Can some of you guys share some insight with me on the pitfalls of doing this? The 8V in my '90 Tracker needs a rebuild, but a local wrecking yard has a '95 Sidekick with a 16v engine in it. I can't say that they will give up the whole wiring harness, but I can get the computer. What would I be looking at here?

I've done several engine swaps and rebuilds... so I could go either way. I have to rebuild the tranny in my ZJ, so one gets a "new" item, the other gets rebuilt. I'm just trying to decide which gets rebuilt....

Well you need the harness to go with the ecm. if you get all three I say go for it.

There is quite a bit of work to getting the wiring harness out.  You actually need 3 seperate harnesses.  One from under the hood and two from behind the dash.  Plus you may need to modify the harness where it goes to the back of the vehicle.  The Heater Fan swich may also be wired differently so you will have to watch for that.  When I did mine I had the donor truck in my yard and it went pretty easy.  Plus you can learn what you need to take appart on the donor so you don't break stuff on your truck.

Haven't done the swap myself but have an 8valve I'm playing with and a 16v in my wifes sidekick 4dr.
    Both are great engines so from that stand point ether is a good engine. But how do you feel about working with wiring, computers and the fussy stuff like linkages, hoses etc?
    If you enjoy that stuff the 16v is supposed to have about 15hp more and similar jump in torque.
    If you don't enjoy the fussy stuff you could rebuild your 8v, get a good multi angle valve job, add a header and exhaust and KN filter and get near the same.
    Both are good choices, what appeals the most to you?

Zag

On my legend i went with cold air induction "custom built" and got about 12HP increas just from that, that is not good on a 4x4 "hydrolocking" however some say that a snorkel will do the same thing, i have not installed my snorkel yet but the theory holds true, but rember more air in has to get out so basicaly what cannot blow cannot suck and vise versa.

My problem with doing the swap is that the yard that has the 'Kick won't let go of it. I offered to buy the whole thing off of 'em, but they won't. They're notiorious for being stingy.

Wiring doesnt bother me much so long as I have a schematic. I converted my ZJ from 2wd to 4wd, so swapping isnt strnge to me.

There can be gains in adding a snorkel... I added one on my ZJ. It helped the fuel mileage over the highway, but it did seem to hurt the "city" mileage for some reason. I intend to get one for the tracker. If I end up rebuilding the engine in the Tracker, now, I was planning on an improved cam and header.

The more I shop around, the easier it is to find an transmission for my Jeep. I will probably rebuild the 8v.

Thanks, guys!

I don't know anything about engine swaps in sidekicks, but plenty in honda's. I've found just switching to  a multi port fuel injection(from dual point t/b) in a honda makes a huge difference, more hp, tq, throttle response, mpg... Is there a MPFI that will fit an 8V ? Is the 16V MPFI?

you just made my post soooooo much more complicated. thanks. really.