Ok so I've never owned a jeep of any kind even though the GEO Tracker I used to have was lovingly called "The Jeep" and sometimes the "Hillbilly Hummer....

So I was surfing the list of Craigs and came across an unmolested 2000 model bright red XJ "freedom" series with a blown motor and 240k on the clock... I went and investigated the jeep last Sunday in the afternoon and discovered that it was a one owner and in excellent shape inside and out with exception to the motor...

Well the price I thought was a little high so I discussed it with the owner and we came to an agreement on what he would let me have it for and I picked it up the next afternoon via truck and trailer... The picture below is from the Craigslist post.....

 

For the last few days now I have been taking this beauty apart carefully in preparation for the repair/replace of the motor... Now I would LOVE to swap the stock 6 cylinder for a diesel and the automatic for a 5 speed but lets be real for just a minute... I am in no way shape or form rich nor do I have the expertise in extreme fabrication to pull something like that off!! So for now I will be sticking with it's current configuration :/.... My plan is to lift it about 4.5", wheels/tires, winch, front bumper, bumper with a tire carrier on the back and a roof rack with some sort of lights whether it be LEDs or Halogens...

Oh and I'm also a volunteer firefighter in my home town so I'll be installing some emergency lights and siren...

Now on to the pictures! One is just a random picture of the top of the motor after I removed all of the electrical, fans, A/C compressor exc. The other is of what's left of the number one piston... Well it looks like there isn't an easy fix for that one, or a cheap fix since the wrist pin and rod seriously scarred the cylinder wall before the motor locked up... Once I removed the oil pan and debris I was then able to roll the motor over by hand so I could take out the torque converter bolts...

 

Easy way to shrink pics is to use MS Paint and shrink them down in there. Or use a site like Photobucket, or upload right from the app.

Congrats on the buy. I used to have a 95 Geo Tracker but it was junk.

 

Thanks for the help!!

My GEO was a 90 model and when I sold it off it needed brakes, clutch and a driver window regulator. It was a 2 door hard top with factory A/C.... Kind of miss that thing. Still see it running around town from time to time.

I'm looking forward to getting this jeep back on the road!

 

Well I've made some progress! Found a 97 model motor and the guy told me it came out of a rolled Cherokee with 140k on the clock.. I pulled the head off today because the head on my motor will have to go on the engine I bought... This 97s head is for the distributor type engines and I need the coil pack type head... :/

Didn't think there was a difference in the motors until I got to see it first hand, but the guy knocked another $100. off his original asking price since he told me they were the same motors and I drove about 3 hours to go get it...

So I pulled the head off of the donor motor and discovered that that motor or at least the head had been worked at some point in time or another as the valve cover gasket and head gasket were both Fel-Pro and came off with little effort making me think it hadn't been long before the Cherokee was wrecked that the motor had been opened up...... Also for an engine that is supposed to have 140k on it, it didn't have much carbon build up on the top of the pistons or head. I'll know more when I get it on the engine stand and pull the oil pan and a rod cap or two...

 

So I dropped the head off at the machine shop and had the shop owner look at the block I plan to use and he was also under the impression that my donor motor had recently been built, which is awesome because I was a little worried to put a "new" head on an "old" motor... the shop said they should be done with the head tomorrow afternoon which will hopefully give me enough time to button the motor all up before it starts raining on Saturday, AGAIN! It's from all that damn global warming! Lmao...

 

Well I decided to take the oil pan off the donor motor and check a few rod and main bearings and discovered that the motor I bought needs a complete overhaul!! The bearings are worn out, the cam has rust spots on it and there was what appeared to be large amounts of mud in the bottom of the oil pan.... I wish I had just saved the money I blew on it and stuck it in the block I already have but I guess I'm going to just make lemonade out of this lemon......

 

Ok so over the last few days while I've been waiting for the block and head to come back from the machine shop, I have been cleaning the 13 years of grease, oil, and road grime out from under the hood, trans tunnel and chassis in preparations for installing fresh undercoating to the complete under side of my XJ... I've been looking around online and trying to take some notes from others that have built their XJs from ordinary to now beautiful pieces of machinery... I'm hoping to finish the undercoating within the next couple days since the motor should be ready by Friday for pickup from the shop...

Just trying to keep plugging away at my list of mods....

Below are some before and after shots of the motor cavity and also of the transmission before and after cleaning...

 

I also included in this list of pic.s a couple of where I'm beginning to tape off for the undercoating...

More to come so stay tuned folks!!

 

Just a few shots of the progress... Got the bed liner sprayed on in the engine compartment and underneath from the firewall to the rear axle except where I'm going to have to replace the floor pan on the passenger side from cancer....

 

I was originally only going to put the bed liner on the frame rails in the engine compartment and when I removed the battery box for cleaning I noticed some surface rust underneath and decided to sand, prime and bed line it... So instead of having just the one side done I figured I'd match the other side with it...

 

Well I got the original engine block loose from the trans and I was about to start re-installing the motor mounts, steering box and tie rod back onto the frame rails but the bed liner for some reason it's still soft... not sure what the deal is with that... I'm supposed to pick up my block and head from the shop tomorrow evening... It's not like I can put the motor in tomorrow or anything but it'd be nice to have to motor compartment ready and scratched off my to do list... maybe it'll be dry by the end of today since the sun is out and beating directly on it...

 

It's almost like Christmas at my house!! Costs about as much.... Lol. I picked up the block and head Friday evening as planned and also the internal parts needed to get it back together and have started installing parts into the block...

First pics, PISTONS!!!! More pics to come as I put it together...

 

Well I've pretty much gotten the motor together!! Here's a few pic.s of the progress as I got things done.... I still have to install the oil filter adapter 90 and injectors and fuel rail but I'm debating whether or not to upgrade the stock injectors with ones from "the list" or not....

Here's the link to "the list".... Ok so I couldn't remember where I found "the list" I know it was on this forum but I can't locate it again, but I was smart enough the other night to make a copy of it and save it to my puter.... I'll add it to the next post for those who may be interested in an upgrade to your injectors...

 

As promised, "the list"...