2000 Cherokee/ALH Swap

[Trimmy]

Well I sold my 1999 Cherokee with an IRO Long arm kit and 33's because it was very rusty and I was offered more than I had in the Jeep and more then I would every get out of it. I have been surfing the net for a while when I came across a nice 2000 Cherokee with what I thought was JUST a cracked 0331 head. I forked over $600 for a Cherokee that was Ziebarted and still had the original floor. The only rust I saw that needed attention was on the passenger rear rail above the rear axle. I figured it was just the 0331 head that had cracked and bought an 0630 head before I pulled it apart. Well I pulled it apart and the head was cracked but it also had damage to the #2 and #3 cylinder wall so I looked around and everyone wanted a lot of money for a 200k motor. Well I have been into TDIs for a while, my wife and I each own a 2010 TDI. So I started looking for a TDI. While he is doing that in the mean time I ordered a gallon of Olive Drab Green from Summit Racing because my Jeep came in three different colors and being a Veteran I have always loved OD (even though most of my equipment was Tan). Well the other day I came across an add for a 2000 Jetta TDI 5spd that was wrecked but it could still be driven. The guy wanted $1200. I offered him $1000 and after a 7hr round trip I was finally home with my new car. The car has 230,004 miles on it and it ran great.

This is going to be a slow build but it is more for my reference to see what I had and where it goes. The Ultimate goal for the Jeep is OD Green, I want to add a turbo, injectors and I'll be using a Taco Taco SMIC to hopefully get this TDI close to 180hp. May 22-25 a local LKQ pull your part is having a 50% so and they have a 4.10 geared HP 30, so if its still there I'll be pulling that and 4.10 Ford 8.8 to swap into the Jeep and for both axles I will be under $120. I am also going to install an IRO 5.5 Long arm kit since I HAVE to lift it to clear the motor.

Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment.
















I decided I was going to do a FULL color change so I stripped the engine bay and started to degrease and sand the engine bay.

 

[Trimmy]

Here it is after I started the tear down to rebuild it. Turns out I needed a full rebuild kit so I only have it split not completely disassembled at this time.





Here is one picture I did manage to take during the rebuild. I bought this tranny for $80 because it was popping out of 1st and 4th gear, bought a rebuild kit with new cage bearings for $165 and glad I did the 1 and 4 synchros were messed up and the inside of this thing looked terrible and the cage bearings showed wear.



I have gotten a little time also to get some more of the jeep painted. I got the drivers side door jambs prepped and painted, got the bottom of the hood, header panel, headlight buckets and grille painted. I also trimmed down the engine harness incase I decided to try to make my gauges work instead of buying HPA's CAN box. I then installed all the wiring back into the jeep.

 

[Trimmy]

Here are some pics of the car.





I pulled the motor and trans, wiring harness, and tranmission out of the Jetta. My HPA adapter also showed up today.

HPA Adapter




Here is my complete powertrain for the jeep. TDI in the middle, rebuilt ax15 on the left and np231 on the right.

 

[Trimmy]

I have been doing a lot of work on the wiring harness to figure everything out. I have found a lot online and have figured a lot out on my own from a haynes manual that has a good wiring diagram. I plan to post stuff up as I go. This will be a slow swap as money is always an issue and I'm trying to get the best deal on everything I can.

 

[ATR]

in for progress

 

[Trimmy]

in for progress

Its going to be slow, I am purchasing my lift today, I am really torn between the Rough Country 4.5" long Arm lift or the Iron Rock Long Arm lift. I am considering the Rough Country because it is more bang for he buck, I get a double shear track bar, extended brake lines and a tcase skid plate. I really would like to run the IRO kit because I do not have a passenger side upper control arm. I have already owned a cherokee with an Iron Rock LA kit on it and the upper control arm with the Cam was solid had no issues with it. I guess we will see how good of a deal I can get on each.

 

[ATR]

As the old saying goes "Slow and steady wins the race".

 

[Trimmy]

Well I tore down the TDI today to get it ready for the timing belt kit I ordered Sunday from IDparts. This is my fourth TDI timing belt job and this is the absolute worst looking timing belt I have ever seen. I hate it even being on the motor while I am waiting for the new one to come in.





I also decided to do a little sand blasting today. The bottom of the Jeep is in great shape, rust wise so I decided to sand blast the the rusty areas to keep it from rusting out from under us.







After I got the sandblasting done I decided I was still up for working on the Jeep. Well I really need to get it all one color so I decided it was time to finish the door jambs. So I prepped and painted them. The hood was also ready and I mixed a little extra paint and didnt want to waste it so it got sprayed as well. This is a Jeep it will be used offroad, it does have dents and will have more after we start using it. So with that said you'll see some dents in the hood. I am not wasting my time fixing dents that more than likely will be back in a year or so.







This was a good place for me to stop today.

 

[dogdots]

Looks like your timing belt was tensioned backwards when it it was installed.

Keep up the good work. Slow and steady never won a race that I was in get on with it and get it done in record time

 

[Trimmy]

Looks like your timing belt was tensioned backwards when it it was installed.

Keep up the good work. Slow and steady never won a race that I was in get on with it and get it done in record time

I think worse than being tensioned backwards is the fact there are paint marks on the cam gear, ip sprocket, and crank!!! He said he was having cold start issues, I am guessing its because the timing is off. The crank and cam were fine but the IP was off. It was retarded about 1/4 of the hole.

 

[Trimmy]

Well I have been working on my harness a lot lately and decided to post up some pics of it. I have used a Haynes manual for the wiring mainly because it was free and so far has provided everything I need. The following is what I have so far and think its all I need.

Harness
12v constant supplied to pins T121/1&2
Ground supplied to pins T121/4&5
Keyed Power from jeep supplied to T121/37 (10a fuse)
Keyed Power from jeep supplied to T121/88 (5a fuse)
Keyed power supplied to T10f/5 (N146 quantity adjuster/injection pump harness 15a fuse)
Keyed power supplied to T10f/10 (N108 cold-start injector/injection pump harness 15a fuse)
T10h Connector unmolested running to the gas pedal
G70 (MAF) (10a fuse) and N75 (10a fuse) running from sensor to ecm
Keyed power being supplied to T5/2

109 Wiring
12v Power (110a fuse) coming in to red, 2/30,
T121/18 connected to 9/85
Blue 6/87 running to power N108/G70/N75/N146.

Glowplug Relay Wiring
Pin 1: T6/2 to ECU t121/42
Pin 2: 12V Power
Pin 3: Ground
Pin 4: Glowplug harness
Pin 5: No Connection
Pin 6: Glowplug harness
Pin 7: T10e/8 to ECU Pin T121/33
Pin 8: No Connection
Pin 9: 12v from 109 relay

Misc Wiring
T121/27 is Tach Signal
T121/40 is Glow Plug Light
T121/16 is Signal to OBD Port
T121/24 is CEL

 

[Tagg33]

Great job so far, I'm looking forward to following your progress.

 

[Trimmy]

Great job so far, I'm looking forward to following your progress.

Thanks, I have been working on it for almost a month now. If I had more money it would probably be done in another month but my money tree has yet to come in.

 

[Wankel7]

Such a neat conversion! Are you close to IN?

 

[emerscape]

Awesome! I had an old 2000 xj that had the dreaded cracked head. I ended up sinking about $6k into it to replace the head, install a 3" OME lift, heater core, etc. Loved it do death. Sold it at 160k miles. Thing ran like a top. Wish I never got rid of it.

 

[Trimmy]

Such a neat conversion! Are you close to IN?

Yep about 17 miles from Richmond off of I70

 

[Trimmy]

Awesome! I had an old 2000 xj that had the dreaded cracked head. I ended up sinking about $6k into it to replace the head, install a 3" OME lift, heater core, etc. Loved it do death. Sold it at 160k miles. Thing ran like a top. Wish I never got rid of it.

I love mine, and it works so well with our dogs. We just lay the back seat down and they do their thing. So far with the 4" IRO LA lift I am at $4582. I have sold two guns and been selling the extra parts off of this and and the Jetta and only have $2400 out of pocket. I hope to recoup another 700-800 from the 5speed swap. Only big parts left are clutch $300, flywheel/hydros/pedals $200, Immo ECU/tune $400, HPA CAN box to run gauges $350, SYE/drive shaft $350, exhaust $220. 33X12.5x15 With black wheelies $1100. So I'll be over the $7000 mark. After I get it up and running good I'll probably sell my 10 and keep this as a DD.

 

[onlyn8v]

HPA CAN box to run gauges $350.

Im pretty sure that an ALH ECU is not CAN-BUS. Can someone confirm this?

 

[Trimmy]

Im pretty sure that an ALH ECU is not CAN-BUS. Can someone confirm this?

I was under the impression it was. If not I'll have to figure out some trickery to make the factory gauges work through the Jeep ECU using the Jeep sensors. It will be cheaper more than likely but more time consuming.

 

[Trimmy]

Well today was the end of my paint work. I woke up this morning and decided the jeep was going to be completely painted today. So after 7 hours or prep work, building a paint booth and painting it is done. Here is how my day went.

 

[Trimmy]

After Almost 2 days of trying to place an order with Iron Rock Offroad I finally placed my order for a 4" Critical Path Long Arm kit. Should be here in about a week or a week and a half. My timing belt kit was confirmed shipped today so that will be installed this weekend and after washing all the oil off the motor from the leaking valve cover the motor will be ready to bolt up to the trans for mock up. I can get pre-made mounts from a guy in Canada for $265 shipped or I can go through all the issues of building my own with hours of my time and probably $100 worth of steel, and motor mounts.

 

[greengeeker]

Well today was the end of my paint work. I woke up this morning and decided the jeep was going to be completely painted today. So after 7 hours or prep work, building a paint booth and painting it is done. Here is how my day went.

That is so awesome that you can just whip up a paint job in your garage. Wish you were my neighbor...could work out a trade for some wiring services.

 

[Trimmy]

That is so awesome that you can just whip up a paint job in your garage. Wish you were my neighbor...could work out a trade for some wiring services.

Thanks a lot of time and little money went into it. I love painting but I really hate all the prep work. I have around 25hrs in this paint job and maybe a hour of it is actually laying color. The biggest thing is having a clean environment to spray in. I did the best I could and still have dirt in the paint. I built a make shift paint booth in the out of plastic in the garage. I draped it from the bottom of the truss's to the floor on and wet the floor with water to control dust. I know OD green is not for everyone but green is my favorite color and being a veteran has made it really grow on me. With it being a Flat color if I cratch it or mess it up all I have to do is grab a spot gun and some sand paper and I can respray that small area with minimal time in it.

It went from this




To this



And this is what it will look like suspension and tire wise when I am done. This is my old 99 I sold. I really missed it.

 

[Trimmy]

Well it will not be as high as that one, suspension wise it will be about 2" lower.

 

[Trimmy]

I want this to be as factory looking of an install as possible, I do not have a CNC, a break or anything like that. I had every intention of building my own motor mounts. The individual I bought my motor mount off of used (but new) also builds a custom mount for the same thing I am doing. They have not been tested on an ALH yet so he is sending me a set out to try. I'll do a full write up on them when I get them in the Jeep. Here is a link to them http://gastodiesel.tdconversions.com/motor-mounts/. The write up will take me a few weeks as I have a full suspension to install first and it will not be here for a few weeks at least.

 

[onlyn8v]

Here is his build

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=431357

 

[Trimmy]

Here is his build
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=431357

Yep, he also has one over on cherokee forum where my other build thread is.

 

[Trimmy]

Well I made some more progress on the Jeep the last couple days. My timing belt kit came in from IDParts.com and I got it all changed out. The timing belt job went very smoothly with the help of my wife.





When I was originally looking for another 4.0 to put back in the Jeep I went to my local LKQ and noticed a 4cylinder cherokee with a HP Dana 30 with 4.10 gears. I knew the LKQ did the 50% off sale on memorial day so I decided to chance and wait for the memorial day sale. Well waiting paid off for me. I paid $42.49 for a HP Dana 30 with 4.10 gears in it. I also bought a 4.10 Limited Slip Ford 8.8 rear axle for the same $42.49. I have $85 plus tax in a set of 4.10 axles!!! I feel I REALLY REALLY Scored today.

 

[Trimmy]

I did about an hour of work on my axles today. I got them off of my trailer and onto jack stands in my garage. I started cutting off and trying to break loose all of the bolts on the axles and to my amazement they all broke loose and came right out. I was even able to save the factory leaf spring perches which will save me $30.

 

[ATR]

This is progressing nicely man!
great find on the rear diffs as well!!!