Rusty Bowtie
General Category => General Discussion - Intros => Topic started by: Rattiac on August 31, 2024, 01:19:53 PM
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Since older parts are getting scarce at the junkyards, I've been thinking about more modern drive train swaps other than the usual LS stuff. Let's throw around some idea's.
Jeeps have a modern straight 6 and 5speed manual trans in the 2wd XJ would make a great swap. Also the axles are a good width for 30's cars.
I've had a crazy idea floating around the back of my mind forever.
🤔
I acquired a 2wd front axle recently and thought it would make a great "plan C" if this other doesn't work out.
It's the right width and would lift the 32 about 5" . Total mad max tire/wheel combo. 😉
It looks like I could get the steering to work if I made a custom steering arm or turned the axle around for rear steer.
So while I had the car up on jacks. I mocked it up at the height it would be at and sat a 31" tire in its place. A 32" would be more fitting.
I shouldn't have done this cause now it is taunting me. 😁
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I understand the disappearing parts thin. It wa so easy when 90% of all we needed was in a local wrecking yard and not considered to be classic auto parts.
I'm not fond of that look. For me it just doesn't fit.
We have owned 5 Cherokees & Grand Cherokees. 2 had the 4.0 inline six. One had the 5 speed with the toughest 4x4 setup. That was my favorite and I'd still have it if I had not hit a "wild" horse with it. The next best was a Cherokee with the 4 cylinder and 5 speed. Tough little 4x4. Our current Grand is somewhat of a lemon with lot of problems but lucky for us we bough the lifetime warranty and they eventually fix everything. In the meantime we have used several new Jeeps. My wife has a Trail rated Wrangler right now. A couple of weeks ago we had a new GC 4xe (hybrid). Interesting performance and since we live in a solar home it may be an option if they worth bugs out. Lots of bugs.
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I like the idea of using a Jeep six and manual tranny in an old car. I like straight sixes, and with a
manual transmission they sound so much better than with an autmatic. One of my most fun cars
was actually a truck, a GMC B10 (Brazilian made). it was fun and it had a great soundtrack and
was easy to drive, clutch was light and the four speed worked nicely.
More modern drive trains come with a bunch of computers and stuff. Most modern engine swap
I did was the 1987 TPI engine in my '57 Pontiac.
Sorry, no fun suggestions for engine swaps, just thinking that you'd gotta get something with a
lot of common info (TPI was great because of that), and preferably the whole car, so you can get
all the components you need for the project.
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The problem with being old (one of them) is that modern engines are the one piece seal small blocks and everything that era & newer.. I'm building "truck" version of a 292 inline six for my '68 C20. The "modern part is a GM TBI from a + 30 year old 305 and the ECU from a 4.3 (262) V6.
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Nice project, sixball I've thought a lot about that same kind of merge or
swap, the tbi from a 4.3.
I have thought of putting a tbi on a 250 six, since the size is in the same ball park,
figuring it would be a good fit. I love straight sixes, and don't like V-sixes that much.
A straight six, rowing through the (manual) gears sounds so good.
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In 2008 a very smart guy was I met online had designed a circuit board to connect a Mega Squirt ti the stock GM wiring wiring so the MS could run the TBI and ignition. He wanted to do demo for our Inliners International group at Bonneville. He needed a volunteer. So I prepped the 270 GMC in my '53 Pickup and we did it. We had it running in less than an hour. But we had two issues. The electric fuel pump kept blowing the fuel line off of the temporary fuel tank in the bed and we didn't have allan wrench to tighten the TBI adapter so there was a vacuum leak. He was able to comp for the leak but we couldn't drive it and get a good working program. I was enthused and bought a Mega Squirt kit and started building a circuit board. All new to me. Mark helped me through it from Canada on line but when it came to doing the computer side of it I just could not figure it out. After a few dedicated eBay lap tops that ran a few different versions of Windows and some other cognitive issues I gave up. I later learned that the 4.2 V6 ECM would work on an inline 6. My original plan was for the 292 to use the TBI from a 305-350 v8 and a draw through turbo from a Pontiac Firebird. For now at least I will can the turbo. If I could get it going this way with just the fuel I could bring in the Mega Squirt with fully adjustable fuel settings and ignition later. It is a thought anyway.