Mr Gasket swivel thermostat housing so I could get a lower hose to work

And my lower hose consists of a 77 Mustang II v8 upper on the top half and an 82 International bypass hose on the lower half. I had to trim both of them

Lots of other small stuff done like plumbing and some small wiring tasks.


The biggest issue now is the transmission. I don't know if I hurt it when I started it dry a month ago or if I damaged a seal when I was putting it together but its not shifting right on the jack stands. I'm going to have my transmission buddy come over and take a look. The one thing I did not replace in it was the shift solenoids so I'm hoping its something that simple.


I really don't want to have to pull the trans and tear it down.

 

[2drx4]

Excellent build thread, you're doing a very clean job of everything. I will be following along.

 

[indiedog]

Bugger about the transmission Jess. You didn't run it for long did you? Couple of minutes? I don't know much about auto's so wouldn't know if it's a problem or not. Hope it works out easily.

And I like how you fix things by just cutting a ********** big hole in it.

 

[stomperxj]

Excellent build thread, you're doing a very clean job of everything. I will be following along.

Thanks 2d

Bugger about the transmission Jess. You didn't run it for long did you? Couple of minutes? I don't know much about auto's so wouldn't know if it's a problem or not. Hope it works out easily.

And I like how you fix things by just cutting a ********** big hole in it.

Sometimes cutting a big hole is the only solution



Alright well my transmission guru buddy came over tonight. Then this happened:

I'm taking it to his shop later in the week for a teardown. I'm going to replace all the shift solenoids on top of whatever else I ****ed up during assembly.

 

[stomperxj]

Well I had a productive weekend. Took the trans to my buddies house Friday night, tore it down and found the problem. I put the sprag in backwards..... Oops. We flipped that around and put new shift solenoids in since it was apart anyway and threw a new front band in it too since during testing and trying to figure out what was wrong I burned the band pretty good.

This is Chad showing me my mistake

So I stayed up til about 2am Friday night and got it all put back together and then spent the rest of the weekend tidying up a bunch of stuff and got the trans cooler mount done, condenser mount done and a few other things.


And I just posted a new video. You get to hear it run with full exhaust on it. Sounds good in my opinion


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKju_HXmeyU

 

[indiedog]

It moved! Sounds awesome Jess.

 

[stomperxj]

I need some help with alternator wiring. I have an AD44 alternator with the P L I S plug on it. Can't seem to get a charge going.


P - Open
L - through a bulb to ground
I - hooked to keyed 12v+
S - hooked to B+
Big cable hooked from back post to B+


What am I doing wrong? Its a brand new alternator and I switched the 2 pin regulator over to a 4 pin regulator. Everything is tight.


Any ideas?

 

[stomperxj]

I need some help with alternator wiring. I have an AD44 alternator with the P L I S plug on it. Can't seem to get a charge going.


P - Open
L - through a bulb to ground
I - hooked to keyed 12v+
S - hooked to B+
Big cable hooked from back post to B+


What am I doing wrong? Its a brand new alternator and I switched the 2 pin regulator over to a 4 pin regulator. Everything is tight.


Any ideas?

*Disregard*


Found some more info that says I needed a 470ohm resistor hooked in line on the L wire. 14.5v at the battery now.

 

[stomperxj]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJXQtgajciL/

 

[indiedog]

That must be satisfying. Congrats mate.