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XJ Frustration

I

IcedXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Spokane Washington
Hello I am new to the forums, but definitely not to XJ's. I have had mine for 3 years and have read and done countless hours of work on it, most repairs and a few small mods now and then. But now I face a problem.

I have come to the point where I have 3 inches of lift and it has 32" tires and cut fenders. I need to do an engine swap or rebuild or something, but it is not choosing the engine that is prooving the problem. I want to keep the cost of this down, poor college student, but I want to have s&%t loads of fun doing it (just doing a direct swap would be boring not much fun in doing that). It does not matter how long it would take, as long as it would not be more than 2 months (about 3-4 hours devoted to working on it every other day or so). So any suggestions to engine swaps you just have to say the type of motor and I know what tranny t-case to run.


I was going to do a Chevy 350, but then i got worried about gas mileage, but then again it would be cool. So any advice in what direction to go would be great.
 
just wondering what kind of tools are you working with???

just the talk of a chevy 350 alone makes me think of welders and plenty of other tools. i've been debating of doing that swap myself when my engine finally goes, but i don't think you can, or at least it wouldn't be a good idea to run it without some serious re-enforcement of the unibody. and then i believe you have to either stretch the front nose a tiny little bit or go through the firewall.

my first choice for "simple" swap would be something like a 4.6L stroker, or some type of V6 engine.

personally i've been playing and researching the 350 option, but installation and cost wise, i'm favoring the stroker motor. just my opinion.
 
Yeah I am thinking that is the best way to go. But see I want to do something with my XJ, some fun fab or lengthy work on it. I mean doing a rebuild is not really that difficult, i would probably send it to a shop though just because of my inexperience. I am just bored with my XJ and I want to do something to it that would be fun.
 
IcedXJ said:
But see I want to do something with my XJ, some fun fab or lengthy work on it. I mean doing a rebuild is not really that difficult, i would probably send it to a shop though just because of my inexperience. I am just bored with my XJ and I want to do something to it that would be fun.
Click to expand...


i'm confused.....you want "some fun fab or lengthy work(the conversion)", but you would "probably send it(the stroker) to a shop because of your inexperience"???? sounds to me like your gonna bite of more than you can chew. i've done that plenty of times and it's not fun. specially when your trying to do it on a deadline and a budget. conversions can run into lots of hidden costs. a swap wouldn't cost you much more than the cost of the stroking the 4.0L. that way you won't run into any more hidden/unexpected costs outside of the engine itself.

you want to do something fun and lenghty on a budget. buy a book, search the net, buy the tools, buy the parts, and learn how to stroke the 4.0L. after that you won't be inexperienced on that part, and you'll have more fun than getting frustrated at a "lenghty fab job" that may or may not work depending on your skill/experience.

but then again who am i to talk, i'm already 4 weeks into my jeep that was supposed to be done in 1 week.
 
Yeah I know about the hidden costs. Well see my engine has about 210-220K miles (not really sure b/c I never corrected my speedo with the bigger tires). I guess I could find a different motor and do it to that, but then again. I mean I have done motor swaps before, non OEM replacement, it was quite easy (it was for a 1967 corvette). I just do not like the idea of working with the internals of an engine. Everything else is okay with me.
 
scorpio_vette said:
or at least it wouldn't be a good idea to run it without some serious re-enforcement of the unibody.
Click to expand...

Due to weight?

Do you believe an SBC to be drastically heavier than an AMC I-6?
 
this is the kind of question that is very subjective. swapping another engine just like the one you have would be the easiest, and probably less costly than swappin a chevy 350 or whatever, when you have to consider motor mounts, exhaust, wiring, etc., etc.
 
well in my position what would you do? I can go with any motor that would fit and any tranny that would mate up and and any t-case. I am prepared to get a Dana 60 rear if I go with a SBC.
 
IcedXJ said:
Hello I am new to the forums, but definitely not to XJ's. I have had mine for 3 years and have read and done countless hours of work on it, most repairs and a few small mods now and then. But now I face a problem.

I have come to the point where I have 3 inches of lift and it has 32" tires and cut fenders. I need to do an engine swap or rebuild or something, but it is not choosing the engine that is prooving the problem. I want to keep the cost of this down, poor college student, but I want to have s&%t loads of fun doing it (just doing a direct swap would be boring not much fun in doing that). It does not matter how long it would take, as long as it would not be more than 2 months (about 3-4 hours devoted to working on it every other day or so). So any suggestions to engine swaps you just have to say the type of motor and I know what tranny t-case to run.


I was going to do a Chevy 350, but then i got worried about gas mileage, but then again it would be cool. So any advice in what direction to go would be great.
Click to expand...

I dont think attempting a 350 swap is for your budget and time line. Youll end up thinking I need a stronger tranny, t-case, axles.... youll endup 10months into it like I am. But I think it will be worth it in the end.

Steering will need to be re-worked if you use a larger Rad for a V8.

Engine, tranny, T-case, Drive shafts, cross members, mounts, SHifters, steering, tranny tunnel, Change angle on rear axle, Exhaust, Radiator and fan, If carbed youd probibly want to go Propane. gets long fast.
 
rebuild and regear the diffs. you can get some pretty amazing results from a strong 4.0 and 4.88 or higher gears in the diffs. best bang for the buck, IMO.
 
okay, well then I will do a rear axle swap to...get rid of the 35 and use a 44. I will do a stroker kit I guess and some re-gearing. I was just thinking it would be so awesome to have a V8 in my XJ.
 
save your money if ya don't have an idea in your head of what the best swap would be you havent' done enough reading. xj's have been around long enough to have had a ton of different engine swap/modifications. people pretty regularly put in 350's and strokers, and go wild with nos, chargers and turbo. keep reading and after you've read enough you will have a good idea of what will meat your needs. if your still unsure open another book/website/magizine.
 
Swapping a carb'd motor into a 1967 Vette should be exponentially easier than swapping motors run by layered silicon integrated circuits and fuel injectors.
 
well i have read so much that i get yelled at for reading too much. I am a wanna be fabricator, it is such a fun hobby to spend time working on your car. But I am realizing the best for me would be to stroke an I6 and change out the AW4 I have for a better condition one, and then just do a Dana 44 for the rear. It will still be fun, I guess I can use some of the $$$ to lift my jeep some more.
 
AW4s, even AX15s, are reputed to be strong enough to handle a stroker, I'd imagine you should be able to keep your AW4 unless you're planning on throwing a V8/Stroker with tires larger than 32"s on there. That twiggy D35 will snap, crackle, pop like Rice Krispies though.
 
I am replacing the tranny just because of its age. 210K miles later it is not exactly the best in fact it is starting to show signs of giving out.
 
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