[B2CARPEN]

Hi my JF buddies!! It's been quite a while since I've been active on this forum due to some prior time restrictions, but now I finally have the time to document the current project that I've been sloooowly working on the past few months... very exciting :2thumbsup:

Background...
About two winters ago the 4.0L developed a loud knocking noise that I originally thought to be a collapsed lifter, so I decided to park the jeep in my garage until I found the time to tear into the engine. A few month ago I began disassembling the engine and removed the cylinder head to gain access to the lifters and investigated to see if any were heavily damaged enough to cause the symptomatic knocking noise. They were all collapsed, but not smashed or pancaked. This only meant that the issue was in the lower end and most likely a broken piston skirt (very common issue for high mileaged jeeps).

When i dropped the oil pan down for inspection this is what I found...



This means that I'm looking at a full engine rebuild at best, but from a positive point of view this gave me the excuse to ditch the AMC 242 crank and stroke the motor :devil: and that's exactly what this thread is about.

The motor has about 185k miles, but surprisingly there were not many unexpected challenges that have popped up so far, but I intend to share this entire process from start to finish and ongoing thereafter. This should be a lot of fun and I will do my best to document as much as possible along the way... picture heavy! :duhrock:

more to come soon...

 

[dayriesw]

Look who is back now...

 

[B2CARPEN]

Look who is back now...

Your jeep transformed into beast mode! Damn :drool:

 

[dayriesw]

Your jeep transformed into beast mode! Damn :drool:

Thanks Bud. Can't wait to see yours with a 4.7!

 

[B2CARPEN]

Thanks Bud. Can't wait to see yours with a 4.7!

It's good to be back wrenching on the jeep again Mike, I'm excited as well.

 

[B2CARPEN]

Organization is key when tearing apart something you intend on putting back together again, so lable, bag, and separate out every bolt, wire, part you plan to reuse or reinstall. I took the precaution to organize everything since I was originally planning on rebuilding the 4.0L, but it doesn't hurt even tho nearly everything will be replaced.

Here's some pics of the engine tear down...

Valve cover removed, everything looked so clean considering the mileage...



Rocker arms and push rods removed...





Fuel rail removed, you can see how dirty these lil injectors are...







Spark plugs were shot...



Removed front of motor components (therm housing, water pump, fan clutch, move power steering pump to the side)



Wiring moved to the side and labled...

 

[B2CARPEN]

Some other things worth mentioning... remove the spark plug rail, alternator, A/C hard lines and compressor (if you happen to have A/C), disconnect all cables, wires, and vacuum lines from the intake manifold so you basically have left the manifold and headers to still be remove and then the cylinder head.

Don't forget to drain the coolant from the radiator and do your best to drain the heater hoses into a bucket or container, remove the radiator hoses. Drain the oil!! You do not want to drop that oil pan when it's filled with oil, you will be sorry.

 

[B2CARPEN]

Intake manifold removed, you can see the years worth of grime and carbon buildup ...

 

[B2CARPEN]

Next were the Exhaust headers.. (fyi - the bolts for the intake and exhaust were not as bad to get to as everyone makes them out to be, you just need a good set of socket extensions with a wobble ends, these will make your life so much better)

 

[REDLYNER]

Well, look who is drinking some awesome sauce.

Subscribed.

 

[B2CARPEN]

Then you can safely remove the cylinder head, which weighs 60lbs and is filthy and covered in oil (bad valve cover) and just plain sucky to lift off the block, just be careful and take your time. Once it's removed then you can remove the oil pan and gain access to the connecting rod bolts, you will slide the pistons straight up and out the top of the block.

So everyone who asks "can I remove the pistons without removing the head??" The correct answer is no. Even if u get it out after nicking up your crank journals, how do you plan to get new pistons installed? And if you have any real mileage on your engine (like mine) then you MUST take the block to a machine shop anyway... don't take short cuts here...

Pics of the cylinder head removed, removing lifters out from the lifter bores using an extended magnet, oil pan removed, in reverse order lol...

 

[B2CARPEN]

Well, look who is drinking some awesome sauce.

Subscribed.

Thank's brotha, good to have you on board! :cheers2:

 

[B2CARPEN]

Many more updates to come... have to head out to the machine shop now. I will report back soon.

 

[Imped]

Holy ****, he lives.

 

[B2CARPEN]

Holy ****, he lives.

Lol yes indeed and my jeep will live again soon too

 

[B2CARPEN]

Here's the culprit, piston #6

 

[dayriesw]

F'in #6....

 

[B2CARPEN]

The block and head are now in good hands at Speed Performance CNC machine shop in Wauconda IL, Tony is an amazing guy who has been in the machining and engine building business for 25+ years and knows his ****. Not only will this engine be machined to perfection, but it will also look badass once I rebuild it, paint it and drop it back into a clean and painted engine bay.

 

[B2CARPEN]

I will get back to posting more of the tear down pics shortly

 

[B2CARPEN]

Here's pics of the combustion chambers and valve seats of the head after being degreased then power washed. It will even look better after a good port and polish and bead blast. I'm still figuring out what cam, valves, and springs I'm going to run, but not worried about that quite yet...