Cheap and easy ways to get more power from 2.9?

[madeforspeed]

what are some cheap and easy ways to get more out of my 2.9?

 

[Dirmaid]

Use the search function of this site to get answers to that. Unless you're trying to turn a 2.9l into a rotary engine or something crazy like that, someone has probably already asked that question. You just gotta look for it.

 

[DFracing]

lol make it a 4.0

 

[BLUTHUNDER1]

Kuntz Corner

Read the post Kuntz corner in tech library section some good ideas in there. Electric fan , lower temp thermostat, after market air filter, after market coil and wires.

 

[holyford86]

The MAF conversion (see tech library) is a good way to make your low end power more usable, many of the bolt on mods such as the aftermarket filters and coils make you go faster by reducing weight (less money in your wallet) The 2.9 is pretty maxed from the factory and makes good power for it's size and architecture.

I fought the 4.0 swap bandwagon for a long time and learned what works and what doesn't, I honestly don't know what took me so long to just do the damn swap. A good low mileage 93 4.0 pretty much fell in my lap, 1 year and about 13,000 trouble free miles ago. I love it, and I gained around 4 MPG swapping out my good running MAF converted 2.9 for a completely stock 4.0 and where the 2.9 would struggle, the 4.0 just does. On a nearly flat stretch of road with no wind, maintaining 55 mph the 2.9 would pull 1-2 inches of vacuum, the 4.0 in roughly the same conditions on the same stretch of road will pull 15-16 inches, If that doesn't go to show the decrease in load, I don't know what does.

All in all I had about $700 in my swap, and if you don't go and replace every gasket in the motor and do a complete tune up like I did you can save a couple hundred bucks. The wiring is the killer, if you don't have a basic understanding of how to read a wiring diagram and interpret what you see, you shouldn't attempt it, or you should find someone who does and have them help you. a big part of the swap is doing your homework beforehand. I put both wiring diagrams side by side and figured out what connections I had to make. then I labeled everything I had to splice into the existing wiring and started pulling the motor out. I got the 2.9 pulled and the 4.0 mechanically installed in one 10 hour day, I plumbed my fuel system, and wired the swap in about 8 hours the next day, started it up and went for a ride. I may make it sound easy but I've had my hands in a few swaps so I kind of had an idea what I was getting into. I've done 2.3, 2.5, and 3.0 to 4.0 swaps and also had a part in a 4.0 OHV to 4.0 SOHC swap.

I kind of rambled a bit on this one and went completely off topic, but at least it paints a clearer pic.