i'm yankin the pukey lil 2.5 and ax4 4spd. stick outta the jeep and replacing it with a 4.0 and aw4 auto trans.... picked up both of em for $200 from my buddy mike... they're out of a '91 cherokee and have 141k and change on them, trans was rebuilt 2 years ago.... here sits the motor in the back of my truck...

i have about 85% of everything needed to complete the swap... most of the wiring harness, the 4.0 motor mount brackets, all the trans cables and trans computer, new driveshaft... i still need an engine ecm, trans xmember, 4.0 fuel pump, and the 6cyl. shocks and coil springs.. i also want to find a turbo and fab up a turbo kit for it while the engines on a stand, i may or may not do this depending on cost.. i'll update this as i source the rest of the stuff needed and begin the swap.... wish me luck! it's a relatively easy job, most of it is just plug and play stuff.... all the under dash wiring doesn't need to be touched, you just change the engine bay end of the wiring harness and swap the computer out

good luck mang

u want to turbo a STOCK 4.0 with 140k on it? good luck! kinda looking forward to seeing how this works out as I have an mj with a 2.5 as well. not sure about the turbo though.....
Take lots of pix!

my jeeps got the 4.0 in it and the auto..those suckers take a hell of a beating. Kid i know had a turbo on a 4.0 in his cherokee was interesting. what kinda boost are you looking for?

My main problem with the tranny is shifting into 4th too soon(with no option for o/d off it gets annoying)...very odd tried adjusting and etc but can't get it just right.

Look forward to seeing this progress

now it burns when i pee.....

hahah if you don't put the fisrt line it just sounds wrong

You fix that by leaving the shift lever in 3rd gear for anything 50 and under....the wranglers should have an o/d off switch on the center bezel where the fog light switch would be....the cherokees it goes PRND3 and 2/1 together.


And if you plan on running low boost and tuning it correctly the 4 liter will take that like its nothing. People hear 140k and thing these 4 liters are near done. Thats not even half way to broken in yet. As long as its got good oil pressure and doesnt puke oil I wouldnt worry about it.

The 2.5 on the other hand....that motor is a fucking paper weight...leave those pigs stock.

2.5s blow..."ohh i'll get more gas mileage"..nope cause to even move you've got to put that pedal to the boards and pray to the accelaration gods lol

yeah hah i've seen 4.0's with 300,000+ mi..even knocking like sons of a bitches still running like champs


yeah no o/d off shit to be found haha good call on the 3rd gear deal just gets annoying on backroad cruising around 40mpish, highway could care less...was worse before screwin with it really used to slam downshiftin

you should of went with the ho 4.0 but other then that should be a fun swap

yea 4.0s get the 180k mile knock and last till around 250

Actually I lied to you...I forgot you had an older wrangler....so unless the trans was swapped you only have the shitty 3 speed auto...they added the 4speed in 02/03

yep 97 first year new style..lotsa booboos...just fixed a recall thingy on the 4wd shifta...they used these stupid brass parts down inside instead of rubber..constant clankyclankyclank..finally typed it in saw it was a recall

Gotta love 1st year vehicles!

P R N D 2 1

"2.5s blow..."ohh i'll get more gas mileage"..nope cause to even move you've got to put that pedal to the boards and pray to the accelaration gods lol" actually it's not bad.... trans is a 4spd. though not a 5, but it's 2wd and it's got 3.55's in it.... slow as hell right now but mpg is good, i get between 21-22mpg with it regularly.....

"you should of went with the ho 4.0 but other then that should be a fun swap" ..... the 4.0 HO is a much more difficult swap than a renix 2.5 to a renix 4.0... you basically need an entire donor vehicle to do an HO swap into a jeep that was built before it... ALL the wiring under the dash and under the hood is completely different, fuel systems are completely different, etc... a renix to renix swap is about 80% plug and play... drop the motor and trans in, bolt in the engine bay side of the wiring harness, change the fuel pump to the 4.0 one and plug in a 4.0 ecm... all the pins in the engine harness for the extra injectors and sensors the 4.0 has are already in the bus block on the firewall, they just aren't used on the 2.5..

"And if you plan on running low boost and tuning it correctly the 4 liter will take that like its nothing." yeah i figured on running between 6-8 psi and seeing how it likes that... don't think id go any higher than that, not without beefing up the valvetrain, adding head studs and all that other fun stuff

UPDATE: i found a couple turbo kits for the 4.0 available... now that i know how the pieces all fit together, i'm gonna talk to my friends over at lopez welding and see how much they can make all the pipes for....

good luck with everything man