American Expedition Vehicles

[troy]

This company is local to me and they do Hemi conversions into JKs as well. They have also done a few 2.8 CRD transplants.

http://www.burnsvilleoffroad.com/

If AEV made a brute conversion for the 4dr JK, I'd have to start saving my pennies. A four door convertible jeep pickup with a 3.0 CRD diesel would be ideal.

 

[dsy]

I bought a 5.7L V8 for my JK last about a month ago. Rather than getting a "kit", I'm putting it together piece by piece. Have the tranny already, will have the computer soon, and am fabricating the mounts. I'm hoping it will be put in by the end of September...getting all the parts are what's causing the hold-up.

The Hemi will certainly improve my gas milage. With as heavy as my JK is, the piss-ant 3.8L has to work overtime just to get up a slight incline. I drove from north FL to south FL in June and got 9 mph. Yes, N-I-N-E! The primary reason for that was the vehicle would have to down shift (shooting my RPMs from 2500 to 4800) to keep my speed around 65 mph every time I went up event the slightest of inclines.

While the Hemi won't do much for me in gas savings when city driving, I'm expecting a terrific increase in milage when on the highway/interstate.

AEV's Hemi conversion kit will do wonders for JK owners...making it relatively easy to drop in a more respectable engine. My guess is the cost of a conversion (nut to bolt) will cost around $22K. I'd hazard to take a guess at the cost of just the kit (minus engine and tranny).

$22 seems pretty high for the diy Jason, heck Burnsville will do a turn key swap for around 18.5 I'm counting on less than 10k total using AEV's kit. The kit is rumored to cost around $4,500. Will see next week. I went up to AEV last week and got a nice walk through on the whole swap. I was going to piece mine together also until I heard rumors of the kit. I'm glad I have waited. They really have everything dialed in. I would go their kit route if you have not gotten too far into parts already.

 

[WFTW]

I've heard some good things about that company. COP4x4 also does Hemi conversions for JKs (5.7L and 6.1L).

The whole Brute thing is just something I don't get. For what I do, it wouldn't be practical. If I needed a pick-up truck, I guess it would be alright. But, I'd never off-road a pick-up. For one, their departure angles suck. Granted, I've seen some pick-ups that were set up nice and could do some good trails, but they'd have a problem following me on the trails.

 

[dsy]

I've heard some good things about that company. COP4x4 also does Hemi conversions for JKs (5.7L and 6.1L).

Yea Cop does not do their own conversions they farm them out to Burnsville. I believe Burnsville is planning on using the AEV kits also once they are out.

 

[WFTW]

$22 seems pretty high for the diy Jason, heck Burnsville will do a turn key swap for around 18.5 I'm counting on less than 10k total using AEV's kit. The kit is rumored to cost around $4,500. Will see next week. I went up to AEV last week and got a nice walk through on the whole swap. I was going to piece mine together also until I heard rumors of the kit. I'm glad I have waited. They really have everything dialed in. I would go their kit route if you have not gotten too far into parts already.

Yes, when I guessed $22K, I knew it was a little high...yet I thought I'd error on the high side.

I got my Hemi and tranny for $2K...eat your heart out. hahahaha So, my conversion isn't going to be much.

Brad Wilkins of Overbuilt Customs (www.overbuiltcustoms.com) is doing my swap and he's actually talked to AEV about their kit. It was considered, but in the end we decided to just do it ourselves. I'm looking forward to it...should be a lot of fun. Once we get all the parts, we're guessing we can do the swap in about a week from start to finish.

 

[dsy]

I got my Hemi and tranny for $2K...eat your heart out. hahahaha So, my conversion isn't going to be much.

That is a great price.. New? I paid just under 2,800 delivered for a new crate motor back in Jan. and picked up a used 545RFE tranny that had less than 100 miles on it for 600. I thought I was doing good. :jump:
Hopefully mine will be in and running by the end of the month. I already signed up for a week of vacation to knock it out. I'm building a temp frame to use to pull the body off in the drive now. Per AEV body off is the way to go.

 

[WFTW]

Yeah...very good price. In fact, it was so good, I couldn't say "no." The Hemi was $1.5K and the tranny was $500. It's not new...has 4K miles on it (same amount of milage that the 3.8L in there now has). I had a choice between 2 engines...the other one has about 1K miles on it. I went with the one with more miles because I've heard it's better to get one that's been broken in a little.

I can hardly wait to see it under the hood. I'll be getting a dress kit for it so that when I pop the hood it will have the "Daaaaaaaamn" effect. hahahaha Since I have a dual battery set-up with two blue tops, I want the dress kit to be blue (I'm not a big fan of chrome).

When you do the swap, make a build thread for your Jeep so that you can document it...I'd like to see it done.

 

[dsy]

Yeah...very good price. In fact, it was so good, I couldn't say "no." The Hemi was $1.5K and the tranny was $500. It's not new...has 4K miles on it (same amount of milage that the 3.8L in there now has). I had a choice between 2 engines...the other one has about 1K miles on it. I went with the one with more miles because I've heard it's better to get one that's been broken in a little.

I can hardly wait to see it under the hood. I'll be getting a dress kit for it so that when I pop the hood it will have the "Daaaaaaaamn" effect. hahahaha Since I have a dual battery set-up with two blue tops, I want the dress kit to be blue (I'm not a big fan of chrome).

When you do the swap, make a build thread for your Jeep so that you can document it...I'd like to see it done.

Will be interesting to see if the dual set up still works with the hemi in there.
I will take lots of pictures and stick them up somewhere.

 

[ChuckB]

and picked up a used 545RFE tranny that had less than 100 miles on it for 600.

This sounds like a VERY intersting swap!! I'm not up to speed on the domestic stuff... is that an auto or manual tranny? Are there any manual options with the Hemi?

 

[dsy]

This sounds like a VERY intersting swap!! I'm not up to speed on the domestic stuff... is that an auto or manual tranny? Are there any manual options with the Hemi?

The 545RFE which is what's recommended is an auto. I have a manual trans now but am changing that out. They claim you can use the GetRag 238 from behind a 4.7 I went back and forth trying to decide which one to use and ended up going auto. They both have there pros and cons.

 

[ChuckB]

The 545RFE which is what's recommended is an auto. I have a manual trans now but am changing that out. They claim you can use the GetRag 238 from behind a 4.7 I went back and forth trying to decide which one to use and ended up going auto. They both have there pros and cons.

thanks for the info!! Is the GetRag the stock JK 6-spd?

 

[dsy]

thanks for the info!! Is the GetRag the stock JK 6-spd?

No its the next model up. Its stronger than the stock jk 6 sp.

 

[ChuckB]

No its the next model up. Its stronger than the stock jk 6 sp.

thanks i'm learning!