This one is Vince's car, engine is, like so many 3.7 Chrysler engines, junk.
After looking around for a looong time for a fix, we came up with a truely suitable program for this vehicle. It won't surprise anyone who knows me we are going Ford 5.0, with a Ford 4 speed trans and transfer case.
Gaining a little height as well, 6" of lift being built in house.
No kits being used, everything is being made by hand.
Anchor out
Subframe seperated
A little beef to the front crossmember
4" spacers, 2" more to come
Will it fit
Many said it can't be done, just makes us more determined
Seems to be simple actually, the Ford is narrower and a mere 2" longer than the V6 lump.
We are planning to locate the engine further back, the front of the engine will be 4" further back than the V6 lump was.
Even shorty headers are a cake walk
Picked up the Ford tranmission and transfer case, along with an 8" Mountaineer rear axle for $500 from a local junk yard.
Best part of the rear axle is the 3.73 axle ratio matches the Jeep, oh and the LSD, disc brake rear axle that can take a lot more power than the OEM light weight.
It surprised me that the Jeep is 64" whilst the Ford is just 61" wide.
Transmission is 4" longer than the Jeep and transfer case is wider and taller so it seems we will have to mod the floor slightly, but not a lot. With the engine setback, the end of the trans will be about 8" further back but the plan is to use the Jeep cable style shifter for the transfer case so that should be an easy fix.
Well that's gonna be the coolest Liberty ever!
bgkast
UltraDork
4/21/15 12:43 a.m.
I like the cut of your jib
There's a Liberty for sale near by for $850. Sign says "Blown engine". What is the inherent problem with those motors?
solfly
HalfDork
4/21/15 7:03 a.m.
broken valves/springs
for all that work on the front end I would have gone solid axle, still a nice build though
RossD
PowerDork
4/21/15 7:37 a.m.
I love it!
Don't forget to fab up a mount for the winch up front.
RossD wrote:
I love it!
Don't forget to fab up a mount for the winch up front.
One of the reasons for the reinforced crossmember, along with light mount.
solfly wrote:
broken valves/springs
for all that work on the front end I would have gone solid axle, still a nice build though
I was hoping for/expecting this too.
I will be following this, looks like fun
Was also hoping for a solid front axle but IFS isn't completely terrible. Any special plans for the suspension? Longer control arms or anything? Any plans for a wheelbase stretch at all?
1300zuk
New Reader
5/2/15 6:17 a.m.
DeadSkunk wrote:
There's a Liberty for sale near by for $850. Sign says "Blown engine". What is the inherent problem with those motors?
There is nothing actually wrong with the 3.7. It's not a bad engine, like most modern engines it's really only 150k-200k engine by design, couple that with liberties being used as a fashion accessory and you are going to have problems
In reply to 1300zuk: This one has been driven hard and put away wet, the body alone was written off three times, several engines later he is sick of replacing it. The 3.7 fail a lot and if driven hard will not last 100K.
The straight axle will come later, but we were told you cannot do a V8 swap with original front end, so we are proving you can, besides the thread is about an engine swap.
Bravo! I hadn't looked at this thread because of my dislike of these vehicles/ engines, and am delighted to find awesomness upon a closer look. That is all, carry on.
aussiesmg wrote:
The 3.7 fail a lot and if driven hard will not last 100K.
Also, many that are NOT driven hard will die by 70k.
I walked away from my 3.7 Grand Cherokee at 72k miles, when it blew both HG's for the second time.
I loved the vehicle, but HATE that engine. We all hate that engine at work.