There is a lot of dry reading in there of my ramblings and asking questions. Along with some pictures which I hear may be broke due to photo bucket. I have never done anything like this, although I have heard many people say things like "Wouldnt it be cool....". I have already built up a 225. And my next challenge was this or a stroker slant six. And since there are stroker slant sixes out there, this was the route I chose.
I've thought the other way too.. mounting an A-Body k-member in an XJ Cherokee. Small block with a 904, most XJ's already have a 3.55 8 1/4 rear.. think that would be a fun thing.
But really what do you get going down this path, a grand cherokee. Grand cherokee came with the 318 v8 in them. It would be easier to use the ZJ as your parts rig and build a v8 XJ with it.
What have seen is a VW TDi in a Cherokee. That was really cool.