Alright, I have a 93' YJ with the 2.5L 4 cylinder, and I already am finding I want a bigger engine. I'm wanting to run larger tires, looking into axle upgrades, and use it as my daily driver and a couple times a month need to go on the highway. Downshifting into 4th while the gas pedal is floored on the highway isn't my idea of a good time while going up hills.

Had I been smart and known about this beforehand, I might have held out buying my Jeep until I found a suitable 4L. But I didn't, and so now I need to go bigger. (Not right away, but I'm looking into this now because I know I want to do it in the future.)

I know many people have done all sorts of swaps. And I know it's not a one thing kind of deal. I'd have to look into axle's, transmission, transfer case... a lot of different things.

I know this is posted all over the place on people actually doing engine swaps. But I haven't really been able to find a place that has the information on various types of engine swaps and what people generally averaged for price.

If anyone also just has suggestions into certain engine swaps that worked really well, I'd also be interested in hearing about them.

I personally am not mechanically at the level to do an engine swap, and so I will most likely have to go to a shop for it. That's my big thing. I want to research and look into it as much as I can before I actually start gathering parts (which I know if I do I can get cheaper than if a shop tries finding them for me.)

Thanks in advance.

1. Price varies from city to city, part to part, vehicle to vehicle of donor/project....yadda yadda.

2. If this is not your daily driver......tear into it. It's a good way to learn. If it's your daily driver.....work overtime to buy a beater to drive.

3. "I need a shop." It's just an excuse. I've built mine in my driveway, so it can be done.

4. I was in the same boat. Bought a 4 banger. Hated it after driving it on the highway. Swapped in a 4.0L. Was a great upgrade. Then I went bigger with axles and tires.....and wished I'd done the SBC swap in the first place. It's all a progression, and learning experience for most....including me.

Other things to consider:

If you do a 4.0L swap, you can retain your stock driveline...i.e. axles.

If you do a larger V8 swap...your gonna want to upgrade axles at the same time.

This really comes down to how big your checkbook is. Figure out what kind of money your working with...then decide from there.

My examples for reference: 4.0L swap cost me about $1200 bucks. (cherokee complete for $500, and $700 in misc stuff)

The SBC 350 will end up costing around $2000 when all said and done.(same principle, good used blazer $800...misc will be the rest.)

You will need to swap trans. also . The AX5 will not handle more power. Go to the Novack web sight and read what options are out there.The kind of wheeling you want to do will detrmine the size motor.Sand and mud & big tires need HP, rocks need torque.

Ford FI 302, Ford T18. Smokin.

find yourself a good donor 4.0L/AX15 and swap in the whole chunk. be sure to get the computer from the donor, radiator, any and all accesories, and the exhaust if possible. You will probably have driveline issues, so figure in lengthening and shortening drivelines.

...I personally am not mechanically at the level to do an engine swap, and so I will most likely have to go to a shop for it.

In three words: Don't do this.

Save your money, sell the YJ, start looking for something that someone else has thrown their money into. They'll be happy to get $.30-$.50 on every $1.00 they put into it. I don't know what shops charge for labor out in your area, but nobody works 'cheap' or 'for beer' (unless they're your buddies).

Take the advice that others give, or ignore it. It is your decision. But there are a whole lot of people on this board that have spend tens of thousands of dollars building their Jeeps (I've dumped $40K into my project over 10 years-and it still isn't on the road/trail yet). Most of them know what they're talking about.

Hey, I work for beer :flipoff2:

I think that I probably will wait on this until I do save enough cash to buy a $500 beater to get around with for a little while on top of the expenses for the actual engine swap itself.

Right now I'm building my rig up. I plan on going for axle's first, and then going to tranny/transfer case after that is done.

I'm trying to increment it as much as my finances allow, while still not buying anything that won't be useful when I do actually have the time to make the swap.

The way I see it is that if I can build up, the engine isn't going to be my first choice in things to do, but it's down the line.

Right now I'm leaning toward going for a v8 when I have the chance. As I've said, I'm not in a rush to get this done, so I'm trying to research what switches are the simplest and most cost effective for the power.

I'm going to be looking around for an SM420 Tranny, because in my research I can look for one relatively inexpensively, and it seems like something I would be able to work with no matter what engine I would have. The granny low gearing will also help my torque with the 2.5L. And when I do swap a v8 in, it seems to be one of the preferred for that as well. (According to the Novac site).

I also have access to my grandfather's old Scout II which I'm going to have to take a look at next time I'm up in Vermont. Currently it's still running (poorly via the engine, but other things are intact) and I may end up trying to pull the axle's and doing a swap there. From my research at the moment, it's a pain because they are the wrong side pumpkin's, but it is a cost effective (if not work effective) switch for myself.

I figure I'll do the Scout D44 axle swap, SM420 Tranny, and a Dana 300 all at roughly the same time. I know that it's going to be a beast of a project, but it will be able to handle the V8 when I get to my next swap.

This topic I basically am trying to figure out what people are currently using, have swapped, or have seen that really works well.

I'm more of a rock guy than a mud guy. (Mud is fun and all, but rocks present more of a challenge).