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2.5L to 4.0L Swap


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that would vary wildly with the owner's experience and how many hours they can give it each day.  There are guys out there that have torn apart so many Jeeps that I'd wager they could do it in a long weekend. :D for the rest of us mere mortals, it'll take weeks. 

 

also, you'll be swapping just about EVERYTHING from one to the other, not just motors.  :L:  wiring, trans, etc.

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This swap isnt just the motor.... it is the motor, the trans, the engine harness, the dash harness, driveshafts, mounts, crossmembers and a dozen other things I can't think of. A complete donor with a side by side swap would be best, even then you may still need to modify the wiring and rear driveshaft depending upon donor vehicle.

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So i have an 86 jeep and an 88. The 86 has a 2.5L and the 88 has a 4.0L. so I'm going to swap the 2.5 to the 88 and the 4.0l to the 86 and both of them run. so i have a complete donor vehicle. just wondering. both have the same transmission in them I'm pretty sure. what do you guys think?

 

 

Thanks

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I may be wrong on this, but the 86 firewall is not made to accommodate the 4.0L engine. So you would need some serious fab skills to make that work, not that it can't be done of course. Also I don't think the motors mated to the same transmission (assuming automatic?). If they are manuals then I know they are not the same transmission.

 

Anything is possible with time and money. Just may not be the easiest or fastest. What is the final plan here? or the reason for the swap?

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the 4.0 and 2.5 do not share transmission bolt patterns. 

 

the firewall of the 86 has been clearanced by some guys with a large hammer.  :L:  plus some of the late year 86s have the newer firewall already.  it's the upper radiator mount and hood latch locations that are the real pain to swap. :( 

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the reason for the swap?? hmmm?? well sentimental value tbh on my 86. its the jeep yellow comanche and i love the thing. just redid the interior on it and wanted something with more umf then that 2.5L any suggestions on what would be eaiser??

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20 hours ago, JustEmptyEveryPocket said:

I may be wrong on this, but the 86 firewall is not made to accommodate the 4.0L engine. So you would need some serious fab skills to make that work, not that it can't be done of course. Also I don't think the motors mated to the same transmission (assuming automatic?). If they are manuals then I know they are not the same transmission.

 

Anything is possible with time and money. Just may not be the easiest or fastest. What is the final plan here? or the reason for the swap?

 

Some 2.5's did have AW4's behind them, but they require a different bellhousing and torque convertor than the 4.0 version.  But, I've always read (and seen) those to be limited to the 87-89/90 model years, although anything theoretically was possible to order way back then :laugh:

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4 hours ago, TapyMJ said:

the reason for the swap?? hmmm?? well sentimental value tbh on my 86. its the jeep yellow comanche and i love the thing. just redid the interior on it and wanted something with more umf then that 2.5L any suggestions on what would be eaiser??

 

gearing is your best bang for the buck. :L:   what size tires do you have?

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  • 5 months later...
On ‎1‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 10:16 AM, TapyMJ said:

yea gearing would be a good idea. but i want more horsepower I like the gear idea though. its just stock tire size that i have. not planning on going any bigger at the moment.

I have a 2.5 with 5.13s and 35s. It did great in every gear except 5th gear of the ax15. It doesn't like 5th gear not enough power. But that was before my wiring harness fried itself. I'm tempted to run d44s or something similar to get deeper gears in the axles 5.38s 5.71s 6.17s :rolleyes:

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