2.5 Info Request

[deziped]

87 MJ w/2.5 & 4 spd just bit the dust. Has lots of miles on it, & the eng been for a couple years rattling bad fr timing chain & all other moving parts. It's wore out, as in dead. My question; what other year 2.5's long block will swap in (cherokee, wrangler, yj, etc.)without to much hassel. Like I don't want to be swapping ECU's etc. Would it be better to use a later short block and bolt on the 87 head (after rebuild) & other bracketry. The point being, this thing is a stock MJ & we want to keep it that way. But we need a repl to run in it while rebuilding the old 2.5 if its salvageable. Avidly awaiting adice of 2.5 CC tech guru's. :idea:

[Pete M]

As far as I know, any 2.5L short-block from an MJ/XJ/YJ/TJ will work just fine.

[tjbliley]

That is correct. All the changes came in the top end over the years.

[Eagle]

As far as I know, any 2.5L short-block from an MJ/XJ/YJ/TJ will work just fine.

But he asked about long block.

 

The 2.5L got the TBI starting in 1986, a year before the 4.0L came along, and like the 4.0L went to the Chrysler injection system starting in 1991. So the direct swaps for an '87 would be 1986 thru 1990.

[tjbliley]

Sorry I was talking about the short block question. He asked about the short block and using the same year head. The block did not change configuration, but the top end, head, manifolds and such changed over the years. . I should have been more specific in my response.

[deziped]

Thank you guru gents, thats the info I was looking for. I think I'll pull the head have it rebuilt and standing by so "if needed" I can glue it to the best , compression wise, block I can find locally. An extra head on the shelf never hurts, esprcially when you run these things wide open to get up the hill or stay with traffic. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: