I've been an active member of astrosafari.com for 4 years. their are a lot of members there that have done the v8 swap, some for power others for mpg. for a 2wd it is literally a straight bolt in, awd needs the oil pan modded to clear the front diff.
the xr3 would not replace the van, unless i get on a secure enough job site to actually leave my tools on site. it would be more of a grocery getter plus allow us some freedom to take some road trips. $4-$4.50 a gallon hits the wallet even in the wrangler.
i'm a carpenter by trade and builder/inventor at heart. in my youth i've built a couple 12.5 second cars as well as a mean corner hugging 160mph mid sized wagon. factor in some of the off the wall, construction technology envelope pushing homes i've built for some of the overly wealthy, the xr3 is right down my alley. involved, complex, lot's of room for my imagination, and just plain fun to do
like we used to say, anyone can buy a hot rod, but it takes a real man to build one
