Hi all. I am just starting my newest project, so figured I would start a thread. I have helped build a few motors in the past but this will be my first swap.

Long story short, when I bought the jeep it had the typical 0331 cracked head amd was eating antifreeze. I bought a new clearwater head and replaced it. The old cam didn't mate with the new lifters and the cam ate one of the lifters, and I'm sure wiped that lobe of the cam. So, knowing the internals of this motor had antifreeze in them, the fact that it's tore down this far, and my thought process, is leading me to pull the engine. I've got a local machine shop lined up to machine and rebuild the motor to new, while using the clearwater head I've already bought.

Here is where I'm at so far


the lifter that got wiped by the cam:

and the starting point when I first bought her last spring

 

Got farther along this weekend. Disconnected and labeled all the electrical connectors. Then worked on getting those top torx bolts out of the trans bellhousing.

Those E12 bolts on the top of the bellhousing are a royal pain in the you know what. I ended up removing the bolts from the motor mounts, removing granny cross member, bracing the trans with a jack, and slowly lowering the motor. Then with about 4 ft of extensions got to them from underneath.

All that's left is removing the torque converter to flywheel bolts, and the rest of the bellhousing bolts and she should be free.

All cleaned up and close to pulling

Bracing engine to lower it a little to get to torx bolts

Screw these things haha.

 

Worked at it more today and finally got the engine out. Being my first time doing this, it took me quite a while to do. I just took my time and went slow. It really wasn't bad. I'll put it on the engine stand tomorrow and start stripping it down before it heads to the machine shop. Then I'll start cleaning up the engine bay.

 

enjoy watching your progress. keep up the good work.

 

Thank you. I'm slowly but surely getting there. I got the motor on the stand today. The only oil leak I ever saw on the ground was from the rear main seal, which I knew was going. But with the engine out, it looks like it was leaking oil from just about every seal in the motor.

 

Thank you everyone everyone the kind words. I worked some more today on just the engine. I got it all stripped down and ready to go to the machine shop. I put the new head back on. They are going to build the long block with it since I already have it.

I got curious and pulled the cam. You can see the lobe on cylinder number 5 where the lifter stuck. It rounded off the lobe of the cam pretty good. I atleast know now I made the right call on having this motor rebuilt.


Rounded off cam lobe from stuck lifter

All stripped and ready for the machine shop

 

Good progress. Interesting about the damaged lifter and cam. Any thoughts on why that happened? You mentioned in your original post "new lifters". Any concern there is a problem in the head that contributed? It would be good to know root cause of the failure and not just fix the results. I am sure you don't want to get everything back together with new parts and have a reoccurrence. Since you have some engine rebuild experience I expect you know to avoid glass bead blasting any parts and to thoroughly ultrasonically clean everything before reassembly. There has been more than one newly rebuilt engine destroyed in minutes due to abrasive contamination.

 

In the following thread around post 21 there is good info from dave1123 on setting up the lifters that might help avoid problems with adjustment:
https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f5/hea...252945/index2/

I also have some info in that thread on avoiding contamination

 

To be perfectly honest I'm not sure what happened with that lifter. I used all stock components as far as lifters, push rod lengths ect. I turned each cylinder over to TDC and torqued the rockers to spec per the manual. I soaked the lifters in oil for 2 days before install and covered them in cam lube on install. I did everything by the book as far as that goes.

My thought is that there was some sort of junk that got lodged by the lifter and made it stick for some reason. The motor has quite a few miles on it when I attempted the head replacement because of losing antifreeze. It ran good for about 15 mins after the new head. Then, it starting misfiring. That's when the lifter stuck and was causing the misfire. I have a video of it running with the valve cover off and that rocker not moving.

I'll admit I have limited knowledge when it comes to building the actual motor. It is going to a very well known and highly recommended local machine shop/engine builder early next week. He will machine and clean everything new and build a new longblock using my new head. And he is going to check that new head over to make sure it is all good. That way I don't have to touch lifters or worry about torque specs etc. It'll be built to spec and I just have to put it back in.

 

If it had been the lifter and cam lobe for cylinder 3 or 4 I would have suspected it might have been due to leaking antifreeze running down from the head and onto the cam, washing lubrication off and damaging the cam lobe prior to you replacing the head. Antifreeze also reacts with the oil and results in a terrible lubricant. What did the old lifter for #5 look like when you removed it? My understanding is that the cam lobes are at least partly lubricated by oil that runs down the head oil drain holes and push rods for each cylinder. Usually the 0331 head cracks and antifreeze trickles out between cylinder 3 and 4. In your case it may have been contamination plugging the lifter or jamming it in its bore.
Probably the most important aspect of internal engine work is keeping things very clean and preventing contamination. That can be difficult when you pull a head on the 4.0 given its size and weight and the accumulated crud.
Here is part of what I did to help minimize contamination from getting into the engine when I replaced the head on my 2000. I taped off the oil passages as much as possible while I was using a razor blade to clean up the block of carbon and old head gasket material and kept everything covered when I was not working on it. Prior to removing the head I pressure washed the sides of the engine to clean up the parting line between the head and block.

 

The original number 5 lifter looked ok. But, there has always been a tick from that cylinder. I only owned the jeep a few months before tearing into the head. The PO knew it was losing coolant and ran it that way for a long time. (I got a good deal on the jeep because I knew it had issues). Even with the new head it would tick from something deeper in cylinder 5. I'm guessing a wrist pin or something to do with the piston. Now, that could be caused by the coolant/oil mix, and maybe this new lifter was too. Not quite sure other than it was the same cylinder. I should have probably cleaned down in the oil passage and lifter hole a little better than I did. In the end I knew this motor had issues and a new head was just a bandaid. There was no question on having it rebuilt. In the end I will have the jeep I want with a brand new reliable motor.

 

Your Jeep looks to be in nice condition. Putting money into a proper motor rebuild is money well spent. At on-line auction sites such as Bring a Trailer prices for Cherokees in good condition are bring high prices, many lower mileage versions are getting over $10k. Just a few weeks ago a basic fleet type with police package equipment sold for $14k. Unmodified or lightly modified configurations seem to bring the highest prices.

Best wishes for your project.

 

Thank you. It's in really good shape other than the engine issues caused by the 0331 head casting and the PO not taking care of it. It's completely rust free except for a quarter size hole in the passenger side rocker. After looking for a while I decided I could live with knowing it would eventually need an engine, but having a rust free body was the most important part to me

 

Not much new to report. The engine heads to the machine shop/engine builder this week. I test fit to make sure the engine would fit out of the garage past the jeep on the stand, that way I didn't run into any surprises. Also, added the new stickers haha. Next weekend I'll start painting the accessories for when the engine comes back.

 

Not much new to report. Engine is at the machine shop/builder. I am starting to paint the accessories to put back on. I have the engine bay all cleaned up nice, so it's ready for when the motor gets back.