Engine Advice on engine swaps and general useability - 84 CJ7
Citizent3
Jeeper
Hello, long time lurker first time poster.
After lusting for a project car for too long I recently purchased an 84 CJ7 . Overall it is great condition. It runs well and has very little rust. I've been making my way through it; replacing seats, addressing oil leaks, replacing the plastic valve cover on the AMC256 with an aluminum one, etc.
The jeep sits on 35s with a 4 inch lift. My main concern is increasing the drivability. I don't plan on off-roading it but do plan on taking it to the beach, lake, camping, hauling small sail boats, and general cruising around town on nice days. I have a Tundra daily driver.
To that effect I am considering an engine swap. As it is now, it cruises well on the highway maxing out at ~65mph. In final gear (5th) it loses speed significantly on any type of hill or strong gust of wind such that I find myself driving it in 4th at slightly higher rpm than I'd like for extended periods or constantly shifting between 4th and 5th.
My understanding is that AMC256 is a great engine and very reliable and as such an alternative option would be regearing it instead of doing an engine swap.
What would y'all recommend? My preference would be for it to be a little bit more agile on the highway such that I don't feel like an obstacle people are constantly driving around, reliability, an efficiency and assuming the recommendation is to pull the trigger and do a swap, my preference would be for the most straight forward and reliable swap.
Thanks for the help.
After lusting for a project car for too long I recently purchased an 84 CJ7 . Overall it is great condition. It runs well and has very little rust. I've been making my way through it; replacing seats, addressing oil leaks, replacing the plastic valve cover on the AMC256 with an aluminum one, etc.
The jeep sits on 35s with a 4 inch lift. My main concern is increasing the drivability. I don't plan on off-roading it but do plan on taking it to the beach, lake, camping, hauling small sail boats, and general cruising around town on nice days. I have a Tundra daily driver.
To that effect I am considering an engine swap. As it is now, it cruises well on the highway maxing out at ~65mph. In final gear (5th) it loses speed significantly on any type of hill or strong gust of wind such that I find myself driving it in 4th at slightly higher rpm than I'd like for extended periods or constantly shifting between 4th and 5th.
My understanding is that AMC256 is a great engine and very reliable and as such an alternative option would be regearing it instead of doing an engine swap.
What would y'all recommend? My preference would be for it to be a little bit more agile on the highway such that I don't feel like an obstacle people are constantly driving around, reliability, an efficiency and assuming the recommendation is to pull the trigger and do a swap, my preference would be for the most straight forward and reliable swap.
Thanks for the help.
