Motor Swap conversion to EFI

[CJNewbie]

I am ready to start looking for a 4.0l with all the accessories on it. I would like to find a vehicle that still has everything for me to pillage. The problem I have is that I have never done this before so I have no idea where to start looking. I would also like to get opinions on what you all think is a reasonable fair price for the motor, wiring harness and computer so I don't get jacked on a price from someone who thinks they are selling me a gold bar.

Thanks
Chris

[Zak.Taylor]

hey bud, if I were going to do what you are looking to do, I'd go one of two ways with this.....either get a chevy 350 powered vehicle with 4x4 and auto, and swap Engine, trans and T-case (if its ride side drop). You can find late 80's suburbans for like 1000 bucks if they have back tags and whatnot.

Or....get a wrecked Cherokee with auto if you are dead set on the 4.0L and put the engine, trans and t-case in from that. The idea of buying the complete vehicle is that you will have ALL of the associated parts, not just what the seller thought you might need, including wiring, shifters, pedals, etc. YOu can part out or sell the leftovers and recoup some cost. Cherokees that run can often be found for under a grand if it has body damage or back tags.

A third option is to do the Junkyard EFI conversion on your 258, which Lake v2 (matt) knows how to do, or to upgrade the carb, head and ignition on your 258 (what i'm doing with my 89 YJ with 258.

I'd say that carb, head and ignition upgrade is simplest and cheapest and will net you about the same performance as the 4.0L swap. The chevy 350 would be most involved but still reasonably priced, and net you the most power, the 4.0L swap would be moderately difficult and require your Jeep to be down for a few weeks, the Junkyard TBI upgrade, coupled with an HEI distributor upgrade would give you great performance, and be doable in a weekend once you have the parts. I'm not professional mechanic, but I've read up on a few of these things and I chose to go with carb, HEI and later, the head swap (if i still have it) because of simplicity, cost and performance.

Consider your skills, need to be able to drive the jeep, support and assistance resources and how much you can/want to spend and we'll help you get from A to B.

Good luck.
Zak

[CJNewbie]

Thanks for the response. I wanted the 4.0l because it should bolt in to the existing mounts. I also want the fuel injection mostly the mpi setup on the later models. I am comfortable wrenching but the electrical gets me sometimes. I would also like to keep the transmission and tcase(NP435 & D300 with 4:1 gears). It not even close to a daily driver so this can sit idle for a month or more if needed. I just need to know where to look for the parts.

[Zak.Taylor]

Sounds like you've got a good plan. I'd still recommend getting a complete, running rig so you have all the odds and ends and can take pics of how the electrical and all is supposed to look before u pull it. I've got a cherrypicker you can borrow too.

[CJNewbie]

Ok thanks for the info I will look around and see what I can find. Might be even make a trade with someone, I will need a place to store if anyone might want the axles and trans and t-case or any of the other parts on the donor vehicle.

[Zak.Taylor]

I want the trans and t-case. U can park it at my place as long as the body isn't destroyed. What side of town do you live on?

[CJNewbie]

I live off 7th standard and airport. I will start looking and when I find a good donor I will let you know.

[CJNewbie]

Is there a specific year range I should look for?

[abendx]

Propane?

[REDxj5150]

you had a 258 or 4.2l in your cj right? I'd like the crank out of that.

[CJNewbie]

Yeah I was thinking of saving the crank for a stroker motor but I might know where another one is.

[Codytaylor92]

my cj has a motor swap from a 4.0 91 tj, the guy before me had it installed but it could give you something to go off of at the least.

[abendx]

My suggestion was serious. No more carb issues!! WIll run upside down!! Easy conversion!!! Even a redneck could do it!!!

I am no expert, so take the twenty minutes and do a little reading. You might be surprised how nice propane is and the biggest downside I recall was insuring you could get fuel for cheap as buying a 20# cylinder from HD would get expensive fast.

[CJNewbie]

Thanks for the propane suggestion. I did some reading and the benifits are nice but i would need to build a motor with higher compressio to take full affect of the propane fuel. The mpg is usually lower and finding fuel could be hard at certain times. Plus i would lose all "trunk" space. The good side is cooler temps and runs better than most fuel injection and burns very clean. IMO the cost of the kit and a good tank would be slightly less than a 4.0 swap if i find the right deal.

[Zak.Taylor]

Propane sounds cool, but I can understand your reasons for avoiding it.

Idk though, seems like once you have all that money into the CJ for motor swap, trans and all that, you could have bought a 4.0L TJ or definitely a YJ.

However, if you are going to keep it for a long time, then spend the cash and enjoy building your Jeep.

[CJNewbie]

I have wanted a CJ since I was a kid a I also like to take it hunting. It's nice to be able to wash the mud out of the inside and my ultimate goal is to have a nearly trouble free CJ thats easy to drive. I do plan keeping this for a long time. I would ultimately like to also have a tj for a nice toy.

[Zak.Taylor]

I got a TJ for sale! I just did the motocraft carb swap on my 258 and it runs great. Plenty of power with 37's