Nitrous!!!

 

I would do a 4.0 or Stroker. I understand wanting to do something different (I love unique projects), but you should be realistic about how much money you are willing to throw at it and how much testing/experimenting you are willing to do.
Everything you need to drop a 4.0 block into it can be found at a junkyard (including the engine). Strokers dont have to be ridiculously expensive if you are careful about parts sourcing. The rest of your drive train would remain the same. With the gears you have, you would definitely notice the extra pep.
And I was only partially joking about the nitrous. If you are going to pull the engine anyway, might as well have a cheap 75 shot of fun while you end its life...
Just make sure your replacement engine is ready to go, first!

 

Hahaha that sounds awesome but, If i was going to drop a 4.0 id want a reniux and thats a very rare motor around here.. so i got the idea.. pull the 2.5 and bore it and do whatever else possible to it. I like the idea of nos but it would probably blow up more than this motor lol.

 

I'm pretty sure the 4.2 (258) head will bolt to the 4.0 block. It doesn't have as good a design as the 4.0 head, but you could build a carb'd stroker motor like that. That'd be unique. And cool.
If the head ports aren't different (I haven't looked into this), you could put a 4.2 carb'd intake on a 4.0 head. There is a lot more aftermarket support for the old 258's than you think. 4.2's are a dime a dozen too.
My CJ7 has a clifford aluminum intake, a weber carb, a HEI electronic ignition distributor, and a hooker header. I've often thought about building a hybrid stroker for my CJ.

 

I might look into that but what can i do to my 2.5?

 

I don't really have an answer for you there. The 2.5 also wasn't as popular on the XJ's as it was in Wranglers, and I have no experience with them.
You might have more luck asking those questions on a Wrangler forum. There are tons of carb'd 2.5L engines running around in YJ's. I bet those guys could point you in a few helpful directions.

 

Dont expect anything from the 2.5.

 

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To be honest,, not a whole lot. My first Jeep was an 84 Cherokee with a 4 popper. I ran into the same issues as you are now.

What I did

Hotter coil
Matching plugs
Best wires
New distributor,, (you can advance the timing too on the early ones I believe.)
Header and matching exhaust
And a HOLLEY 2 barrel. I think it was a 300CFM
I could NOT find any performance cam.
Port the intake and exhaust with a Dremel, use gun bluing to outline what needs to go from the intake and exhaust areas. And for cripes sake keep a shop vac sucking it all up as you do it.

And the MOST IMPORTANT THING I DID WAS

GEARING,,, I dropped a set of 4.56s into the 30 and the AMC20
Welded the rear and posi-locked the front (has disco for 4x4)

I only ran 29 inch Swampers and that damn thing would go anywhere man.
The ONLY reason that I do not have it now is that the unibody broke at the front. So I sold it and got a Wrangler.

 

So i ended up buying a 302.. hell yeah

 

Well - A much better engine choice than a 267. Lots of aftermarket support for sb Fords, but not much specific to Jeeps. You may have to use a lot of creativity to find workarounds.
I don't know your fab skills, but I hope you have a lot of determination, 'cause you are going to need it.
Be patient. Try to think things several steps ahead. Don't be afraid to redesign something you've already built. Try not let the little things (and there will be a lot of them) bog you down to the point of quitting.
When I got out of college, I DD'd an old Volvo 240 that I put a sb350/turbo 350 into. It wasn't 4wd, and getting the engine and tranny in was the easy part.
It can be done. Good luck!

 

Yeah it came with full EFI manifold, wiring harness and every part in between.. debating if i want to make it carb or efi

 

Hey buddy im going to start posting pictures soon