The '89 GW I built

[Addicted]

How it looked when I bought it and when I started replacing the powertrain and adding the lift.
 

[Ristow]

i liked that one.

[Addicted]

Yep, me too. My only problem was the lack of the classic Wagoneer look that i'd grown to love. I had grown tired of the full woodgrain and Cherokee style taillights. Not to mention that horrible '80's gauge cluster.

[Addicted]

I was initially planning to swap in a 258/T176/208 combo but I changed my mind a bunch of times before finally deciding to go with a 4.0/AW4 out of a Cherokee XJ. I stayed with the NP208 but it had to have a spacer to mate up to the AW4 due to it's long input housing. 



I contacted Larry Miller at www.themetalworkshop.com/index.html to make me up a spacer.

[Addicted]

Due to the extra length of the 4.0/AW4/208 compared to any of the stock configurations. I had to have the crossmember altered. 
Here you can see how far the mount sat past the rear most holes from the factory. I unfortunately don't have a pic of the sectioned crossmember.


I had to relocate the gas tank for the same reason I had to alter the crossmember. So I ran an XJ tank in place of the spare tire in the back. It allowed me to use the factory FI pump for the 4.0. The tank fit surprisingly well.

[Addicted]

Bolting the engine in was very straight forward. After I had the factory I-6 motor mounts welded to the frame it was a bolt in deal. 










Fits like a glove. I had to run a hydroboost system for the brakes to keep the factory intake. Even running the booster upside down to clear the accumulator it was a tight fit.

[Addicted]

I never got around to finishing it before I sold it and replaced it with my '71. Here is a pic of the shifter set up for the AW4 and NP208. That is a factory XJ floor shifter and cable set up along with a factory manual trans equipped FSJ 208 shifter. That is the TCM sitting next to them. I had intended to put a floor console in to cover the shifters and TCM but I sold it first.

[Addicted]

This is a dirty version of the mostly finished project. We had just gotten back from a camping trip to the thumb area. It towed quite well with the rear axle geared to 3.73. The camper in the background weighs about 3K lbs and it would only shift out of OD on the bigger hills. It would cruise down the freeway at 65-70mph without and issues.