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What do you guys prefer in your offroad setup? Small and or generally unpowered engines with lots of gearing? or more like ultra 4 car with lots of power on tap? do you try to balance the two? I know it mainly depends on wheeling style/terrain and a few different factors. I am biased to the over geared portion of our conversation cause technical wheeling with a 5spd has its challenges and the more gearing the easier it is to not stall and have to be slipping the clutch all the time. I am considering doing an engine swap on my mj to more so balance the two. My doubler takes all the work offroad so I don't necessarily need more power there but highway driving the rig could use some help. No I don't want to make this a trail rig only, I would like do to ultimate adventure one day or something similar so maintaining highway speed is a must. Theres three engines I'm considering, technically 4 if you consider a reman 4.0l, but that's besides the point. -4.6/4.7 stroker -LM7/LQ9 Ls swap -Ford 2.3 ecoboost Theres pros and cons to each and we can get into it more. Just wanted to hear yalls thoughts

Hi all! I wanted to start a build thread for the 4.0 stroker build that I've started to get input and advice as I'm going along. I'm learning as I go and it would make me feel a lot more comfortable if people with more experience looked through what I'm doin. My intended use for the truck is a dd, something with more power and just to make it really really cool. So getting into it.... Starting with a 1989 MJ with a tired 4.0 with a blown head gasket and high oil pressure. 5 speed to a ford 8.8 in back. The motor is completely ready to come out at the moment, gonna pull it in a few days. Right now I'm thinking ill do away with the whole old motor completely and get a HO head and an NVH block (plenty of XJs in nearby junkyards to look through). HO head over edlebrock because of the price. For the stroker part of it I'm gonna do the 4.2L crank and rod swap. I'm aware that ill need dished pistons with a different pin height for this setup. Probably gonna bore it to 30 or 40 over. Gonna need my engineering school friends to help me with compression ratio maths lol. Valvetrain/airflow: I'm gonna have my head ported and MAYBE do some LS valves to let it breathe, and a cam to make it breathe. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about cams but that sh*t is sooo confusing so any advise on resources to help pick a cam would be much appreciated. Ill do hydraulic lifters with the little oil hole in them and roller rockers. Port matched HO intake with a bigger throttle body and 1 inch spacer under the TB. 24# injectors. As for wiring and electrics I think I'm leaning towards replacing the whole Renix harness with the HO harness instead of getting my current wiring to work. If I'm gonna put this much into the performance of my motor I want the best wiring I can to use all its available potential. Something I am curious about is whether I should stick with the distributor or go with the coils from the early 2000s XJs, any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Other miscellaneous things: -high flow water pump with high flow thermostat and housing -high flow oil pump with a oil warmer/cooler box from Hesco Other things I'm thinking about: -could I get any more performance with a custom intake manifold or is the stock HO intake that's been port matched pretty optimal? -electric vacuum pump to tidy things up in the engine bay and not have to worry about low pressure at idle? -is a cold air intake a good idea or is that stupid? -oil catch can? Ill be posting more updates as I figure more stuff out and progress in the build. IMG_0239.HEIC IMG_0241.HEIC

Hey all thanks for letting me join your group of misfits. Got my 88 Manche Pioneer on a trade, was in better shape than my 87 Manche so I sold it, and my parts Cherokee. So now here I am digging into Big Red. Live in Gig Harbor, WA. That's it for now.

Ok so i have a plan here and i need information, parts suggestions, or technical help. I appreciate everything i can get on this odd thought of mine. SO i just got a Chrysler 360 V8 from a family friend. I was going to swap my I-6 with this but i need to know if the make an adapter plate for the AX-15,or if the motor will bolt right up to my AX-15 trans, or if i would be better of swapping engine trans and all. I really need to get a better understanding of how this can all workout before i jump into it headfirst and pocket book at the ready. so if anyone could get me technical info, advice, or parts lists. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you Keep On Jeepin On~ T.C.G

So my engine just quit on me. Anyone know a good place to buy a re manufactured one for a 1989 4cylinder??

I have swapped a gm 4.3 into my 86 MJ. I used the Novak motor mounts and redrilled my factory transmission support/ crossmember. I have plenty of clearance at the front of the engine and I'm looking for advice on the radiator. The radiator had over 280,000 miles on it when the 2.8 finally went. I've already dropped in the 4.3, mated 700r4 and 231C from a gmc s15 jimmy. Will the stock style 2.8 radiator cool the 4.3 or will I need to upgrade? If I change to the 87 up radiator, will I have to change my hood latch/ front end? Thanks for the help!

Will a I-6 and auto tranny from a 2006 LJ work in my '87 MJ? I'm told there might be some electronic concerns that would make it a pain. Have any of you performed this swap? Thanks, Doug

Ok guys, let me start off by saying that I'm swapping from a 2.5L/AX4/NP207 to a 4.0L/AX15 (external slave)/NP231 or NP242 (not sure which yet). Past few nights, I've been working on tearing out the 2.5 in my '86. I have a '90 XJ with AW4 as my donor. However, lets forget about it being an '86 for a second because I have a few general questions about the 2.5 to 4.0 swap that I haven't quite been able to find in the vastness that is the interwebz... Here goes (they'll be more as issues arise): On the AX4/5 equipped MJs, the end of the exhaust downpipe, where it stops just behind the transmission crossmember, I know that it won't work when I move the crossmember back for the AX15. My question is, can I or do I use the downpipe from the XJ donor, or will that not work either due to length? If not, what would be the best way to remedy this? Next, I know that I need to upgrade the fuel pump when going from TBI to MPI. With that also comes replacing all the rubber lines with high pressure fuel injection line. My question in regards to this is, can I reuse the steel lines that are currently under my MJ or would I/could I use the lines from the donor XJ? Also, since we're on fuel pumps for the moment, will the fuel pump and fuel level floater (fuel sender assembly I guess it's called) interchange between the XJ and MJ tank? Will there be any wiring issues or is this not a concern since they're both Renix? Now, when I get ready to remove the drivetrain, I plan to remove the engine, tranny and transfer case all in one shot. How do I remove the AX4's "stick" or shifter arm to clear the belly of the beast? My MJ sits at stock height and I have only 2.5 ton jacks to work with here. Also, will the transfer case shifter linkages work when going from the 207 to the 231/242? I also should note that I have the shifter handle, linkages and brackets from the '96 XJ that the AX15 came out of. (Don't have the transfer case though.) Forgot to add, with the added weight of the engine, will I need to grab some 4.0 coils or will the 2.5 coils suffice? On a random note, I think my AX4 is an external slave setup. I was under the impression that early AX4's were internal slaves. But, the PO did say the engine was from a later model Wrangler. Perhaps the AX4 came from the same Wrangler? Just a guess.