My latest bad decision

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Topic author
CarneroAsada
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 31, 2020 7:05 am

My latest bad decision

Post by CarneroAsada »

Hey everyone, back in late January I bought a 73 Jeep J2000 for a couple of hundred $$. No fuel tank, didn't run but supposedly the AMC 258 in it would run fine if I just hooked up a tank. I had no desire to even try that, what I had in mind was to swap in a 5.7 hemi. I had bought an 07 300C from auction a month prior and was fixing it up to flip, but I decided that it was a far better donor car than just sales vehicle. The issue I am running into with my plan though is which way to go with the transmission. The 5 speed in it works great, but obviously it isn't setup for 4wd. So that leads me to wonder what the best transmission option would be. It currently has a 4 speed stick and I'd like to keep it manual, but I haven't found an adapter to hook the current T18 up to the Hemi and I don't know if it would handle the power anyway. The Dana 20 transfer case is the same concern as is the rest of the drivetrain, but I'll work on that once I get it running lol.

I'd like to kick this engine up to somewhere between 400-425 hp at the wheels. I'm pretty sure I could get my hands on a NV4500 that came in the 2500/3500 but I don't know how that would drive. This truck is just going to be a cruiser, no real work done with it so I'd rather have something that didn't have such a low first gear (at least if I read it right). I'd like something that would have a little jump off the line. I'm not looking to race Camaro's and Mustang's or anything but I would like to be able to outrun my boss' new GMC Denali.

Is the early 90s Blazer fuel tank the best option for fuel injected? I was doing a little research on that and that seemed to be the way to go for the LS swaps.

I've seen a couple of builds between here and ifsja that have done a hemi swap, I'm not opposed to an auto I guess, I would just prefer a stick for this. Thoughts/ideas/suggestions/warnings?
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TurboJ4000
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Re: My latest bad decision

Post by TurboJ4000 »

In the 2007 Chyrco 300 I think they came with the 545RFE which is conveniently a trans that you just have to unbolt the tailcone from the 2wd and bolt on the 4wd t case adapter so if you want to keep the auto that's not too hard.

The NV4500 is a really good option and it will definetly hold the power of the hemi since it mostly does well with the Cummins motors it was offered behind originally but there are a few versions. The later ones have a more usable first gear and reverse I think (might just be reverse thats different) and they came with a few input shaft and output shafts for gas vs diesels and chevy vs dodge. Either way you'd likely be skipping first gear to have any sort of normal quick start off the line and if you have a real 450HP to the wheels you'll likely still be able to spin the tires.

The other unusual way to get around the high first gear is to put some really low axle gears in the diffs. A 3.21 gear would balance out the high first and give great highway cruising.
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threepiece
Posts: 430
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2020 8:33 am

Re: My latest bad decision

Post by threepiece »

I’m not familiar with an early T18 as you may have in your truck. I honestly was not sure the T18 was offered with a 258 in 1973. If it is like the later ones it would have a short input shaft and may give you packaging issues if trying to connect it to a V8.
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Stuka
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Re: My latest bad decision

Post by Stuka »

T18a was offered with both V8's and i6's. The base trans for the i6 in the 60-70's was a 3sp manual, optional was a 4sp manual or 3sp auto.
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Topic author
CarneroAsada
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun May 31, 2020 7:05 am

Re: My latest bad decision

Post by CarneroAsada »

TurboJ4000 wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 5:20 am In the 2007 Chyrco 300 I think they came with the 545RFE which is conveniently a trans that you just have to unbolt the tailcone from the 2wd and bolt on the 4wd t case adapter so if you want to keep the auto that's not too hard.

The NV4500 is a really good option and it will definetly hold the power of the hemi since it mostly does well with the Cummins motors it was offered behind originally but there are a few versions. The later ones have a more usable first gear and reverse I think (might just be reverse thats different) and they came with a few input shaft and output shafts for gas vs diesels and chevy vs dodge. Either way you'd likely be skipping first gear to have any sort of normal quick start off the line and if you have a real 450HP to the wheels you'll likely still be able to spin the tires.

The other unusual way to get around the high first gear is to put some really low axle gears in the diffs. A 3.21 gear would balance out the high first and give great highway cruising.
That's very interesting I didn't know that about the 545RFE. I mean I like it enough in my Charger but I didn't think there was any reasonable way to do a swap over to 4wd without pulling one from a Jeep or Ram that was already set up for it, and at that point you may as well just get the transmission you want.

Thanks for the info, I do like the idea of the NV4500 since it's such a great unit and you can get them at a decent price. I kept looking around online the other night and came across something from Rockland Standard. Apparently they have TR6060 like the Camaro's and Challengers but have adapted them with a transfer case. I can only imagine the cost on that though.
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