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engine swap

Blackash132

NAXJA Forum User
Location
St. Louis, MO
My friend just blew his 4.0 in his 97 xj, then got a deal on a junked 2000 4.0 to replace.
Since the 2000 has the dist-less plug rail, is it possible to change out these engines?
What would have to be done to either go back to the distributor or utilize the 2000's set up?
Thanks,
 
Three possibilities to explore

1) The 2000 engine might have a hole for the distributor that is just plugged off. Look for it and if you find one, use it.

2) Swap old heads to new engine. This will give you better exhaust flow btw.

3) Swap 2000 ECM and sensors to the older vehicle. This is the dumbest option by far.
 
There is like a "Hall Efffect" sensor where the distributor was.Whether or not whats underneath it is compatible with the old system I dont know.
 
Just a heads up, I just did an engine swap over the weekend in my 98XJ. Luckily I found a same year wrangler motor so I didn't have to worry about it. Anyways, you'll need a T14 external torx socket for the top two motor-to-tranny mount bolts. And if you remove the engine mounts from the block and drop the engine down you can gain access to the passenger side from the top. The driver is easy with extentions from underneath. Had I known about the only two bolts of this kind on the entire jeep, i wouldn't have wasted 3 hours trying to figure out what the heck they were.
 
Thanks for the tip. I think I've got a full set of the external torx from way back when I had an s-10 and replaced the ignition. It took forever to figure out what those things were.
~Blackash
 
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