not a wrangler but I own a cherokee...went out bowlin tonight and here was a huge snow pile...one of my friends told me to go over it...walked right over it no problems what so ever..ohh and its an 88'

 

Wow. Sounds like you got a good one. Mine would not do 80 mph if it fell off of a cliff -LOL

I never got over 15 mpg.

Mine blew the motor @88K. I change the oil and filter every 2500-3k miles.

Mine was a tbi motor, I'm sure that the port injected ones do run better but I would not had guessed 20 mpg.

My 6-cyl gets 21 mpg.

 

I drive a 91 yj renegade with a 2.5" lift, 31's on eagle alloys, spicer posi
The girlfriend has a 99 TJ. Asyou can tell we really like our jeeps (and kawi's) [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Chris,
There was so much difference between yours and my experience that I went back re-read both posts very carefully. What I see is that your Jeep was an '89. Mine is a '98. There were some major changes in the intervening 9 years.

 

Most of the changes were the suspension and round headlights. The 2.5, trans and axles are virtually unchanged mechanically. The only major difference would be the switch from tbi to port injection but mechanically the engines are identical.

The 4-cyl engine from an 89 will bolt directly into any newer year Jeep as long as you swap the intake manifold and various sensors. The earlier CJ's did use a Chevy 4-cyl but it's totally different than the Amc/Jeep/Chrysler 2.5 that was used in TJ's and YJ's.

I still think that you got a good one! Most 2.5 Jeeps are gutless regardless of the year.

When I bought my o2 I went for a test drive in a 2.5 with an auto trans! Now that was real gutless.

 

My daily driver is 1958 Jeep ****** pickup, 6-226 Flathead bored .030 over otherwise all stock except for the radio(got to have tunes!!).

 

Chris,
Sounds to me like you know your stuff...... I reckon I just got a good one.

On one of our Hawaii trips we ended up with a 2.5 engine and an automatic transmission. That experience completely re-defined "gutless wonder" for us.

Then again, it was plenty good for Hawaii where the speed limit is about 9 MPH.

 

I have driven both a 98 4.0L 5-Speed as well as a 00 4-Cyl 5-Speed both where 4x4.

The 4-Cyl was bone stock and it did not have a ton of power however it had more then many compact cars I have driven like Civics and Corollas. Plus the handling felt very balanced compared to the 4.0L

The 4.0L had 32" tires and a K&N filter otherwise stock and it had plenty of power all the way to 75mph however the powerband of the 4.0L seemed so flat that it was no fun to drive on the highway. Then again I guess it was meant for offroading [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

If it where me I would get the 4.0L though mainly because of resale value and many more mods are avaliable.

Call me weird but for awhile I was thinking of buying a stripped out 2WD Wrangler softtop with a 5-Speed and 4.0L and adding a KenneBell supercharger. Talk about a sleeper. However I then decided that was as stupid as someone putting 22" wheels on a Land Rover, like I so often see around here.

Also be aware that insurance is not very cheap on NEWER 4x4 Jeeps (at least in Kentucky) it is not sports car like high but it's certainly not as cheap as one would think, mainly because of the death rate from accidents and they are super easy to steal.