Has anyone put a small block into a xj? I was thinking of doing this and just wanted to know how much trouble it was and how expensive it was. Thanks in advance!

 

There have been many smallblock V8s put in Cherokees. How much trouble it is will be relative to your experience and toolset. It's expense will also be related to your experience and toolset.

 

You might be better off making a stroker or buying one premade...and it would be way easier to do.

 

And the 4.0 believers pile in. I have a small block in mine and daily drive the thing for over two years now. It's not for everyone. The stock 2.8 was wasted and I had a good small block, trans and t-case ready. A match made in heaven.

 

You had an engine and matching transmission and transfer case handy? Was it fuel injection or carburetor? Is there some magic trick to reprogramming a Jeep I6's computer to operate a v8?

What could one expect the cost to be to do such a thing?

A stroker 4.6 could be put in in a day without a welder or obscene tools or wiring harnesses being spliced in...or fabbed motor mounts...or firewall shaping...or a whole long list of crap to do just to put a non-Jeep engine in there... If one has the resources, they could cram a Ferrari engine in a Jeep, but why?

 

It was carborated. Yes, I had them handy. They were not bolted together, but I had them. The trans and t-case were upgraded since the build. My Jeep was pre computer, an 86. It was easy to wire. I built all my mounts because they wanted blood money for the kit at the time. It's not magic, a junkyard EFI swap and away you go. I want to go with a MSD kit in the future.

Check my build.

 

I dig it, JBS. A lot of creativity and work went into keeping that Jeep afloat. It is not something I would do but I respect it.

 

If it was me i would go truck 5.3 or 6.0 if you can find it,4l60 with a dana 300 or ford np205 on it.Only old school small block i would run is the lt1/lt4 you want efi off road a carb is a nightmare off road.

 

^ Yup I would hate to try and keep my Custom built Holly 950 on a Victor Jr. intake running lol. ^