4.0 97 Reconstruction

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[FONT=&quot]Best to all, not so good for me, my 4.0 I reach the end of its useful life, at 204,000 miles it started making a rear sound, so I went to the doctor, the diagnosis was a broken piston, healing, a complete motor repair, didn’t have the money to do so, so I bought a used one out of a wreck yard from a 98 Xj with not so much miles on it, and kept mine to repair it sins it’s the original engine.

Suggestions gentlemen, I’m about to repair my 4.0, I want it to be a very strong, fast and economy friendly motor, I use my Xj as a dally driver, do a lot of prerunning and a lot of high way travel on it to, please help me out to determine what are the correct high performance parts, my budget is around 2k.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]What do you think about economy, if the heads are ported and do a shave the block?

I thought about buying an ATK, what do you think about it, will it be better than repairing mine?

Comments please? Any advice is welcome.[/FONT]

You've probably considered a "stroker" build by putting the crank from an older AMC engine into your 4.0 to get a bit more displacement (4.6 or 4.2 mini-stroker). Even if you don't consider a stroker, the Jeep Strokers forum is a very valuable resource for finding information about the 4.0. There is lots of good information here as well.

I'm no engine maniac but I have collected enough parts to build a poor-mans stroker as I believe it's the best way to get more power out of this old trusty dog for a reasonable outlay of cash. When it comes to dollar spent per after-market horsepower gained, the 4.0 doesn't respond all that well to the usual bag of tricks. Even when people put the higher flow late model intake manifolds on, they don't gain any power. There is also a large factory dent in the exhaust which, when removed, doesn't make a noticeable difference. I think this has to do with the limitations of it's reverse-flow head (not cross-flow) and it's inability to flow much better than stock. If I had more money to throw at it, I'd supercharge it. There is a kit available on ebay and it is discussed in this thread.

So, my personal take is: stroke it, add forced induction, or basically leave it alone. I would however do a basic port and polish if you are going to have it apart anyway.