The Perfect Storm-1979 Jeep Cherokee Golden Eagle-Vortec Swap

[DustinLangston]

Shifters are set up.

Wiring is getting close to done. Having a hard time figuring out how to mount the electronic gas pedal. Not a lot of space in there.

Got her back home.

[GaJeep94YJ]

Which shifter is that?

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[DustinLangston]

It is the 12" Lokar shifter, their Midnight series. With a different shift knob. It made no sense to me that their black shifter would still come with a brushed aluminum shift knob, so I ordered their black knob as well, which wound up being a completely different style than the original.

[66stepside]

Looking good! The vortec looks right at home.


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[DustinLangston]

Ya those vortec motors fit very well in these old Jeeps. Plenty of room all around.

[DustinLangston]

These wheels and tires are awesome! I will absolutely be putting these exact tires on my Honcho. Love it love it!


It's not as sexy as paint, or as exciting as the first start up, but nothing is more important than these steps. I have all of the hoses and wiring done except the fuel system. I have been sent the wrong fuel pickup tube twice now! It would have been running last week if not for this issue. So I will hopefully get the right one coming tomorrow. But I thought I'd throw out a few tips while I'm here. For the transmission cooler, the original one is more than adequate. A good cleaning and it hooks right up. One thing that is often overlooked is the power steering system. The vortec pump really overworks the power steering fluid. It also doesn't help that the lines are super short, like 6" with the new setup. This causes serious power steering whine due to the fluid becoming frothy. So it is best to use some kind of trans cooler and use it as a power steering cooler. This is even more important now that I have bigger tires too.

[DustinLangston]

So after many phone calls and several emails I have learned that the fuel pickup tube I was sent is indeed correct for this application but is not OEM. So here's the deal, there are several differences. The pickup tube and return have been swapped sides, and are clocked at different angles. There are two tabs on the bottom of the flange and one of them must be removed before use. Lastly there are electrical connectors that you do not use. It appears that they have taken a pickup tube/sending unit and removed the float arm for this application. That is a little trashy in my opinion but it is the only option in the aftermarket. At least they sent me the correct flat style o-ring. I would like to add that Ryan at BJ's Offroad has been amazing to work with. His technical and customer service has been great.
Team Grand Wagoneer on the other hand is currently on my BEEP list. And they will not receive my interior/exterior (lights, grill, etc) order now because of how they have handled themselves. I ordered an OEM style ignition switch from them along with a sending unit (at the time I couldn't find these parts on BJ's website, but the sending unit is now there). Both parts were incorrect. The ignition switch was a standard flat tab GM style. They then sent me the correct sending unit (with an incorrect o-ring) and the same exact GM flat tab ignition switch. They have been zero help in rectifying this situation and are now avoiding my calls. I wound up ordering them off ebay.

[DustinLangston]

So so much to catch up on. That's that bad part about not updating the thread for so long. Have to go back through so much. But I have some key learnings I wanted to share with everyone. First, let's talk cooling system. I was very surprised to find out that the 6 cylinder Cherokee/Wagoneers use a different front core support than the 8 cylinder versions. The opening for the radiator is 25" instead of 27", and the battery tray is installed straight with the core support instead of angled like on the V8s. Not only is the width of the radiator different, the depth that it sits in the core support is different too. After looking at several of my FSJ's I realized that the V8 models "notched" out the front core support so that the radiator could sit farther forward than the 6 cylinder models. This blew me away. I had never noticed that before now. But sure enough all 3 of my V8 FSJ's have the notched out front core support. So I followed suite and cut mine out too. I was able to go with a 25" aluminum radiator for a CJ7 setup LS swap from Novak that worked but it is definitely tighter than the V8 setup. The other issue the narrower radiator created was that the bottom output on the radiator was super close and almost at the same level as the input on the bottom of the motor. This meant I had to find a crazy hose in the shape of a question mark to make it work. I couldn't believe it but I found one at NAPA. A standard universal hose worked for the top. I also had my custom pressure hose made at NAPA for the power steering pump.
$400 in fluid later everything is ready to go. You never really think about all the fluids in a vehicle until you have to fill every one of them at the same time. 6 quarts synthetic 75W90 gear oil for the front/rear Dana 44 axles and Dana 300 transfer case. 12 quarts of GM Dexron VI trans fluid. 6 quarts synthetic 5W30 GM engine oil with filter. 2 quarts DOT3 brake fluid, 2 quarts Dexron VI trans fluid for power steering pump (this is the BEST fluid to run for power steering!). 4 gallons Dexcool premix aluminum safe coolant.
I started it up for just a few seconds to make sure everything was good. Finished all the wiring etc. Mounted the gas pedal and OBDII port. I just drove it down and dropped it off to have the custom exhaust put on it. I will get a engine running video of it after that. I hate starting/running a car with no exhaust. Too loud! Maybe I'm getting old but I can't handle it anymore.
Got my custom driveshafts back from 6 states. So far so good, I will have to change the front output shaft yoke on the Dana 300 though. It doesn't bolt right up to the original Cherokee driveshaft cardan joint. The back one went right in with a new strap kit.

[DustinLangston]

The air intake tube had to be customized to fit the new style MAF sensor. I so much preferred the old style sensor. The new one inserts into the top of the tube and no one is making a kit for it yet. So customized was my only option. It works well for now but I will probably revisit it again later.
Out of curiosity does anyone know what the brown wire that went to the old alternator does? It is a single strand solid core wire. I thought at first it was the amp gauge but now I'm not sure.

[ShawnQ]

Sounds like you're moving along!

Any details on how you mounted your gas pedal, and which gas pedal you went with?

[CosmicRhino]

So after many phone calls and several emails I have learned that the fuel pickup tube I was sent is indeed correct for this application but is not OEM. So here's the deal, there are several differences. The pickup tube and return have been swapped sides, and are clocked at different angles. There are two tabs on the bottom of the flange and one of them must be removed before use. Lastly there are electrical connectors that you do not use. It appears that they have taken a pickup tube/sending unit and removed the float arm for this application. That is a little trashy in my opinion but it is the only option in the aftermarket. At least they sent me the correct flat style o-ring. I would like to add that Ryan at BJ's Offroad has been amazing to work with. His technical and customer service has been great.
Team Grand Wagoneer on the other hand is currently on my BEEP list. And they will not receive my interior/exterior (lights, grill, etc) order now because of how they have handled themselves. I ordered an OEM style ignition switch from them along with a sending unit (at the time I couldn't find these parts on BJ's website, but the sending unit is now there). Both parts were incorrect. The ignition switch was a standard flat tab GM style. They then sent me the correct sending unit (with an incorrect o-ring) and the same exact GM flat tab ignition switch. They have been zero help in rectifying this situation and are now avoiding my calls. I wound up ordering them off ebay.

You can always count on BJ's for excellent customer service. Really great guys over there. Plus being located in Washington the shipping is always fast to Idaho and Utah!

When I did my fuel system I bought all the parts from Gas Tank Depot: http://www.gastankdepot.com/0022-plasti ... allon.html

http://www.gastankdepot.com/jwpt1-gas-t ... allon.html
This is the pickup tube I got, and yeah it had an electrical connector that threw me for a loop... as there is nothing to connect to it. I ended up using it anyways and connecting nothing to the useless connector, and it's been working fine.

[DustinLangston]

Sounds like you're moving along!

Any details on how you mounted your gas pedal, and which gas pedal you went with?

I used the original gas pedal from the 2011 GMC Sierra. I had to mount it at a slight angle to make sure it would clear the carpet that will be installed and not rub. It looks a little weird now but I'm considering moving it. I will wait until the carpet is in before I do though.

[DustinLangston]

So after many phone calls and several emails I have learned that the fuel pickup tube I was sent is indeed correct for this application but is not OEM. So here's the deal, there are several differences. The pickup tube and return have been swapped sides, and are clocked at different angles. There are two tabs on the bottom of the flange and one of them must be removed before use. Lastly there are electrical connectors that you do not use. It appears that they have taken a pickup tube/sending unit and removed the float arm for this application. That is a little trashy in my opinion but it is the only option in the aftermarket. At least they sent me the correct flat style o-ring. I would like to add that Ryan at BJ's Offroad has been amazing to work with. His technical and customer service has been great.
Team Grand Wagoneer on the other hand is currently on my BEEP list. And they will not receive my interior/exterior (lights, grill, etc) order now because of how they have handled themselves. I ordered an OEM style ignition switch from them along with a sending unit (at the time I couldn't find these parts on BJ's website, but the sending unit is now there). Both parts were incorrect. The ignition switch was a standard flat tab GM style. They then sent me the correct sending unit (with an incorrect o-ring) and the same exact GM flat tab ignition switch. They have been zero help in rectifying this situation and are now avoiding my calls. I wound up ordering them off ebay.

You can always count on BJ's for excellent customer service. Really great guys over there. Plus being located in Washington the shipping is always fast to Idaho and Utah!

When I did my fuel system I bought all the parts from Gas Tank Depot: http://www.gastankdepot.com/0022-plasti ... allon.html

http://www.gastankdepot.com/jwpt1-gas-t ... allon.html
This is the pickup tube I got, and yeah it had an electrical connector that threw me for a loop... as there is nothing to connect to it. I ended up using it anyways and connecting nothing to the useless connector, and it's been working fine.

Yup that is exactly the same pickup tube I used. The other thing that bothered me about it is that the filter sock was supposed to be interference fit but mine was super loose on there. I didn't trust that it wouldn't fall off in the tank. So I deformed the pickup tube very slightly just to make the sock fit better and not fall off.

[GaJeep94YJ]

So you are using the stock gas tank, putting this pickup tube in stock tank? And then using a frame mounted pump?

No in tank pumps available?
And what about baffles so you don't have fuel starvation when off camber?

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[DustinLangston]

Yes stock tank, yes frame mounted pump. No there is no in tank pumps available for the stock tank. And no on the baffle. I hate to say this outloud but this is not going to be a huge offroading Jeep. It's kinda going to be more of a street Jeep. Also I used this exact setup on my last swap and it worked great in extreme offroad situations.

[DustinLangston]

[DustinLangston]

[HeavyMetalThunder_81]

She's a runner!

[msh227]

Awesome build. I like how you are using a newer 5.3L/6L80e with a Dana 300. Nice touch!

You are moving much faster than I was able to on my build (still in progress). Always nice to finally hear that engine fire.

Where did you get the flex hose for the radiator? It is pretty slick, I could use that on my rig.

[DustinLangston]

Awesome build. I like how you are using a newer 5.3L/6L80e with a Dana 300. Nice touch!

You are moving much faster than I was able to on my build (still in progress). Always nice to finally hear that engine fire.

Where did you get the flex hose for the radiator? It is pretty slick, I could use that on my rig.

Any auto parts store has the flex radiator hoses in stock. Just take your length and diameter measurements and they'll have the hose for you.