To start over, or not to start over..?

[OhJeepers]

I've been building my 1990 Laredo XJ for about 7 months now. It has upgrades like 8in full custom lift with custom fabed long arms with hiem joints not johny joints, 8 in sky jacker coils, 6.5in rough country leafs with tera flex revolver shackles, front high pinion D30 with D44 30 spline chromy shafts ARB air locker, high steer knuckles, cross over steering, 1.75 in wheel spacers up front, 1.25 wheel spacers in the rear, dual cylinder big bore disc brakes, rough country crossmember, ford 8.8 rear end with a detroit solid locker, 4.10 gears all around, disc brakes in rear, 37.5 pitbull rockers on Pro comp D hole steel rims, twim electric fans an lots more add ons but my xj is lacking in shine department.

I love my Cherokee as it is, it crawls damn near what ever I put in front of them rockers... BUT I'm begining to hate the renix motor more an more and all the problems that come with it. I was wondering what every one thinks I could get for my jeep if I were to sell it and start over? Also what year XJ is the best in your opinions? I'm also...(goes to get a lot of hell for this).. but thinking about a TJ or an LJ. I would just do a motor swap but I lack that kinda of money and resources.

[Mudderoy]

I've been building my 1990 Laredo XJ for about 7 months now. It has upgrades like 8in full custom lift with custom fabed long arms with hiem joints not johny joints, 8 in sky jacker coils, 6.5in rough country leafs with tera flex revolver shackles, front high pinion D30 with D44 30 spline chromy shafts ARB air locker, high steer knuckles, cross over steering, 1.75 in wheel spacers up front, 1.25 wheel spacers in the rear, dual cylinder big bore disc brakes, rough country crossmember, ford 8.8 rear end with a detroit solid locker, 4.10 gears all around, disc brakes in rear, 37.5 pitbull rockers on Pro comp D hole steel rims, twim electric fans an lots more add ons but my xj is lacking in shine department.

I love my Cherokee as it is, it crawls damn near what ever I put in front of them rockers... BUT I'm begining to hate the renix motor more an more and all the problems that come with it. I was wondering what every one thinks I could get for my jeep if I were to sell it and start over? Also what year XJ is the best in your opinions? I'm also...(goes to get a lot of hell for this).. but thinking about a TJ or an LJ. I would just do a motor swap but I lack that kinda of money and resources.

I'm assuming you'd move all the goodies over. I personally hate working on my Jeep. I'm more of a drive and enjoy kind of person. Sure I like being the one that installed the stuff, I just don't look forward to doing it, nor while I'm in the middle of it. Done is great! Also it's cheaper and I know the job was done the way I wanted it done. Notice I didn't say right? Sometimes it's a learning experience. :D

I think the BEST year was the 1999 Jeep XJ. I personally like the styling on the 97+ models, but I'm sure that's because my first entry into the Jeep Cherokee market was the 1998 that I have now.

If you decide to stay with the XJ then I'd get a 1999 with as many of the factory goodies as you could find and as low mileage as you could get, then start moving everything over.

[4.3LXJ]

Sounds to me like you are arriving. But if the engine design has you in a pickle, why not put in a OBDI era HO motor? It would bolt in and be less trouble than changing all that stuff over.

[OhJeepers]

Everything is a toss up off just idea's in my head. I would love to just swap for a high output, trust me I wanna take the h/o out of my step dads 2000 grand cherokee sooooo bad that thing is a b/a motor. But I dont have any of the resourses to do a full motor swap. Mudder, funny you mention that a 99 is for sale down the road with only 120k on it.. i think maybe less. It's owned by a little old man who never leaves his house.

[OrangeXJ]

I've been building my 1990 Laredo XJ for about 7 months now. It has upgrades like 8in full custom lift with custom fabed long arms with hiem joints not johny joints, 8 in sky jacker coils, 6.5in rough country leafs with tera flex revolver shackles, front high pinion D30 with D44 30 spline chromy shafts ARB air locker, high steer knuckles, cross over steering, 1.75 in wheel spacers up front, 1.25 wheel spacers in the rear, dual cylinder big bore disc brakes, rough country crossmember, ford 8.8 rear end with a detroit solid locker, 4.10 gears all around, disc brakes in rear, 37.5 pitbull rockers on Pro comp D hole steel rims, twim electric fans an lots more add ons but my xj is lacking in shine department.

I love my Cherokee as it is, it crawls damn near what ever I put in front of them rockers... BUT I'm begining to hate the renix motor more an more and all the problems that come with it. I was wondering what every one thinks I could get for my jeep if I were to sell it and start over? Also what year XJ is the best in your opinions? I'm also...(goes to get a lot of hell for this).. but thinking about a TJ or an LJ. I would just do a motor swap but I lack that kinda of money and resources.

You will not catch hell for having a TJ I sold my XJ and got a TJ and so did Cantab27. Muddy even has one. But back to your question I would swap motors. It would be quicker than buying another XJ and swaping stuff over.

[saar]

I know that when I start to think like that on a car, I replace it very soon...
I think you already know what is the answer (or at least what you would like us to say... :) )
As mentioned before, I think 99 is the best model.
Saar.

[denverd1]

Wild :ass: guess..... 7-10K?

just based on what I saw while jeep shopping... great rig you've built BTW

[OhJeepers]

Thank you took a lot of time... I had it for 5k an people laughed at me when I told them how much. I live in south west florida so ever one muds, no one rock crawls, I know three other guys who I wheel with thats it. So my jeep is kinda over looked due to it not having a huge lift huge tires and a big block :P

[denverd1]

yea, its always gonna be a high mileage vehicle with a bunch of upgrades that "you can't get your money out of when you sell.." Oh well. I love these things..

I figured a quick way to get some real life results was to search ebays completed auctions. most are in the 3-6K range, but I did find one that stood out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MONSTER-JAM-LIFTED-SHOW-TRUCK-STREET-LEGAL-OVER-THOUSANDS-INVESTED-4X4-/250976523958?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3a6f5dd6b6

wouldn't you know it? a low mileage '99....
here's a link to the search results page too.
http://motors.completed.shop.ebay.com/Cars-Trucks-/6001/i.html?LH_Complete=1&_nkw=lifted+jeep+cherokee&_gcs=13&_ipg=50&_pcats=6000&_sofindtype=22&_sop=1&_trksid=p4853&_rdc=2

[denverd1]

and another...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230737582753%3F_trksid%3Dp4340.m748&viewitem=&_trkparms=clkid%3D6051867396183748954#ht_500wt_11

maybe you just need to put MONSTER in the title! :D

maybe put it on craigslist in bama/georgia area. Lots of crawling and "rock bouncing" north of you in tennesee too.

[OhJeepers]

I have been looking like all day off an on but I can't find anything like as built as mine or other I see on here. I feel like my jeep will be the only one able to make me happy with how it performs an how its built.

[Brasscatz]

Which resources do you lack for the motor swap? If it's a cherry picker, you can rent one from ACE Hardware. I did that for my old Chevy truck. Removed the motor with a few buddies, returned the picker, built the new long block, rented picker again, put the new one in! That was several years ago, but rental was around $30-$40 a day if I remember correctly. I know money is an issue, I'm there myself, but maybe if/when you can save up enough you could get one. I always see somebody parting out a rolled/wrecked xj on craigslist, so that could be an option for a motor too.

Only reason I suggest this route over selling, is because your Jeep is NICE. You put so much time and effort into it... not to mention money, and that is hard to replace. I put $8k into that Chevy and with only 2,000 miles on it I couldn't even sell it for $4k. Then it was stolen and was a total loss anyways.

[OhJeepers]

Brasscatz you have a great point.. I guess it would be possible if I saved up an set my mind to it. Although with a motor swap in mind does any one think it possible to swap in a new motor... example SRT8 hemi, new I6 h/o like out of a grand cherokee or a patriot etc. Not necessarily a brand new one but was just using those as an example.

[bigjim350]

Dont try to sell it. its not worth the time. Ive had mine listed for a while between 2500 and 3500 ..no real offers yet. I too am wanting to start over and build something that is not so "trial rig" and is more "road friendly"

[OhJeepers]

I can understand that, I just want a better motor. Eventually this XJ or what ever I have will come off the road an become a buggy of some sort an I will have a truck an trailer so I'm not worried about road friendly

[bigjim350]

Yeah I have a truck and trailer too, but it sure would be nice to cruise around in it on the weekends. That way I could hang out at the mall with tony :D

[OhJeepers]

Nice, but there's trails every where were I live so I can take trails to buddies houses if I really want, an every things pretty close to any where I'd wanna go.

[Brasscatz]

I have regretted selling my Trans Am that I restored, my first car (funny little Nissan Pulsar purely for sentimental reasons), and I regret trying to sell my truck. I basically advertised how awesome it was to whomever stole it! You will regret getting rid of this one. You have one issue... motor, as opposed to having to do all the things to your next Jeep to make it how you want it ;)

Yes, you can swap in any motor you want. There are a lot of people that put chevy vortec motors in their XJs. The only issue is that you will spend more money on making modifications to make them work. I understand the desire for the newest Cherokee motors, but there will be some modifications needed to make those work as well. That's probably the route I would go though if it were me. It'll just take some research on what's needed for the upgrade.

[OhJeepers]

Has any one on here done a swap with a newer model motor? Or is there a write up on a motor swap?

[denverd1]

idk anything about renix motors, but couldn't' you upgrade the 4.0 ya got? Cam, intake, etc?

[4.3LXJ]

Brasscatz you have a great point.. I guess it would be possible if I saved up an set my mind to it. Although with a motor swap in mind does any one think it possible to swap in a new motor... example SRT8 hemi, new I6 h/o like out of a grand cherokee or a patriot etc. Not necessarily a brand new one but was just using those as an example.

If you are going to do something like that, stick with Chevy. But you end up changing a lot of stuff. Trust me on that. Been there. But happy with my swap though. But I have spent a lot of hours getting it just right.

[bluedragon436]

Honestly if I were you, I would pick up a 4.0 out of a newer XJ.. I would look into picking up the trans and TC out of the same newer XJ, which I can picked up from a JY usually pretty decent price.. Get the full wiring harness and ECM/TCM from the newer XJ.. then you have a newer drivetrain in your older XJ that you are happy with how it is setup already.. You already know that the XJ is setup the way you want, just not happy with the engine.. so just upgrade the issue as you have already upgraded the issues/ or things you didn't like before.. Even if nothing else convert yours over to the OBD1 engine of the 91 model, and maybe even do a budget stroker while you have it out.. Like it was said before you can rent the tools that you may be lacking like an engine hoist, trans jack or even tall jackstands from just about any major auto parts store..

[LizardRunner]

If you're willing to do the work involved you could put any motor in there that you wanted to. ( I measured my engine compartment and do believe my 350/350 corvette motor will fit should I want to go that route.) Sticking with a 4L HO just makes the swap much easier since your motor mounts will likely be in the right places already and you won't have any fab work for tranny/tc mounting. The electrics will be easier to hook up yada yada yada yada yada.

[Showtime3492]

I think that you should buy another xj that is stock and swap all your suspension over from the current built one then either make the built one factory again with all the factory stuff from the other one may take a little work but its probably the least hard on the wallet and you wo.t take such a hit to the wallet re doing all that has already been done... This is what I did except I swapped EVERYTHING down to the motor trans and tcase... Very invasive but it was the cheapest way to get a 2000 xj in decent shape.

[JENSSEN]

I swapped a 94 HO motor into a 89 used the renix fuels system with the HO head (ported and polished) and block, comp cams extreme 4x4 cam and did some minor gasket matching and it fuggin rocks, a guy with 03 stroked 4.0 though it was a V8. Pretty easy swap over all wish I had done it sooner to be honest

[OhJeepers]

Thanks to all who have left they're advice on here for me. I do appreciate all the knowledge an different idea's people have done. As of now out of pure coincidence I met a guy who wants a XJ an also found out the four wheel drive shop I get all my parts from has a TJ for sale fairly cheep from what I hear an I know the guy who built it so I know its built right an I can do some of my own mod's because it's only mildly built with lift long arms some TSL's an front locker. If all goes well I will probably have the TJ... maybe a new XJ would look good towing the TJ :)

[Mudderoy]

Thanks to all who have left they're advice on here for me. I do appreciate all the knowledge an different idea's people have done. As of now out of pure coincidence I met a guy who wants a XJ an also found out the four wheel drive shop I get all my parts from has a TJ for sale fairly cheep from what I hear an I know the guy who built it so I know its built right an I can do some of my own mod's because it's only mildly built with lift long arms some TSL's an front locker. If all goes well I will probably have the TJ... maybe a new XJ would look good towing the TJ :)

Don't forget about our sister site, WranglerTalk.com :D

[Brasscatz]

Thanks to all who have left they're advice on here for me. I do appreciate all the knowledge an different idea's people have done. As of now out of pure coincidence I met a guy who wants a XJ an also found out the four wheel drive shop I get all my parts from has a TJ for sale fairly cheep from what I hear an I know the guy who built it so I know its built right an I can do some of my own mod's because it's only mildly built with lift long arms some TSL's an front locker. If all goes well I will probably have the TJ... maybe a new XJ would look good towing the TJ :)

That sounds like a great deal! Does it seem like you'll be able to do an "even trade" basically? When I got mine, it pretty much was. I bought my Jeep for $2k, and sold my cavalier DD for $2k. Different people, but an even trade for me :D Oh, and we're going to need pictures!

[OhJeepers]

If I get it I will post pics for sure. I have my XJ for sale... 4200 OBO.. If I don't sell it soon then I'll just continue building it. Right now money is just getting tighter an tighter, the XJ I have now is.. WAS a DD but now I can't even drive it so I have no vehicle, no money to get a vehicle but I don't want to sell it to get a grocery getter, I want to still be able to get to work an go wheeling as often as I like to.