89xjfan

First of all hi everyone awesome forum.
I bought an 89 cherokee xj 4 door 4wd a few weeks ago and after putting about 900 miles on it threw a rod. Heres a pic of my oil pan.
My friend and I are going to rebuild the engine and I need to replace the short block so far everything else looks fine but the only thing we've taken off is the oil pan.
Was just wondering what some good sites were that have rebuild kits, rebuild motors etc. So far the time ive spent taking the oil pan off is the most work Ive done on a vehicle so this is all a learning experience for me.
Thanks in advance for the help/advice

mycherokee1989

Damn that sucks man. What kind of engine??
Get in touch with your local auto store or auto shop. You may sound like a newb, but they will be more that glad to help you out. Also try to befriend some fellow jeepers in your area.
Hanes manual will help a bunch too. Not sure what sites though...

cheapJeeper

If I were in your situation, I would look on my local craigslist for a wrecked/rusted XJ/MJ/YJ that had a running motor like yours.

(You can never have too many spare parts.)

You would know that it ran before installing it.
Most likely, if you found one, it would be reasonably inexpensive.
You probably could sell leftover parts from the donor rig here!

An engine swap may seem like a daunting job for a newbie, but with a good manual (FSM, or Haynes), a good assortment of tools, some patience, and a place to work on your rig, you would learn a lot and spend less money than by rebuilding a motor.
From the looks of that oil pan, you would need to find a rebuildable core engine to rebuld anyway...shrapnel from an engine going away usually writes off the crank, rods, block, and sometimes the head.....and machine shop work adds up quickly.
That would get you back on the road....but if you're dead set on rebuilding a motor, you can always build a stroker motor to put in later.

Hope this helps!

89xjfan

yeah I think Im just going to replace the engine, and maybe rebuild the old one later. Ive found one with a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty: http://www.everdrive.com/partdetails.aspx?sku=3108131 and all of the rebuild kits ive found without the lower block are already almost the same price.
and to answer mycherokees question its the 4.0 straight 6.
Ive got it towed into the shop at my house and my friends helping me and giving me pointers on all the work.
I also found autozone has manuals online for free dunno if anyone else new that. that look like the hanes.

cherokee4meplz

was it knocking or anything before it let loose?

89xjfan

yeah it started knocking at first we thought it was lifter knock because my fiancees brothers did it but it got progressively worse.