taddraughn

Long time no post, but finally getting back to work on this thing after not having time for it for several months with tons of life stuff, home projects, and work travel getting in the way. Engine is basically done so next order of business is to get the engine bay prepped and get the welding on the passenger floor done.

Got my new crank in, and fortunately it looks great! Again, shoutout to Clegg's customer service. They were super responsive and quick to make things right. Unfortunately my efforts this weekend have been re-directed to home renovation efforts. Had to remove popcorn from our master, rip off all the trim, skim the whole ceiling, etc. etc. but basically means no time for the jeep this weekend. And no time this week either as I'll be in Vegas for a trade show :/

I'll take a look. Thanks for the recommendation. I saw a youtube video and looked like you just have to swap a couple brackets over and then weld in some tabs near the top of the dash. Didn't look too bad from my computer chair

When you say HO swap, does that mean just the HO head and newer intake but retaining the Renix? Luckily for me and maybe not so lucky for my neighbors, I have no one stopping me from cutting up an XJ in my yard :)

Engine bay almost all the way stripped down now. After a just a little de greasing I found there is some color under there lol! Also have the interior almost completely stripped now too save for one of the seatbelt bolts that someone stripped out. I'm actually starting to lean towards just buying an XJ so that I can swap in the interior and heater box etc. from a 97+. Thinking the advantages here are having a good R134A AC system, OBD2, and more modern interior. So much of my interior is completely shot I'm pretty sure it's cheaper just to buy an entire XJ than piece it together with good used parts from ebay. Like just a set of seats on ebay is 500+ dollars.. I wasn't really itching to get away from Renix, but a wholesale swap seems like the only way to go. Most cars around are auto though.. would much rather find one that's already a manual so it's basically got everything I need for the Comanche. Although I could probably make this work swapping the interior and harness from an auto car and then just sourcing the manual separately. Let me know what you guys think or if you have any leads a manual 97+ that has a good condition interior

Just a little update about the crank. Cleggs is working with me to swap it for another. Really happy with their customer service and how quickly they're rectifying this for me. Should be able to get the piston rings gapped this weekend and that'll be about all I'm able to do while I wait on the new crank to come in.

Was feeling like Christmas until I opened the box the crank was in.. Guy at Cleggs was super fast to respond and is going to check on the stock he has to see if the others look the same or are better. Really would have expected these to be coated in a wax or something but this one is definitely just bare. I could chuck it up in my lathe and polish it, but I paid for one in good condition...

Thanks for the info guys. I had seen they claimed it was only compatible with the certain year intakes. I figure I'm good with the banks exhaust since they claim any aftermarket exhaust will work. For the intake I'll see how my Renix one fits up. If for any reason that won't work I was just planning to use the later year intake they claim is required and then adapt the throttle body to the later intake somehow as seems like that changed and I assume I need to keep the TB if i'm sticking with the Renix ECU? As for the exhaust I was thinking about just running a wideband and then using my REM to convert to narrowband and feed that to the ECU.

Got some paint on the engine block. Also started to strip the engine bay so I can clean it up I'm thinking about having the truck painted or paint it myself despite my hatred of bodywork. If there's anything I hate more than bodywork it's maybe only paying someone to do something I'm capable of doing myself.

Block is back from the machine shop. Got sealed power pistons in .040 over size assembled on my rods and some hastings rings I need to gap and install. Ordered a bunch of stuff from cleggs including an edelbrock performer head, banks exhaust, and some ARP hardware. Will take some photos as I prep and paint the block, get the new expansion plugs in, etc.

Dropped off the block and rods/pistons at the machine shop. They said "give us a couple days" lol. So who knows I may be getting this engine back together in the next couple weeks. I thought about stroking it but decided just to keep it stock and go with Sealed Power replacement pistons for whatever oversize the shop determines is necessary. Will measure the crank this week and see if I could polish it and use .001 bearings to make up the difference. Not sure yet what I'll do with the head and cam. Thinking about just getting an edelbrock head for it or maybe a rebuilt one from clearwater.

Got back from my work trip and tore the engine apart yesterday. #6 appears to have been running hot or lean maybe... That was the cylinder that I think maybe wasn't firing when I ran it briefly to move the truck. Spark plug looked brand new when I removed it. Anyway, pulled the pistons out. Pretty good ridge at the top, but pistons are original size, so should be no problem to get it to clean up. I do have a cheap bore gauge but figured I'll just take it to the machine shop and let them tell me how much it needs to clean up/what pistons to order. The block was so filthy I decided just to pressure wash it. Normally wouldn't spray a bunch of water on a raw cast iron block but dried it off immediately and then used about 1.5 cans of WD40 on it before blowing it off again and wiping it with WD. With the core plugs out I was able to clean up the water jackets really well. Got a lot of rusty bits out of there.. Machine shop can clean it up the rest of the way. Interestingly I found some a letter by each cylinder. Not sure if this is something the factory did for some reason related to the bore size? Anyway.. block is loaded up in my wife's Crosstrek and ready to go to the machine shop. Crank looks okay, but probably could use a polish. Need to mic it and see if it's still in spec or would still be in spec after a polish. If it needs grinding I'll probably just buy a new crank as it might be cheaper than having it ground. Cam looks meh.. has a chip in the first lobe that I don't like. Was thinking about switching to a hydraulic roller cam that newcomer is offering but with all the stuff you need to make it work it gets expensive...

Thanks for your input. Leaning towards just going ahead with the AX15 swap as long as I can find the correct crossmember somewhere

Thanks for the link and the additional info. Probably will keep it close to stock so maybe it's fine to leave the ba10. But it's also very tempting since like you say no sense in pulling it again later when it's already out now! Did manage to get the engine out and on the stand before leaving for the airport today. Excited to tear into it when I'm back and see what I've won lol.

Did manage to pull the trans last weekend. Not sure when they switched transmissions, but this one is a BA10. Is it worth swapping over to an AX15? This morning I took out the header panel out and went ahead and disconnected everything else from the engine so it's ready to pull. Just need to borrow my friends hoist and engine stand again. Have to travel for work this week so hopefully next weekend I can get the engine out of it and determine the path forward for it.