NH01XJ

I recently stripped out my '88 XJ because the body was too far gone to keep repairing. The motor was freshly rebuilt bored .040" with a few goodies. She's got less then 40k on her. While looking for a transplant candidate for my driveline I came a across an 01 xj with a mint body zero rust clean interior for cheep money. I picked it up for $1k with a blown rear end and 210k on the OD. I've swapped in my 4.5" lift, axles, sye, driveshafts and got her on the road again. She runs strong for the most part but I would love to swap my fresh block into her. So far form what information I can find I should be able to do this by getting a new 01 head, swapping out the distributor for the electronic ignition sending unit and the brackets for my accessories on the front.

Has anyone done a swap like this? Any tips or pointers would be awesome
Thanks guys

Rjmils

Yea that should be about it

NH01XJ

Anyone know it the parts listed can be easily swapped or require some modification? does the head need to be modified to fit a RENIX block? The cam position sensor will mesh with the 88 cam gear? All the cast bosses on the front of the block would be the same or easily modified for my 01 accessory brackets? I've tried to do my research before asking but I haven't found anyone swapping such an old block into a newer jeep.

Rockfrog

It's a different direction than most go, but it should all swap around fine. Only help I can offer is having a 99 intake on a 92 head on a 88 block, with 97 accessories, and another motor has 93 head and exhaust on a 00 block.
The bosses on the 88 matched the 94 so everything bolted up on both the 88 block, and the 00 block without issue.
Being that they both have the 7120 head casting... Kinda leads to it being a more or less direct swap.
I believe the 01 head would have locating dowels that would have to be removed before fitment to the 88 block. This could pose a minor issue. None of the previous heads used these, so not a major deal really. Just makes assembly a wee bit easier.
AFAIK the 01's cam sensor should simply drop in right where the 88's dizzy lived. The blocks remained mostly unchanged from 87-01 (some minor changes but nothing problematic). Hopefully someone else can chime in about whether the stud girdle on the 01 motor can be swapped to the 88 motor as that would help stiffen the 88 block. Not needed but always a plus.

NH01XJ

Awesome. I feel a bit more confident now. Rockfrog you really sound like you have some solid experience mix matching these parts. I've read up some about swapping 96-98 head onto the 01. Do you think that would be a good combo?
'88 block 96-98 head 01 electronics and fuel injection system? I think I read something about those heads being the strongest and had the best porting? Sounds similar to the set up you have.

Rockfrog

I used the 91-95 head for both my 00XJ build (suffered a cracked 0331 head back in 2005).
And again just last week when I put my MJ back on the road. Learned a lot mixing parts with both engines.
The only issues with the 01 electronics is having to keep the pre-cat dual manifolds, and the 02 sensor jungle (2 upstream, 2 midstream, and one downstream). It was easier on my Canadian 2000 as I did not have precats. The 01's computer will be looking for the front 4 02 sensor inputs so a PCM change may be needed to use the earlier head (the stock 01 exhaust won't fit the earlier heads). With a 50 States PCM swap that combo is doable. Otherwise you are limited to a 0331 casting (look for a 02+ 0331 TUPY casting).
Keeping your current stock head and pulling the dowels will get you going. But have yet to hear of a way around those precat setups.

NH01XJ

Yeah I want to avoid PCM changes. I'd like to keep things stock in that respect for now. Looks like Ill start looking for the Tupy head to start gasket matching and polishing up. Thanks for the help man I'll keep you updated on how things go. Maybe start a thread when things get moving