Jeep Cherokee Forum - Like a Phoenix from the Ashes

So to kick this thread off, a bit of back story.

Five years ago I bought an '89 4DR Cherokee from a friend's dad. It was lifted, 4WD, ran 33's, but other than that it was stock. So I spent a couple years adding lockers, gears, 2 fuel pumps, and rebuilding the engine. It was so nice that he wanted to buy it back from me. Luckily I managed to get the axles back with all the work I did to them when he swapped some wagoner axles in. Queue Jeep 2.

I got it already setup with a 4.6 Stroker. '88 2DR 4WD (BA10 and NP241). Everything ran great. I put a lift on it, swapped axles, ran 33's again and all was well. It was my DD until I got hit.

I now have two XJs. One is the smooshed ’88, the other is a ’92 4DR Laredowith a 4.0 HO stocker (AW4 2WD). Unfortunately the ’88 got t-bonedso it’s no longer a drivable rig. I found the ’92 while I was in the ER (somethings have a higher priority than others).

Now everything still works on the ’88 so I had planned forit to be a donor to the ’92. But after looking into it, the ECUs are different.

I’ve read through threads describing the differences betweenthe Renix Era ECUs and the Chrysler ECUs on the HO engines. HP is better on theChrysler ECUs, by about 5. Low end is better for the Renix. You can diagnose a Renix issue with a multimeter. You get flashing lights for codes on the Chrysler.

However I have not found answers to the following questions.

1) Which ECU is more RELIABLE (including random ECU death)
2) Which ECU is most compatible with the Stroker?

Now swapping engines should be no problem, since I have bothstyles of intake manifolds and all the hardware, numerous sensors and all thatstuff, not to mention the conversion to 4wd again. On the other hand, wiringdifferences could be a problem since, well, they’re not the same between thetwo ECUs.

Ultimately I want the working rig to be a reliable andcapable Overlanding vehicle. Much time will be spent on this and I’m fine with that.

Lastly, I know this is a build thread but I thought it would be interesting to get peoples' input as I build along and show what that decision resulted in.