1996 Cherokee 4.0 in 2000 wrangler (1 Viewer)

[Cleg]

Question concerning engine swapping.

My son is driving a 1996 XJ that my father bought new in '96. It has only about 75k miles on it but the body is in rough shape, driven in salt & stored outside. It has an automatic and is only 2WD.... market value of about $1.

My son wants a Wrangler in a bad way.
He has an opportunity to buy a 2000 Wrangler X with a blown 4.0 motor, manual trans 4WD, the idea being he could use his low miles 4.0 to make it complete.
What is involved in using the 4.0 liter 6 cyl engine from a 1996 Jeep Cherokee XJ (not Grand) in a 2000 Wrangler?

I think it is not quite the same 4.0, different ignition? different fuel delivery? Different motor mounts? different manifolds? The entire engine is available out of his XJ including the computer but would that play nice with the rest of the inputs? I assume there are oxygen sensors somewhere, vehicle speed sensor from the transmission, etc.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

PS. Please don't tell the cruiser heads I was over here in the Jeep forum.

 

[Expedition94]

Just wanted to let you know your engine in the 96 will not work with the 2000. The 4.0 is more then likely not blown, the head gasket is. Its a real common problem with 00-04 Jeeps with the 4.0L due to the poorly designed 0331 head. Ignition, intake, fuel and almost everything else is different on the 2000 except the main block. Everything else is different and in all honesty if he can get the wrangler cheap enough they make better heads for the 00 and up jeeps. The problem with them being the updated harness and coil ignition system. If you have any other questions or concerns post here or PM me, I'm a bit of a Jeep guru, we didn't all start with 80's.