Which engine do you prefer?
 

Could someone lead me in the right direction as for what engine I should look into getting? I want to get a 4cyl 5spd and put a 4.10 gear in, but it only has 100hp. (Btw I am looking at anything under $1500-$2000.) I'm told that the 4.0 is a royal PITA to do anything with, and sucks in general, and haven't heard anything else about the others. If anyone could help me out with what is decent (Btw I plan on doing an engine swap next summer with a more powerful V6, or a V8 with decent gas milage.)

You could always put in a 4 banger and do I mild turbo setup. Like only 4 or 5 pounds of boost. You would get decent power when you need it and the better gas millage. The 2.3/2.5 lima blocks are so easy to work on, at least to me.

Where did you hear that about the 4.0L?
I could see the sohc motors but the ohv ones shouldn't be any different then a pushrod v8.

The only issues I've heard about are the timing chain replacement and the spark plug replacement.

Well the 4 cylinder engines (lima) have 8 spark plugs and are pretty tricky to replace on the drivers side. The good thing about the lima engines is that they are non interference engines. When a timing belt brakes your engine doesn't eat valves.