Rebuilding the Engine on my Jeep
I'm detailing the process of rebuilding my Jeep engine
partly for my own reference, but also in hopes that somebody, somewhere,
might find a bit of the bits that I learned useful, and can save a couple
of hours of going 'how the fuck do I do that...'
Background:
My Jeep is a 1987 Wrangler YJ with about 230,000 miles
on it. It's got the standard 4.2l in-line 6 cylinder engine, 2bbl
carb, manual trans and a winch. It's in pretty good shape overall
considering it's age, and really doesn't see off-road much - just a few
trips to the Playa and regular runs over Donner Pass in the winter.
The engine is getting rebuilt now because it is showing
some age (low compression, lack of power...) and if I don't, I will wind
up throwing a rod while climbing the Sierra's in the first major
snowstorm of the season. That being said, this is a stock rebuild,
and I'm not doing a full show-car restoration - I have to keep it street
legal, get around, and pay for the gas in it...
Day 01 - Getting the Beast In
I'm doing the rebuild at my Studio Space, which, while
fairly large is barely big enough for this. As my dear-departed
Grandmother used to say, 'it's like putting 10 pounds of shit in a 5
pound sack.'
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Backing it In
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Side View
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The Other Side
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Next Step - Getting Ready to Pull The Motor
Now I'm disconnecting all the wires, cable and the
plethora of vacuum hoses that are under the hood as well as little
things like the radiator and whatnot.
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Top of the Engine to Ya!
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Manifolds and Related
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More Manifolds
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Oil Pressure Switch Assembly
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Back Side
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Pulling the Motor Out
Here's where things get tricky. Pulling an engine
is theoretically simple - just disconnect the bolts to the bell housing
and the motor mounts and lift it up... Sure. The trick on
Jeeps of this era is that they use not only a mix of metric and english
bolts, but also sometimes use some weird ones too. Connecting the
engine to the bell housing at about 10 and 2 O'clock are these two weird
little bolts that are almost impossible to get to (I didn't even find
them until the motor didn't come out the first time around.) They
aren't english or metric bolts, and while a 12-point 12mm socket sorta
fits on them, as does a 1/2 inch, but they don't come out and you can
strip the heads really easily.
My guess is that if your bothering to look at this page,
it's because you've come across these little buggers and what the hell
they are... Hopefully this will answer your questions and save you
several hours of angst over them. Those bolts are E12 External Torx bolts. You can buy a socket at
McMaster
Carr, and Snap-On sells the box-wrench version for around $50.
If you are nimble, you can get a socket on the drivers side bolt, but
the only way to get at the passenger side one is with a box wrench.
I have no idea if other year Wranglers have the same bolts, if they have
different head sized, or if they learned from their mistakes. YMMV
on the exact size of the tool required, but I bought the full set of
3/8" drive sockets just to make sure.
What I did was take the socket from McMaster, get a
cheap 9/16" open end wrench from my local Ace Hardware and meld the two
with my MIG welder... Not great, but it works.
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There's a bolt in there?
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E12 External Torx Bolt
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Cleaning, Painting And Rebuilding
The machine shop that did the rebuild for me was M&M
Cylinder Heads in Hayward, CA. They are a clean, well run shop
that came with a recommendation from a co-worker. I was impressed
with their operation and it looks like they did a really good job and
had a reasonable price - $2k for a full rebuild along with balancing the
engine. They have the know-how and facilities to do more advanced
stuff as well (racing engines and really detailed restorations.)
If you live in the greater Bay Area and are looking for a shop I'd
suggest giving them a call.
I "detailed" the compartment and all the various bits
(alternator, water pump etc...) with some elbow grease and some paint.
The frame and black parts were all either Krylon 'Rust Reformer' flat
black or their semi gloss BBQ grill paint (high temp - 500F) The
silver and gold colors were from Eastwood and are their Alumablast,
Ti-Coat, and Golden Cad spray paints. The exhaust manifold was
done with Duplicolor 1200F Aluminum.
Installation - 29 July 2006
Below are the pictures of the installation process - so
far it's gone smoothly. I've replaced a good number of the bolts
with either Grade 8 or M10 depending on their flavor (english vs.
metric) The clutch went in really nicely too and alignment with
the shaft on the trans took a minimum of wrestling around.
The grade M10 bolts are all blue, Grade 8's are the standard golden
color.
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Picking it Up
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Careful Now
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Installed
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Just Like New
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A Job Well Done!
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Re-Assembly - 30 July 2006
I'm taking my time re-assembling the motor - I don't
"need" the car now so there's no reason to rush things. I tried to
label everything when I pulled it all apart, and put the bits in labeled
baggies, but having a bunch of photos of how it was in the beginning is
also useful...
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Intake and Exhaust Manifold In Place
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Connecting the Cables and Sensors
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More Re-Assembly 31 July 2006
Still putting things back together - today was the power steering
pump, alternator, fuel pump and related brackets.
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Passenger Side View
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Oil Pressure Switch Assembly
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Distributor In Place
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Front View
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Front View
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Fan and Belts Installed
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The Final Push - 12 August 2006
All the stuff is in, now we're ready to start it up.
Final Checklist:
- Oil - Check
- Antifreeze - Check
- Engine at TDC - Check
- Oil Pump Primed - Check
- Distributor pointing at #1 cylinder - Check
- Battery Charged - Check
It starts and life is good. Looks like Beer-Thirty to me.
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All Done
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Ready to Go
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It Lives!
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Just a Small Stain
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Buh-Bye
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Looks Better in Daylight
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Bright and Shiny
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