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3.9L in a 95 wrangler

394 views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  WILL 
G
#1 ·
well in my desire to throw in a 4.0L in my 95 wrangler, i was looking and found that a local junk yard has a bunch of 3.9L from dakotas for not badly priced. anyone every stick a 3.9L V-6 in a wrangler before? and what would be a good manual tranny to mount and still be able to use my 231.. and are the 3.9L's any good? thanks

(\/)ikey
1988 Wrangler Laredo 4.2L w/5spd
1995 Wrangler 2.5L w/ 5spd / 32"BFG MT's
 
#2 ·
I think the dakota's used the nv3500 and an np 233 behind the 3.9L. You should be able to bolt the np 231 behind the trans. That would save you some adapters. Maybe someone can confirm or correct me.

79/CJ-7/AMC360/TH400/Q-TRAC/d30/d44/33's/RS9000s/Herculiner/Pro-jection 2D/MSD/4.10s/lockrights
 
#3 ·
The 3.9's are an ok engine. They are an odd fire engine, which is kinda prone to eating timing chains. They are basically the same thing as a 5.2/5.9 Magnum, with two less cylinders. They use the same bolt pattern as the 5.2/5.9 Magnums. A lot of Dakota's came with AX-15's, and will bolt up to a Jeep AX-15 if you use the later external slave, and the Dakota's bell housing.
They also used NV-4500's, which would make for a nice swap if you could find one.

 
#4 ·
They are a good engine. My parents have a 90 dakota with the 3.9L (and automatic) with 180K miles on it and it's still running strong. It has flat towed my 4200 lb jeep on the interstate before and had plenty of power to run about 60. I didn't go faster just because of the weight similarities and crosswind.

79/CJ-7/AMC360/TH400/Q-TRAC/d30/d44/33's/RS9000s/Herculiner/Pro-jection 2D/MSD/4.10s/lockrights
 
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