I've been MIA for a while as life got away from me the past several months.
My son and I started the engine replacement in his WJ last weekend so I thought I'd share a few pictures of where we're at with his Jeep.
His WJ started burning oil quite severely last fall so we knew an engine replacement was on the horizon. We waffled back and forth about rebuilding vs. replacing with a long block and seeing as how my normal "go to" guy for engine machining has retired and I don't have quite the rapport built up with the one I use on occasion, we opted for a remanned long block.
After evacuating the A/C system we tore into the project.
While the coolant was draining we disconnected everything underneath that we could.
The radiator and all of the accessory drive removed as well as intake it was ready to be pulled. Wiring was moved to the sides and with the wide girth of this thing being an overhead cam engine, if the heads and manifolds would clear, it should easily clear coming out.
The only downside was we couldn't get it high enough, so the motor mounts had to be removed then it slid right out. We did have to remove the front tires/wheels and set it down to nearly on the rotors to gain enough clearance to get the engine over the core support.
Old 4.7 liter engine out and on the engine stand ready for disassembly.
I know this engine gets a bad rap, but in all honesty, if properly maintained it is actually a pretty good engine. Just proper routine maintenance and care to avoid overheating and dropping a valve seat and this can go a couple hundred thousand miles easily and possibly even more. When my son bought it the Jeep had 170k miles on it 7 years ago and now has right at 206k, but it's buring about a quart in less than a thousand miles so it's time to retire it.
The inside of the engine looked fantastic however. Nice gold coloring and very, very little carbon or sludge buildup which I am sure is more from its first 170k rather than the last 35k or so.
The chains are even in excellent condition with little to no wear on the guides themselves.
Nothing in the pickup screen at all. The pickup is being replaced anyways, but nothing to be alarmed about inside.
We stuck a boroscope into the intakes and exhaust ports and the valves even look pretty good. Very little carbon buildup.
With the old engine disassembled and crated back up the reman. is sitting on the engine stand awaiting parts once we get them cleaned and ready to assemble.
I also thought I'd share a video that a gentleman from YouTube posted to his channel. He reached out to me a few months ago about doing a toolbox and shop tour and while I didn't have time then, when he reached back out a few weeks ago I thought what the hell.
He posted the video over the holiday weekend and I was humbled and flattered by the response. Hard to believe I've been at this for over 35 years. What's more staggering is the outpouring of comments that think I'm old. What the hell is with that????
