Jeep Sidewinder Turbo- Don’t swap that 4.0L. Turbocharge it

4Wheel & Off Road October 2015

Too many 4.0L Wrangler owners have a Fifth gear (or overdrive gear) that is collecting dust, not having been used since the Jeep had stock tires. Adding bigger tires, axles, and body armor can all weigh your rig down. It sucks to be stuck with lackluster power after you’ve spent thousands of dollars on everything else. Why wouldn’t you spend another few grand on some serious power improvement?

In the case of a V-8 swap, however, there are a couple reasons why this is not a good plan. First, a “good” fuel-injected V-8 swap costs a few thousand dollars. Adapters and/or transmissions and T-cases will be needed. New drivelines need to be made. Crossmembers and oil pans have to be modified. The list goes on. Depending on where you live, there can be tricky hoops to jump through to legalize your engine swap. Doing a swap in a county that tests for emissions means that you’ll be getting to know your local smog referee intimately to certify your swap as legal. While they have a written set of general guidelines, every referee is human, which means he’s not perfect and certain things are open to personal interpretation. Read more about it here

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