I have an '85 XJ and just recently, the 2.8L V6 finally gave up the ghost (thank God). The tranny and Xfer case were rebuilt last year and I just put on a 3.5" RE lift kit so the suspension's completely new, about two months old. New wheels with BFG AT 31s. The brake system was fully overhauled three years ago and the steering system has all new parts. The body's in excellent shape and the interior is fairly good. so needless to say, I'd rather keep the Jeep and put in a new engine as I obviously like to oof-road and that's why I was building it up.

I was planning on replacing the engine but not quite so soon as I wanted to research various engine compatibilities.  I've heard the Chevy 4.3L V6 fits well but other than, I have no clue.  

Any help  would be great as this is also my work vehicle and I need to get it running again fairly soon.

Thanx for any help.  

the 4.3 would be a good choice as your tranny and case will work with it.if both trannys are 700r you can swap the inner guts into a chevy case and should be done

my .02 worth

I do belive that Chevy made the 2.8's for mopar, and i think all the running gear is chevy compatible and in that cas a 4.3 would fit in the same mounts and bolt up to everything including the transmission, you would just have to get a 4.3 ECM/Chip, i say all this because i used to own one of those sackless 2.8 v6 blazers and often thought of a 4.3l swap and found alot of information about them, and also all my parts for the motor also fit the jeep version, so theres another clue. but maby a hardcore chevy fan will step in and say something, becuase im not 100 percent sure but i think the 4.3 swap will work, but good luck i did a swap in a s-10 and what a royal pain in the. it sucked. just to forewarn you  

The 2.8 is a different bellhousing bolt pattern than the 4.3.  The 2.8 is a 60 degree motor.  The 4.3 is a 90 degree.  I've thought about this for my truck as well, considering I have the 3.1 which is simply a bored out version of the 2.8.  If you do the swap you will need a new tranny, and possibly transfer case.  If the tranny is an automatic, im not sure but it might be the 4l30, but Im not positive.  Its the tranny GM used on the 60 degree motors for a while.  If you want a drop in replacement pushing a bit more power that uses all your exisiting components, GM makes a 3.4 crate motor.  I think it makes 160 hp.  Which compared to the 2.8, is quite a bit more.  BUt the main thing is the 4.3 will not simply bolt right up.  Also the 3.4 can be converted to tbi, but is actually only carb approved for a carb.   

Seems like a real pain in the. i thought they were the same bolt pattern. But that dose make sense now, Hey 350's are cool in those little rigs. i thought about that but it seemed like a wicked pain.