Even with used parts you'd be looking at a better part of $10K.Burnsville Offroad quoted me about $24,000,that included a brand new 4.7,brand new 545RFE,all the labor and electronics done,can still be diagnosed at any dealership,will look 100% stock,and guaranteed no check engine light,also has a 12month/12,000mile warranty.

I would hope someone could do it for less then $24,000 that is stupid as hell. How does all that even work out. $24,000 wow way to much money I mean granted its all new but still.

I just dont get how it would be all to hard to do? There is a company that can do a full wiring harness for you if your provide the diagrams. Mounting everything up would be ruff but I just can't imagine $24,000 no way.

_________________
Its a Jeep Thing...
IF CAPS LOOK IS ON IM AT WORK DONT WORRY BOUT IT IM NOT YELLING HAHA

2005 RENEGADE 4X4
2.5 RUSTYS LIFT
245/75/16 GOODYEAR MTR'S
FULL TINT
13 MILES TO THE GALLON.....GOD darn HAHA

I have done a V8 motor swap in a ranger and it was a lot of time and work.I think I had about 5 grand in it. All used parts But for 24,000 you pretty much have a new jeep,with a warranty.

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2003 KJ Renegade, 5 speed, frankenlifted,Al's a Arms 4.5,Moabs 245/75/16 BFG KM2's, custom rock rails, full Mopar skids, Hella ff220 lights,Hd cooling,Front DTT,Riddler diff cover,Rola safari rack,Cobra 29 peaked & tuned.

Pastafari Alum, Pink shovel recipient

That is actually a good price to make and engine,a complex fuel injected engine,work in a vehicle not wired or ever offered in.The PCM and TCM wiring alone is a nightmare as is getting everything programed to work together while retaining your original VIN#.Ever priced out wiring harnesses? They are not cheap by a long shot.Also making 100% diagnosable by any shop and using readily accessed off the shelve replacement parts is also not easy.

Basically your looking at about $5000-$6000 for the engine,$4500 for the transmission so that's half of the bill right there.Then your looking at about 60-80 hours of labor,exhaust,PCM/TCM,wiring,radiator,hoses,nuts/bolts,and all that stuff that adds up fast.


You may not think it's worth it but your not going to find a better deal for the end result.You may get someone to do it for less but the quility would not be there.Dan and the gang at Burnsville Offroad are about the best you will find for a swap like this,there not cheap but the work is the best out there.Besides a guy that can put a Viper V10 in a TJ and make it look stock and function properly that was shown at SEMA and he built a LJ that way for himself has earned the respect of me to work on my KJ,plus he actually will talk to you on the phone and is very polite.



Plus this is not a carburated swap,which is pretty easy but still can cost more then you think.

it cost me just over 1k to put the 302HO in the ranger i built, but at the same time, making one work that previously didn't have EFI and what not is easier than crossing one over and merging or replacing 2 different electronic systems

im not supprised at all with the 20k price tag

it's easy to spend 500-2000 bucks on a wiring harness too

one of the few crossovers i did was on a f250 that had the electronic transmission similar to the RFE sort of deal, we pulled the orig and put in the new engine, got everything mechanically connected, hoses etc and a guy that worked at ford had us bring it in on our trailer and he got the rest of it taken care of which ran about 5400 bucks in parts and labor but had he done the whole deal it would have been around 15k

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632

x2

plus that 60-80 hours of labor is just for the actual swap, not even all the R&D that goes into it.

_________________
http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

well.. someone posted a salvage vehicle with a 4.7 that sold for $1100. even though it wont be a freshly built motor, i think one out of a wrecked vehicle vould be had for under $2000 if you keep your eyes open. same deal for the tranny.

Good luck with that if you want something worth a darn.

i've seen half a dozen go in the yard over the past 2 weeks with rear end thrashes where insurance just flat out said sorry costs too much to fix it for your 02-04, and 3 of them were driveable

whats a rebuild kit cost these days?

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632

a rebuilt motor on ebay can be had for under $3000

and then, since you have a 42RLE, you swap to a 45 or 545RFE...another 1500ish to make sure you're getting a good one

Then what transfer case are you going to run to make sure you don't blow it up? There's a reason half ton Dodge pickups and Dakotas don't run 231s...

Then consider how you're going to move the radiator forward and retain your AC at the same time without hacking up your structural sheetmetal...then...then...then...

Are you going to be able to retain (or convert to) HD cooling? 'cuz you'll need it to keep that tranny and engine cool with the KJ's radiator...

AC is optional!

my jeep is one of the first vehicles ive had that the ac actually worked on though

another option would be switchin to a manual tranny and doing away with transmission electronics

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632

HD cooling is out,a custom radiator and ultra slim electric fan will be needed.

what if you mount the fan on the front side? lower tempeture t-stat? water wetter?

keep it up guys this is all good information

You'd have a hard time finding a electric fan thin enough to fit and still have enough CFM to cool the radiator.

what do you think about a lower temp t-stat or water wetter? (i edited that after your reply)

No one makes a lower temp t-stat that fits in a KJ,kinda stuck with the 195 degree one,plus a lower temp one can and will turn the check engine lite on anyways.

Water wetter or Purple ice will not cool any better,they eliminate the air bubbles in your cooling system so the coolant is actually contacting the radiator surface which in turns will cool better.In a good working cooling system you would not see any drastic change,maybe 2-4 degrees at most.Now in a sup-par system that stuff can have a drastic effect.

well the tstat wouldn't be for the 3.7 it would be for the implanted engine, so would depend on the implant unless i've read that inquiry wrong

when thumbing through the config options i did see where the operating temp range was adjustable

within reason I think you could retain the AC by making new ac lines that came to the front from the side instead of across the top pass. corner

with a bit of work you could just about move the whole cooling unit up to the grill backbone which is roughly 2 1/2 - 3 inches

how much space would be needed by rough estimate tjkj?

*
you can also bubblenose it, restructure the grill backbone to move that out to make room for a fan in the front but the CFM required would be very difficult to find

and it would look funny, the one time I did something like that the guy simply didn't care as long as everything got back on, i gave him the option and he was like whatever! do it!

i think he ended up putting diamondplate across the top of the grill up to the hood to hide that section which ended up lookin half decent since the rest of his vehicle was covered in the mess anyway

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632

differant size water pump pulley?

and the t-stat wouldnt be for the KJ, i bet jet makes one for the Ram, or dakota....

doesn't really matter how fast you turn the pump if you don't have adequate cooling capacity in the radiator, just delays the inevitable

only real solution is to lose the mech fan and make room for as big and efficient radiator as possible

cutting corners to cool will work up until the point where you strain the system.. ie: wheeling , slow traffic in the dead of summer etc

_________________
03 Renegade (Black)
177k miles 3.7L gas - 45RFE
Command Trac / 4.10s
Lift: ft. 790+ rr. JBA4+
The last of the TrailReady Front&Rear Bumpers and TR Rock Rails
Jarhead Offroad light covers
31x10.5R15 RedLetter Grabbers on Blackrock Dunes
L.O.S.T #KD098632