We are Suckers

[ShadowsPapa]

I bought a 5.3L / 4L60E from a guy in 2011 or so. It was still bolted together, EVERYTHING still hanging off of it. Even still had 3 feet of factory fuel line hanging past the transmission.

Guy took it out of a storage room with a fork lift and plopped it on my trailer.

You know what I did before installing it in my LS swapped truck?

I rolled it on its side (still on my trailer) and put a Corvette servo in the transmission and a new transmission filter. I think I changed the water pump gaskets too? I shoved it in the truck without doing anything other than turning it over with a bar to make sure it wasn't locked up. I don't think I even lifted a valve cover. Didn't separate the transmission either. Took the core support out and shoved it in - one giant piece.

That motor and transmission still works fine to this day.

Anyway. I'm not saying your approach is wrong Bill - but my buddy and I as young bucks were car poor and we didn't have money to rebuild anything anyway, so to this day we still just buy shit and make it run. Find out the problems later. I can only afford to be a car guy because I go with the David Freiburger method. Don't get it right, just get it running.

Our track record is really good, too.

I guess it doesn't really matter. I'm not doing it to a three year old truck, so it's irrelevant.

Anything else though?

Send it.

I'm just saying - it's a craps shoot. You may get one that runs another 150,000 miles, or one like I pictured where it probably had another 5,000 miles on it - holy crap, those gears were total toast.

I don't regret the purchase - not a bit, but sure glad I looked it over before installing it like my buddies said - hey, it runs, it was a running Jeep and it was wrecked, just put it in.
I know it will go a couple hundred thousand now (and has a lot more power than it came out with)
My father had a junkyard engine put in a car he had years ago. Not a single issue with it. Ran perfectly, no leaks, didn't burn oil, he put a lot of miles on it and even pulled a small camper with that car around the central US.
Pulled it out of one car, put in his, that was all it ever needed.

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[ShadowsPapa]

If I buy a clapped out old willys truck, I'm all for buying any running v8/ trans combo at the lowest price and cramming it in.

I'm still trying to get my neighbor to tell me where he saw such a thing - I have engines and transmissions sitting here looking for something to put them in.

 

[Zachanadandy]

I'm still trying to get my neighbor to tell me where he saw such a thing - I have engines and transmissions sitting here looking for something to put them in.

We bought a pretty rusted out one with no engine or trans 15-20 years ago with the plan of building it. Too many other things going on and sold it for about what we paid 2 years later. Wish I'd held on to it.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

I put a 130k mile V8 into a TJ with zero off the shelf parts. It took 2 years and the motor crapped out about 5k miles later. But I did it cheap.

 

[WILDHOBO]

No rebuild, just an MDS delete - the most problematic part of the engine.

Again - this stuff doesn't bother DIY guys, and if I was considering such an ordeal, I am already driving / depending on another vehicle during the process.

If someone has $35K cash to pay AMW or want to finance $533+/mo for five years - go for it.

If someone doesn't and loves mechanical work or tinkering, has a good lead on a 5.7 and a transmission, and a DIY kit existed - I think it's a solid way to go, too. A motor with some miles on it and a challenging project doesn't bother me. I work 40 hours a week and don't have much else to do besides the honey do's - I'd have time

But I have no plans for either, so I'm just talking out my brown eye regardless.

There are companies out there with kits for jk’s as was mentioned earlier. Way less than 2k for a plug and play harness to put a hemi into a jk without any loss of function and no cel. It’s only a matter of time before that exists for the JL/JT platform in my opinion. That means one could do a diy swap for less than 10k with the right donor drivetrain.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I'm 100% with your train of thought building old clapped out junk. Like you said, not taking my 2 year old truck with a $65k msrp and junk yard swapping it. If I buy a clapped out old willys truck, I'm all for buying any running v8/ trans combo at the lowest price and cramming it in.

Like this? Sorry for the foreground project I was doing that day.

 

[Zachanadandy]

Like this? Sorry for the foreground project I was doing that day.

Exactly like that... unless the budget was a lot higher. Minus the gold trim, but I like the rest of this build.

 

[Supazuk]

There's a lot of new stuff that goes with it besides what you mentioned.
You've already taken the depreciation hit on that Jeep - you get two of the most expensive parts most likely to be problematic installed, 0 miles on them, and warranties cost money. Getting 2 years - people who buy "extended warranties" know there's a cost there.

Buy a new one - and you take that depreciation hit again, have to start over in mods or move things over, and now you have an unknown truck with possible new issues.

It's a cheap thing, IMO.
I don't see the resistance to that swap price. Financially, it makes perfect sense if you want a V8 "badly enough" (not that it's a bad thing, can't think of a better word, maybe want a V8 strongly enough is better?)

You have to decide if it's a long term vehicle or one you'd likely trade for something else in the future for some other reason..
If it's your long-term Jeep and you want a V8, seems like the first choice right there.

My 2023 JT has 52 K on it's been to dealer for a rear view mirror a key replacement and 2 oil changes
I am my extended warranty, truck will be paid off in about 2 years and I bought it knowing the engine and drive-train is all getting swapped eventually

it really comes down to I like to do the work, I'd want a kit along the lines of advance adapters style kits headers and mounts. I would want an unlocked ECU so it can be HP tuned maybe a wiring harness so i can be a little lazy. I'll pick the engine and drive train
I want to be able to say i did it

 

[WILDHOBO]

My 2023 JT has 52 K on it's been to dealer for a rear view mirror a key replacement and 2 oil changes
I am my extended warranty, truck will be paid off in about 2 years and I bought it knowing the engine and drive-train is all getting swapped eventually

it really comes down to I like to do the work, I'd want a kit along the lines of advance adapters style kits headers and mounts. I would want an unlocked ECU so it can be HP tuned maybe a wiring harness so i can be a little lazy. I'll pick the engine and drive train
I want to be able to say i did it

Same here.

 

[Supazuk]

Same here.

thats how pretty much how i own a vehicle

My samurai Buggy unlike the rest of el cheep o zuk guys, started as a 5 year old Daily Zuk that after Boot camp I drove from PCS to PCS upgrading as things broke.


I got creative while stationed on a ship in Ketchikan Alaska. Napa and one salvage yard were the only games in town and shipping was expensive. However I managed a sprung over to fit 31's

I remember I broke a front leaf spring a couple days before a patrol south
before heading back to homeport we stopped in Seattle I rented a car and found an off road shop and bought rancho 2.5 YJs and CJ front springs for the week long trip back I stupped them in my rack's locker (underbed closet) and put most of my clothing in a ditty bag that i slept next to for the week..... then came 33's

On cape cod I got a deal on a tracker 1.6 and trans that lead to ordering a doubler
I broke a axle and found a set of toy's and on and on

 

[Supazuk]

I doubt its terribly complicated with a Hemi swap. It's the same 'ecosystem'. Especially if using a newer Hemi and the correct transmission. I have no doubt that some of the bigger companies try to gate keep the tech and parts to a degree though.

Heck, there is a swap company that does or used to sell swap kits to put LS swaps into JK's with no error lights and retained all functionality. They had developed their own bridge module that allowed the LS engine and transmission to communicate to the Jeep systems without elaborate swap harnesses and other goofy electronics. Even JK's were riddled to death with CAN modules and they figured it out.

In time, that may well exist for JL/JT if it doesn't already. Modern automotive tech guys are a wild bunch and find their way around anything, especially once this platform gets some age on it and a new generation comes out.

HP tunes can Unlock the JT/JL ECU .. we are mere months away from a Hemi tune
Just need a harness kit and this a thing

I've done my share of GM toyota and zuki harnesses, I'm not feeling the down time of testing cutting and re-loaming an uncharted harness merge again I want to be kinda lazy here

 

[Supazuk]

I'm 100% with your train of thought building old clapped out junk. Like you said, not taking my 2 year old truck with a $65k msrp and junk yard swapping it. If I buy a clapped out old willys truck, I'm all for buying any running v8/ trans combo at the lowest price and cramming it in.

there is no clapped out oldies here... I build newer stuff now so I can turn the bolts and not have to use magnets in my eyes

Anything over 15 yea... forget that 10 years old is a rusty mess up here in New England .. our road crews put a McDonald's fry salter in tears.
I am not talking Cute Desert patina with maybe a some light holes. Its not uncommon for Daily driver 5 year Trucks to need brake lines and backing plates, even stainless exhaust is not safe, JK's need frame swaps up here already. Forget TJ's, I have patched more TJ Frames then installed lifts on them.

 

[Stan H]

My 2023 JT has 52 K on it's been to dealer for a rear view mirror a key replacement and 2 oil changes
I am my extended warranty, truck will be paid off in about 2 years and I bought it knowing the engine and drive-train is all getting swapped eventually

it really comes down to I like to do the work, I'd want a kit along the lines of advance adapters style kits headers and mounts. I would want an unlocked ECU so it can be HP tuned maybe a wiring harness so i can be a little lazy. I'll pick the engine and drive train
I want to be able to say i did it

Ian Johnson, from" Built for off road " swapped a 6.4 hemi and transmission in a JK from a running donor Ram pickup .
Plug & play with all the wiring
. Swapping in the JK he did have to redo the motor mounts etc. And redid the frame . But the wiring was slam bam.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Ian Johnson, from" Built for off road " swapped a 6.4 hemi and transmission in a JK from a running donor Ram pickup .
Plug & play with all the wiring
. Swapping in the JK he did have to redo the motor mounts etc. And redid the frame . But the wiring was slam bam.

You just have to buy a $2,000 harness. But that’s a deal for a job like this. I won’t put together my own harness again.

 

[Stan H]

You just have to buy a $2,000 harness. But that’s a deal for a job like this. I won’t put together my own harness again.

100% I mentioned this before a guy I know did that and He was 3 months or more finishing that job wiring was a beast. He actually bought some of it dont recall which section. Yeah harness all the way

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