[NotmyJK]

Is there a fix for the 3.8 timing cover porosity issue besides replacing the $1K cover (if even available)? Bought a 2008 RHD 2 door as a project Jeep. Plans are to make a Juggy out of it with tons and all that with an LS install as the last thing. That is a long way off and want to wheel it with the tons and 42s before the LS goes in.

 

[222Doc]

well to run 42 on a 2 door its getting comp cut? 95.5" wheel base is way short for 42s you want like 110"or more. Might as well not bother fixing the 3.8. 42s on stock wheel base will be like a clown car wont do as well as say 35s/37s even with 37s your pushing it i added 1.5 to our two at the rear. on 4.5 springs. 3.8 is going to hate 42s, rubi Tcase? Atlas? Fun project , expensive do you weld and fab? I would look at flat belling a jk at this point, that belly hangs down 3". Go with say a flat plate of 3/8 7017 then all brackets go frame up linking it in steel. like Genrights crazy 20k kit. just copy kinda what they do. the belly plate for what they want you can buy a 4x8 sheet of the stuff for less. make a few.

 

[NotmyJK]

Tub is rusted out in the rear so cutting the tub off from the dash back. Rear of the frame is going to be tube and narrowed for rear steer. I do fab and weld. Stock 3.8 and stock transfer case will have to do until it splits. I will get burned out on the project if I have to do all the axle fab/frame/body/engine swap all at once. Also could have swore I saw Motobilts kit for a 2 door. 2007-2011 Jeep JKU 4 link Suspension Bracket & Skid Kit

 

[NotmyJK]

Came across a smoking deal on a new set of sticky 42s so I couldn't pass them up. Mounted them to vision beadlocks.That part of the equation is done

 

[Prot]

You are tossing bags of money into a dumpster fire.

‘’Even if you were to build a timing cover yourself out of any kind of decent metal, you are still dealing with an anemic engine with a power band ill suited to a stock wrangler, much less to an extreme build. If it has an automatic transmission, the problem is further compounded due to it being a terrible mismatch for that engine.

‘’I had a 2007 JKU I bought new, as my very first brand new vehicle purchase. The best thing I ever did was get rid of it. Yes, oil seeped through the timing cover bad. Of course it had the 3.8L and automatic transmission . Regearing the differentials helped mitigate the transmission shortcomings some, but still was not good. That doesn’t even count any of the other countless things that were awful.

The axles were not great on a 2 door X model.

 

[NotmyJK]

You are tossing bags of money into a dumpster fire.

‘’Even if you were to build a timing cover yourself out of any kind of decent metal, you are still dealing with an anemic engine with a power band ill suited to a stock wrangler, much less to an extreme build. If it has an automatic transmission, the problem is further compounded due to it being a terrible mismatch for that engine.

‘’I had a 2007 JKU I bought new, as my very first brand new vehicle purchase. The best thing I ever did was get rid of it. Yes, oil seeped through the timing cover bad. Of course it had the 3.8L and automatic transmission . Regearing the differentials helped mitigate the transmission shortcomings some, but still was not good. That doesn’t even count any of the other countless things that were awful.

The axles were not great on a 2 door X model.

Right, so is there something I can do for a stopgap to keep oil from leaking. I do a lot vehicle jockying so I want to get this to where it doesn't leak fluids when I move it in and out of my shop. No worries on axles as I have a 14 bolt and SD D60 to go in it.

 

[Prot]

Until I got rid of my 2007, I kept oil with me. I would put half a quart of oil in it every time I would fill up with gas. I would also check the oil level a lot more frequently than that. I thought about pulling the timing cover off, cleaning it thoroughl]y, then maybe slather on a bunch of JB Weld onto the entire outside of the cover. I don’t know if that would have worked or helped though.

It is also worth looking for dried antifreeze on the intake manifold. Mine had that but I ended up replacing both the water pump and thermostat housing and tat took care of it. I noticed the thermostats housing was leaking or cracked when the water pump went out. I was relieved that is where the dried antifreeze was coming from.

A lot of the Jeep, particularly the chassis/undercarriage was put together with mismatched fasteners. I forgot if it was metric fasteners in standard holes or the other way around. I had suspected this and then later on I noticed fastener kits started showing up on vendors websites for this very issue. Yeah, Jeep ****ed up that bad.

‘My 2007 would not overheat, but for some reason when I would park, it would heat up my garage so muc, that I started leaving my garage door open for a couple of hours after I would park to give things time to cool down. My 2014 does not do that. My 1981 Corvette does not do tha. My 1995 Harley does not do that.

‘’I had a lot of random computer problems that would cause stuff to sometimes stop working then suddenly start working. An example would be windows would sometimes not go back up or blower motor for a/c not work then later would work fine. Sometimes programmed behavior would change such as horn beep when I would lock the doors. Then sometimes it would suddenly change to no horn beep when locking the doors. I once got out of it and left it running to get an inforation sheet about a house for sale. It was winter. When I closed the door after I got out, it suddenly licked the doors by itself. I had to walk home five miles to obtain my spare keys while the Jeep stayed on the side of the road running. Sometimes the engine would die in the middle of rush hour traffic and not start. I would push it off the side of the road, call a tow truck, and when I would get it to the dealer it would start back up perfectly fine. I didn’t know what was causing all this until later I started seeing stuff about failing TIPM failur. There was some speculation that under hood heat may ge a cause or contributing factor.
I had already gotten rid of by that point.

‘The brake master cylinder was another part that failed early. I think there was something else involving the brakes having to do with a compute. I remember having to drive into and out of a ditch a few times at full speed to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me because I could not stop or even slow down. I started carrying extra underwear in the glove compartment.

So these are the kinds of things you need to look for.


Is your project an automatic or manual transmission?

 

[NotmyJK]

Until I got rid of my 2007, I kept oil with me. I would put half a quart of oil in it every time I would fill up with gas. I would also check the oil level a lot more frequently than that. I thought about pulling the timing cover off, cleaning it thoroughl]y, then maybe slather on a bunch of JB Weld onto the entire outside of the cover. I don’t know if that would have worked or helped though.

It is also worth looking for dried antifreeze on the intake manifold. Mine had that but I ended up replacing both the water pump and thermostat housing and tat took care of it. I noticed the thermostats housing was leaking or cracked when the water pump went out. I was relieved that is where the dried antifreeze was coming from.

A lot of the Jeep, particularly the chassis/undercarriage was put together with mismatched fasteners. I forgot if it was metric fasteners in standard holes or the other way around. I had suspected this and then later on I noticed fastener kits started showing up on vendors websites for this very issue. Yeah, Jeep ****ed up that bad.

‘My 2007 would not overheat, but for some reason when I would park, it would heat up my garage so muc, that I started leaving my garage door open for a couple of hours after I would park to give things time to cool down. My 2014 does not do that. My 1981 Corvette does not do tha. My 1995 Harley does not do that.

‘’I had a lot of random computer problems that would cause stuff to sometimes stop working then suddenly start working. An example would be windows would sometimes not go back up or blower motor for a/c not work then later would work fine. Sometimes programmed behavior would change such as horn beep when I would lock the doors. Then sometimes it would suddenly change to no horn beep when locking the doors. I once got out of it and left it running to get an inforation sheet about a house for sale. It was winter. When I closed the door after I got out, it suddenly licked the doors by itself. I had to walk home five miles to obtain my spare keys while the Jeep stayed on the side of the road running. Sometimes the engine would die in the middle of rush hour traffic and not start. I would push it off the side of the road, call a tow truck, and when I would get it to the dealer it would start back up perfectly fine. I didn’t know what was causing all this until later I started seeing stuff about failing TIPM failur. There was some speculation that under hood heat may ge a cause or contributing factor.
I had already gotten rid of by that point.

‘The brake master cylinder was another part that failed early. I think there was something else involving the brakes having to do with a compute. I remember having to drive into and out of a ditch a few times at full speed to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of me because I could not stop or even slow down. I started carrying extra underwear in the glove compartment.

So these are the kinds of things you need to look for.


Is your project an automatic or manual transmission?

Automatic. It will get a TH400 in the end. Sucks that some Jeeps had major problems. I'm pretty familiar with Jeeps shortcomings but as a whole they are decent. Right now I have a FC, YJ, XJ, TJ, JLR, and now this 2 door JK. I used to have a 08 4 door manual trans that ran great. Used a quart of oil between oil changes (5K miles). At 160K miles I put an intercooled Sprintex supercharger on it. Ran great until I sold it at 230K miles. Sold it to a friend and has 235K miles on it now.