converting 84xj 2.8 V6 to fuel injection?

I have opportunity to buy an 84xj with a rebuilt 2.8 V6 engine

I'm potentially interested because it is completely built and has essentially all new parts. I'm concerend about the carborated engine for offroad use.

I'm told I can convert the carborator engine to electronic ignition by putting in fuel injection off of a 86-89 camero which I'm told is the same engine.

Anyone know if this is the case?

What the cost should be for parts and labor if I have someone do it for me?


Is this an Ok engine.

The 2.8L is a good engine as far a lasting a long time. Its a GM 60 degree V6 and was used in a lot of GM vehicles. I had two Blazers with the 2.8L and they lasted well over 200K. The downfall of the 2.8L is that it doesn't have whole lot of power. With a 5 speed its not too bad and you can get a lot more power out of them with performance upgrades.

As far as fuel injection goes, the easiest setup would be off of an S10 or a Blazer or the GMC equivalent. They are TBI, throttle body injected and its a lot simpler. You are correct in assuming that the FI setup from a Camaro will work, its multiport injected so its more complicated, but the MPI will give you more power.

lapaul said:

I have opportunity to buy an 84xj with a rebuilt 2.8 V6 engine

I'm potentially interested because it is completely built and has essentially all new parts. I'm concerend about the carborated engine for offroad use.

I'm told I can convert the carborator engine to electronic ignition by putting in fuel injection off of a 86-89 camero which I'm told is the same engine.

Anyone know if this is the case?

What the cost should be for parts and labor if I have someone do it for me?


Is this an Ok engine.

Click to expand...

It is.
About 4x what the jeep is worth..... seriously. If you want someone else to supply the parts and do the work for you, don't. Get a Weber K490 kit, bolt it on and drive it, $400 problems solved. http://www.collinsbrosjeep.com/main.htm has about the best price I've seen, it's where I got mine.
Yes it's an OK engine, had a Camaro with one and it ran great and know of a few S10's that went over 200k with the 2.8's... though it's an early 2.8 which had crank problems, though if the builder knew what they were doing that shouldn't be an issue, could be that it even is a newer model 2.8 in there.
Mike B.

If that Camero had a 3.4, it'd be worth just transplanting the motor and MFI. You'd end up with a much better motor.

Atl XJ said:

The 2.8L is a good engine as far a lasting a long time.

Click to expand...

Hmm.... I would disagree along with probably quite a few other people who had a 2.8L in their XJ's. My motor went out about 20K miles after I got it (I had it used, mileage was about 70K on the clock IIRC).

You know what, the 2.8L's I had were on Blazers a 86 and a 89--both fuel injected (TBI). Maybe they chnaged something in the motors by then that made them last longer or maybe the ones supplied to chevrolet were built under tighter tolerances. Those 2.8s lasted for ever and took a lot of abuse. I abused one of mine and it lasted from 89K miles to 256K miles and it never used a drop of oil, knocked, or anything until I replaced the engine at over 250K with no oil pressure--It turned out that it was a bad oil pressure sending unit. It got me through my teenage years and a few years after that. As far as maintenance goes though, I take very good care of my vechicles. I don't want to spread any misinformation here, maybe there is a difference between the two engines other than fuel injection. :dunno:

I've been told the GM was selling AMC out-of-date engines, and that to get parts for an '85 XJ from a GM dealer you'd have to order parts for an '84 2.8L (as an example).

My brother's best friend worked as the service manager at the dealership where we bought all our Jeeps, and both bro and I crewed on this guy's stock car. So we were in and out of the shop frequently. I can't remember a visit when there wasn't an XJ in there with a 2.8L that had stuck a rod through the side of the block. It's a truly terrible engine, and actually didn't put out much more power or torque than the 2.5L I-4. AMC bought it because they weren't ramped up with the 4.0L yet and they needed a 6-cylinder engine to compete with GM's offerings.

It's just not worth converting it to the Camaro MPFI. If you can get an S-10 TBI setup cheap, that might be worthwhile, but the key is it has to be cheap or you're wasting your money.

I have a theory, could it be that most of the 2.8 XJ's had issues cause they were geared lower than the Isuzu's & Chevy's that used the same engine? I know with close to stock size tires and the stock 4.10 gears I'm buzzing along at a few more RPM's than I like on the interstate, the 3.4 has enough juice that it'll pull hills fine though in fifth but the 2.8 was weak enough that they needed to drop back a gear and that would be some screaming rpm's if you were trying to keep up with traffic....
I think the Carb vs injection thing could be an issue too, if the carb was set lean to get within emmisions specs that wouldn't have been condusive to longevity.
Mike B.

I wouldn't waste money on a 2.8 V6. I had one in a 88 S-10 which I bought new. It had a catastrophic failure at 62K miles. I put in a Jasper rebuild, ran it for 3 years, then sold it. Last GM I've owned.