I have found a 300 dollar Cherokee with a motor gone bad. Has any one tried to put a Chevy 292 in a Cherokee?

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Jason

http://home.wizard.org/twchevelle

My understanding is that it is very close to the older 258. In fact, a lot of guys put the 4.0 cylinder head on the 258 (breaths better)
Jim

Just my own "druthers" but I'd stay with AMC power. I had a 4.0 HO Cherokee for a while and while I didn't like the car per se, the engine was a sweetheart. 258 cores are plentiful and cheap, and there's plenty of performance parts out there for the 4.0, and good resources on the web such as rockcrawler .

Not having compared a 292 with the 4.0 I can't say for sure, but the 4.0 is a fairly compact engine, and a 292 would probably present some challenges with mounting, hood clearance and drivetrain compatibility. Then again, there's no substitute for cubic inches! It would really depend on your fabrication skills and if you already have a 292, it would make sense to give it a shot.

The 4.0, depending on the year, is rated 177 HP for 87-90 and 191 HP for 91 and up. It would be possible to use a donor 258 short block and put it beneath the 4.0 head but due to the smaller bore of the 258 the cylinder head flow would suffer and possibly a bit of performance too. Installing the 4.0 head on and existing 258 is a definate plus, but I'm not sure I would opt for putting a 258 short block in place of a 4.0. Now some people are taking the 258 crank and rods and installing them into the 4.0 block and pistons. This gives you a result of 276 cubic inches. Some tuning must be done such as bigger injectors and maybe an adjustable map. I have the jeep stroker in my race car and it runs very well. The details of the stock install of a stroker in a road vehicle are a bit unclear for me but I can direct you to some info.

Sixpack,

This info is new to me, in fact I'm a newcomer to AMC power, would You please give me some more details, like the 258 crank is a drop in the 4.0, the engine dimensions, bore/stroke/rod lenght, stuff like that, please.

The 258 crank is a drop in. When making the stroker 4.0 [using the 258 crank in the 4.0 block] you use also the 258 rods. Install the 4.0 pistons on the 258 rods and crank and you now have 276.5 cubic inches. You can use most any 258 donor crank that is found but most use the 72' through about 77'. Reason being they are the 12 counter weight version that are much heavier and durable. Truth is, if you don't plan on revin' the poop out of the thing any 258 [3.895 stroke] crank will do.