Not sure. I have a set of 7" lift springs for a ZJ, and the rear ones look like they would work. They are about 3" taller than the stock springs, but have several more coils and much heavier, thicker "wire". Another alternative is F150 springs from the mid70's-mid 80's trucks. Like the stock ZJ springs they provide a couple of inches lift on a stock XJ and are a little stiffer.

The fact that all these springs are stiffer than stock springs is a good thing - because they are supporting a heavier drivetrain...

 

Well, nothing too dramatic, but I made a little more progress between rain showers today.



Fabricated the passenger side exhaust manifold


Painted up the crossmember...


...and the trackbar bracket and crossmember mounts.

Started working on fitting the pipes from the manifolds to the y-pipe, but didn't get far enough on them to be worth taking a picture of...

 

i would think that the v8 springs would be plenty heavy for that motor. i don't think that you will get much lift from it, but i don' tknow if that is waht you are going for or not. but looks good man, it seems like once you start something you really keep at it untill you get somewhere with it. i would have quit shorty after opening the hood up.

 

I will be doing a small lift - just a couple or three inches - enough to run 31" tires.
Cherokees just look SO much better and more aggressive with a little lift and bigger tires!

Perseverance is the name of the game with a project like this. Just gotta' keep chipping away at it every chance you get...

 

Since my "oddball" exhaust manfolds generated so much interest and discussion in some circles, I thought I'd post pictures of what they'll be replacing.


Here's a top view of both stock manifolds and the connecting pipe all bolted together...

...and here's a bottm view of the whole assembly





A few shots of the driver's side. Note that the single port is only 1-1/4" ID, and how the 2-port connector has a sharp bend right at the flange - constricting it on the inside




From there all the exhaust from that side flows through this crossover. It is only 1-3/4" OD at its most unconstricted point, and it has not one or two, but SIX of these severely constricted crinkle bends.


Then it enters the passenger side manifold/collector (through the flange at the lower righ corner of this picture). Note that this is only 1-1/2" OD pipe to start with - then they mashed it flat on one side to make bolting it onto the head easier!

 

A couple of more shots of the passenger side manifold/collector.

Then everything has to exit out of this small 1-7/8" port - into a 2" downpipe. So, looking at what GM's engineers came up with, you can see why I say that even my "unconventional" square-tube manifolds - which will each transition to a 2-1/4" mandrel-bent pipe, Y together, and then dump into a 2-1/2" mandrel bent pipe - HAS to flow better than the original exhaust.

I'll be working on it this weekend, and with a little luck I'll have pictures of my finished exhaust system to post by Sunday...

 

Well, I made some good progress yesterday, and got the manifolds 90% finished, but that is where my luck ran out. Between the weather turning wet overnight, and my coming down with a really nasty cold, I wasn't able to finish the exhaust today or get any pictures to post.

Looks like it will be next weekend before I get a chance to finish it and post pictures...

 

Take care of yourself, get well soon! Looks like your gettin some of the tough stuff figured out. Are you doing any overhauling on the motor, or using as is?

 

It was a good running low mileage motor, so all I'm doing is replacing a few gaskets...

 

dude, the ingenuity on those manifolds is freikin' awesome..... they are crude, per say, but look like that will work awesome. have you done a volume calculation to see approx. what size exhaust that box tubing should flow? meaning will it outflow a 2 1/2" pipe or is it more like a 3"?

also the engine cradle is top notch also..... when i finally get around to putting a 4bt in my Expedition maybe you should plan a trip down here to help.