4.0L Engines

Now here is my ?. My xj needs a new motor. Cylinder #5 is making some noise. I thought I had a freshly rebuilt one lined up but that deal fell through. So I began my search. I have found numerous 4.0L engines out of grand cherokees and tj's but they are all 1999 and newer. I know that the engine is basically the same from year to year except nickle content and head changes and the internal webbing. but 1998 or 1999 and newer have gone to distributorless ignition systems. Can I just take that off and run a distributor from old engine. Does the camshaft have a distributor drive gear on it? is there anything I need to know about the newer engines that would make a difference. I have a 92 XJ with an automatic tranny, 4x4. Thanks, Garrett

I have searched a lil bit on the subject here is a link to the info I found:
http://naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=938282&highlight=engine

my 99 has a distributor. I believe 2000 was the changover.

ok well if that is the case across the board and it wasnt just some mid of the year change then I am in business. thanks for the info. Garrett

The oil pump is driven by the distributor shaft which is driven off a gear on the cam. Even in the newer "distributorless" models there's still a sort of headless distributor to drive the oil pump and for the cam positioning sensor to mount to. So I believe you can replace that with your existing distributor, use the existing coil and be good to go.
Not sure what's involved if you wanted to go the other way and using the coil packs and distributorless setup with the existing electronics.

ok thanks for the info. I will stay with a distributor I believe it will be easier to switch over to that system then to convert to new technology. I would imagine you would have to get a new pcm. thats too involved for what I wanna do. Thanks Garrett