The harness and ECM have already been taken care of.
The stock KJ harness has been repinned for the two additional V8 cylinders and the stock ECM has been reprogrammed from a 3.7 to a 4.7 HO.
Jeep Liberty V8 Swap Megathread
- Thread starter Honduras
- Start date
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The harness and ECM have already been taken care of.
The stock KJ harness has been repinned for the two additional V8 cylinders and the stock ECM has been reprogrammed from a 3.7 to a 4.7 HO.
Chino78
New Member
Thanks,
Did you do it by yourself?... it doesn't sound easy...
Then don't you need any electronics from the wj?
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KJScott
Full Access Member
checking in, any progress with the install?
I didn't do any of the wiring for the Harness. That and the ECM were taken care of by the folks at hotwireauto.com.
Waiting on a new set of ignition coils and an oil pump screen.
Also, the Durango mounts didn't work either. They will have to be modified to fit against the KJ engine mount brackets. Far easier to work with than the WJ mounts.
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Bwalker
New Member
Keep the details coming! I plan on doing this to my 02 KJ that just spun a bearing. I would love to know how you overcome the motor mount and exhaust match-up issues!
Just a quick update today. Got the 4.7 in the engine bay and all bolted up to the transmission. As expected, it hooked right up to the 45RFE without a hitch.
Time to work on the mounts. Once those are worked out, the rest should be a piece of cake (knock on wood).
Shooting for a test start mid-next week!
Time to work on the mounts. Once those are worked out, the rest should be a piece of cake (knock on wood).
Shooting for a test start mid-next week!
Good luck, Honduras! 
KJScott
Full Access Member
Woooo awesome! Video when you fire it up!
The engine as it sits mounted up to the transmission:
The next problem has nothing to do with the mounts, but rather the location of the flanges on both the right and left exhaust manifolds. Exhibit A:
Notice that the flange is right on top of the starter.
Exhibit B:
...and that the passenger side flange is right over the edge of the mount bracket.
Frustrating to say the least. All bets are off for a start up test anytime within the next couple do weeks. There's work to be done here, folks. :shakehead:
The next problem has nothing to do with the mounts, but rather the location of the flanges on both the right and left exhaust manifolds. Exhibit A:
Notice that the flange is right on top of the starter.
Exhibit B:
...and that the passenger side flange is right over the edge of the mount bracket.
Frustrating to say the least. All bets are off for a start up test anytime within the next couple do weeks. There's work to be done here, folks. :shakehead:
You've brought it this far, I'm sure you'll figure something out.
twack
Full Access Member
cutting and welding a new direction with exhaust manifolds is not that hard. you got this buddy!
Well, cutting and welding the passenger side manifold is completely out of the question. There's simply no way to make it work without also cutting a significant portion off the engine mount bracket.
There's gotta be a better way to do it. I wish I could pull some info out of the folks that have already done this, but so far the people who claim to have successfully done the swap are nowhere to be found. This pretty much means that I'm on my own and that I'm going to have to keep researching and trying things out until I get it right.
Another thing that makes this difficult is that I've never done anything like this before. Completely out of my element on this one. I changed a radiator once upon a time, so I guess I'm somewhat qualified, right?
CactusJacked
Full Access Member
Years ago I stuffed a Chevy 4.3 V6 into a Samurai. The drivers side exhaust manifold cleared fine, but the passenger side didn't have clearance for a center or rear dump manifold. I revamped the manifold so that the exit was towards the front of the engine, as there was plenty of clearance there. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do when blazing a new trail. Is swapping a right for left exhaust manifold an option, to dump it out the front?
Snail Farmer
Full Access Member
Can you take a bigger picture shot of the passenger side off the engine bay so we can see what you have for space? Would make it easier to give suggestions
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Not a bad idea but it's not possible since the manifold bolt patterns are unique to each side.
I'll swing by the shop tomorrow and try and get a decent shot.
CactusJacked
Full Access Member
Check what the exhaust manifolds from a Ram, Dakota, or Mitsubishi Raider look like. Those trucks took the same engine, but maybe the manifolds are configured differently for different clearance reasons.
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dude1116
Full Access Member
Is the exhaust manifold for the 4.7L HO different than the regular 4.7L?
All the manifolds are different. I'm thinking that the Durango manifolds will probably work the best out of the lot. We shall see.
No difference at all.
Just got word that the modifications to the Durango mounts have been completed so I'll be swinging by the shop after work to check things out. We ended up having to cut a large section out of the centers and weld them back together to get the right size. Also, we slid the transmission back about an inch to get the the engine mounts fully centered over the mount brackets.
I might be able to get away with reusing the stock fan assembly instead of cutting it out and attaching a slim fan directly to the radiator.
I might be able to get away with reusing the stock fan assembly instead of cutting it out and attaching a slim fan directly to the radiator.
