Katalyzt13

Here's some pics of the rebuild...unfortunatley, I don't take a lot of pictures. The valve cover is just a temp while on polishing an aluminum one. The masking tape is still on the engine in the last pic.

I have almost zero mechanical knowledge, so any input advice or warnings are greatly appreciated. 1. I rebuilt a 4.0L that came out of a '96 Cherokee and next Thurs, Fri and Sat I will be swapping it with my '87 Comanche Pioneer 4.0L engine. I don't know what challenges I will encounter. 2. I plan to delete my EGR equipment, including the catalytic converter (if my truck has one?) and I will replace it with an intermediate pipe. 3. I am replacing the CCV system with a PCV system with an oil catch can and breather filter. Anything else easy I can do to make it run better or make under the hood less busy? I'm also going to try to replace all my vacuum lines while I'm at it, but don't know the diameter, etc., yet.

I think that is actually instructions on switching from the HO back to a Renix instead of the other way around...I see that you're the author of that link, but I'm not understanding what I'm reading - it definitely seems to be describing transitioning from a HO back to a Renix?

Thanks! This is very useful!

Thanks! I'll try that!

Thanks for the info on aging the head and block! Critical for functionality, heat and AC - not emissions.

I was gifted a 4.0L I6 to rebuild and replace the engine in my truck (currently also 4.0L I6) due to it appears the rings are leaking and/or several other issues with the engine. I would like to know if there is a way to identify the year of a block and head, and how would I know if they are HO and if I'm transitioning to HO what other challenges would there be? In the interest of not creating a bunch of topics, does anybody have any kind of resource or previous thread to show what all can be pulled from under the hood that isn't necessary? I'm basically trying to remove anything not absolutely critical.

Mine is an 87' Pioneer

awesome, everybody, thanks! Having some overheating problems, but I think it is a sneaky failure of my water pump, now.

What goes in that plug?

Sorry for the late response - unforeseen circumstances have kept me away from this problem for a while. I'm not sure about the injectors - I had kind of ruled that out based off of the nature of how it had begun running leading up to this. Maybe I need to revisit.

I live in northwest Georgia. it has started running rough so a little troubleshooting and I discovered that the oil smells like gas, which I'm taking to mean that at the very least the rings are blown.

Does anybody know where to get a good rebuild kit for a fair price? I've never rebuilt an engine before...really nothing near this size of job...so it will be interesting.

no, I'll have to run and pick one up.

I'm trying to figure something out about the courtesy lights - they're not working in my '87 Pioneer, and the housings are even broken. I bought some replacements and I'm trying to make sure I wire it correctly. The current courtesy lights have 3 wires going to them, labeled 1, 2 and 3 - one is black, one is black with a white stripe, and one is red. Does anybody know what each wire is? I know one of them is the positive, one is the ground, and one is the door open/closed indicator, but I don't know which is which.

I've got a whole list of things i need (shipped, as well) to GA. I need tail lights, especially the passenger side, I need the spare tire mount assembly for under the bed, I need bucket seats, a complete and working CCV system for my '87, etc. Honestly, I'm kind of thinking I'm in the market for an '88 or newer 4.0 4x4 with short bed if one is around, also. Thanks for your time!

Thanks! It is still early, yet, and I have a lot of little things I want to do.

I finally got the paint in bedliner and the truck box installed:

I was trying to actually go down below the paint in the whole truck bed, but that was a horrible idea, so now I'm just trying to rough it all up really quick like. My truck box is on the way via UPS now, so I wanted it done before it got here so I've got to hurry and do something now. Hopefully I should have some pics up in the next 24 to 48 hours or so.

Did you sand all the paint out, or did you just abrade it to make a surface for it to cling to?

So, my Comanche came from the previous owneer with a poorly installed bedliner, which was also gouged in several places and a little bit ill fitting, even. Here is a picture: I decided to install a "brush in" bedliner instead, because it will actually stop the bed from rusting instead of just hiding what is going on. The first step was to choose a paint in liner to use, and I went with Rustoleum's bed liner. I also bought the applicator kit, and some automotive masking tape, and removed the existing bedliner to discover that there was all kinds of junk under my existing bedliner (such as nuts and bolts, leaves and twigs) as well as another poorly installed paint in bed liner. Here is a picture: You can see where the plastic bedliner actually rubbed most of the paint in liner off of the bed. I took a pressure washer to it that I had actually borrowed for washing the undercarriage, which actually removed a lot of the paint: And also exposed some rust: So now I get to make sure I sand it really good before I paint in the liner. Unfortunately, I was hit with an unexpected thunderstorm and now have random showers expected until Tuesday. I'm going to try to get the sanding done between showers today and tomorrow and then paint in the liner early Tuesday. I'll post pictures and updates as I go.

So, my weekend got hijacked by bad weather. I did, however, take a hauling kit off of my old Honda SUV, and with the help of a friend who is very talented with cutting and welding, I'm gonna make it work for the Comanche. It is only like 6 or 8 inches too wide right now. I've also swapped out the tires for some new Wrangler Radials, which honestly have very nice tread for my mainly on-road use. I'll post a separate thread about the ongoing misadventures of trying to do a brush in bed-liner. I also could use any advice on cleaning up the aluminum wheels that seem to be resisting all the elbow grease I can throw at them. Also, does anybody know if any of the Bushwhacker bed caps will fit the 87 Pioneer?

It has 136,000 miles on it. The engine doesn't leak or burn oil. The head gasket had been replaced by the previous owner, but looks like it had just started to disintegrate from age and he replaced it before it got bad. My first few projects are going to be: removing the poorly installed bed-liner and replacing with brush-in bed liner pressure washing the "under-carriage" and painting it black, including the inside of the wheel wells replacing the rear view mirror, just because it is rickety and finding some bucket seats to replace the bench seat (because the springs are wore out in that seat, anyway) Hopefully, gonna tackle the majority of these few issues over this upcoming weekend. Also, as far as a cross-bed toolbox goes I will be getting diamond plate aluminum, but what color does everyone think will look better - plain shiny aluminum, brushed aluminum, or black?

I've been having a seriously difficult time finding a truck box for this truck - I'm measuring 55 inches - does anybody know a specific truck box that will fit in a Comanche Pioneer?