Here's the low down:

I have two Cherokees, one 1993 4x4 and one 1995 2x4. The 93 has a warped head and the 95 has a blown tranny. I am in the process of taking the engine from the 95 and putting it in the 93. Once that is done I intend to rebuild the engine from my 93.

The reason I am starting this thread is to ask:

If you were going to be rebuilding and reinstalling an engine what cost effective upgrades would you make to the engine?

I am thinking of: (in no particular order)

1. Dishing the pistons
2. Upgrading to a 99+ model year intake
3. Adding the neon or mustang 5.0l injectors.
4. New parts for the motor mounts.
5. New exhaust manifold, since it is already off.
6. The obvious rebuild of the motor.
7. New oil pump (is there an upgrade for these)
8. New water pump (upgrade possible?)

What do you have in the way of suggestions.

Stroker.

I thought about that but I hear that they are difficult to tune. That and the more "stock" I keep it the more interchangeable parts will be with the 95 parts car.

The internals being changed over to a stroker will not effect interchangeability of external parts...

That is...unless you plan on swapping internals often...there isn't that much that gets changed on the outside.

Makes sense. Is it true that they are more difficult to tune and keep tuned? Also, I heard that they can create problems in the transmission.

What do you mean by tuning? After my stroker build, i put the motor in hooked everything up, and after some new plugs and a crankshaft sensor, it fired right up and runs good.

Why would you do dished pistons with no other supporting mods? They would only be needed with a stroker, or if you plan on running lots of n2o or boost? The stock heads and pistons are good to run on regular octane gas without problems.