Engine swap procedures

I know it has probably been covered, but searching on my phone is a crap shoot at best.

Swapping a 4.0 with a 4.0, so should be straight forward. Even got ahold of an engine from a 99 to put into my 99.

Any special tips or tricks? Things to remember / watch for? Should I pull engine and trans together for ease of access to the top trans bolts?

TIA

Spawn "never swapped a cherokee engine before" 93

Everything is pretty easy. Just remember to support the trans is its not being removed. If it's an auto leave it. If it's manual, pull it with the engine. Bitch to line up the splines on the input shaft. Now is the time to put in new motor mounts, and to reseal the new engine. Maybe degrease the firewall from the inevitable oil leaks...

I always pulled the trans with. Auto or stick they stay with. You can't take the transfercase out with it unless you want 6 feet of drive line coming out. And it's easier with it off anyway. Pull the front clip off. It's fiberglass and will break. Take the exauest header off the collector. Take the wiring harness out with the motor, the big 3 clips by the trans dipstick will I do almost everything. Take the starter out. Can't pull the motor with it in. You can just flit the ps and ac compressor and pumps out of the way without opening them. Unbolts and push them. The ac comp. conveniently sits in the bat trey and with the botom half of the air box out the ps pump lays there nicely too. Don't forget the trans and tcase shift linkages.


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Luckily it's 2wd, for now....
Pull the wiring harness out, and then reinstall with new engine?

Spawn 93 said:

Pull the wiring harness out, and then reinstall with new engine?

Click to expand...

Don't open these pressurized systems:
Power steering.
Air Conditioning.
Fuel injection rail (the injector O-rings are cheaper, and easier to source).

took me about 2 days to swap one and it was my first time pulling an engine. just make sure to catalog all the bolts and screws. once you have all the accessories moved out of the way its actually not that hard surprisingly

Leave the wiring harness on the motor and pull it with the trans. I can pull one in about 3 hours from start to finish.


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Each time I've swapped a motor, I used brown paper lunch bags to hold the nuts, bolts, brackets, etc. for each major item. Like alternator brackets and bolts, timing chain cover, battery & tray, radiator, etc.

I just buy a set of bags and use a sharpie to label them.

I also label the end of each wire connector with masking tape.

Little things like that can make the job a lot smoother, with no leftover hardware.

Make sure you unbolt the ground strap on the back of the valve cover, and watch the bracket that holds the fuel line to the intake. Im workin on swapping mine right now. deff pull the header panel off it gives you a ton more room. If you have some chain use the AC bracket holes and the Exhaust manifold holes, itll get you 3 points of contact. the fuel injectors pop right out of the intake and just put a lil oil on them when you put them in. The harness for the injectors that is in the way is easy to unplug and take clear off, label all your wires and bag n tag all the bolts. Just take your time, and when you think you got it all, check again cuz you prolly missed something.

Ill be swapping my 1st motor in the next week or so

I like the idea of brown paper bags to label all parts and keep track of them

I'll be swapping a 98 grand Cherokee motor with a 7120 head into a 2000 xj

I know I'll have to change all accessories and sensors over to match the 2000 PCM with Cali emissions

This is a quick first draft of a Tip I will be adding to my website.

4.0 Engine Removal

Yes!!

Remove air cleaner assembly. Flop power steering pump into it's void. Leave connected.
Remove battery. Flop the AC compressor into that void.
Remove the radiator. Super easy.

Unbolt the motor mounts by removing both bolts holding them to the frame piece. Go back together that way also. Then you don't have to fight the crossbolts.
I part out XJs as a hobby. I've pulled more engines out of these things than you can imagine.

When separating engine from trans always loosen/remove the uppermost bolts FIRST before any others. They are a reverse Torx style.