I want to start preparing for when my 4.0 decides to die in my XJ. I was thinking of looking for a low mileage 4.0 engine, mounting it on a stand, take everything but the internals off of it (head, P/S pump, timing chain cover, oil pan, etc.) and changing all the gaskets/seals and making sure coolant passages are clean, etc. Basically do everything except pistons, timing chain (I dont want to screw with the timing lol), crank, cam, etc. Then I would seal her up nice and tight, make sure she's clean, and then slap her on into the XJ.

Is all of this hard or is it just keeping up with bolts?

 

Keeping track of bolts, and not loosing focus on the task at hand overtime. Alot of labeling and ziplock baggies. That isn't a project your allowed to have extra bolts when done. Thought about doing the same myself recently. But if your going to go that far with it, why not pull the pistons, have it honed and a valve job done?

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right, ya know.

Best of luck!

 

It's more of a money issue. The 4.0 I might be getting is coming from a friend who owns a JY, and recently got a rear-ended, ruined unibody XJ. The engine is fine and intact, runs great. I just dont have the cash to have all the honing and head job done, plus I wouldn't know for sure how to reinstall it all with the proper bearings and everything.