Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines 292 Chevy in a CJ jeep

Hello all, I'm a new member of this board. I was just thinking of how good of a engine a 292 would be for a CJ jeep, with all of the low end torque, and it would be a lot different than any other jeep. So I was wondering, How hard would it be to put a 292 chevy in to a jeep? Would headers for a 4x4 chevy with a 292 fit in a jeep?

and another question, how much horsepower would a 292 have with headers, a cam, and a four barrel make? Thank you for the replies i appreciate it- Jake

You should be able to use one of the V8 motor mount kits for a Jeep and move the mounts to the right location to get it to fit. There are bellhousings available to fit Chevy V8's to just about any Jeep transmissions, and the 292 uses the same housing, so it should work. Definately an interesting swap. You could always use Stovebolt manifolds if the tube headers didn't fit.

so if i am comprehending this right, the 292 uses the same motor mounts as a small block chevy? that makes things a lot easier if thats true! Jeeps used 2.5 iron dukes in them in the 1980s. The bellhousing on those is the same as a 292 and a small block. would the 2.5 motor mounts work for a 292?

Depending on what year of CJ you have, you may have problems with the overall length of the engine, fan and radiator. I've installed Chevy 250's in a Willy's PU and Wagon. They with a little more room than most CJ's and I had the same problem. It required modifications to the firewall and radiator mounts, moving the trans/tranfercase back about 1 1/2"s. If your CJ originally came equipped with a straight six, you may be okay.I had plenty of hood clearance with the 250, but I know a 292 is a bit taller. Just a "head's up" on that one.

I used Chevy V8 mounting kits and adaptors. It pretty straight forward.
In case you're wondering, a 250 worked great!!

Good Luck1

A stock 1968 292 L6 was rated at 170 horsepower, just guessing here, but with 4 Bbl, intake, headers, and cam, I would be surprized if it pulled less than 200 HP.
The 292 is 1.75" taller than the 250 L6.
I thought of putting a 292 in Jeep years ago[but I didn't have one]-- I was told a CJ7 was the body I wanted since there was room to play with lengthwise.
I'm now thinking of putting a 292 (@ .060-over)in a K/5 body I have, and building it with SM 465, NP205, D44, GM12-bolt w/posi, and folding fabric top. I don't know why GM never optioned the 292 in the first gen Blazers and Jimmys, but I suspect they were more interested in marketing 350 V8s w/ th350s (and all that dealer maintenance) than offroad performance. The 250 was available, though.
Good luck.