AMC Pacer Revival

I only used the head and fuel injection system with the header. Oh and I swiched to the one belt system also. I bought a donar jeep and it has had almost everthing I needed. I did not use the jeeps hvac system my car allready had ac  just the ac compressor. I do need to get ac lines made up yet and buy some high presh. fuel hose,a fuel pump block off plate for the block. Nothing major though, my biggest expence was getting the head redone. I do have to buy an electric fan set up cause my jeeps was smashed.

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Edited by MN Gremlin - Oct/20/2012 at 4:39am

Frank is right 91 to 95 obd 1 engine controller systems are the easiest to do and a regular cherokee has a little less wiring in its harness. While the 96 and up engines have a better cam and better ported heads you can eaisly port your head and install a good cam into a older one.

A variable transmission would be hard to do though. No rear drive modern ones that I know of. So you're stuck with four speed autos (the AW4 behind the AMC six) and five speeds, unless you want to pony up some big bucks for aftermarket six speeds.

Everything has it's place and time. You can get better power and economy from the stock engines with just a few mods, but by the time you but new parts you're better off with a 4.0L swap. You might be able to comb the local swap meets and/or e-bay and find most parts used, but AMC six parts aren't real common.

I consistently get 20 mpg on average with my 4.0L and AW4. Could get a little more if I optimized it for mileage, but would cost a good bit for 2-3 more mpg and I'd lose a little performance. Right now I think I'm at a good balance between the two.

Yeah... now I gotta look up "VVT".... okay, "variable valve timing". Well, I knew the Prius has a CVT, didn't realize it had the VVT engine. I know the VVT helps, but not so sure it helps as much with power as with emissions. In other words, if you didn't worry about emissions and picked a good cam, I think you could do just as good. When you have to worry about both then VVT is worth it.

If you have a good 4.0L ready to go and/or the 4.2L needs rebuilding, then yes, it's probably more efficient to swap the whole thing out. If you have a good 4.2L and would have to rebuild the 4.0L short block then it's questionable. You wouldn't even have to pull the 4.2L out to change the head. If you have to rebuild either one and have both I think I'd go with the 4.0L too. That or build a stroker.

A simple stroker with the 258 rods would cost no more than rebuilding either engine. To use the longer 4.0L rods you'll pay about a $150 premium to get the right pistons. The block needs to be decked to get good quench too (piston edges need to be at the deck, head gasket compresses to 0.040-0.042", which is all the quench you want), so add whatever that costs. About $300 more over a standard rebuild. That's a lot less than it was before Bulltear came out with their forges stroker pistons ($429 a set of six -- Keith Black IC944 work but are $550 a set). The KB pistons may require machining to get compression down or you could have problems running regular fuel (premium should be okay). The Bulltear pistons are available in stock compression (8.7:1 -- you should be good with 9:1, but no more). Used to be more like $1000-1200 over a budget build. For $300 more I'd go with the long rods if you build -- it's worth it for the longevity. The bore clearance still needs to be kept tight, but that extra 1/4" up in the bore should make a difference (4.0L rods are 6.125" long, 4.2L rods are 5.875" long).