1986 LowKee 3.4l build
 

Inspired by these two builds - https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/19...ezebel-170763/ and https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/2-8l-doom-97222/. I've decided to share my project and have fun comparing our three '86 builds.

I picked up my 1986 2.8l Cherokee on February 2013. Pulled it out of the PO back yard not knowing if it ran or if any of the driveline was good but did get it for a whopping $250. PO did say it sat for 7years and needed an alternator.

To bring you guys up to speed. I'll list the minor/major things I've had to do to get to where I'm at now.


1st thing I did was gut the entire interior, scrubbed it down with soap and fixed some minor rust on the floor boards. I think total count of mouse nest was 7 which included an entire disassembly of the dash, redid headliner, replaced gas tank/installed electric fuel pump, new hatch trim piece, new stereo and speakers, radiator flushed, drained all fluids, did Projector retro fit, I think I replaced 2/3s of bulbs, blower motor pack, water pump, heater control valve, battery, engine/transmission mounts.


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Did a 3in Zone lift kit with their quick disconnects and transfer case drop kit. Still trying to figure out minor driveline vibrations....

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Now to the motor! With much cleaning/replacing/tinkering of the original 2.8 found out it had a chunk of piston missing resulting in 0 compression in piston 2. So sourced another 2.8l from a salvage yard with about the same milage @ ~160,000 miles.

It was such a turd!!! Couldn't maintain speeds up the smallest of hills. It Didn't burn/leak oil and still was able to get ~18mpg @55mph which wasn't a total waste. So I decided to do the 3.4L swap.



Was lucky enough to get a used one from a 94 firebird with ~80K on it. Got it for $500.

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Took the off the stock SFI set up and put Edelbrocks 2.8 four barrel intake on it (about $250). I did this so I could keep the stock location of the A/C unit.
I was able to get a used 350 TBI from a friend. This required me buying an adapter plate to fit the intake and a ECU to control it (more on that later!!!).
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I bought a neutrally balanced flex plate for a s-10 to find out it only has three holes for the torque converter (I needed 4) and it didn't have the same spacing as the original flex plate did. So I sent the OEMflexplate to a local shop to have it neutrally balanced. Which set me back $70.

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Got the new motor in and now this is where the real fun begins :grin:
I needed some sort of ECU to control my TBI. I did some research and found a couple of options. I could have sourced a 2.8 OEM ECU or 3.4 kit from [URL="http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.com"]. I dug a little deeper and discovered Megasquirt.

What sold me on the Megasquirt ECU was its flexibility to retro fit it onto any engine at an affordable price.

MORE ON THAT LATER!! I need a break! :drink:

Welcome to CF! So far you're off to a great start.

Ok so for my current ECU configuration. I'm using MegaSquirt to control fuel only for simplicity. The motor has sensors so I can do waste spark (a crank and cam) but, I still need to dial in the VE tables(fuel). So for now I'm using the stock distributor from the 2.8 to control timing.

So right now the sensors I'm using is the TPS, Air temp, Coolant temp and MAP sensor integrated into Megasquirt. Also to make things easier I'm using a relay board to help organize all the connections. Its not required but I think it makes things much easier for the newb like me.

So basically my build for EFI is I assembled the MS(Megasquirt ECU), relay board, attached prefabbed jumper between the two, attached the following to the the relay board-TPS, IAC(idle air control), Coolant temp sensor, Air temp sensor, ran shielded wire to coil to get RPMs, ran vacuum line from TBI to MS, a 7.5 ohm resistor in series for both injectors, + input for fuel pump and my Wideband O2 sensor.

This is a picture of where I mounted the relay boardand my new intake. Sadly I needed to cut a hole in my hood to make it fit and even worse I discovered on this forum link that some caddies have one that would work for less.http://www.s10forum.com/tbi_cold_air_intake_how_to

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So waiting for hood scoop to come in and I plan on putting in a 1986 700r4 in this weekend so I can get an overdrive. Laters...

Nice conversion man

Thanks! Its coming along pretty good not to many set backs besides the dud 2.8

Going to have some balls to lol

You could fix that hood up with a cowl induction to cover that cut. Nice start so far!

Its a night and day difference!!

I'm trying to decide if I'll be using this. Not really in the mood to weld sheet metal to my hood.

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I plan on using this cowl intake from a wrangler

I was able to get a few things figured out for my 700R4 this past weekend.

I picked it up from a 1986 Jimmy and it came with a 207 transfer case.

After taking out the 904 and its 207 I came to find out that the 700r4 combo is three inches longer that the Chrysler set up. So went my hopes of getting the new one bolted up the the crossmember and reusing factory drive shaft. The output shafts on both the transfer cases were the same.

But good news is that comparing the Jimmies unbalanced flex plate and the original one from the Camaro is that they were the same thickness and off set so no shop work on this one! I also replaced the front input torque converter seal, shift lever seal and shaft, dipstick, and TV cable.


This a picture of the 700r4 shined up some

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Also got my new fire extinguisher mounted!

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Lookin nice!! So are you going to get custom shafts made, or can you use another type of shaft?

I've ordered a 231c from ebay and a SYE from JB conversion. I have my fingers crossed that its a legit transfer case. Once I get the transfer case situated I'll probably order a new CV rear driveshaft from Tom Woods for the mean time because I'm currently a little tight on funds right now.

Got the 700r4 in! Sadly the transfer case from ebay must of been a year change for the 231 because the mating surfaces changed. Instead I had to pick up an older 233 locally which should work just going to have to work with a little different linkage.

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Still waiting for and SYE from JB conversions. Told me they won't have any till july sometime.

I used the chevy transmission mount. The crossmember required some modifying to work.

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Got my painted over head console installed. While I was at it a mounted my cb radio to it also!


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