GregKinne

First post here so ill introduce myself

ive owned/driven two 1997 jeep grand cherokees both with 5.2l engines, and a 2001 cherokee 4.0l all of them automatics, and now its about time for a manual.

i almost finished my current project, and i havent owned a jeep in a few years, so its about that time. this will be the 4th jeep that my family has owned.

heres my problem:

im buying a 88-98 xj cherokee (depends on what i can find) and my original idea was to put a 2.3l turbo ford engine in it. i happen to have a stand alone 2.3l turbo engine with 30,000 miles on it, and a very good understanding of the drivetrain. i figured i would just buy a cj7 with a t5 transmission to make things easy, but that isnt going to happen. long story short: i would like to use my ford borg & warner t-5 tranny and 2.3 engine in a cherokee, but i dont see where im going to get this to work. custom engine mounts and etc wont be a problem, im just worried about connecting the drivetrain and getting the shift knob to line up correctly. can anyone shine some light on my situation? aka is a 1987 ford tbird t5 going to come even close to lining up?

sorry for any of you purists who are going to hate me for attempting a ford engine in jeep, but i love my ford engine and i love being able to go anywhere no matter the weather.

i really would love a 4wd 5spd turbo jeep


-Greg Kinne