alstick
04-25-2010, 04:05 PM
I started by searching the net but not a ton on the 5.0L swap into a TJ man is this ever lacking. Great motor lots of go fast parts fits very nice into a TJ engine bay but no one seems to talk much about the swap.
I started with a 1991 Mustang HO engine. Ultimately the core I got with everything attached was a near right off. I used almost nothing and the engine was worn out pretty bad. When the engine shop calls and says you need a new crank (typically these are a hard wearing part in this engines I found out) and there were bent rods from an obvious water dip at some point you know you didn't get a deal.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50L4.jpg
But despite that I planned on a full rebuild to add some juice anyway. Target was 300hp an easy number to reach for a 5.0L and my Desktop dyno is showing 315hp or so with 385 tq.
I have a couple rigs and wanted to keep this one stick so have a brand new AX 15 from Advance Adapters in this TJ with an Atlas 3.8 behind it.
The swap was easy just needed a Ford bell housing and clutch assembly with external slave - late 90's F-150 is where these parts came from. Adapter and conversion parts all came from Advance.
One issue I had was the fact I have a Pro Rock 60 up front (high pinion) and I have clearance issues for the slave with the front driveshaft. I had to clock the Atlas down some and add spacers to my Rubicon Express high clearance belly pan. In the near future I'm going to make a cantilevered clutch arm and move the slave up pointing forwards like a stock Jeep slave - just outside the bell housing so I can pull the spacers back out. All of this will be no issue with a low pinion front diff.
I used Advance Adapters motor mounts they are universal which means cutting and chopping and welding the brackets to the frame to make them fit but they do work.
I started with a set of hooker Headers but they were abandoned due to front driveshaft clearance and I went with Sanderson’s - the best shorty headers IMO for tight spaces they really hug the block - should have bought them in the first place as I used them on my 460/545...
Other clearance issues I had were the Holley intake to the Comp Cams tall valve covers. Due to the full roller Comp Rockers I could not use stock height valve covers, the comp covers are so tall they will not fit under the Holley intake. I have a 150 shot of Nitrous going on this engine and the plate between the upper and lower was needed to get the intake to clear the valve covers - and I still needed to grind a bit off the bottom of the upper intake. i also had to dent in the fire wall on the driver side and grind the flange off the plate behind the brake booster in the engine bay to clear the rear spark plug. Lots of fan room. If it wasn't for everything else already in its place I could have pushed the engine ahead an inch and no firewall work would have been needed at all. If you need tall covers the Holley intake and Comp cover combo is not the right way to go. Measure the space you have under the intake then ask the valve cover suppliers how tall their covers are and you will save some pain.
shot with stock covers but I could not use them:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50L201.jpg
For injection I used the Painless Harness and their Perfect adjustable computer. I had some issues getting this going - not Painless's fault- well... The instructions say you have to use a specific USB to serial port adapter. As it turns out I'm in Canada and the product they specified a cable made in China is not sold in Canada - so I tried 4 different ones and none would work... Amazon.com got one to me for 25.00. I will add beef to this as if you have to have such a specific cable put it in the damn kit! I have to buy it anyway so make a couple bucks and sell it to me. Oh and the program will only work on XP or older - that needs to be fixed as everything these days is starting to run newer platforms for laptops.
So once I had this cable and loaded a base map it fired right up but would not bump above idle. As I said this computer is adjustable and there is no way the stock Ford HO program was going to do much for my bored out, camed up, free breathing engine and I'm sure the Holley 70mm throttle body was not helping - but it ran right away.
Ford guys may notice my throttle cable goes to the top of the throttle body. This seemed to work best as I could use the stock Jeep throttle cable looping it in front of the engine and it hooked right up.
I'm leaving out lots of install pointers but I can say with a few hick ups and install specific issues - like trying to make so many different aftermarket parts work together which is really to be expected it went pretty smooth. If you have questions feel free to PM me.
Older shot from a few weeks ago its cleaned up some now:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50Lclose.jpg
So at this point I'm playing with the base map and its coming along nicely it revs clean but I still have a hesitation just above idle but it sounds sweet (probably not to my neighbors) even with a stock muffler.
I still have no gauges on my dash. I was told its possible to leave the stock Jeep computer in the vehicle and add Jeep sensors to run the dash but I did not want all that wire in the engine bay so I chopped it all out. I kept checking to make sure I had headlights, horn, dash lights radio heater etc and everything else got tossed. Next chore will be adding a new dash panel with gauges. I'm not going to add a Speedo as I'll use my Baja 540 Lowrance for that way more accurate anyway. it will also serve as my Alt gauge so I'll ad a tach, oil pressure and fuel gauge in an aluminum panel shortly.
Anyway hope this helps others. Ask questions if needed
Al V
www.can4x4.com
I started with a 1991 Mustang HO engine. Ultimately the core I got with everything attached was a near right off. I used almost nothing and the engine was worn out pretty bad. When the engine shop calls and says you need a new crank (typically these are a hard wearing part in this engines I found out) and there were bent rods from an obvious water dip at some point you know you didn't get a deal.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50L4.jpg
But despite that I planned on a full rebuild to add some juice anyway. Target was 300hp an easy number to reach for a 5.0L and my Desktop dyno is showing 315hp or so with 385 tq.
I have a couple rigs and wanted to keep this one stick so have a brand new AX 15 from Advance Adapters in this TJ with an Atlas 3.8 behind it.
The swap was easy just needed a Ford bell housing and clutch assembly with external slave - late 90's F-150 is where these parts came from. Adapter and conversion parts all came from Advance.
One issue I had was the fact I have a Pro Rock 60 up front (high pinion) and I have clearance issues for the slave with the front driveshaft. I had to clock the Atlas down some and add spacers to my Rubicon Express high clearance belly pan. In the near future I'm going to make a cantilevered clutch arm and move the slave up pointing forwards like a stock Jeep slave - just outside the bell housing so I can pull the spacers back out. All of this will be no issue with a low pinion front diff.
I used Advance Adapters motor mounts they are universal which means cutting and chopping and welding the brackets to the frame to make them fit but they do work.
I started with a set of hooker Headers but they were abandoned due to front driveshaft clearance and I went with Sanderson’s - the best shorty headers IMO for tight spaces they really hug the block - should have bought them in the first place as I used them on my 460/545...
Other clearance issues I had were the Holley intake to the Comp Cams tall valve covers. Due to the full roller Comp Rockers I could not use stock height valve covers, the comp covers are so tall they will not fit under the Holley intake. I have a 150 shot of Nitrous going on this engine and the plate between the upper and lower was needed to get the intake to clear the valve covers - and I still needed to grind a bit off the bottom of the upper intake. i also had to dent in the fire wall on the driver side and grind the flange off the plate behind the brake booster in the engine bay to clear the rear spark plug. Lots of fan room. If it wasn't for everything else already in its place I could have pushed the engine ahead an inch and no firewall work would have been needed at all. If you need tall covers the Holley intake and Comp cover combo is not the right way to go. Measure the space you have under the intake then ask the valve cover suppliers how tall their covers are and you will save some pain.
shot with stock covers but I could not use them:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50L201.jpg
For injection I used the Painless Harness and their Perfect adjustable computer. I had some issues getting this going - not Painless's fault- well... The instructions say you have to use a specific USB to serial port adapter. As it turns out I'm in Canada and the product they specified a cable made in China is not sold in Canada - so I tried 4 different ones and none would work... Amazon.com got one to me for 25.00. I will add beef to this as if you have to have such a specific cable put it in the damn kit! I have to buy it anyway so make a couple bucks and sell it to me. Oh and the program will only work on XP or older - that needs to be fixed as everything these days is starting to run newer platforms for laptops.
So once I had this cable and loaded a base map it fired right up but would not bump above idle. As I said this computer is adjustable and there is no way the stock Ford HO program was going to do much for my bored out, camed up, free breathing engine and I'm sure the Holley 70mm throttle body was not helping - but it ran right away.
Ford guys may notice my throttle cable goes to the top of the throttle body. This seemed to work best as I could use the stock Jeep throttle cable looping it in front of the engine and it hooked right up.
I'm leaving out lots of install pointers but I can say with a few hick ups and install specific issues - like trying to make so many different aftermarket parts work together which is really to be expected it went pretty smooth. If you have questions feel free to PM me.
Older shot from a few weeks ago its cleaned up some now:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v511/alstick/50Lclose.jpg
So at this point I'm playing with the base map and its coming along nicely it revs clean but I still have a hesitation just above idle but it sounds sweet (probably not to my neighbors) even with a stock muffler.
I still have no gauges on my dash. I was told its possible to leave the stock Jeep computer in the vehicle and add Jeep sensors to run the dash but I did not want all that wire in the engine bay so I chopped it all out. I kept checking to make sure I had headlights, horn, dash lights radio heater etc and everything else got tossed. Next chore will be adding a new dash panel with gauges. I'm not going to add a Speedo as I'll use my Baja 540 Lowrance for that way more accurate anyway. it will also serve as my Alt gauge so I'll ad a tach, oil pressure and fuel gauge in an aluminum panel shortly.
Anyway hope this helps others. Ask questions if needed
Al V
www.can4x4.com