Jeep Liberty V8 Swap Megathread

Just a sneak peak of the V8 Liberty pulling out of the shop for the first time since the swap. Not too terribly exciting, but progress is progress!

4.7L V8 HO Liberty First Drive - YouTube

Everything is done with the exception of the radiator fan and I'm hoping to get that worked out by the end of the weekend.

Cheers!

Honduras said:

Just a sneak peak of the V8 Liberty pulling out of the shop for the first time since the swap. Not too terribly exciting, but progress is progress!

4.7L V8 HO Liberty First Drive - YouTube

Everything is done with the exception of the radiator fan and I'm hoping to get that worked out by the end of the weekend.

Cheers!

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That's one BA looking liberty!

Honduras said:

Just a sneak peak of the V8 Liberty pulling out of the shop for the first time since the swap. Not too terribly exciting, but progress is progress!

4.7L V8 HO Liberty First Drive - YouTube

Everything is done with the exception of the radiator fan and I'm hoping to get that worked out by the end of the weekend.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Very cool!!! ...except I think I heard a bad tapping and racheting sound while it was rolling out... LOL! :happy175:

CobraNutt said:

Very cool!!! ...except I think I heard a bad tapping and racheting sound while it was rolling out... LOL! :happy175:

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I think that was his cuckoo clock spring making that noise. lol
Very cool indeed, but when are we gonna see the first burnout video? :gr_grin:

CactusJacked said:

I think that was his cuckoo clock spring making that noise. lol
Very cool indeed, but when are we gonna see the first burnout video? :gr_grin:

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Yeah that's the sound of other cars being worked on in the background. That video is horrible. Still working on the radiator fan. Once done I'll make a better quality video showing off what it's really like.

One thing I've noticed so far is that I'm going to have to upgrade my front coil overs to something beefier. It handles a bit on the soft side with the extra weight from the engine.

Was wiring up and making things compatible with the new engine a nightmare? I hear that's the hardest part of the swap. Looking back, would you do it again?

Honduras said:

Yeah that's the sound of other cars being worked on in the background. That video is horrible. Still working on the radiator fan. Once done I'll make a better quality video showing off what it's really like.

One thing I've noticed so far is that I'm going to have to upgrade my front coil overs to something beefier. It handles a bit on the soft side with the extra weight from the engine.

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very nice.


What's the actual weight difference between the 3.7L and 4.7L ?


Dave

Great job!! How hard was the wiring for the swap? And how did you make your engine mounts?

CactusJacked said:

Was wiring up and making things compatible with the new engine a nightmare? I hear that's the hardest part of the swap. Looking back, would you do it again?

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HotwireAuto too care of the harness and programming for me. I explained what I wanted done, provided them with a 3.7 harness and ECM, and they took care of the rest. It was probably the easiest part of the whole shebang.

No I would not do it again. The only reason that I undertook this project was because I had planned on swapping out the SFA, which will never happen thanks to Rocklizard taking thousands of dollars of my money and giving me nothing in return. I learned tons about working on engines. No prior experience whatsoever. I don't think I could have taken on a more complicated modification.

Dave said:

very nice.


What's the actual weight difference between the 3.7L and 4.7L ?


Dave

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I think that the 4.7 is in the area of 440 lbs with a difference of around 75 lbs from the 3.7.

renegade 04 said:

Great job!! How hard was the wiring for the swap? And how did you make your engine mounts?

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We chopped up some non-cast Durango mounts to use.

That jack ass screwed you too...

Honduras said:

HotwireAuto too care of the harness and programming for me. I explained what I wanted done, provided them with a 3.7 harness and ECM, and they took care of the rest. It was probably the easiest part of the whole shebang.
No I would not do it again. The only reason that I undertook this project was because I had planned on swapping out the SFA, which will never happen thanks to Rocklizard taking thousands of dollars of my money and giving me nothing in return. I learned tons about working on engines. No prior experience whatsoever. I don't think I could have taken on a more complicated modification.

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Good to hear there's a source for the electrical conversion. The hard part I meant would be figuring out the wiring yourself. Was curious because I'd be tempted to do this if my 3.7 ever goes south. Having put a v8 in a Datsun pickup, and a 4.3 v6 in a Samurai in the past, I'm no stranger to stuffing big engines into smaller vehicles, not to mention it makes it a lot more fun to drive.

Update: So I think we've gotten past the final hurdle with the engine swap. The 3.7 fan relay for the radiator is different from the 4.7 relay. So, yes, the harness was repinned correctly for the 4.7 engine, but nothing was done for the harness connection to the fan. Whodathunk?

The good news is that the V8 KJ will be leaving the garage for good tomorrow!

IT'S FINISHED!!!

Took it home from the shop not earlier this afternoon and I have to say that this thing is absolutely amazing! There is a massive noticeable increase in power and that's just driving normally down the road. This, this right here, is how the KJ should have been released! Fantastic!

I'll post a proper video showing it off this coming weekend.

Time to go for a drive.

Great work! Enjoy your jeep you have earned it with your hardwork!

Glad I decided to check in, congrats man! And thank you for the hotwire link, I hit them up for the PCM/harness swap for my Ram!

The latest. Need to change out the belt tensioner, and the speedometer sensor went bad. Unrelated to the swap.

4.7L HO KJ - YouTube

Looks and sounds great! Maybe someday. Mine 3.7 is getting a bit tired.

can you post a summary?
what year engine, how you did the wiring, exhaust modifications etc.
kind of a summary/parts list/breakdown for others to use for a guide?

jeeptorino68 said:

can you post a summary?
what year engine, how you did the wiring, exhaust modifications etc.
kind of a summary/parts list/breakdown for others to use for a guide?

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Yeah I am definitely going to have to clean this up into something useful. I'll start work on it this week.

Thinking that the V8 KJ write-up should probably get its own section rather than buried down in the General threads but that's not for me to decide.

Mods/Admins, what do you think?