Inliners International Forums General Discussion AMC/JEEP School me on late model jeep engines.

Have recently got a 40 plymouth convert and someone gave me the idea to use a jeep powertrain in it.

Who has knowledge about them.

Want to run it with a carb and have a auto O/d trans. Tom

I've owned 2 Cherokees & 2 Grand Cherokees. One had the 4 banger and I liked it. Two had 4.0 sixes and I loved them. The V8 we have now is OK. The 4 cyl had a 5 speed and was fun to drive. I wish one of the 4.0s had been a 5 speed. Both 6s were injected. That is a good engine. Tom

Had a 82 Jeep Renegade with a 6 cyl. with a carb, and I don't remember if 4 or 5 speed. This thing ran great but loved gas, 14 mpg. I now have a 91 Wrangler with a 4 cyl., 5 speed and FI. This little motor has a lot of grunt. The mileage ranges from 14 to 20 depending on how i drive it. I understand the new six's are strong and the head design leaves a lot of options (12 port). These things come with a nice tube header...The 5 speed trans. looks just like a t-5

Check out http://www.amcforum.com. Friendly place and lots of AMC geeks. I know the new six fairly well, but get fuzzy in the new stuff, past 83. The hot setup is the 4.0 and some of the better autos. A crap-ton of power, common parts, easy to mod, and available. And I know nothing more about 'em :-)

Though you gotta love AMCs conservatism -- I just found out the 04 water pump (serpentine reverse rotation) bolts right into the 1964 block! All sorts of parts swap back and forth. It's a great platform.

The AMC six is looong, and somewhat heavy. In exchange, 7 mains and it's bulletproof.

Oh yeah, the favorite hack of the moment is the 'stroker', a 258ci crank (longer stroke) in the 4.0 block (I think) for some 280ci! HELL YEAH TORQUE! :-)

Tom, that Jeep I drove over had the 4.0 6 and it has given me nothing but miles and miles of trouble free driving and got 23 MPG@70MPH. It was a '98 with 160,000 miles when I gave it to my daughter. I don't know what kind of 2WD trans bolts up but there has to be one. The rear ends generally come with 3.73's and are easy to find with posi and disc brakes. It would be a good choice!

I'm pretty sure that the manual trans is a T5 with the Ford bolt pattern. I don't know what auto would fit it. With the EFI it would be a natural for Megasquirt. In the '80s there was a problem with exhaust manifolds warping. Tom

Tom, If you want to stick with a straight six, you could always find a 230 Tornado. It's an SOHC and supposed to breathe really good. Wait till you see the cam you're in for a surprise!
You could probably turbo it like you did your 250/292's pretty easily, it's a 12 port cross flow head so you may have to rig up the original manifold...

I'd go with the 4.0 EFi. The one below is 450hp, 400 ft/lbs




Peter Lechtanski

Sounds like a perfect home for a stock 4200/4L60E with GM electronics. Get Langdon to split the stock exhaust manifold and away you go.

Its lighter than the jeep 6 and another 80 HP to boot.

What did you do to that T5 to get it to take that much torque? How many miles/passes do you have on that setup?

Tom:kind of late but saw this just now,don't know if You got it done or still waiting for answers.

Here's what I know about this: You should find a 4.0 the prefered years are 1991-1996 since they have the "good" head that flows appr. 209 cfm @.500 with 28" without any kind of work (can be ported to 240-250 cfm without to much effort)the older ones 1986-1990 does have 174 hp (20 less than the later)and works also.

Cliffords sells intakes for both models "Hi-port & Straight-port" but I prefer the Offenhauser Dualport made for the older 258 engine,it can easily be adapted to the 4.0-head.

All transmissions that fit behind the "old" 258 fits the 4.0 as well,I use a TC904 behind a 1989 4.0 with the flexplate and tq-converter from a 1973 Hornet,fits without any modifications,just a simple bolt-on...

The AMC/Jeep inlines are really nice to work on,mine is in a t-27 Hot Rod that I tried to make look a bit like it was built in the late fifties,so EFI and Electronic distributor was changed to Offy-intake and a Holley 4v and a stock points-distributor just for the right "look" "Ignitor inside..."everything drops right in:no modifications.

Even changed the waterpump to the older one with a v-belt since there was no serpentine-belts around in that era I would like the car to belong in,same stuff there,just a bolt-in.

I could go on and on about this but since I don't know if You sorted it all out allready or gone the everybody-got-one-Chebby-way,I think I stop now and if I can enlighten You some more just send me a PM or such:then I can tell You more about this stuff and maybe a bit about how simple it is to build a low-buck stroker out of them...I've done it and I'm just a stupid Swede...