Engine swap or build current?

Got a 94 xj two door with a real tired 4.0. thinking about doing a swap. Want more power(250-300whp). Diesel swap sounds cool in theory but they all weigh a billion pounds. Any ideas for a budget build engine to swap? Trying to keep weight under 650 pounds for the engine.

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2jz-ge

I mean you at least have the space to choose since the stock I6 is huge.

The best, but boring, would be an iron ls like the 5.3 and just some cheap Boltons. But if I were doing it to be unique, I'd go for whatever is wierd and cheap in your local scrapyard. VR6? SC Ecotech? Turbo 5.9 magnum? Sure why not

Rebuild the 4.0 and turbo?

1UZ or ls
Could do a 4bt but seems way more involved than a smallblock

the best idea would be a 13b or another rotary

swap in a new 4.0 and keep it that way.

You don't want deisal for offroading

...

I like some of these ideas. I might rebuild the 4.0 but at the same time, I'd love to have something cooler and more unique. Like one of a kind or maybe just really cool. Ls does seem like it would be super easy, but at the same time, everyone does and ls swap. 4bt seems really cool, but until you throw money at it, you won't make shit for power so I'm unsure. Keep the ideas flowing maybe something will click.

I like overland more than mudding and climbing so I think it would suit me ok.

Oh man. That would be fucking sick. I love rotaries. But at the same time, as much as I hate to admit it, they're unreliable and don't make low end torque big enough to move a heavy vehicle like a jeep. Not without throwing thousands at it.

Either do a proven easy swap or build a 4.0, which is a tough engine and better quality than Jeep V8s of any recent vintage. Also know if you build a strung out hot rod it won't be as fun to use in the real world as a torquey beast with lots of bottom end.

Unfortunately you are here instead of on Pirate 4x4. Y u not go to real 4x4 expertise zone instead of this shithole?

pirate4x4.com/forum/

You can thank me later. Avoid asking Veeky Forums for anything technical because it's infucted with idiots, noobs and other trash who would get flamed to ash and banned at useful forums.

Cheapest non-Jeep option is probably an LS swap and they are great engines. Kits exist but you said "budget" so do your homework and make a spreadsheet to visualize your project.

Well, I wasn't gonna ask technical questions, just here for ideas and everyone on here has an opinion. I'll check that site out. Just looking to do something cool and new. Tried and true is sometimes the same thing as old and boring. Otherwise I'd just sbc it and been done over the weekend.

>real tired
Done a compression test?

No, but power goes away from time to time when you give gas. Has lifter tick bad at high rpm. It'll live a long while if I baby it, but I beat my cars like they owe me money so it's better to either rebuild or swap, but building the 4.0 to the power I want is a little more spendy than just buying another engine that already makes that kind of power.

Always wanted to do one of these on the 4.0

jeep4.0performance.4mg.com/stroker.html

Just throw a turbo on it, you'll get those numbers easy for less money and trouble.

That would be cool, but I can achieve better numbers for less money with a different engine.

That's an intake or fuel starvation problem.

I don't think you're ready for a swap, a 4wd drivetrain swap is a massive undertaking, basically all you're left with that's stock after say, and LS swap on that truck would be the body and maybe front axle.
If you're going to swap though, LS all day long.
I recommend you just rebuild tho.

True, but you wouldn't have to swap engines. Plus dat longevity. Ls engine would also be sweet though, think Cherokee weigh a little bit over 3000 lbs? I know both mine would fly pretty well with just the 190hp six.

Well, I have a lot of experience in fabrication, I used to have an old Camaro that would chew up and spit out a new bbc every year. We then went small block and never went back. I've done a Duramax swap into an old Ford ranchero. It's not so much the work I'm concerned about, just don't know what I want to do. Also, in terms of 4wd, i'd probably just use a Chevy T-case and run 3 drive shafts. One from trans to T-case, then to both axles. I made an AWD K-series Accord for my buddy using a Jaguar T-case. I've been Around the block, just tired of the same old thing. I like to bastardise cars to be awesome.

Mine is slow as shit at 190hp. I top out at like 75 maybe. Just torques hard. LS would work, but everyone and their brother has an LS swapped car.

If the jeep axle is the same side drop as the Chevy transfer case then it shouldn't be too hard, if they don't match then you'll have to have a different t case with adapter plate, adapter plate would cost like 500-1000 or you can swap front axles to get the correct side drop.

Well, I bought the jeep a few months ago from my best friend for 50 bucks and a case of beer. It's a 2wd manual. I could get a donation truck for suspension, axles and T-case at scrap auction for dirt. Which is the plan. So axles are irrelevant right now cus I'm swapping them anyway.

2wd swaps are a fucking cake walk, 4wd gets complex and expensive fast

Do a compression test. For the valve tick, either live with it or have the head rebuilt and machined.
>but power goes away from time to time when you give gas
What do the filters look like? Crap in the gas tank? Power doesn't just "go away from time to time" because your engine's tired, there'll be a reason why.
>building the 4.0 to the power I want is a little more spendy than just buying another engine that already makes that kind of power
Spoken like someone who's never performed an engine conversion. Fix your shit first, a half assed engine swap isn't going to be a magic bullet.
Sounds more like you came here to dream.
This.

>2wd
Dude you're good lol just slap a 4.8/5.3/6.0 with a 2wd 4l80e in there and fucking rip skids all day long

I had a 98 that did 125 with 4 people inside, yours IS tired! Yeah, you're right, everyone and their moms sister has an Ls swap something or other, but there's a reason.
That being said, I had flirted with the idea of engine swapping this thing but it doesn't need an Ls either.
You might get your 4.0 back up to par and turbo it. How much experience do you have with projects ts like this?

Brand new filter, brand new gas, brand new injectors. Im just not sure I want to continue with the 4.0. it's a great engine, but I don't want to dump time and money into just to find out it's not what I wanted.

I built a 1100 whp gen 1 Camaro. I've done a diesel swap Into a ranchero and I built an AWD Accord with Jaguar parts. I think I'm set for technical ability. My imagination is where I'm lacking.

I don't do automatic transmissions. But I get the idea. I just want to do something no one does. Something different. Chevy swap would be cake, but everyone else has already beaten the dead horse on that one.

>I don't do auto
Oh well more 4l80s for me lmao

Any more power and you'll be swapping out the entire drivetrain. Much more power than stock and you'll be twisting the noodle monocoque frame like no tomorrow. Sounds more like a 1/2ton SWB like a Blazer or a Bronco would be more suited as there's absolutely no aspect of the XJ suited to what you seem to want.
And if you can't diagnose and fix an intermittent flatspotting on your current engine, I doubt you're capable of swapping an engine.

True. I just think driving an automatic is boring. I like shifting and down shifting. Also, I can't stick with 2wd. I live in Michigan where there's a fuck ton of snow on the ground half the year. I drove it up the gas station like an hour ago and it's scary as shit to drive when the roads are this bad.

I've never attempted to diagnose. I don't care enough about the motor. It doesn't do it often enough to get any kind of repeatablity anyway.

Also, that's what frame Stiffeners are for. I hate blazers, they're ugly as sin and Ford can suck a fat one. I only want about 300 whp. That's not too much to ask. I've built shit with a fuck ton more than that.

>I've built shit with a fuck ton more than that
I'm sure you have

I work in a shop where litterally all we do is build cars and then put them on the Dyno until the numbers satisfy the customers. My boss and I built a 69 Camaro with 1100 whp. We built a 1300 whp Supra, we built a Nova three months ago that made 830 whp. But it's not relevant. I'm not asking for mechanical advice, I don't need it. I am asking for a little imagination. All my co-workers think doing a 1uz would be really cool, I think so too, but I'm trying to widen my field of view and maybe find something I never thought of. Or maybe some jeep wizard tells me about some magic 4.0 build I've never heard of because this is the first jeep I've ever owned. Shit on someone else's parade.