68 highboy

I was told I should do a build thread, i have had this project for a looong time, this was my first truck, I took my wife on our first date in this truck, it was my dads truck before me while I was growing up. I decided to do a body swap sometime in 2009, but a bad year in 2010 ( loosing two grandparents, a great grandma, and my father, as well as welcoming a second kid into our family took the wind out of my sail. I did work on it here and there over the years, but it has mainly been a looked over second thought. My kids are now at the age where they are starting to want to do stuff with friends over hanging with mom and dad, and I finally have the ambition to start working on the old girl again. So to keep me motivated and moving on the project I’m starting a build thread.

I’m currently found a high pinion open knuckle Dana 44 swamp, disc brakes and a better turning radius are my two major motivators to make this work.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

on the plus side, my core got a lot of good workouts done as I was in this position for hours.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Today I took the passenger side apart, replace the four glow plugs and did the shim kit on all 4 injectors, fingers crossed that is start great in the morning. I need good running vehicles so I can have time to work on my 68…..

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Well I haven’t updated on this for a while, my ripped meniscus in both my knees has made it difficult to get down and do much on the truck…. That being said unfortunately our jeep is the current project. Started as a water pump replacement and now it’s this :

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Talk to me jeep people, I need advice on clutches for this rig. Do I want to get the heavier flywheel (26lbs) or stay stock? I will tear the motor down over the next week to see if I have any major damage from the two broken piston skirts that have probably been broken for at least five years. The motor ran great but I knew they were broken off for at least two years. This will be my first major tear down and build of an engine. I figured a 4.0l is a good one to start with. Before anyone says it no under no circumstances will I consider an la swap! Chevys are for chevys, I’m not like nor do I want to be like every one else. I’m not dogging on anyone running a ls, nor am I dogging on the motor, I just like to see people run what came in the rig, there is something beautiful to opening a hood and seeing a built up original motor in a rig. Depending on the block condition I may consider a 4.6 or 4.7 stroker.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

I don’t know if y’all see a theme to my rigs, but I like blue 😂

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Anyone have a good spare crank for a 4.0l sitting around?

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Well the more I looked into this motor the worse it got, everything is worn bad

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

So how to move forward? I was going to build a stroker, man I have a bit of sticker shock. At this point I’m not sure on the direction I want to go. Anyone have any advice or hookups 🫠

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

I should rename this thread to: Adventures in Mechanics with Joshua Smith 🤭 what will happen and befall him next ?

 

[DAA]

I'd get e reman with a warranty and pop it in.

- DAA

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

have you purchased a reman before? The reviews are horrendous to read on a lot of them, I know most people only review failures but man some horror stories.

Anyone have any recommendations on a good place to buy one?

 

[Greg]

You could check with Cleggs Machine in Orem and see if they might have a reman engine ready to go. They are very familiar with Jeep engines and do excellent work.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

You could check with Cleggs Machine in Orem and see if they might have a reman engine ready to go. They are very familiar with Jeep engines and do excellent work.

omg, i have been looking at clegg's w.s. for the past few weeks I didn't know they were from Utah, hell yes, thanks for this!

 

[Greg]

omg, i have been looking at clegg's w.s. for the past few weeks I didn't know they were from Utah, hell yes, thanks for this!

Not a Jeep engine, but.....

GM LQ4 rebuild https://www.rme4x4.com/threads/gm-lq4-rebuild-for-the-boring-tj.118286/post-1166436

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Horse power farms got back to me today. Looks like I’m getting a STROKER built! They are three months out, but I have had nothing but good comments about their work. Anyone have them do work that would like to share your experience?

 

[mbryson]

Horse power farms got back to me today. Looks like I’m getting a STROKER built! They are three months out, but I have had nothing but good comments about their work. Anyone have them do work that would like to share your experience?

I've heard the same about them. Probably worth the wait for them.

 

[1969honda]

I've had a few LS engines built by them and currently have a 6.7 cummins at their shop being built. They are stand up guys and very thurough.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

In the mean time I have degreased another engine I pick up torn it down, after soaking the pistons in berrymans for five days I have finally cleaned the oil fouling and carbon that was on them. Installed new Mahle rings, and rod bearings, honed the block and am currently working on the head, will post pics soon. This engine is a refresh to install in the jeep until the stroker is done ( September or October) I would do a refresh but I’ve always wanted to do an engine rebuild and if there was ever an engine that a shade tree mech could tackle this is one of them.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Well I’m hoping she’s a runner, if not it’s a pretty turd 🤭🫣 it ended up blue because I had some Kbs motor coater left over from my highboy build, I also had some hi-temp left over from the highboy so the header got a couple coats of that. Everything is torqued to spec, I sure hope I didn’t miss anything this is my first total tear down and rebuild. Now to move on to the flywheel, pressure plate and clutch.

 

[Die Blaue Ziege]

Got the new flywheel, clutch and pressure plate mounted, I had to chuckle when I opened the pressure plate and it was blue. I’ve been sick for the past few days, so getting anything done has been a real pain.