DeereHunter

I plan on rebuilding it. I'm excited to see things coming together finally!

DeereHunter

Someone came out and paid me double what I paid for the used motor, so I let it go.

But just a quick update with where Im at....

dave1123

I'm confused. Are those pics of the old motor or the new motor? If the new, I thought you were going to rebuild it.

Oh! Wait! it's been a month.

DeereHunter

Thats the original motor. Someone came and bought the one with a knock, so now I'm pulling the old one, I'm going to see if it can be rebuilt.
I wish I had more time to work on it.

All thats left is the motor mounts, and seperating the transmission, and she will come out.
I did notice 2 bolts on the exhaust were stripped, had a brand new intake gasket, and one bolt was brand new, and one of the bolts on the timing cover was backed out, and the air box wasn't bolted in, but the bolts were in the box.

So someone has done some type of work to it, at some point.

DeereHunter

Ladies and gentlemen, she's out! For most people this isn't an accomplishment, but for me it is, this is the first time I've pulled a car motor, and I've done all the work by myself, except for the occasional help from my ol lady, she's pretty good at handing me wrenches, haha.

But after getting it on the engine stand, and pulling the oil pan, the #1 piston was blown and ground into a million pieces, all the way back to the 5th cylinder. Huge dents in the oil pan from the parts banging into it, etc. but so far the block looks good, and so does the cylinder, but we will let a machine shop do their job when it comes to that, after taking the piston chunks out, the motor spins like a charm, with good compression. Looks like she's worth rebuilding after all!

Anomic

That piston is definately trashed. I would like to hear details of rebuild, cost etc

dave1123

Seeing as how this is your first engine job, I'd just like to suggest two things. It would have been better if you had left the torque converter on the transmission when you pulled the motor. It is very easy to damage the shaft by leaving it on the motor. Put it back on the trans before you reinstall the motor and make sure it fully seated on the pump drive. Make sure it spins freely before tightening the bell housing bolts.

The other thing is make sure that connecting rod is not twisted or bent before installing a new piston on it. That thing was flailing around in there banging on the cylinder walls without a piston and could have been damaged. You can thank your vertical engine for not ruining the cylinder walls. Short stroke V8's tend to destroy themselves with a bare rod. Also, because the cylinder wasn't destroyed, I'm assuming the wrist pin is a press fit into the rod. If it wasn't it could have hooked and punched through the block. I've seen it happen with engine with full floated pins.

I've had a lot of experience with Chevy small blocks and "barnyard" rebuilds. We even took a set of pistons out of a 55 283 and stuck them into a 57 motor without even making sure they were the same size! That motor ran for over a year with a "fuely" cam and a big 4 barrel before it grenaded. You can't get away with that stuff with today's engines.

Be careful and get experienced help with your rebuild. It is an experience to last a lifetime! Enjoy! There is a lot of personal satisfaction in saying "I did it myself!"

DeereHunter

The issue I had with leaving it on the transmission was that the motor was locked up and I couldn't get the bolts out.
But I had this weekend off and that gave me a chance to strip it down to the block and truly see what damage was done.
My old lady gave me the thumbs up on building a stroker but I don't think I will, I don't want to invest too much in the motor without knowing the condition of the transmission etc.
But today I'm going to take it to a machine shop and drop it off and see what can be done, hopefully just a bore and rebuild!

dave1123

Looks good to me. Not a lot of damage done. If the crank needs grinding, don't do all the journals if they don't need it. I've seen V8s run for many years with only one journal turned .030 undersize. On the one I did, I stamped the rod caps with XXX .030 so the next guy would be aware of it. If there was a next guy!

One of the main reasons the 4.0 lasts so long is the 7 main bearings. The old Chevy "Blue Flame" 6 only had 4.

Nice pics, by the way. I understand your point about the torque convertor bolts. I never gave them a thought.

Afterthought. You might want to consider replacing all 6 pistons. Don't worry about one oversized piston, they are weight-matched to the standard size.

DeereHunter

We'll it looks like a shop about 2 hours away is interested in doing the work for me they are coming to pick everything up tomorrow and said they should have all replacement parts in stock to bring back with it.

dave1123

Yeah, it's amazing what kind of service you can get when the economy is weak, isn't it? The last time I needed machine shop work, I had to take a number because of all the race engines they were doing. I think a lot of that has dried up, locally at least.

DeereHunter

Anyone in south GA and north FL I highly recommend Knico engines in Moultrie Ga. Very professional extremely knowledgable, the owner actually came out and got my engine, prices seem very fair and these guys have Been building motors their whole lives I think, they are willing to offer every bit of help possible, I'm very impressed so far.
But it looks like ill finally be pulling the wallet out on this Cherokee! Lol
Ill post updates when I get them and of course more pictures as soon as everything comes back from them!

DeereHunter

I know that locally a machine shop has gone out of business which is why I was reaching farther out he even said business is slower than it used to be and turn around would only be a few days on machine work. Really sad to hear that it's a dying breed during my generation, surely other people still have interest in doing things themselves! Being able to do things like this gives you a certain kind of accomplishment that money can't buy.

dave1123

When it comes to machine work, engine work is a specialty that requires the knowledge and ability to hold close tolerances and a familiarity with special machines. I've been a toolmaker for 40 years, building plastic injection molds, but still would have trouble acquiring knowledge of things like a crankshaft grinder. These guys are pros. I had to replace the crankshaft in a Chevy 305 once and the 350 crank is the same stroke. These guys told me the balance weights were different and unless you laid them side-by-side you couldn't see any difference. They showed me, and I couldn't tell which was which, but they knew.

With today's "disposable" society, most people just go buy a new car rather than fix the old one. It's really a shame that racing and marine engine work is what still keeps these guys in business.

DeereHunter

Very true but today everything was delivered back!
Pictures and prices when I get off work.