you dont have to spend 2 grand, i spent $1200 and am pretty satisfied.

Bilstein 7100s may do you just fine.
Or pony up and drop the $ for 9100s.

The first two on the list look like they're just standard stroker engines. The third, "boosted" long block looks like it's purpose built to handle a turbo or sc.

My Xj has a 4.6 stroker, and its a great improvement over a 4.0 and even with 4.56 gears and 35s it still has some pep, however, the only reason it was built was due to a previous accident. I would never take apart a perfectly good 4.0, a motor design thats been around since the mid 60s. Don't expect a big, heavy, box shaped object to be a fast race vehicle. Jeepin is a pay to play hobby. That being said, budget builds are the root of the hobby. Once your budget is decided, do some research and set some goals. Plan on overspending 20-30% to complete your goals and do everything correctly. Good luck with your build!

I fully support a well put together internal cage. of the 3 (tnt ruffstuff and HD?) companies who make frame stiffeners, TNT would be by far my last choice. go look at HDOffroadengineering. they use thinner 10ga steel but claim that it is much stronger because of all the rossette holes and that you can properly attach it to the frame. which makes sense. TNT only gets welded on to the very edges of the frame. HDO and ruffstuff get welded on in many places

personally:

HDO/ruffstuff > tnt

Why do you say even With? 4.56 is plenty of gearing for 35s...

Oh, answer plan on spending 20-30% more, but plan on it being about 200% harder to do than you thought.

I guess I did a poor job of explaining that. With all the added weight of a bumpers, roof rack, electronics, winch, steel rockers, unibody stiffeners, etc. 35s and rims are very heavy as well. The 4.56s put it back to what i would call 'near' stock performance, and then figure in the gains of the extra torque. My main point is it's no sports car, were modifying moving boxes with antique, but excellent, engine design.

eh....

what did you go with? i obviously want the best bang for my buck! is there really a 1000 dollar difference between Bilsteins and Kings? i cant imagine there is THAT MUCH you can do to a shock...

damn, so the one that is SC capable is also the most expensive...it was like $4200? i could always do the standard for 3500. i have full confidence that it wont blow up if i throw a SC on it later!

Yeah I'm sure a fresh 4.6 could handle a little bit of boost but probably no more than 8lbs.

oh yeah i don't plan on doing 4.56 and 35's...i think i have settled on 4.10 gears maybe even 3.73, a 4 inch lift and 32's. that's still a good road driver but can also be badass offroad! and it will look killer And yea a Cherokee is about as aero dynamic as a brick but they can still move pretty fast! and are super capable so if you take the already capable frame/chassis/drive-train and beef it up and put more power behind it you have arguably one of the best SUV on the planet...even at 12+ years old! yeah my total budget is 7-8k so that is about 4-5k for parts (i still need to buy a nice Cherokee to build just waiting for the right one to hit CL haha) ...thanks though! i really appreciate your input and would love some guidance if you have to offer it

THNAKYOU! stuff like that is want i need to know! i had no idea and i will definitely be looking into HDO and a roll cage is sounding better and better i might just buckle down and do it! i still want to keep it as low key as possible. but i will NOT sacrifice safety for vanity! so i wanna find a nice happy medium! could i do a roll cage to where it actually will fit under the stock trim? take all the trim off, cage it, put all the trim back on? that would be awesome!

i'm only panning on ever running 5-6lbs of boost. more than that is to much stress on the engine.

Why are you stuck on 8 lbs ?

My stock bottom end 90 eclipse was daily driven at 12 PSI and turned up to 16 psi on the weekends . You have mentioned several times about 8 psi.
I have noticed in this whole debacle about building a huffed engine or adding a blower or super charger you make no mention of any kind of fuel mods or a way to control it all ie fuel or timing. Please enlighten us all to your knowledge of boosted cars . I have had a few but by no means am I an expert.