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Kinda thin frame gauge to take much right foot from an LS I'd think, at least long term. The Defender frame is much thicker walled. My Chevy truck's C channel frame is like a twisted smile from a tiny little 5.3 that lives in the wild on 285's. How much work went into the wild DII you've seen besides the motor swap? I'd imagine after a couple of years the back 3 doors won't fit their jambs because of the torque. It's about the same difference as putting 40's on a Dana 44..... snap goes the axle.
The frame argument is a reasonable one. I'm not much of a heavy skinny pedal guy but maybe a good point.
Still don't know what the hell I'm gonna do w it. I just spent all weekend doing scheduled maintenance on my truck and I'm already thinking...man I wasted a whole weekend not wheeling. Lol. Maybe just let it go to the next Rover guy.
Granted it was free but without a title and it is what it is. I probably would get it running to find out what/where/if on the tick and then set my plan for it.
I’ve seen V8’s slapped into TJ/LJ, JK/JKU’s and I never saw the frame reinforced. Also the D2 is body on frame vs uni-body. I doubt you’d have any issues with doors opening closing like say you might experience on an XJ/ZJ/WJ with a uni-body setup.
4.8L is more than enough for a D2, and if you have an older 99-02 I’d honestly grab an HP24 vs the HP22 so it can handle the added torq.
LS swap all the way! I don't think you'll have any trouble with the frame. If the torque from the motor was going to twist the frame, off roading these beasts would be doing the same to a worse degree. Looks pretty clean; would be a shame to see it parted out.
Yep .I simply don't have have the time to do it . Maybe when I don't have another truck project going . Plus about 8 trucks I maintain for my company . No time .