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upgrade Imp

J

Jeff Snodgress

New member
Looking at purchasing an Imp 1404. Told the motor might need work. Is it possible to upgrade to a larger engine, straight 6? And put an auto trans in? without extensive modification of mounts, frame, and body?
Jeff
 
fogtender

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
If you have the V4, you might want to go to a diesel engine of about the same size. If you have the C-4 Transaxle, you don't want to supply a lot more torque to it than it already has, if it is a OC-12 then you can go bigger.
 

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couchloafer

couchloafer

Member
SUPER Site Supporter
If you dont have an OC-12 Rear end and you want one you should contact Snowcat Pat or Boggie!
 
mtncrawler

mtncrawler

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
The simple answer to your first question "without extensive modification of mounts, frame and body" is ... no. As for swapping your OC-4 for an OC-12 understand that the OC-12 is a steering differential only while the OC-4 also has 4 transmission speeds. In most cases fix what ya got is the best plan.
 
LippCJ7

LippCJ7

New member
Hey Fellas long time no speak but I have been tossing around the idea of replacing my ford straight 6 for the jeep 4.0, more torque injected so better fuel economy what do you guys think? Thiokol 1450
 
Snowtrac Nome

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
LippCJ7 said:
Hey Fellas long time no speak but I have been tossing around the idea of replacing my ford straight 6 for the jeep 4.0, more torque injected so better fuel economy what do you guys think? Thiokol 1450
Click to expand...
it would be could be done you have to enlarge the pilot bering abit but amc trannsmissions had the same bolt pattern and imput splines as a ford so aslong as you had the bell housing to and a large drill bit motor mounts and exhaust would be all you would have to make .
 
LippCJ7

LippCJ7

New member
What about keeping the tranny with the 4.0 motor? how many Imp's have OVERDRIVE!! think if the possibilities!
 
Snowtrac Nome

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
LippCJ7 said:
What about keeping the tranny with the 4.0 motor? how many Imp's have OVERDRIVE!! think if the possibilities!
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i can tell you why the jeep ax 5's and ax 4's wern't up to the task on a jeep and would self destruct on a little imp stick with the old iron 4-speed with all that extra power od would be nice but the ax series trannys wern't good and the pugot built predicessors were even worse. i don't know how the little jatco auto would stand up but that might be cool.
 
movin

movin

New member
LippCJ7 said:
What about keeping the tranny with the 4.0 motor? how many Imp's have OVERDRIVE!! think if the possibilities!
Click to expand...

The cooler circuit isn't big enough to pipe a way the heat you will build in a snow-cat. You could gear it lower but then you are back where you started with a gear reduction unit added and a transmission with a sub-standard reputation. Old spud trucks can supply good Allison transmissions with 4 gears....cheap! Gas and diesel engines will bolt up. 4.0 jeep is dang near bullet proof.But... The 12 valve cummins out of a dodge pick-up had an okay overdrive chrysler lock up trans , maybe the whole drivetrain would be cheap enough and small enough to fit? Radiator and all out of a wrecked donor pickup for cheap?
 
LippCJ7

LippCJ7

New member
hummmmmmmm, has to be a way, I love the 4.0 motor, hate the tranny on my Imp and the motor is ok at best..........the 4.0 looks like a perfect swap and easily had for cheap so all I have to figure out is how to back it up. I like the diesel idea too but it just seems to me that the 4.0 is almost a natural swap dimensions wise.
 
snow dog

snow dog

New member
Remember, the IMP floats on the snow because of it's weight to track ratio. If you increase the weight and the track area stays the same it will take more HPs to drive it thru the snow. If you add lots of HPs and larger track, you might as have a Spryte.
 
LippCJ7

LippCJ7

New member
snow dog, I think your adding pro's to my point of the 4.0, yes it has more hp and more torque but I bet it weighs 300 lbs less then the Ford straight 6 thats in the Imp to begin with. as for the track width, its a high country cat with I believe 36" wide tracks it floats better then anything I have seen, but its a gutless wonder at 13,000', I'm in the communications field (two way radio's and microwave hops) Towers are on top of the mountains, I am always at 13,000'+ in the winter! So to have injection would be wonderful to say the very least.
 
snow dog

snow dog

New member
The Imp has a ford v-4, The super IMP has a straight 6 with auto tranny. Which model are you speaking of ?????
 
LippCJ7

LippCJ7

New member
mines a 1450 the manual says super imp but it only has the imp plackard on the side, it has a ford straight six
 
Snowtrac Nome

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
LippCJ7 said:
mines a 1450 the manual says super imp but it only has the imp plackard on the side, it has a ford straight six
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new motors are weighing a lot less now days but the 4.0 is just a short stroked 258 and the 258's actualy weigh more than a small block chevy v'8, so i'm betting the 258 will weigh the same as the ford engine. yes efi would improve preformance and would also start and warm up a lot nicer. i think i would look into a tbi system to retrofit to the ford engine but the amc engines are a good little motor ,i don't necessarly like the efi system i think setting it up with a tbi 400 system would be a better choice as tbi 400 can be installed on just about all motors now days and is scan tool accessable.wich is why i think keepng the ford engine and adding tbi 400 is your best bet.
 
Snowcat Pat

Snowcat Pat

Active member
Here is one of several engine weight lists I've found on the misinformation superhighway. It says the Ford 170-250 L6 weighs 385 lbs, the Ford V-4 weighs 230 lbs


http://fixrambler.com/engineweightchart.txt


Here's another thread showing the same chart;


http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56414

Here's some more;

http://www.carnut.com/specs/engdim.html

http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html

I've got some notes from some old web searches that say the AMC 4.0 weighs 515 lbs

The Ford C-4 auto is one of the lightest suitable auto trans there is and they use it for high HP drag racing. Also, it supposedly wastes lots less hp than the Chrysler 727 or the Ford C-6

With internet info... well...Your mileage may vary.:ermm:

I am curious about the '88 era Ford Thunderbird 2.3 turbo I-4 for just this application.:unsure: The chart says 380 lbs.

I'd sure like to see some weights listed that are known to be accurate.

-Pat
 
Snowtrac Nome

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
Snowcat Pat said:
Here is one of several engine weight lists I've found on the misinformation superhighway. It says the Ford 170-250 L6 weighs 385 lbs, the Ford V-4 weighs 230 lbs


http://fixrambler.com/engineweightchart.txt


Here's another thread showing the same chart;


http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56414

Here's some more;

http://www.carnut.com/specs/engdim.html

http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html

I've got some notes from some old web searches that say the AMC 4.0 weighs 515 lbs

The Ford C-4 auto is one of the lightest suitable auto trans there is and they use it for high HP drag racing. Also, it supposedly wastes lots less hp than the Chrysler 727 or the Ford C-6

With internet info... well...Your mileage may vary.:ermm:

I am curious about the '88 era Ford Thunderbird 2.3 turbo I-4 for just this application.:unsure: The chart says 380 lbs.

I'd sure like to see some weights listed that are known to be accurate.

-Pat
Click to expand...

I've worked on several of those old 2.3 t/c car's and it makes torque and hp at higher rpm's kind of like a 2 cycle snowmachine engine so i believe it would work good in a snow cat with the low gearing that they have.
 
Snowtrac Nome

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
also looking at those charts it shows the 2.2 chrysler and 1.6 vw motors to be about the same weight as the vw air cooled engines what great st transplant options
 
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