!!!! 4.0L BEAST !!!!

[92yjw\\305]

hey,
I'm thinkin about replacing my existing 4.0L which a little on the old side.(167,000miles). Anyway i was thinkin on how to work a 4.0L in my garage then slap the new one in some day. What would be some resonable mods to add some power and sound to the 4.0L. So far i'm looking at a new torquey cam, duel exhaust header, new msd ignition, more powerful injectors, maybe a new head. If you guys have any knowledge or recommendations please reply, i would appreciate it. And if you think any of this is overkill, again please let me know b4 i waste my money. Also what would be involved in a reasonable rebuild of an engine.
Thanks

 

[chinard]

Well, 167,000 isnt really the end of the world for these engines... As long as you've been taking care of it, there's probably another 100,000 miles of life left in it before you're looking at a rebuild.

If you were just looking at a straight swap, there are plenty of well documented V8 swaps out there such as the Chevy 350.

If you wanted to stick with the 4.0l block for any reason (like not wanting to fiddle with adaptor kits or have to swap out your transmission) then you should probably try to score a 4.0l high output with MPI, Or you could try to retrofit MPI onto an existing 4.0l block.

Swapping the head wouldnt really help much on a 4.0l unless there was a already damage to the head itself.
If you had a 4.2l engine, then there is a common swap where you swap on the 4.0l head and get some performance gains.

Dual exaust manifolds on a inline 6 would probably cause power LOSS rather than gain, as the engine only has manifolds on the one side of the engine.

As far as other stuff , go have a look at
http://www.cliffordperformance.com/ They have quite a bit of stuff for maxing out the inline 6.

 

[far_right]

you can take some parts from a 4.2 and put them on a 4.0 and then bore it out and get the displacemect up to something like 4.9L but most ppl stay in the 4.5~4.6 range.... snitty is the local expert on that...

 

[Snitty]

if you want to stroke the motor... you don't want to go any more than a 4.7... but in my eyes.. if you are going to work a 4.0 block... THAT is the way to do it... bore and stroke

 

[92yjw\\305]

fuel sender info needed

But i dont have enough money to bore and stroke an engine. Wouldn't a cam, header, and intake be better on the $.

 

[Snitty]

cam, header, and intake would be good for about 20 hp altogether..... i got a 4.2 motor for my stroker parts for $40 on ebay... that's not bad for a crank and all rods... at our local shop... a .030 overbore is $8 per cylinder... that is $48 altogether, not bad... pistons are $12 each.. so for the bore, it is $120 altogether... then with my $40 parts, that is $160 for the complete bore/stroke kit, still cheaper than either the header or the cam. yeah, there is a lot more work involved.. but changing a cam is not just a 1 hour project anyway... If you are going to have the block out, then you might as well go big

 

[92yjw\\305]

But the thing is i dont know what's involved with taking the crankshaft out and changing rods. I could figure it out but I don;t think that is something that you guess on.

 

[jhiggins]

Nope I don't think I would guess on something like that ...you don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere with a rod hanging out the side of your block....

 

[92yjw\\305]

Is it pretty involved where only a select few can do it, or can someone with moderate engine skills help me out on this one.

 

[jhiggins]

If you have all the right tools and take your time doing it...It's not hard just time consuming and taking and getting certain things done at head shops......so forth and so on...

 

[Snitty]

with a haynes manual... you can do it.... it really is not hard to do at all... once the motor is out... and the oil pan is off... there is everything right there... yeah, it IS intimidating... but not tough at all