Have some questions about the 00-01 engine

I found a 01 2 door 5 speed in mint condition. I have allot that i want to do with this truck but i have 2 main concerns. The head cracking issues and the distributrless ignition. Can i fix this engine to be reliable and not have to worry about it or swap an older engine in (stroker or rebuilt 96 4.0) and what about HP aplications on the ignition? i really have to get a new xj but its hard to find one in stick and when i find one i ends up not having a feature i need any help would be great

Pull the frikkin' trigger already. The ENGINE is the same reliable 4.0L as previous editions; the ignition is merely different. I believe the '01 head was no longer the crack-worthy 0331, but I'm sure you could Search a bit and find out.