Putting a H.O. motor inplace of a Renix!

Will it work and run right if I use only the H.O. long block and use my Renix intake/exhaust, dist, brackets, pulleys, wireing harness etc.?

Its a 90' XJ, I have'nt found a long block yet!
Anybody in a days drive from Roanoke VA have good motor for sale?

Yes, it will work. Some will tell you the intake manifold won't match the intake ports on the head, but they do well enough to work. Find yourself an early model HO that has the temperature sensor in the back of the head and the swap will be a lot easier. I have a 96 HO and it has the sensor in the back of the head.

You will have to swap all the sensors and the distributor to the new engine. You also need the flywheel from the Renix. The 96 does have a place for the knock sensor (low on the block on the drivers side). Mine was threaded, but since it was unused, I had to clean out the threads first.

I'm in the process of swapping a '91 HO into my '87. I have the motor in the car and the mounts bolted down, but that's as far as I've gotten so far. Nothing's hooked up, and the drivetrain is sitting in the trunk

I'm debating now (a little late) if I should swap over the Renix manifolds or not. It would probably make the conversion a lot easier, but since the motor is already in with the HO manifolds I'll probably just run with it.

So far, the differences I see are as follows:

1) Renix EGR system doesn't carry over, so I'll just do without that

2) O2 sensor was in the manifold, and the Renix manifold exits at a different angle. I'll probably have to make a downpipe and weld an O2 bung into it, possibly lengthening the wires on the sensor as well.

3) The HO fuel lines are different, both on the front of the rail. Renix has a fuel line on the front and another on the back. I'll have to either use the Renix fuel rail (which won't bolt to the HO manifold), or make fuel lines to go into the HO rail. Haven't decided which route I'm gonna take yet.

4) Rubber intake tube. Renix and HO are different, have to use the HO tube with the HO throttle body.

5) Throttle cable. Haven't tried to hook it up yet, but I'm not sure if it will work. Renix has a hinge on the manifold with some throttle linkage, but I don't care about keeping the cruise control. If necessary, I'll have to get a 91-96 throttle cable I guess.

6) Crankshaft position sensor and flex plate/flywheel will have to be reused from the Renix setup.

7) I've read a few places about differences in the Throttle Position Sensor. This is probably more important for those with automatics. I've got a 5-speed, so I'm not sure if I have to adapt the old one or if I can make the HO TPS send a signal to the PCM.

8) Reuse the Renix distributor and remove the HO ignition coil. You'll have to use the Renix ignition coil.

Hopefully I'll have it up and running sometime this week, after which I'm sure I could give you some better info. Good luck with the swap.

anony91xj said:

2) O2 sensor was in the manifold, and the Renix manifold exits at a different angle. I'll probably have to make a downpipe and weld an O2 bung into it, possibly lengthening the wires on the sensor as well.

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It is absolutely possible to use a HO exhaust manifold on the Renix. You just need the corresponding HO down pipe to go with it, best place would be a U pull it yard (they charged me $5).

I consider the HO electronics a downgrade from the renix system, the renix system is more flexable and less picky... easy to work on with the right manuals which are all over the internet

Slo-Sho said:

It is absolutely possible to use a HO exhaust manifold on the Renix. You just need the corresponding HO down pipe to go with it, best place would be a U pull it yard (they charged me $5).

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Yeah, but I work at an exhaust shop. It'd be easier and cheaper for me to bend a pipe to fit

wilcharl said:

I consider the HO electronics a downgrade from the renix system, the renix system is more flexable and less picky... easy to work on with the right manuals which are all over the internet

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I disagree. Chrysler's OBD makes it easier to diagnose problems as it stores codes and you can read a datastream. OBDII is even easier with a scanner.