5.3 Vortec engine swap and other upgrades

[Jeeper25]

So I've had my 97 TJ for a few years now. I bought the 2.5L with the full intent of doing an engine swap. (not to a 4.0) so I could save a few thousand. I also spent a lot of money playing with the 2.5L to try and get a few extra pony's out of it... It was fun... but pretty uneventful with the additional weighted upgrades (bumpers, winch, armor, 33's). I'm finally at the stage to start my engine swap though and the engine of choice is going to be a 5.3L vortec. It's extremely popular, well balances in power and weight, and can be upgraded to make some pretty decent power with minimal effort (cams, lifters/valve springs, intake and exhaust can net upwards of 100 hp).

There's some pretty detailed info and support through Novak and Advance Adapters. I'm waiting for all the parts to come in, but I bought the conversion kit for the Chevy Gen III mated to the NV3550 through advance adapters. I decided to go with the NV3550 because it better suited for the HP than the AX-15, would probably have less miles since its a new tranny, and it was only a few hundred more. I bought headers from Novak(although I've seen the truck exhaust manifolds work) incase I decide to do some top end upgrades. I also got the Novak fuel pump regulator bypass to address the fuel pressure issue and the adjustable transmission mount since it will pull it forward about 2 inches. It Says I'll need a 1 inch body lift... but then it also looks like everyone has to modify the firewall anyways... soooo I guess ill see what needs to happen at that cross road... probably some 2x4 and dead blow action... but we'll see.

The 5.3L I bought from a guy who set up all the wiring specifically for an engine swap and was able to start it on the stand before I bought it. It cost more then pulling one from a yard, but having a ready to play wiring harness and mated ECU, easily made of for itself instead of buying it all somewhere else. He did a really good job of labeling all the wires. and kept everything I'd need for a swap to include the drive by wire setup with the gas pedal. I haven't looked to far into that method to see if it'll be work keeping or swapping to a drive by cable setup instead.

As soon as the tranny, adapter kit, and other needed accessories come in, I'll probably start posting pictures and descriptions as I move along and any other upgrades I do along the way... Enjoy! Hopefully it all goes smooth!

 

[Jeepers-n-Creepers]

5.3L Vortec - and excellent notion

I'll look forward to watching the adventure unfold.

 

[Alaska-HWY JK]

Just getting started on a L83 and 6L80 into my LJ. I’ve got the motor mounts from Novak and trans to transfer case adapter. I’m installing a 241J, can’t use the 241OR I guess but the 6L80 has 4.02 first gear and the 355 hp should look after other shortcomings.
Good luck with your build. I’ll be watching.

 

[Chris]

I look forward to seeing photos!

 

[Vinman]

Just getting started on a L83 and 6L80 into my LJ. I’ve got the motor mounts from Novak and trans to transfer case adapter. I’m installing a 241J, can’t use the 241OR I guess but the 6L80 has 4.02 first gear and the 355 hp should look after other shortcomings.
Good luck with your build. I’ll be watching.

Why can’t you use the 241OR?

 

[Alaska-HWY JK]

Apparently you can’t mate them up to a 6L80. The 6L80 has a real low first gear so it’s not needed anyway. With 355 hp it’ll put around in 4 high real easy also.

 

[Vinman]

Apparently you can’t mate them up to a 6L80. The 6L80 has a real low first gear so it’s not needed anyway. With 355 hp it’ll put around in 4 high real easy also.

I didn’t know that. I am in the process of swapping in a L33 5.3 /4L60E into my 05 LJ Rubicon and just assumed since the 241OR case could be adapted to the 4L60 it could be used with the all other late model GM trannies as well.

 

[Alaska-HWY JK]

Novak says no, so I got a 241J. I’ll sell the 241OR easy. Hopefully with the 42RLE and I6 attatched.

 

[Jeeper25]

So I got a bunch of my parts in and also got the engine removed so I'm about to photo dump a bunch of stuff, but first, here's a better picture of the Jeep

 

[Jeeper25]

Just getting started on a L83 and 6L80 into my LJ. I’ve got the motor mounts from Novak and trans to transfer case adapter. I’m installing a 241J, can’t use the 241OR I guess but the 6L80 has 4.02 first gear and the 355 hp should look after other shortcomings.
Good luck with your build. I’ll be watching.

A Gen V 5.3L? I honestly didn't really know it was a thing. I haven't done a lot of research after I found the Gen III 5.3L but it sounds like an awesome build. It seems like the biggest things with the 5.3's is just the sheer potential they hold. I was looking into an article where they pulled 1300 HP out of a stock lower end with just mild top end upgrades like better intake, valve springs and cam.... and they boosted the hell out of it... but I mean for pretty much bolt on upgrades and a tune with stock bottom end... and not throwing a rod... It doesn't seems like you can go wrong no matter what kind of build your trying to do with a 5.3

 

[Jeeper25]

Had to acquire the engine from Texas but the trip wasn't to bad and she made it fine.

Got her Unwrapped and ready to put on an engine stand

Thought I could make this more... dirtable… since my carport it pretty small... turns out it doesn't work well because the engine is pretty top heavy... weird! hahah

Either way, There it is, just waiting to be installed!

 

[Jeeper25]

In the next set of photo's I'll show you all the parts I've gotten in an explain why I'm going the route I am. In some of the later posts I'll also explain some of the other options I haven't quite decided on, but hopefully help out with anyone else possibly running into the same issues.

 

[JMT]

Had to acquire the engine from Texas but the trip wasn't to bad and she made it fine.View attachment 73890
Got her Unwrapped and ready to put on an engine stand
View attachment 73891
Thought I could make this more... dirtable… since my carport it pretty small... turns out it doesn't work well because the engine is pretty top heavy... weird! hahah
View attachment 73892
Either way, There it is, just waiting to be installed!
View attachment 73893

A thing of beauty!

 

[Jeeper25]

For this build I am primarily going with Advance Adapters conversion kit stuff but have also ordered several items from Novak simply because AA doesn't offer the parts. I used AA's CP-TJ0XB kit, Option 1 for the NV3550. It seems pricey at a little over $2100, but when you consider everything you get, In my opinion, it will save you a lot of money, It Comes with a new high flow aluminum radiator, Gen III GM to NV3550 bell housing, new custom flywheel, clutch kit with custom throw out bearing (requires mods, ill explain later). A new clutch slaver cylinder w/ line, a high torque starter, transfer case shifter bracket, and finally, new weld in motor mounts. But here's some picture of the stuff that came in the kit.

 

[Jeeper25]

As far as the Novak parts go, I'm going with their transmission mount adapter and their fuel regulator delete option with just the fuel filter since the fuel rail on my engine has a regulator on it. I'll end up using the original fuel line as a return and run new larger lines for the fuel line. Their regular kit comes with a billet aluminum adapter that plugs into the top of the earlier TJ fuel pump housing and deletes the regulator that restricts the fuel pump from producing the needed fuel pressure. Out side of that, the jeeps fuel pump is more then capable. The new Jeep TJ's, 2002-2006 I believe, had a regulator that would satisfy the GM's needs so it wasn't much of an issue. With the trans mount, installing the 5.3... or most Gen 3's sets the trans about 2 inches forward, so having the mount adapter allows for a solid install without compromising integrity. Here's some pictures of what you get from Novak. I also bout headers for the 5.3L through Novak that they sell specifically for the install, but when I got them, it turns out they're a partnered company they either go through or they just sell their product knowing it works for the swaps, but the headers are actually made by Sanderson Street Rod Headers. Ether way, they seem like quality headers and should clean up any firewall clearance concerns with the stock truck headers the engine came with that people seem to think work well... I'm still skeptical and headers look better anyways.

 

[Jeeper25]

I'll jump ahead a little bit and show you something I came across with my initial 2.5L upgrades which is a Ford Escort fan, years 97 and 98 (may have others but I don't know) One of the big upgrades is swapping out the belt driven clutch fan for an electric fan but everyone seems to rant and rave about using the Ford Taurus fan because you can mount it how you want and its a cheap, easy to find upgrade. While I was looking to upgrade this on my Jeep, I was helping my neighbor fix her car by using parts off a previous donor car she had. I was looking at the fan and shroud and I thought they looked really close in size... it turns out... this fan WITH its shroud (this was important to me) pretty much fit like a glove as far as size goes. The top bolt lines right up, I uses a self tapping screw to mount into the bottom hole, and then built the simple bracket on the other side. Any electric fan setup you look at typically recommends a shroud but usually charges an addition $150+ so when I ran across this fan I had to try it out. It's still a dual stage fan like out of the Taurus... same exact plug actually so with a two stage temp senor you can easily set one of these up. I don't know the actual CFM's it pulls, but at full speed, its loud and pulls some air and I've never had it kick into the second stage outside of testing, even when it was idling in 100+ degree weather after driving down the highway so in my opinion, given its fitment, you cant really go wrong for a junk yard find, and I fully intend on using this with the new radiator until it proves to be inadequate.

As you can tell though, Size wise with the new radiator, It doesn't look to bad... it will need some modifications, but it still covers the radiator really well, and aside from notching out the top near the hose inlet, and making some new brackets, I think it'll fit nicely and help pull the air really well.

 

[Jeeper25]

The Last post for the night is my new dash decision. This isn't the only way to go when it come to the GM swap but its looks awesome... and for the most part, its universal. The housing is the Autometer housing... the gauges are just a $180 universal 6 pack of gauges. (Didn't feel like spending another $800 on gauges). The volts, oil pressure , tach and water temp are all simple plug and play across the board and are setup for GM sensors. The fuel gauge (not shone here) is a snag because the ohm rating for the stock TJ fuel sender is a weird one and doesn't match any after market ones. The Jeeps is 20 - 220 ohms full - empty and the closest after market one is 33-240 ohms and the reading which gives some... guessy? results. My solution was to go with a speedhut gauge that is a programmable and customized gauge. I tried to match it as well as possible to the gauges you see here, but the concept is, you pull the sender, set it to full, set the gauge, then set it to empty and set the gauge and you should have an accurate empty full reading. You can do it with the unit in the tank and set it empty then set it full but its just preference.

When it comes to the speedo which is supposed to take any signal... we'll see... There's a few solutions but it took a lot of research to really figure them out. I'll go through the solutions I've found.

Keep the Jeep computer with the Jeep vss and integrate it into the GM system and use the signal coming from the vss into the Jeep computer to run the speedo... you can do this with the stock gauges as well which is a common option BUT you have to figure out how to get it to mate into the GM system to tell it that is moving... I think they make a converter... I donno… I'm not going this route.

JP conversions makes a shorty slip yoke eliminator for the NP231 transfer case which uses a GM sensor and makes the conversion super simple and something the GM computer can read (especially using a drive by wire throttle) and an after market speedo.

You can get a converter that takes the Jeeps signal and converts it to a readable GM signal (square wave to sign wave I think) but I guess it has a significant delay.

Novak makes an adapter that plugs into the Jeep... what I couldn't find was what it works with. Turns out, you need the mechanical speedo housing from the pre-1990 transfer case. The Dodge also uses this same speedo housing, which for $80 dollars you can find on ebay with a gear tooth for your tire size and gearing... and then you can screw this adapter into the mechanical housing and push a GM signal.

There's some other options... custom signal wheels with sensor brackets... stuff like that... but these are probably the most common... right now, I'm personally looking at getting the JP conversion, or doing the older speedo housing and the adapter that screws into... I just haven't decided what slip yoke eliminator I'm going to go with, which will drive my decision towards the end.

I can probably answer more questions if you have some when it comes to the GM/Jeep speedo issue I'm not thinking about so ask away and I'll see if I know the answer.

 

[Jeeper25]

I ran into the issue the other day where I found out I had 3 broken bolts for the exhaust manifold. I tried to get the first one out with a bolt removal tool and sheered the stupid thing off inside it... in an effort to get it out, I bought some diamond tipped hole saws... they're small, like 5/16th after 3 bits and several hours, I managed to get the tip of the bolt removal tool out... I proceeded to drill out the bolt until I could get a tap in and rethread the hole... it worked... but I spent nearly and entire day doing it and I still have two more and am over $100 into this process between the diamond bits, new drill bits and the bolt removal set... I went to just skip the bolt removal set on the second bolt and just drill it out, stepping up the bit one at a time. I thought I had the hole centered really well but on the last bit it kicked off into the head so now I'm using a carbide Dremel bit to try and carve the rest of the bolt out so I can use a thread repair kit. Needless to say its been a shit show and after all the time and effort put into this, it probably would have been better to either take the head in to a mechanic, or buy new heads all together.

I'm just really put off by the whole situation... I feel like the person that sold me the motor knew the bolts were sheered off because I know I didn't do it. I went to remove them and they just came right out like they had already been broke and just put back into the hole. I guess if I have any advice... buy your stuff from a company that offers a replacement policy even if it's used. It might cost more but this is the second time I've been burned on an engine purchase, and it really seems like people don't make honest sells with stuff like this anymore. Chances are, if they're trying to get rid of something... there's more to it than the reason they're telling.

I'm going to pull compression tests on all the cylinders tomorrow. If I get messes up readings I'm just going to prepare for a full rebuild and probably swap the head. At least I'll get to do the cam, spring, and rocker upgrade I was eyeballing. I'll post pics later with what ever route I decided to go.

 

[Chris]

So that entire gauge setup is an Autometer package and it comes with the black trim piece that bolts in place of the old gauge cluster as well?

Truth me told, this is the way I would do it I think. I don't want to have to bother to try and make the Chevy engine try to talk to the factory Jeep PCM if I can avoid it. I'd rather just get rid of the Jeep PCM altogether and make the entire vehicle run off the Chevy PCM.

 

[Jeeper25]

So that entire gauge setup is an Autometer package and it comes with the black trim piece that bolts in place of the old gauge cluster as well?

Truth me told, this is the way I would do it I think. I don't want to have to bother to try and make the Chevy engine try to talk to the factory Jeep PCM if I can avoid it. I'd rather just get rid of the Jeep PCM altogether and make the entire vehicle run off the Chevy PCM.

The setup I have isn't autometer except for the black trim piece. Using autometer gauges would have made the whole setup around $800. Instead I used a $180 6 pcs gauge set off ebay and got a programmable fuel gauge from speedhut to match the others. Total setup was about $350.

That's why I got rid of it. With my cluster going out and not wanting to deal with integrating the two systems it just made sense. Although I'm still trying to figure out the vss sensor from jeep to GM and what the best route to go is