Hey everyone, Im having a really hard time finding any info on this subject, I have a 2005 grand Cherokee. It had a 4.7 in it which was blown up. Im doing the 5.7 hemi conversion. Long story short the 4.7 has the drive by cable system, the 5.7 has the drive by wire system. Any thoughts on how to convert it over? I looked at the donor vehicle today and all the connections look the same. Just the extra wires for the drive by wire is all I saw. Any input would be greatly appreciated

~Ben

 

The gas pedal has to be changed and a lot more wiring.

 

I rented a 2016 Grand Cherokee Limited and the drive-by-wire throttle takes some getting used to. If you feather it off a stop and nothing happens, you tend to add more throttle. Then it chirps the tires! I'm a dinosaur and I didn't like it. If it was mine, I'd try to find a throttle body that's got the cable throttle. That may not work because that engine probably has the fuel saver system where it runs on 4 cylinders at low speed. That has special lifters with solenoids that vent the oil pressure to keep those valves closed.

Of course you can retro-fit it like an early Ram.

 

I thought about buying a hemi from a early ram, along with the intake setup, then I asked myself well how would that work? my thoughts are It would throw the ecm off. I could be wrong but I think the way the ecm would be communicating with the engine due to drive by cable system would trigger every light in the book.

 

The point is the PCM is not just an engine controller but monitors all the systems on the vehicle. It was set up with all the original equipment to work together. Any major changes are going to confuse it unless it's reprogrammed.

 

it will use the electronic throttle as it's idle control so it definitely needs to be the 5.7l throttle. you will need the pedal, the pedal harness, the ECM and the entire engine bay harness. at a minimum. plus the crimping of the wires. you may get lucky sometimes they will use the same harness across multiple model lines and you may already have the needed wires/connectors already ran.

 

If the engine and ecu are drive by wire then its best and cheaper to stay that way.