Momma and I bought this 1989 Wrangler back in 1991 and drove it for 270000 miles. It needed freshen  up somewhat, so I decided to tear it down, add a 5.0 Ford engine mated up to the Jeep auto trans. I designed an adaptor plate to marry the two up. Derrek had given me a 5.0 out of some Ford product. It was supposed to be low mileage but the outside of the block said it was more like 150000 un-maintained miles.

It took a lot of cleaning to get the grime off of this block. The rear rubber valley gasket had been leaking air since day one and showed it. New bearings, rings, valve job, fugacious porting, paint, wiring, polishing brought it to a respectable condition..

Snake Jeep part 2

I put this CJ engine in back in 1999. It was a factory rebuilt with low mileage. There are a few things you have to do to make a CJ engine fit in a YJ.

That crazy Chrysler style bolt pattern won’t work with the Ford Setup. The starter is in the wrong position, along with different crank to Trans spacing. I drew up a adapter that would link the two together. I moved the starter position on the adapter to match the Jeep bell housing and used the Jeep starter. Dawson Fabrication in Peoria cut it out for me.

I took the wiring apart and simplified it.

There was a great flash of light that nearly blinded me. In the corner was this 01 Cobra engine and trans with only 32k miles on it. Why not use it?

Sell the 5.0 and buy stuff to adapt the Cobra to the Jeep.  No one has done this before. Real good reason to do it then.  Hummm! How about twin turbos?  That Dana 35 will never hold it.