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1995 2 Door - Back from the dead - 2.5 to 4.0 Swap
I embarked on this journey over a year ago and have been trying my best to document things as I go. I always love reading people's build threads, so why not write my own.
I've been building classic cars for 10+ years, and my wife asked me if I would build her a 2 door Cherokee for her 'fun car'.
The story starts in Aug 22, I come across a 2 door for sale sitting on a property that's soon to be sold, and the guy wants crazy money for it, even being a Texas car. Few months go by, the property gets sold, and everything has to go. It was 95% complete and at $800 with a clean title, I wasn't complaining.
It's a 2.5 4 cylinder 5 speed 2wd with - get this - almost 400k on the chassis! Pulled her out of a field and brought it back to the shop. With a jump and aerosol it cranked and fired.
The next day I pulled the 4 cylinder and tore it down to inspect; looked like a recent rebuild. My wife can drive stick, but for a fun on road weekend warrior, she opted for automatic, so I purchased a donor jeep with a 4.0 for the drive line.
Last edited by adammrice; 01-16-2024 at 11:57 AM.
Reason: Changing title
The red 4 door had 160K on the clock and had an AW4 behind it, ran (not well) and stopped. I dug into the motor and started with timing set and general service parts (plugs, wires, cap, rotor).
** The remainder of the "cursed 4.0" is long and drawn out and doesn't have a conclusion. I messed with the motor for well over a year and wasted too much time and money to admit on it. Even after machine work and a new head, the donor motor would not get compression on 2 cylinders. At this point, I don't know - I don't care, but at some point I may go back into the story, because it is interesting**
I ended up buying a good used long block with good compression from another XJ guy near me. The remaining necessities were scavenged from the red jeep (brackets, engine harness, trans lines, shifter, ect) and many new parts were purchased.
Finally as of Jan 2024, reassembly has started.
The plan was pretty straightforward. I had everything laid out and ready to go. Mated the engine and trans, everything bolted up to torque. I swapped the brackets from the original donor motor and a few other necessary bits for now and dropped it in place. I spent a good 20 minutes trying to drop the new motor mounts in but couldn't for the life of me get them to line up. Something wasn't adding up, after trekking in the dark out to the donor jeep, I realized that the body side brackets were different too, between the 4.0 and the 2.5, naturally the engine side brackets are different, but the motor mounts themselves are the same exact part. What a headache
So in the dark and cold I laid on the ground and pulled the body brackets (the passenger side is a breeze, but the driver bracket mounts under/around/behind the steering shaft).
At any rate, I got it mounted and the cross member thrown in. I also went ahead and mounted my tires and the new rims and test fit. I'm thinking 3" lift should be good for the 30.5s.
Need to wash the engine bay down and remove a few more things from the 2.5, but for the milage on this chassis, it's super clean.
My wife has also decided she likes the later header panel better, so I'll be order body parts soon to do the swap before and body work happens.
And here are some of the "ones who didn't make it" along the way.
Crazy how much this one looks like mine!!
Next will be re wrapping the engine harness, laying it and getting everything connected. Will update more tomorrow!
Spent some time getting more "nitty gritty" stuff Swapped sheet metal panel in trans hump for auto shifter and installed the shifter and cable. I cut off all of the original corrugated loom on the harness and rewrapped it with Tesa tape (fire and water resistant). Laid the harness in and started getting connectors hooked up. Bulkhead went together fine, engine fuse box mounted and ECU connected.
Signs of life over OBDII!!
There's still some stuff that wasn't connected when I checked it, but so far so good. I hooked up all of the wiring to the trans and TCM and routed different rooms into different bulkhead grommets.
There is a slight discrepancy under the cluster where the obd port wiring is run. The connectors (that I assume connect to the dash?) Are different and on the 95 there are two connectors whereas I have one.
I'll edit this post later with pictures of the connectors. From looking through my schematics it looks like they should be the same, but maybe it's an OBD difference.
At any rate, I got power to everything (that works) on the rig and it cranks!
The contents of the gas tank in the green rig were solid and thrown away. Luckily the red rigs tank was replaced at some point, so I swapped a new walboro 255 in tank and added an external fuel regulator. I still need to plumb the line to the rail itself, but on probed the fuel pump relay, pump comes in and good pressure (all over my shop floor).
Also worth nothing that the 'fuel module' from the 96 tank had significantly more wires than the 95. It had an additional fuel sender for obd and a few additional grounds. I looped the grounds and am hoping obd won't care that it doesn't have fuel level
But if it comes to it, I'll run an additional wire and look it in the harness.
Still need to get the last pieces of the ignition system, make custom fuel lines to the rail, and loop trans lines before actually starting it.
Looking good. I'd use all the wiring from the 96 if you're using the aw4. There are major differences between 95 and 96. Plus your old setup was a 2.5 manual. Gonna have to change the fenders to put the later grill on too. Then you'll have different wheel flares. Luckily the 2.5 should have 4.10 ratio axles.
Actually the wiring is almost exactly identical in the engine compartment! I already have it all together, running, and moving under it's own power.
The only visible difference is the breakout from the harness that enters above the throttle pedal. The 95 has 2 connectors and the 96 has a single. I have a sneaking suspicion it is for the gauges, but I was monitoring parameters over obd for now.
I'll write an update post tomorrow with some pictures and a video!
Actually the wiring is almost exactly identical in the engine compartment! I already have it all together, running, and moving under it's own power.
The only visible difference is the breakout from the harness that enters above the throttle pedal. The 95 has 2 connectors and the 96 has a single. I have a sneaking suspicion it is for the gauges, but I was monitoring parameters over obd for now.
I'll write an update post tomorrow with some pictures and a video!
Let me redact this statement -
Everything wiring related on the vehicle side is exactly identical. The 4.0 engine harness plugs into the two bulkhead connectors on the driver side, it runs up the the headlight connector (same), I reused the engine fuse/relay box from the 4.0.
There are ~5 break offs from the main harness - blower/HVAC, TCU (through firewall, mounts under dash), engine components (injectors & sensors), trans components (NSS, VSS, ect), and ?cluster? (this is the discrepancy mentioned above).
Outside of these differences, everything functions as normal!
I finished getting lines run and installed custom pressure regulator with gauge under by the tank for now. I'll probably end up moving it to the engine compartment ultimately but I had everything setup back there for testing so there it stays for now!
The front runner was a bit of a challenge. The donor motor was out of a ZJ, the red rig had a 4.0 out of what I think was a YJ and all of it was being put in an XJ. New water pump, new compressor and a few idlers. It's not exactly 'correct' but everything has good engagement and good tension. It also uses the factory xj belt length, so it is what it is.
I dug through pages and pages of diagrams. The breakout connector under the steering column handles a few things. Only a few are important for my purposes - brake signal and VSS so I'll make an adapter connector with the pigtails I cut off of the old harnesses.
New aluminum radiator, new condenser and electric fans.
Next steps will be repairing some of the trans harness and diag - it's not shifting on its own. Need to get springs and shocks to lift her up a bit. The 30.5s are rubbing really bad.
There's a long list of nit-picky stuff I'm working through, but I did get the cooling system filled/purged and drove it up the street and back a few times. With the high rear end this lil puppy rips!!
Welcome y'all! Thanks for the heads up about the tire carrier. It's not in great shape, but I'm sure I can fix it up.
We're moving soon, hopefully to a place with a garage. While I don't mind keeping it at shop it would be nice to have it at home for those bored evenings.
We're looking through possibilities for paint color. I came across a point code sheet from Chrysler in the 60s.
We really like the 'Dusk Mauve's color, once I have things set up at the new home shop I'll start metal work. The floors are pretty swissed, but everything else looks pretty solid. I ordered springs and shocks, so hopefully there will be more progress coming soon!
My wife and I caught covid and then got better and then caught it again the next week and we're moving soon so progress has been a little slow. BUT progress is progress.
Pretty much all the electrical is working the way it should. I purchased a sport dash and senders so that we'd have gauges instead of dummy lights. Of course the oil pressure gauge was DOA on the first gauge so I'm scouting for another in yards.
This weekend we focused on front suspension. The plan is +3" coils in the front, add a leaf and slightly longer shackles in the back to hopefully keep a nicer ride (since she'll likely never take it off road).
I went ahead and knocked out what I could on the front (still low energy levels from being sick). Got new coils and shocks mounted and lower control arms for now. I have factory uppers and lowers. Once I have all the new suspension parts mounted, I'll throw it on my alignment rack and see if I need adjustable arms.
It still amazes me how everything is in pretty decent shape given almost 400k miles on the chassis
GASSER CHEROKEE!
I almost think it could go another inch in the front but I won't make that judgement call until I get the rear done too.
Finally got some time last weekend and this week to do some work.
A lot of the stuff I did was more clerical and safety. However, the suspension is completed! For the rear I originally planned on add-a-leafs as well as a slight shackle lift. I figured with an old chassis that the springs were saggy, but boy was I wrong! After doing springs and the shackles, it lifted the rear nearly 5"!
I went ahead and ordered some factory shackles, assuming that would get it more in the range I was looking for and boy it did not disappoint!
There are a few small things I want to get buttoned up before inspection and somehow I don't have the harness for the VSS, so I'll have to get one from a junkyard or make one.
Sold off another car last weekend and used the profit to buy a haul of parts.
Got everything to do a late model facelift, new power steering equipment, all air con lines and drier, ball joints, front hubs, brakes, auto brake pedal, shifter cassette, and new floor pans.
All body panels came off without a hitch. I acquired a few cans a Chrysler paint match spray paint to see how it faired on the worn, sun roasted paint. Honestly the body is very straight and a few coats of rattle can came out looking pretty decent.
Power steering is done; I want to run a ground switched relay to operate the fans (we have some big honking 80amp relays on the shelf). I'm thinking about drilling and tapping into the front of the thermostat housing and putting a temp operated ground switch there.
Next week, I'll address full front axle parts.
I noticed today that the backside (evaporator side) of the expansion valve is twisted, likely from PO. So I'm also trying to plan on a day to rip the dash out and swap the evap and heater core while I'm there. At least no stone will be left unturned
01-14-2024, 08:48 PM
1995 2 Door - Back from the dead - 2.5 to 4.0 Swap
