I am looking to do a motor swap to my 98 xj but I can't find any good 98 motors will a 96 xj swap into it okay? Or will there be problems swaping it over

 

That swap will work no problem. You might have to keep your 98 intake manifold/injectors, but otherwise it's a straight swap.

I'm halfway through swapping a 96 Grand Cherokee motor into my 2000 XJ, the long block is basically identical.

 

I've always thought a long block to include the head. The head on a 96 and 00 are not even close to being identical. Are you also swapping the intake and exhaust manifolds from the 96? I have to do a motor job on a 2001 and wanted to use an older motor but everything I've read is the short block ( meaning no head) are identical other than the bosses for bolting down the coil packs and i would have to swap my 2001 head over which is cracked and caused the original problem. I'd love to hear what you did to get it to work.

 

You're correct, I meant to say the shortblock's are identical. Either way, I'm using the longblock in my 2000 XJ. Really the only problem is the exhaust setup. The head design did change 2000/01, mainly that the exhaust ports got smaller to allow the precats to heat up faster. And the lack of bolt holes for the coil pack assembly, but I'm going to make brackets the just bolt to the valve cover studs.

My 2000 4.0 has 200k miles and had rod knock, and the head probably wasn't going to last much longer. So I'm using the whole 96 4.0 long block with my 2000 intake manifold, motor mounts, cam position sensor/synchronizer (in lieu of the 96's distributor), alternator/AC compressor brackets, etc. The stock 2000 exhaust header won't fit on my 96 head because the ports are bigger, so I bought an ebay header. For my build I'm planning to cut the precats out and weld a piece of pipe with a flange to meet the new ebay header. They do sell aftermarket headers that will bolt to the precats and have the larger exhaust ports.

Also the 2000 has 4 oxygen sensor (2 before precats, 2 after). I'm going to put 2 sensor bungs on the runners of the new header, and 2 more after the collector and space them out with spark plug nonfoulers. I'll still be running the big main cat, just not the 2 precats.

So all in all I'll have an identical shortblock, with an older head that has better exhaust flow, coupled with the 2000 intake manifold that flows better, and no distributor to mess with.

 

If you have emissions inspections in your state it will not pass because the cats have been modified and that's a big NO, NO.


Just FYI

 

I'm in NJ and we do have emissions, but what they check for are:

1. Visual inspection, which they will see the big main cat under the car (they don't do a visual engine bay inspection and even if you did you can't see the precats for ****)
2. Exhaust smoke
3. Check engine light on

So I think I'll be fine.

 

T.Mcginley.jr- Please keep posting on your project or better yet start a new thread. I'd love to here how it worked out and what tips and tricks you came up with to get it to work. I don't have a shop I can work out of so cutting and modifying the exhaust would be a stretch for me. I'd also love to get away from the smaller port head and use the older style but wasn't sure how much modifying I would have to do. I live in Vermont so emission isn't an issue up here either . . Yet.

 

I had been planning to make a build thread for a week or so now, I just got around to doing it:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/199...8/#post3136348

Sorry to thread jack!

 

To add to what Fred was saying, it is against forum rules to discuss removing any emissions component.

 

My bad, didn't realize that. Feel free the edit or delete my posts about that. They do make headers for this type of swap though, with larger exhaust ports for an older head AND two flanges to bolt right up to the stock precats.

 

Have a speed shop make you one.