5.2l Rwd

Hi all,
New to the forums, first post. ANyways, I saw somewhere, too lazy to look for it now, but I think it was on the actual DC jeep website that a V8 Xj was supposed to have existed. It said somewhere that Jeep made the 5.2 Magnum available in RWD Cherokees in like 97, 98ish. I haven't heard anything of these anywhere else, and was wondering if anyone else has? 300lb-ft of torque in a 3100lb rig? . that would be rediculous, and it would just get sweeter as it got modded. Thx

I never heard of it, but OTOH I wasn't into the XJ/MJ thing until late 99.

OTOH that doesn't mean they didn't make one (or several) as test mules. 97 was the 1st year of the 'new' style bodywork and interior upgrades, so it would make some sense within that timeframe. Also wasn't that the lone year that the ZJ got the 5.9?

DC had to know early on about the planned demise of the XJ and replacing it with the KJ. I sort of doubt that they would have invested much more R&D into a different engine package. The upgraded HO in 00 or 01? was probably included as an across the board upgrade (incl the WJ and TJ)

Am I mistaken, or is the Mopar 5.2 (318) and 5.9 (360) basically the same motor, just differing in bore & stroke dimentions...similar to the SBC 283-327-350-400 family?

There's a famous mis-print in a DC press release from that era that stated a V-8 would be available in the XJ that coming year.
That press release is indeed posted somewhere on the net, but I don't have a link.

NONE ever made it to production, and nobody has yet even identified a DC prototype.
Since DC had already made the decision to drop the XJ for the KJ, I don't think the brass ever considered a major XJ upgrade that would have reduced WJ sales and hindered the KJ introduction.

It seems to have been a complete balls-up by PR people at DC, with absolutely no foundation.

Muchos Gracias

Hmmm, makes sense now, thanks guys. Yeah, and i worked up the motivation to look for it again, and found it under the "heritage" section on the Jeep website. And to Woody, yeah the 360 is just a stroked version of the 318, with a lot of similarites. That would make it easy to turn a 318 into a 360 XJ, if we were ever blessed with one. Oh well.

I was driving yesterday and saw one of those "yeah, Its gotta HEMI" stickers on the back of a ZJ and I began to wonder what if..............