71 Cj5 Chevy 4.3 Liter With Efi

I admire your technical abilities and your patience. Yes it is better to be cautious when you buy an old Jeep.
I had some surprises too, but with time, Visa card and bank-notes a CJ5 can revive. Now I use it without any problem and I am so happy. It will be the same for you. Just don't look for perfection.

 

You should look at a short water pump and crank pulley. 1965ish truck it's a significant difference in length but the accessories will move out from in front of the heads to over and around the engine.

 

Cross member kit here looks like it would work really well for old jeep with engine mods.
Universal Transmission Crossmember Kit

 

When you’re fitting the engine in make sure you have most everything installed, distributor, headers, accessories, starter, TBI if you have it and air cleaner. Front to back is easiest, not sure if 71 is the same as a 58 but mine ended up with the distributor as close to the firewall as possible and the driver side header very close to the steering shaft. It will be different on every Jeep, take your time, measure a lot, I used C clamps to hold the mounts in place while checking things out. Put your grill and fenders on temporarily and measure for radiator clearance. Measure some more! As far as the trans xmember I used the original just moved it slightly and used spacers. Tack weld the mounts in until you have your drive train completely mocked up, driveshafts and all, once the mounts are plug welded that’s it! You will be able to put that motor in in no time by the end of it! You’ll most likely need new driveshafts, I recommend Tom Woods, excellent customer service!

 

I made a tube cross member then a separate skid plate out of 3/16 plate steel.
The components for the cross member were obtained from Barnes 4X4.

 

I mounted my motor 1" to the drivers side from center. I also modified the original transfer case cross member to use a GM transmission mount.

 

Does anyone have an radiator suggestions? I have looked at this option from Novak, but it is quite pricey.
GM V6 Conversion Radiator for Early CJ's, 1946-1971

I think I have finalized the motor mount positions, I should be welding them in soon!

 

This is the one I have for my 1976 CJ with a Chevy engine, I don’t know if it’s compatible with your 1971.


Northern Radiator | Muscle Car Radiators - 23 3/4 x 19 5/8 x 3 1/8


It’s on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Radiator-205054/dp/B002Q38H54

 

It happened! Hopefully i got the engine in the right spot, or at least close enough that I can make it work. I think my next step is going to be the trans crossmember so this thing can sit unsupported by jacks and wood blocks!

 

So far so good!
How much room is there for the speedometer cable? It does not like tight bends.

 

I used a 90 degree gear reduction at the transfer case. I needed to get the speedometer to read right.

 

Looking good!

 

I took some inspiration from Scott and decided to modify my cross member. This is a personal big step as now everything is mounted and hanging on its own instead of being held up by jacks and stands. My next step will be the cooling system, then hopefully I can work on getting it running.

 

I think I may have to re-modify my crossmember to match yours for my t18 conversion. I extended the top part of the crossmember. When I finally tried to mount the transmission, it sits too high. But, the torque mount aligns perfectly.

 

It's slow going, but I am making some progress again. This time I focused on getting the radiator and fans setup, which turned out to be quite a bit more difficult that I imagined.

The first issue I ran into was the front grill. It has a very long tunnel coming off of it going to the radiator. I ended up cutting about 6-7 inches off of it so a radiator could fit just before running into the headlights. I then added a 1 inch reinforcement to the side and welded some tabs on the mount the radiator to. I had to cut off some of the mounting area on the radiator to get it to fit.


Next I had to remove and relocate the front crossmember. Now that I had shortened the front end, the radiator was going to run into the crossmember. I cut it out and moved it forward to where the original mounting point for the front grill was. I boxed in the frame and welded directly to that with some large box section I had. The box section was too large, so I cut the bottom off and welded in some 3/8 inch plate along the bottom. I then drilled the hole for mounting the grill and welded a tube in it so no water could get into the new crossmember.


I was pretty excited to test fit the grill with radiator and fan attached, but as it turns out there still wasn’t enough room. The water pump pulley and fan were just barely touching which was no good. In the end I ordered a short water pump with pulley and a new short lower pulley. This gave me about 1.5 inches and everything was able to mount up.



The next thing on my list is plugging all the holes in the engine and maybe trying to start it.

 

Hey guys!

The project keeps changing and I am now looking to do power steering. I have been searching around quite a bit, what do you all think of this power steering box? To keep things exciting I am actually planning to install an electric power steering pump as well.

1964-88 GM 800 Power Steering Box, 13/16 Inch 36-Spline Input

Thanks for any feedback!

 

Hi Everyone,


It’s been quite a while since my last update. Whenever I read through other people’s build posts I always wondered what took them so long. Now I know everything takes longer than you think and life just gets in the way!

I have made some progress over the past months though.

First, I had to make a new mount for the transfer case shift lever. It originally mounted to the transmission, but since I have swapped that out for the SM465, the mounting no longer worked. Luckily there were some available threaded holes I could use. Unfortunately it wouldn’t clear one the ribs on the transmission so I had to grind that down. Then a copious amount of spacers were used and everything seems to shift smoothly.





Next I added a the notch to move the driver’s seat back a few inches. This seems to be a common modification and I found some great info on this forum.




Then it was on to steering. First I installed a new dash and made a half circle mount to clamp the steering column on. I also bolted in the peddles to get an idea of driver location.




Running the steering shaft was quite a pain with the new engine in. I have a u joint coming off the end of the column. It then goes through a stabilizer down under the engine mount to a double u joint. Another stabilizer comes after that for a longer run to a final u joint that connects to the steering box. I also built a mounting plate for the power steering box. I won’t really know if there are any binding issues until I get everything done and can drive it, but I am hopeful.







Next was the headers and Y pipe. I had originally purchased some stock cast iron manifolds, but they just wouldn’t fit. Lilbuff63 Helped me out a bunch with some part suggestions and I got some Sanderson headers that fit.



Then I bought a mess of exhaust pipes and started making the Y pipe. I decided to go over the engine mount on the passenger side to avoid any contact with the axle. I looped in from of the engine for a similar reason. I was able to sneak the tube past the steering shaft and connect them just under and past the engine mount on the driver’s side. I also added a bung for the oxygen sensor.






Next, I started on the wiring. Just the basics as I wanted to start the engine. I have a Holley sniper EFI, Holley Hyper Spark Distributor, and Holley Hyper spark ignition Box. These all connected together pretty easily. I then installed spark plug wires and ran the Holley stuff to power as well. I got a painless wiring harness with way more circuits than I can ever use, and worked on getting the starter, alternator, and ignition switch wired. I also connected up the fuel system, as you can tell that is temporary. I was able to get it to start on the first try!







This was exciting, but the engine revved to about 4k rpm on both attempts. First, I found a giant vacuum leak from an unplugged hole in the intake manifold. Once I plugged that the engine would no longer start. I checked all my spark plug wires and firing order. I removed the EFI and spacer and found some issues with the way I had mounted it, but it still wouldn’t fire. I then pulled the distributor and reset TDC. I must have been a bit off on my first install, because once I did that the engine fired up and the EFI and timing light matched up!


I am now waiting on part to connect the radiator and test the electric fan. Hopefully things will pick up, getting the engine started was great motivation. I stared and the wiring diagrams off and on for weeks unsure of how to proceed. Only a couple hundred more things to do and I can drive this thing!


Eric

 

Couple more late nights and you will be ready to play on the Rubicon with us next summer!

 

I see you have the same hydraulic slave cylinder as me. Looking back now I wish I would of come up with a hydraulic throw-out bearing. The heat from the exhaust really cooks it.