Anyone have experience with a Wrangler/GM 4.8L V-8 conversion? I've got my eyes on a cheap high mileage YJ with straight body, supposedly the V-8 conversion is fairly easy, would be fun, increased power/mileage/dependability, etc.

I have a 78 CJ5 and I put a 4.3L with throttle body injection. Easy to do, let me install a turbo 350 with my dana 300 and I gained and extra 3" of deiveline. At 26', it was somewhat of a good thing. The most common engine swaps I have seen is the 5.7 hemi. There are several companys,aftermarket,that make parts for the conversion, teraflex, blue torch fab, just to name two that have what you would need. If I can help with what you need, let me know. I have built four for off road, rockcrawling.

If the jeep has a 4.2L 6cyl. I would look at putting a 4.0L in with fuel injection before doing the 8cyl.

A v8 swap is fairly common. take a look at pirate 4x4 on the web it has a lot of good info.

After you add the v-8. You are going to need a new trans, tranfer case and axles. No going to be cheap.

It is endless what can done to customize a jeep. Just ask my wife. The only thing that stopped me was when i hit the 17K mark. (and my wife saw the charges)

Many years ago I knew a guy that had a Chevy 327 in his jeep. If I remember there was a bell housing that allowed the original jeep transmission, etc.

At the 4x4 club meetings he was the only one I never saw get stuck in mud or sand. He had enough power tp keep his wehhls spinning at a high rate of speed, so they slung off the mud and kept their traction

When I was ready to do an engine swap, I looked into the 4.0 inline six as opposed to the 4.2 (258) that was in my jeep. I learned that there were some who had taken the crank from the 4.0 installed it into the 258 and stroked it. With all the meat inside the 258 I could have bored it 100 over and really tricked it up. My friend at the motor shop had never stroked a six cylinder and was kind of intrigued by the idea.
What I needed was more drive line length and the six just would not allow me to get where I wanted to be. My rear driveline was at 27’ angle and I wanted to get it below 10’. So I opted for the 4.3 swap. When all was done, I had 8’ on my rear drive line and after I installed the Rock Jock high pinion axle the driveline went to 6 1/2’ rear driveline angle.

Check out MoTech they do aluminum block chevy ls swaps both small and big block. They sell kits to DIY also.