mjeff87

Got plenty of Bud Lites....haven't smoked a butt in a couple months. Maybe a good idea for Saturday.

I forgot to mention, when I was busy at the engine disassembly party two of my intake manifold bolts were not even finger tight. Not sure how or why they backed out, or how long they've been not tight, but I'll make sure they're all snugged up on reinstall. Maybe a dot of blue locktite on each just to make sure. I dropped the head off at the machine shop (about 5 miles from my house) late yesterday afternoon. They just called me and said that it was all ready to be picked up. I wasn't expecting them to get it fixed THAT quickly, lol. $100, which I'm happy to pay the man, I'm picking it up after work today. I might even get to start putting it all back together this weekend. My back is absolutely killing me from getting it all out (leaning over the fender and grill working inside the engine compartment.

I used anti-seize on mine. It was a hot mess (a little bit of it goes a LONG way), but that worked for me. Also, the cable is held by a small metal connector that attaches to the top rear UCA bolt (or somewhere close to that area). Check to see that it's tight (or not missing). If it's not secured there, the whole cable/housing will slap around underneath and cause jumping. Your mechanic might not have reattached it there, or it could be loose.

Yeah, the clutch is a real PITA to replace. I feel ya on that one.

Cool man, thanks. Let me know

On a side note....it turns out that Ford Focus starters really don't like to get wet. I sprayed down the whole engine compartment with the garden hose today and soaked the starter. Went to move it and it cranked for about a second and then quit. It blew the 20A maxi fuse for the engine circuit. I didn't have a spare, and my wife is out of town so I was stranded in my driveway. Used my leaf blower to dry the engine off then made a jumper wire up to replace the blown fuse so I could get down to the part store to get a new fuse. Mission accomplished. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Thats the plan, lol. Although I've grown quite fond of the second Focus....I'm not going to get rid of it once I get the KJ fixed (that was the original plan). It's a fun little car, and gets about 2X the mileage (and it's a 5-speed). I'll just keep it as a spare vehicle to drive when the weather is not bad. Which in VA is about 9 months out of the year.

Sure man, if you can. I'm guessing they are pretty standard across chryco engines of that era. If you can source them, let me know and I'll send you some $$$ for your time and trouble

I've got more hours into this engine already than any other jeep I've owned so far, lol. Its ridiculous the amount of stuff you have to take off just to get the head(s) off. I *heart* pushrod engines....they are so much simpler

Head is at the machine shop getting the plug threads out (and the upper timing chain guide torx bolt that I stripped trying to remove lol). Should have it back sometime this week, all cleaned up and pretty. I need to deep clean most of what I removed (intake manifold and timing cover mostly), then buy a bunch of new stuff for reinstall. Head gasket, head bolts, intake/exhaust manifold gaskets, fuel injector o rings, both radiator hoses, a couple PCV hoses that were split, and some of those little red plastic fuel injector electrical connector "locks".....every one of them crumbled when I pried them up to disconnect the injectors. Probably a dealer-only item, lol. Once I get all that, I'll start putting it all back together. My goal is Thanksgiving....I'm not in a rush (since I have the focus) and want to take my time getting it all reassembled.

Well, I got the head off finally. Took me 4 hours Saturday and a couple more hours yesterday morning. What an incredible PITA job. Not "hard", but there were a couple challenges to figure out, courtesy of the design engineers at Chrysler (why, oh why, would you zip-tie a wiring harness to the back of the head, right against the firewall, with absolutely NO way of getting to it to undo it so you can actually move the head once you unbolt it?????) Here's a couple pics of the pertinent bits. All the stuff on the table I set up is what you have to remove to get the head out. LOL. It probably would have been easier to just swap the whole engine out...... Special shout out to Pat, who gave me some really good tips on this job too. Much appreciated brother I owe ya a big one.

I have one downspout on the back side of the house that clogs with leaf debris every year like clockwork. I just rig up the nozzle of my (gas) blower to the elbow at the bottom and let her rip. It blows the junk out about 10 feet into the air

What's wrong with the focus?

Nice score man Just an FYI, my wife is going out of town this weekend, and I'm going to pull the head off of mine. I need to get the spiral extractor back out of it and take it back up to the shop that got it stuck in there, then drop the head off at the machine shop to see if they can fix it. Should be great fun, I'll take many pictures.

^^Does your European front clip include the hood lock/latch? I think those are slick, and wouldn't mind adding one to mine. Especially since my hood release cable is broken, LOL. It still works, but the little plastic tab at the handle-end is snapped off and it won't stay attached to the lower dash piece. Right now I just have it jammed up under the steering column so it stays out of the way of my legs. Driving to work yesterday morning, and my HVAC fan decided it didn't like life anymore......started making a horrible squealing sound on all speeds. So when I got home I monkeyed my way under the passenger side and pulled the blower motor/squirrel cage, disassembled it as much as I could and got some 3-in-1 oil on the front and rear bushings and put it all back together. It's quiet as a church mouse now

Whoa....whole lotta science getting dropped here, lol Bill, I replaced the passenger side mount with a poly one, the other ones are rubber. So far, this thing idles so smoothly I have to look at the tach to make sure the engine is still running. I even actually stalled it (like a teenager just learning how to drive a stick shift...) this morning in the work parking lot.

Race car

Check/wiggle the two wires going into the top of the injector. They may be loose/corroded and not making enough contact for the injector to fire.

The "dogbone" or torque mount underneath is a bit of a PITA. You have to take off the bracket that holds it to the trans first, to get the mount out, and then have to insert the new mount in the bracket and put it all back in as one piece (and try to get all the bolt holes to line up). This thing runs like a new car now, I'm quite happy with it.

The driver side mount is pretty easy to get to, just have to remove the battery/box and air cleaner housing.

Got back from vacation on Saturday, spent Sunday putting our lives back together, and then changed out the motor/tranny mounts on the Focus yesterday. To say the old ones were shot would be an understatement, especially the passenger side motor mount (the one that always craps out). It's a hydraulic mount, and all the fluid leaked out of mine a long time ago. It was compressed about 2" compared to the new one.

Meh, it's done and clean. Drove it all day yesterday and to work on the interstate this morning and it hasn't erupted into a big ball of flame, so I'm counting it as a win LOL. It was pretty easy to access the front of it from above with the passenger side motor mount out of the way (which I swapped out, along with the driverside engine/tranny mount and the dogbone tranny/torque mount underneath). Didn't get a before pic but here's the after/cleaned version:

^^^yeah, that. I cleaned it today, while I was replacing all the motor/tranny mounts. I used QD Electronic cleaner and about 3 tanks of compressed air. I've got pics to show but they're on my phone....I'll download them tomorrow and post them. Fun day.

The motor mounts themselves can be changed via bolt-on, but the frame horns are welded to the frame (unlike XJ/MJ's that are bolted on). Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I briefly considered a 4.0 swap into my old TJ, until I learned that.

Made it back home safe and sound, albeit not without some issues. We had the "magical experience" package (that worked perfectly last year....) where TSA has agents at the resort properties that print your boarding passes right there and take your luggage and you don't see them again until you reach your destination. Apparently Spirit Airlines does not participate in that, so we had to get to the airport early and schlep our bags thru the ticket counter. Then, when we finally boarded and were a minute from pushback, the pilot came on and said the ground crew accidentally loaded everyone's luggage onto the wrong plane. Mmmmmm......yeah. So we were delayed about 30 minutes until they fixed that CF.. Ended up landing in RIC @5:45 instead of 5:10, didn't get home until almost 7:00 due to local traffic. TL/DR.....Don't fly Spirit, they suck. This was our first and last time with them. Well stick with the legacy airlines, and/or Jet Blue.