Mike243

Hey guys new here but I've been around jeeps for a while. I recently bought a 2001 cherokee rust free with 78,000 miles.. it had a bad head so I bought a updated castings head for it and I just found out the engine ate the rings in cylinder 3. Anyway my neighbor has a 1998 wrangler (tj) with the 4.0 with low miles.


So my question is.. is the Block the same and will it bolt up. I know some blocks were different in certain years. One thing I noticed is the clutch fan is centered mounted on the water pump on the wrangler and not off to the side like the cherokee... so will a 98 wrangler 4.0 bolt up in a cherokee. I will be using my new head and everything just need the block

Mike243

BTW I did do research but I was having a hard time finding the answer. Thanks

bryweb

I have not done the exact swap, so mine is an educated guess.

If you go to Ebay and search 98 Jeep Wrangler 4.0 complete engines you will see most of them state the compatible list as follows;

WRANGLER 1997 - 1998 6-242 (4.0L, VIN S)
CHEROKEE 1996 - 1998 6-242 (4.0L, VIN S)

Now I have done (3) 1996-1998 Cherokee Motor Swaps into 2000-01 Cherokee's and this is what I have learned

1) The older heads 0720 & 0630 have bigger exhaust ports than the 00-01 Cherokee 0331 head, so the 00-01 Exhaust manifold will not cover the exhaust ports MOST of the time, Some have gotten away with the gasket covering the exhaust port hole (YUCK), but I have always purchased a $140ish dollar "2000 Jeep 4.0L Stainless Header" from eBay (I always had the two precats off the exhaust manifold, rarely you don't) . And as a suggestion from a Drag Racing buddy I used Permatex Copper RTV on both sides of the gasket. Warning the bottom 2 middle bolts on the new exhaust header are a PAIN to get to and tighten.... be patient....

2) Mount your 00-01 intake and all its sensors on the new motor.

3) You need to (2) brackets to support the "Coil Rail" as that head will not have theaded bolts holes to mount it, I always cut off the bottom 1/4" of the bolt sleeves at the head on the coil so I can put a bolt upward to mount it (see below), then found Chevy Starter Shims make great brackets to the valve cover studs. (the last motor swap I did the Viper Coil Jeep 4.0L Swap because I hate them coil rails)

4) Where the distributor is, the Cam Sensor will now go, use a toothpick threw the setup hole, put the engine at Top Dead Center, then install the Cam Sensor in (see below), you are suppose to have the Cam Sensor set with a Jeep Dealer Computer, but I never have had too, I always do it by ear as I did with Distributors (It actually sets the time of the injectors, not spark like a distributor)

5) Change the water pump as you already mentioned (only a TJ motor thing)

PS: Exhaust Header, Neon Injectors Swap, and a cowl or cold air intake, and removing the cat (not precats) and an better muffler pep the motors up nicely.

I linked reference to most things above (underlined). If you have any questions feel free to hollar, good luck.

XJwonders

Yes it would bolt up. Like the guy above said, change the water pump to the XJ one. U may need to change some accessories around too