96/93xj

I currently have a 1996 XJ with 150K miles on it and a 5 speed trans. Unfortunately it was in an accident before I bought it and the front passenger side is destroyed beyond any repair I can do myself. I've been looking at parts cars with solid frames that I could swap my engine and trans into as well as a few other odds and ends like the seats and radio and the like. Is it a good idea to buy a second jeep (1993 for $500) and to swap the engines and trans? I plan to sell the old engine and trans as well as the interior and axels after I'm done with them to make up some of the money I lost in buying a parts car. I've never done this before but from what I've read it seems fairly straight forward and I have experience in other areas of working on the jeep. Overall I'm just wondering if theres anything to look out for that would make this a bad decision or would it be simple enough for me to do.

I have access to an engine crane and engine hoist as well as near limitless tools so just removing and replacing the engine wouldn't be too difficult the only worry I have is if I have to do any fabrication work or if I have to make any major changes to the engine itself.

00t444e

Sounds like a good idea to me, I got a wrecked jeep for 300 that I pulled the engine and transmission, along with a few other things so I could have spares for my jeep, and I scrapped it for $120.

kyle96xj

I actually used to have a 96 and currently have a 93, from what I remember the only concernable differences are;

there are some slight changes with engine bay wiring, so you should probably at least hang on to your 96's harnesses, not entirely sure if you would need to swap.

the fuel system on the 96 uses a different fuel pressure regulator and sending unit, the pump might be the same idk, but the FPR is different, on the 96 the FPR is inside the tank and there is no fuel return line, unlike the 93 where there is a fuel return line and the FPR is on the fuel rail in the engine bay. You could probably just keep the fuel system with on the 93, I think the injectors have the same performance so it should work with 96 engine, definitely look into that.

the 96 has an external slave cylinder on the transmission, the 93 is internal, you want the external, plus you probably want your transmission out of the 96, so you might have to swap the lines going to the master along with it.

the 93 only has one O2 sensor, downstream of the cat, whereas the 96 has two, one after the collector and one after the cat, I'm not if that makes any difference

that's all I can think of that would be pertinent to your scenario
edit; the seats are quite different between the two, I couldn't say for sure but I doubt they'd swap straight over, the 93 has much better designed and more comfortable seats IMO, at least mine did.