[Urbex]

I'm thinking about doing an absolutely stupid engine/transmission swap on my 2004 XL-7, which is going to be tight in there. Soon, I'll be tearing down a 2002 Grand Vitara to replace a blown engine and swap to a 5 speed manual transmission, so I'll have a very clear view and ability to do a bunch of measurements.

My understanding is that the post facelift GV/XL7 models are really just cosmetic differences, and from the front seats forward, the GV and XL-7s are identical. Are there going to be any other things to be aware of that may make measurements taken on an older GV worthless on the 2004 XL-7?

And because I know people are gonna wonder anyways...my plan is to shoe horn in a Chevrolet big block engine into the front of the XL-7. I think our Chevys are Holdens for you guys?. Not being super familiar with what was available over there, or what engines were available...this is an engine I built for my K5 Blazer a year ago. Started with a 454ci/7.4L engine from an 80's Chevrolet truck, and rebuilt it into a 489ci/8.0L engine. Physically it's 2 inches longer and wider than a newer LS V8, and 4 inches taller. I love the engine, not super wild about the K5 chassis.

I saw where someone in Australia dropped a LSx V8 into an earlier Vitara to make a drag car, which fit in there a lot nicer than I would have expected, and apparently he got a TH400 transmission in there without major surgery to the trans tunnel. At least, it looked factory on the inside other than the shifter. After seeing that, I got the idea, and took a tape measure to my XL-7. The engine alone is as wide as the space between the inner fenders, so I'll be cutting out the inner fenders and strut mounts, going to a solid axle up front, on links and coilovers, and using outside the frame extractors.

My biggest concern is fitting the transmission, as the current 4L80E I built for this is several inches longer than the TH400 he used, plus fitting a transfer case in there without cutting out the floor of the XL-7. I suspect I can do this with a Dana 300, or possibly a Toyota case.

Yes, I know this is insane, lol. Yes, I know that using a physically smaller engine would be easier/cheaper/better/whatever, but I already have this engine, and I like to be different.

[Gwagensteve]

Do you want this to be a somewhat functional vehicle? What function do you envisage? - if you're unwilling to cut the floor does this imply you're looking for the finished car to have factory-like interior/streetability?

There have been a few LS swaps into the vitara/tracker. None have been 4WD as far as I am aware and the fit looks very compromised, particularly around the radiator/fans. I'm also sure there's been substantial firewall work. For a novelty drag car or burnout car that's fine, that's not the same as a broadly functional vehicle. a T400 with no transfer case I'm sure can be made to fit just fine. That's nothing like a 4L80 with a transfer on the back.

Basically, the entire car is going to get cut up, firewall/strut towers etc. The chassis won't be adequate to deal with the torque or weight (or SAS loadings) and tracker chassis are known to crack around the base of the strut towers as it is. The diff mount crossmember will have to come out. The rack and pinion steering will have to go in the bin so you'll be reworking the chassis to suit a steering box and dealing with steering shaft clearance. The cylinder head will be into the brake booster/M/C.

You are going to have to cut the engine bay, chassis and and firewall to pieces, In short, whether you have to cut the tunnel or not is completely inconsequential.

If you're not wild about the K5 chassis, just wait until you try and sling that BBC into an XL-7.

I have no idea what level of fabrication skill you have, but I'd suggest fabricating a chassis from scratch to put the engine and gearbox where they need to be, then cutting the XL-7 body to suit. I suspect the ideal position for the engine will see it sitting through the firewall unless you're prepared to stretch the front clip, so very substantial firewall fabrication will be required, including relocation of the master cylinder and HVAC. Engine setback will give you some room for a radiator and more chance you can get the accessory drive around the chassis/radiator. Also, coilovers are mostly going to present similar clearance problems to the existing struts - you'll need to built mounts for them that sit approximately as high and in approximately the same place as the stock strut

Fenderwell headers are interesting and imply to me you intend to run the car tall and with substantial track width so the tires couldn't ever move into the area the headers are going to be. That area is very tight on an XL/7, so do you intend pushing the front axle substantially forward? What tyre size? Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a big, strong driveline, I just think it's a huge project that will inevitably involve floor and firewall fabrication if the end result is a functional and proportional vehicle.

[Urbex]

Oh, I know this will be FAR from a drop in and go kind of thing, or something that can be pulled off in a weekend. But I'm also just in the "I wonder if I can pull this off..." stage in the thinking/planning. I'm not yet committed to the idea, but initial measurements of the engine bay of the XL-7 has me thinking it's at least possible on some level.

My big issue with the K5 is just not really liking the full size truck body/cab setup, and not really anything to do with the chassis itself. Though doing any kind of repair/maintenance on the thing is a pain in the back side because of the size of it, and I can just barely squeeze it into my garage with 33s on it. Whereas the Samurai fits in no problems on 37s with room to spare.

What really started me down this road was finding the Matts Offroad Recovery YouTube channel, and seeing what he did with that Corvair wagon. Something that can be driven on the street, and handle some easy to medium trails. I won't be attempting to do any kind of serious rock crawling or competition level stuff with it, nor do I expect it to handle street driving like any kind of factory vehicle would. I already have the Samurai that's the "serious" rock crawler - Tracker 2.0L petrol engine, GV 4 speed auto trans, 4 link, coilovers, 37s, full hydro steering, etc. Heck of a lot of fun on the dirt, miserable to drive on the street...it gets trailered everywhere. My thinking for the XL7 is trading some off road ability for street ability..and well, a bit of childish fun with WAY too much power under foot

Yes, I already planned on chopping out just about everything forward of the firewall. Yes, front axle will be pushed forward and rear axle pushed back. I'll be running full width truck axles on this one as well. Adding another 30cm of axle width does wonders for opening up clearance. Obviously this means the front differential and factory steering will be getting tossed

Ideally, I'd like to keep the factory fenders/hood/grille, etc, but I'm prepared to ditch them if need be. More than likely this will end up on 37s, possibly as large as 40s. I'd be doing a comp cut on both front and rear. Thinking cutting the front fenders even with the bottom of the headlights, and rear quarters even with the top of the wheel wells. All the sheetmetal inside/under the hood will get cut out, but ideally I'd like to avoid having to go to a full tube front clip. My initial measurements puts the front of the engine in line with the front of the factory radiator. Yes, this may present some issues with accessory drive clearances, and that alone may well mean that I go to a tube front. There's also the engine height to deal with, which may also prevent being able to clear the hood. But this is also why I want to get better measurements from a stripped chassis.

I'm not averse to cutting the body up in general, but my concern with cutting up the tunnel is from concern about cutting into legroom inside. Which is an issue I have with the Samurai - just going to that the GV 4 speed auto required me to widen the tunnel enough that my gas pedal will be nearly touching the side of the tunnel (I haven't yet finished up fabricating the tunnel on that one). For a trail toy, not a big deal. For something I may want to do a small road trip in - a very big deal. This is also the concern with setback of the engine, though I do have a bit more room to play with there given the larger distance between the firewall and front seats compared to something like the Samurai.

As I'm not thinking it will be a serious off roader, I won't mind doing things like clocking the transfer case down some if need be, or trying to get everything above the bottom of the frame. I could also put in a body lift for some extra clearance, though I've never been a fan of body lifts in general.

The fenderwell headers are largely due to the engine itself being as wide as the frame spacing is. I doubt there would be any way to get headers inside the frame rails, and I'd be forced into the fenderwell style just from that. Even assuming I could somehow manage to get snake headers down inside the frame, attempting to run dual 3"/80mm exhaust tubes down past the transmission and transfer case would likely be a problem as well.

At the end of all this, it may very well be a case of realizing that this just flat out isn't going to work like it does in my head. It may also be a case of no big block, but maybe getting a small block to clear well enough.

[Gwagensteve]

Sorry but it flat out isn't going to work like it is in your head. You're going to have significant tunnel intrusion because the bell housing is going to need to be back at your feet. At the end of the whole project you'll have something that's too modified to road trip in (no HVAC, room in the footwell, exhaust heat etc) , a complete pain to work on, and massive overkill for the intended application, which sounds like something a stock midsize SUV could do with maybe a locker and a small tyre size increase.

It's still only barely going to fit in your garage but the added room you'll have in the garage will just be lost room in the engine bay, and interior compared to the K5.

Funny, I was just watching Finnegan's Garage last night and they had a shot of a tracker show car with what looked to be a SBC in it. Sure, it had a gilmer drive for a supercharger on it, but to make room for the glimer drive belts the slam panel was rebated. I have no idea where the radiator is. Once again, this was just 2WD silliness and there is a little bit more room in a late XL7, but it also wasn't a BBC, and it's not dong road trips and mild trails.

My take? make the Samurai better to drive on road. Massively easier task than the XL-7 project which will wear you down and won't end up meeting your brief of something you can road trip.

[Urbex]

Hahaha...yeah, no way is the Samurai going to be made better for the street at this point. I'd have to roll back far too much work for that to happen.

This was a couple weeks ago, sitting on 35s. It's now on 37s, and I have room to go to 40s and still fit it in the garage. From the moment I started building it, I did so as a dedicated trail toy, with zero care of how it was going to handle street use.
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Of course this is massive overkill...the XL-7 in it's current form "can" do all this, but not nearly as much fun as it could be. I don't think anyone ever builds these things, or a nearly 500ci engine, because it's practical, lol. At least for me, I do this stuff because driving them later is an absolute ton of fun.

This was one of the LS swaps I was looking at, and it sure looks like there's a ton of room around that LS motor with a full accessory drive on it.

It also _looks_ like the radiator is down low and in front, angled forward, though I couldn't see a clean shot of where the radiator hoses were going so I'm not 100% certain of it. This is the one that got me thinking this crazy BBC idea might actually work. I'm sure AC is long gone on that car (if it ever had it to begin with), but one of the alternatives I was thinking about was an undercar mounted condenser similar to what the 911 used. I've heard the Corvair guys use that kind of set up with some success too, though really, I wouldn't consider it the end of the world to lose AC, though you guys may feel a bit different about that. I understand much of Australia is just brutally hot in the summer (or maybe it's considered winter for you..I never really did know if the seasons were flipped down there as well). Here in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, it's also low elevation desert, gets up to 45*C+ routinely in the summer time, and I've had several vehicles without AC over the years.

[USMC5811]

You better lay off the loco weed. Small block maybe, big block crazy.