Thread: Not a Rod- 76' Cherokee 410 to 350 swap?

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hey guys, I know this is not the right kind of vehicle to go on here, just hoping since you are all so nice and have probably at least a couple of you done something similar that you might help me a bit.

My brother is getting my uncle (not Rick but a different uncle) 1976 Cherokee Chief from him for 150 bucks. the block on the 401 is cracked, and Rick said it was always a dog anyways. We are encouraging a swap to a 350. he doesn't have a lot of bucks, anybody got leads on where to find a complete, running, 350 engine that would be newer than 76' and have the smog stuff on it?

Thanks a lot everybody.

Red

Naw Red! anything that burns fuel and turns the tire in pleasing manner, we get invloved in. Is the 401 not repairable? Is the Cherokee an "S" model or? And is it full time 4WD? THere are some considerations to help the dogyness of any combo and I wish for you to have succes if you do go the 350 route. I caution that some of those drivetrains created a very doggy scenario and some changes can be made to wake it up with which ever combo you run.

I don't know how bad the crack is, I didn't know that cracked blocks could be repaired. It is Quadratrac, which I believe is an automatic full time 4wd as needed. It is the Cherokee Chief model, I don't know the letter designation on that. If we could just get a 401 block we could rebuild it. but like I said, Rick thought that it never really ran well. I say heck, he only wants to take it to the sand dunes and have a bit of fun. get it running cheapest way possible.

Red

Some of these vehicles had turbo 400 transmissions, some had T-18 Borg Warner manual transmissions. The turbo 400 case was different than a Chevy pattern so that it matched the AMC block.

If you are on a budget, buying the 350, paying to have the exhaust redone, the motor mount fabrication, and the transmission change will cost a pile more than finding another 401. The Jeep guys love the 401; there is quite a bit of hop up knowledge for this motor.

Stay with the 401, it will cost less.

Sounds like some intelligent advice from Robot.

By the way, the 360 and 304 AMC engines are identical outside to the 401 except that the engine displacement is cast onto the sides of the block.....near the freeze plug holes. The 360 is very common in the Cherokees. The 304 might be a tad light for that vehicle but it would work. You should be able to find a used engine really cheap....I found an entire 401 Cherokee last December that the guy wanted $400 for it; it had leather interior, etc. but no tires. I passed and it went fast.

mike in tucson

Good advice there Mike and Richard. Personally, I've never seen a 401 that was a dog unless it was so badly beat, it couldn't pull itself out of it's own way. Red, look where Mike said on the block and double check the size and see if you can get some more info on what the damage really is.

And, to answer the next question about numbers, here is a site:

http://www.planethoustonamx.com/main...ng_numbers.htm

mike in tucson

I know it is a 401, I will check and see how bad it is damaged, i found one in washington for 500 if the guy still has it and could ship it to us. Thanks for the advice guys, I'll look for a new block or engine.

If any of you come across one please let me know. Sounds like that is the route to go versus the 350, my brother was already leaning that way since he doesn't want to deal with the smog sign off on an engine swap.

Red

Here is the results from car-parts.com for a 401 engine. I used zip 93701 for your home base. Distance from you is shown on the far right.
http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

the link didn't work but the car-part thing was brilliant, didn't even know about that. Scotty's looks like they have a bunch of listings. of course when I called they only have the complete engine, no short block left. calling the other place now.