I found a 1993 Grand Cherokee with 137k miles on it to use as a donor for a 4.0l i6 Motor and an AW4 4-speed automatic transmission. The Cherokee had front end issues and a horrible replaced hood and bumps and scratches, but a strong motor and Transmission. and for $750, it was a steal!

My CJ-7 and the donor Cherokee are now in the capable hands of Boston Bob (with Aaron close by for any assistance that may be needed) The Motor and tranny swap will start taking place this Monday perhaps, so if anyone wants to get an idea of how it is done, feel free to contact Boston Bob and maybe timing can make it so.

* Day one. Monday evening 6-7-10 - After getting Bobs T-case back in and his son finishing up a new shock, we got those vehicles out of Bob's shop and winched in the CJ-7.

Winch off, Grill off, various bolts un bolted, various wires unplugged or cut, various glitches conquered, and the motor is ready to be pulled. 3.5 hours so far.

With the CJ cleared of it's guts, it was time to slide it to one side and bring in the Donor. Last rights were given and the Cherokee went up on the operating table.

5 more hours of unplugging and unbolting.... the Cherokee had not been touched since 1993, whereas the CJ had the transmission replace in the last 10 years, so the bolts on the Cherokee were a bit more snug..... but I think we got it all taken care of, and as it sits now, I think we are ready to yank the motor and transmission out on our next glorious day of work. (probably Monday) 8 hours of fun time today, since the Cherokee is actually a GRAND Cherokee. The grand has lots more wiring and such to take care of... I wonder if we'll ever get all that stuff hooked back up! 14.5 hours so far

*Day 4 Monday 6-14-10 Another fairly short day, but with some complications OK, so who actually expected it to actually come right out today? We, of course, found something else we had to un plug and remove before the thing could come out.... The computer that controls the Transmission. First..... we had to find out where the dumb thing was. Found it under the driver side dash, way up on the Firewall. Bob turned upside down and tried to figure out how to remove it. After a while he had to go talk to some folks at the house so I thought I would have a go at it. Since it is a donor car, I ripped out a section of the dash, and bent a piece of metal blocking my way. I un plugged a bunch of other wires that were also in the way and finally had a good look at the thing and found the bolts to get it out. Unplugged the plug and fed the wire through the firewall. Just goes to show ya, that demolition and force beats trained, careful mechanic sometime.

NOW we were ready..... PULL!

We kept the motor and transmission together for this extraction to save some time and possible knuckle damage. Again, since the Cherokee is headed to the scrap heap after this, we took a Sawzall to the front bumper for easy removal. And it slid right out.... really!

Here we see Bob giving the ol' "Shop Teacher Two-Thumbs-Up"

With the donor motor and Transmission out we could now switch the ratchets over to "Tighten"!!!!!!!!!!! it's install time.

First thing I wanted to do was reattach the Position Sensor which was removed for wire tangle reasons.

Tightened the first bolt, and went to tighten the second bolt and the Socket fell off the ratchet... and guess where it landed? Right down the little 2"x3" hole in the transmission bell housing! Would it stay up high enough to be reached by a grabber or a magnetic wand? Noooooo, would it fall down enough to fall out the bottom? Nooooo. Would it get stuck in the middle and not be seen for a while without shaking and twisting the transmission? Yesssssss. We got it to a point where we could see it, but it was too big to pull out with the magnet or grabber from the bottom. A few more tries and....... the extension magnet wand thing broke off in side the bell housing! So, with two lost tools, we had to remove the transmission anyway. So much for time saving!

With everything out of both Jeeps, we could start to get an idea of what we needed to get the old and new together. When fitting the old Transfer case on to the "new" Transmission, there was indeed a 3/4 space which need a Novak #153 clocking ring. The same ring is used for both the new AW4 and the old TF909 transmissions, so I was hopping the ring already was there.... oh well.

The Cherokees of those years were notorious for cracking the Exhaust manifolds, so after a quick check, and a little find, it was decided to replace the manifold too. Rings, manifolds.... it's only money! And we might as well replace all the seals, gaskets and fluids while were there, not to mention plugs, wires, caps and rotors. It will never be easier, and who knows how old and bad things are on the Cherokee.

So it's off to the store, and web for a few items, and we will be back at it again next Monday. Perhaps Aaron will find it in his heart (and schedule) to pop by and share some of his install expertise. Total actual work time, not counting head scratching and lost tool extraction.... about 2 hours. 16.5 hours so far

*Day 5 Monday 6-21-10 only working on Mondays is making for a slow go, but it's getting there!

Aaron did actually stop by today, and his wisdom was imparted upon us. He pointed out little things to do, like swapping sensors and such from the old block to the new. He had a couple time saving tips on rear main seal replacement, and he got down and dirty and removed the wiring harness from the Cherokee.... I guess my old one isn't exactly the same :-/

But the highlight of his visit was the game of "Vice Grip". A test of grip strength. keep tightening the vice grips and pass them around until you can't close them any more.... Bob won the grand prize of..... nothing.

I removed the donor shifter after determining that my fancy Lokar shifter would not fit on this new transmission. This shifter uses cables, and not direct linkage, so there will have to be a little modding to go in the CJ.

I thought the shifter would be too low, but it looks like it will be OK, and just for good measures I yanked out the entire Cherokee shifter plate and bracket, so I can bend it and modify it to fit the CJ and give me another 2-3" in height.

Since the ol' Cherokee still had some wiring and such we needed, Aaron went to work to retrieve it... the easy way!!!!!!! Sawzall city. Although he was a bit concerned with it being an antique Sawzall that still needed a power cord

With the harness and EFI computer out, I could put my old 258 motor on craigslist with a perfectly working and complete Fuel injection system on it... hopefully it will raise enough to pay for the donor jeep.

Day five also had the new motor up on the Engine Stand for easier workability. Of course the torque converter had to come off first, and the flange, and some "long enough" bolts had to be found, but it got on there and we pulled off the oil pan and replaced the gasket. I don't think it really needed it, though. This new motor is in great shape. No sludge, no metal shavings, no dead rats. we did change the rear main seal while we were in there, and spent most of the time removing the old gasket.... hate that..... but it went back together quickly.

We flipped it over and did the Valve Cover Gasket and the Transmission filter and gasket as well. The tranny was also in great shape when we opened it up. Collector magnets in the bottom of the pan were clean and tidy. Looks like a great donor! With play time and chatting, and lunch, and a quick lawn mower oil change we still managed a good 4 hours. 20.5 hours so far

*Day 6 Monday 6-22-10 Today was just me running up to Bobs place to do a quick Manifold swap and EFI computer removal. Bob was working but kindly let me use his shop and tools in his absence. I didn't take any pictures today, so I thought I would just add a photo of the CJ in happier times

The exhaust manifold didn't show up Monday until I had already headed up to Conifer (figures) but I wanted to get it on to replace the always cracked Cherokee version. It looked like a simple 13 bolt remove and replace. But to get to the manifold you have to remove the electronic fuel injection air intake, and to remove that you have to remove the power steering pump and to do that you have to remove the serpentine belt.... so.... it took about an hour. Most of which was removing the remains of the old gasket. (did I mention I hate that?) It all went back together without a hitch, and then I removed the EFI computer from the CJ since the Cherokee one has to be used. (it needed the Washer fluid reservoir removed to get at it, but those things don't faze me anymore

Next chore was some minor frame work. The CJ frame had a couple little cracks where the previous owner added some rock sliders, but Bob got to grinding and welding and hammering and fixed it right up. He also suggested drilling holes in the bottom of the shock mounts so they could drain and not rust out the frame... a good idea, especially if you live in Boston!

Since the 4.0 block has one funky bolt hole for the motor mount, I hopped on the motorcycle during a brief stop in the rain and headed out to get a #12 fine thread bolt. It was no-go at the hardware store, but the local Napa actually had one!

OK. Clocking ring went on easily (it only goes one way, and there are 6 possible options.. guess how many trys we took to line it up

Now it was time to put the Transmission and the Torque Converter back on. Here is a hint for all of you do it yourselfers out there.... Torque Converter into the transmission first! Harder to tighten the TC bolts, but much easier to align TC into the transmission than to try to align the transmission to the TC when mounted on the motor.

With everything bolted together, it was time for the big drop in..... In goes the 4.0 and AW4! It slides right in place and everything is looking good. A few quick measurements and we have an idea what it will take to get the linkage and transmission mount to work right. The Grand Cherokee mount is very tall, and I don't have much room down there, so it was off to the auto parts store yet again for a low profile, regular Cherokee mount. It was now almost 8:00 and the parts store closed at 8:00 so off we went. And 3 minutes left before Subway closes, so we ran in there for a late dinner to go. The pan on this transmission is about an inch deeper than my old one, so unfortunately I will be losing about an inch of ground clearance with this upgrade We will have to shim up the belly plate.

Everything is read for Monday, lets see if we can get it all bolted down then........

I used to have a 1983 CJ-7 with around 200+k miles on it. Now I have a 1993 Grand CJ with 132726 miles on it Not much stock left on the '83 now except most of the frame and some of the body

So... a full day's work today... 1:00pm - 10:30 pm but with time out for head scratching and dinner, call it 8 hours! 28.5 hours so far!

*Day 9   Thursday 7-8-10 Since I missed last weekend due to the 4th of July holiday, I decided I better get my but up there and get something done. Bob was working, but I invaded his shop for some alone time with my Jeep.

First up was wrestling with the motor and tranny to try to get them straighten out. I hooked the cherry picker to the passenger side (the low side) and lifted..... didn't budge. Even with the motor mounts loosened. So I loosened everything possible. Poly bushings, brackets on the motor, brackets on the frame, then lifted more and beat the heck out of it with a hammer on the driver side and pried with a big pry bar on the passenger side. It moved a little, so I bolted her all down again. It's not perfect, but it's close.

When checking for flat underneath, I picked up where we left off last time, and bolted in the transfer case with the belly up clocking ring in place. Ready for Drive shafts to be sized.

Then on to the radiator and grill. I had to add the 2" body lift rubber under the grill by myself. the nut in the bottom of the grill is lose and floppy, so aligning it was gonna be a bear by myself. But I lifted it up and screwed in the upper part of the lift without the lower rubber and washer, so just the bolt was holding the top rubber, then I could drop the bolt through the hole in the frame and it was all lined up. I took out the bolt, put the lower rubber and washer on and slid the bold back up to the pre aligned hole and it screwed right in. Does any of that make sense? Anyway, I was proud of my self for how easily it went in.

Now..... Aligning the holes in the fenders took some time and strength, but it got done without stripping a single bolt. And lifting the heavy winch up there was easier than I thought too. Wow, it looks like it's coming together!

Since the skid plate is off, we had to strap up the transmission to keep it all together. The strap was wrapped around the Transmission and then over the roll cage through the hole for the shifters. But since I needed to see about shifter placement I had to jack up the tranny with a floor jack and remove the strap.

That way I could try various locations for the shifters. The Grand Cherokee shifter uses cables, so I can pretty much put it wherever I please. But the 4 wheel drive Transfer case shifter has to go on the right, and remember it is 3" farther back than before. But I took out the old sheet metal covering the floor and sized up the options with the Cherokee shifter brackets.

You can see that the shifter is back a bit, and right now I don't have any idea what gear it is in. If it's in 4 low, I'm golden. But if it's in 2 or 4hi, it will have to travel back another few inches to engage 4 low. Then it will really take some Shifter bar bending to get the full travel needed.

5 hours today, by myself. (7 total) , 37.5 hours so far! (30.5 billable)

CONTINUED......   Read "Part Two" Here: http://patrol2.com/v2/node/728