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a junkyard miracle! questions about 4.0 swap into 2.5 body

RaccoonJoe

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
I found a nearly completely rust-free XJ in the local JY. The only problem I see is that this is a 86 XJ, with the 2.5L, and comparable tranny/TC.

I'm wondering if it is going to be worthwhile to swap in my engine/tranny/TC (1990 4.0/AW4/235), or should I just save the rust-free fenders and floorpans?
 
I'm not sure at which point the elongated the engine bay to take a 4.0, but the early models won't, as far as I know the bay is too short and requires some modification of the firewall. When they first came out they had the 4 cylinder and the 2.8L V6 GM engine.
 
My friend did that to an XJ he found in a field with a 2.8 He beat the firewall back and was able to fit in a 4.0. He also moved in the wiring harness from the donor vehicle, don't know if it was needed or not.
 
I did this swap some years ago. It envolves a bit of sheetmetal work and a bit of swapping.

You have to swap the hood and upper radiator support. The sheetmetal that connects the upper radiator to both fenders will have to be sliced off of the 4.0L and welded to the 2.5L body. You will need to take a bfh and move the firewall back about an inch to make the rear drivers side of the head clear. Its no big deal since there isn't anything behind it.

The rest of everything pretty much bolts on.
 
I did this swap some years ago. It envolves a bit of sheetmetal work and a bit of swapping.

You have to swap the hood and upper radiator support. The sheetmetal that connects the upper radiator to both fenders will have to be sliced off of the 4.0L and welded to the 2.5L body. You will need to take a bfh and move the firewall back about an inch to make the rear drivers side of the head clear. Its no big deal since there isn't anything behind it.

The rest of everything pretty much bolts on.

I was asking about the hood differences the other day. Where were you?

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=987679
 
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