So my motor blew up today in my 96 cherokee...I know it was mostly my fault that it blew. Radiator hose blew off and when I fix it I don't think I filled the radiator properly. Now the problem is that my motor is done.

I know swapping in a 4.0 would be what I should do buttttt my buddy has a 383 stroker and if I can get it and the tranny for the same price as a 4.0 why not?

Only problem is I'm no mechanic and I don't know if it will work or fit. If it would fit does anybody know the amount of work I would be bringing on? Or what all I would need for this swap?

 

Lots of money and time will be required. It will cost more to do that swap than to replace the blown engine with another 4.0. You stated that you're no mechanic, this would not be a good project for someone that is less than a novice.

 

http://www.novak-adapt.com/knowledge/xj_swap.htm

Tons of work, quite expensive conversion even if you don't include the price of the engine, difficult to cool, and may never be considered street legal depending on where you live. A 383 would almost definitely need the unibody to be reinforced not because of weight but because of all the torque.

 

Thanks guys. I was kinda figuring that it would be too much work but I was wanting to get another opinion

 

Good thinking, a 383 would have been a very poor choice for your XJ.

 

now a *350*, that's a good idea :-)

 

a 383 is a stroked out 350

i would certainly try it if i had a lead on a 383, that's for sure.
maybe not for my wheeling rig, but a badass 2wd street jeep...

 

I know that it's a stroked 350 it also makes much more power than the 350 and without a lot of reinforcing the unibody it would probably be just a big mess in the end.

 

i know you know what it is, my comment was referring to jmg. but i assume he must know that too. i think...

many people are putting in stroked out 4.0L pushing 200 plus hp and at least that in torque with no frame reinforcement, so i imagine if you were to weld in some unibody frame stiffeners, you would be fine.

the only thing is the power curve would be a little higher, so you won't have that torque in the low rpm's where you might want it wheeling.

it would be so much fun tho.

 

I have a shop full of them. How many you want? ;-)

 

man, if i was closer i would probably take one. but then i would need to buy a 2wd 2door xj in southern good shape. lol. this would be difficult and expensive to get it way up north in canada.

someday, if the deal falls in my lap, i may start collecting the parts.

 

Thats the only thing I could see a 383 being good for in an xj. 2wd. The waight gain and torque curves wouldn't be all that great for a 4wd. And fighting vacuum lose. I have several and parts to build many more. Just not as popular as they used to be. First generation stuff just doesn't make since to build. LS stuff is just as cheap, more reliable, better power. It is what it is.

 

on reinforcing ... Not true-- People are dropping in LS1/LS2s in xjs without reinforcing the frames. What are you basing this off of? xj frames are a lot stronger than you think.

A lot of people said the same thing when I dropped a 350 in my xj... This is one of those things that people just say and gets repeated so often it turns into a "fact".


anyway, a 383 -- unless you have one hanging around -- just doesn't make any sense. Get a vortec or an LS motor. There's nothing a 383 can do that an LS motor can't do better ... and it's really not that much cheaper. If I was going to do this all over again, that's the route I'd go.

 

however you want to look at it... there's no replacement for displacement.

 

I'd beg to differ. I've built stroked 283's that a naturally aspirated 383 would catch hell trying to keep up with. After stroking I still had a 81 cubic inch deficit. Large displacement will build big power if built rite don't get me wrong, but with the technology today smaller cubic engines with less rotating mass will build big power and much better torque curves. Just my two cents.