Huntr Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 As all Jeep builds tend to do, this Journey started off in a highly compulsive jump off the deep end. But first, some back story. 'Way' back in 2015 I started my obsession of throwing cash at a old crappy cars. After selling my perfectly good Toyota Sequoia I got my very first XJ. I developed a love hate relationship with it but fell in love with its ability to never leave me stranded despite abusing it through thousands of miles of California mountain and desert trails. When I moved to Utah for school it was the car that came with me to get me through the Northern Utah winters and explore the endless expanse of trails. Despite all of its chronic problems (over heating, belt squeak, lifter tick, oil leaks, and other 'normal' jeep things), I continued to upgrade her turning her into what I consider a moderately capable rig. She sits on 33's, ford 8.8 rear w/aussie locker, 4.56 gears, disks all around, 4.5 in lift, 3 link long arm, trussed front/rear, winch, RTT, Fox reservoirs, among other things. This Jeep started an addiction which I expect to plague me the rest of my life. The moment I realized what I had was an addiction and not a hobby was the moment I pulled the trigger on buying my first MJ. Within one hour of this 1987 Jeep Comanche being posted on KSL I was in the car on a 5 hour drive headed to Oregon to check it out. Did I mention that I hadn't even thought about buying a Comanche until one pulled into the parking lot at work not 1 hour before this? The jeep was everything I expected except noticing a pretty good leak from the radiator that the owner said he had never noticed before. 4x4, long bed (damn this thing turns like a semi compared to the xj), no visible rust (haven't checked the floorboards yet, that's first on the list), and no dents. By pure coincidence it turns out that the guy I was buying it from actually went to high school with my girlfriends dad. He was very hesitant to let me drive it the 300 miles back with the radiator leak and it took some convincing to get him to sell it to me. With the truck now in my possession we made the 300 mile drive home without incident. I was pleasantly surprised at how much quicker it was on the highway compared to the xj with its lift, tires, gears, and aw4 trans. Here she is in front of my house after making it home. Notice the tramp stamp someone added to the tailgate (Hence the lame title!) One of my biggest regrets with my XJ was not documenting the build. I told myself I wouldn't let it happen again so we will see how long this lasts. In the next few posts I will bring the build up to speed. Hopefully over the next few months I will get some more free time to put into the Jeep after I graduate and am waiting to head off to more training. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse J Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 awsome can't wait to see it. (and maybe come up on the weekends to northern utah for a little wheelin) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Welcome! Looks like a great base to start with. Looking forward to seeing more! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buxmj Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Welcome to the continuing addiction. Looks like the mj is in good hands. Looks like a great starting point, good luck and keep the updates coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scaleless Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Build? Ha, a lesser man might say it's already perfect! I love the paint, and the interior looks fantastic as well. Looking forward to what you have planned for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 Thanks for sharing. please enjoy and have fun with this project. keep it logged here however you want. then you will always have a journal of your jeep adventures, and not to mention a guide for what you have fixed on it, i refer 8 years back when i first swapped for an ax15 swap in place of my aw4 dog. i do miss my 2dr XJ, but i will always love my door-less MJ. more pics the the better, less i have to read... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 15, 2021 Author Share Posted March 15, 2021 18 hours ago, Jesse J said: awsome can't wait to see it. (and maybe come up on the weekends to northern utah for a little wheelin) Plenty of cool trails up here! (Although I am a southern desert guy myself) 12 hours ago, buxmj said: Welcome to the continuing addiction. Looks like the mj is in good hands. Looks like a great starting point, good luck and keep the updates coming! 11 hours ago, MiNi Beast said: Thanks for sharing. please enjoy and have fun with this project. keep it logged here however you want. then you will always have a journal of your jeep adventures, and not to mention a guide for what you have fixed on it, i refer 8 years back when i first swapped for an ax15 swap in place of my aw4 dog. i do miss my 2dr XJ, but i will always love my door-less MJ. more pics the the better, less i have to read... I'll try my best to keep everything up to date! Lots of high quality pictures will accompany everything! I'm currently finishing up the last few months of school so it might be a slow start here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse J Posted March 15, 2021 Share Posted March 15, 2021 31 minutes ago, Huntr said: Plenty of cool trails up here! (Although I am a southern desert guy myself) well we will have to caravan down to the takeover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 17, 2021 Author Share Posted March 17, 2021 Shortly after getting the Jeep home came the first bad news. A loud knock (LOUD) started emanating from the bottom end of the engine accompanied by very low oil pressure. Around this time I figured it would be fun to undertake rebuilding an engine so I set out to find a HO to rebuild and swap in. The BA10 was also shifting poorly and is just all around bad so when I stumbled upon a HO/AX15/NP231 combo for a good price I jumped on it. Without asking too many questions or looking very closely at the pictures I was on my way down to Nevada to pick it up. The kid had told me on the phone that it was a 91 HO that he had planned to drop into a wrangler. He said it ran when he pulled it out of a cherokee and had just been sitting in his garage since. The crank turned over just fine and the engine and trans looked to be in fair shape (despite being an internal slave AX15) and having another NP231 around is never a bad thing. I loaded her up and made the 6 hour drive back up to Utah. When I got it home and got it up on an engine stand is when I started noticing all the issues. Lots of things were just cut off to get it out of the donor vehicle. A bracket on the intake manifold it broken. I still need to check casting numbers to be sure, but there seems to be some mismatches going on, it may just be replacement parts that someone had put on the Cherokee thats throwing me off, it definitely looks like the newer HO throttle body and thermostat cover. The real surprise came when I took the head off the engine.... Unfortunately I was too surprised to remember to snap a picture, but sitting on top of one of the pistons was a screw! Someone had dropped a screw down a spark plug hole at some point where it lived for who knows how long. Fortunately it looks like it hadn't been started with the screw inside, but its a good thing that someone didn't buy the engine with plans to just drop it in and fire it up! The build up in the pistons looks to be pretty bad, I don't have experience with the carbon build up in these engines so maybe someone can chime in. Right now the engine is just sitting disassembled in my garage while I try and figure out what direction to go. The original plan was to take the block and head down to a machine shop to be magnafluxed and inspected. Now I am stuck between just rebuilding the Renix or moving forward with this one. I don't plan on a stroker build or anything crazy right now, just interested in the experience of restoring the engine. If I want more power down the road I may look at doing an LS or V6 Vortec swap but thats years away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 doesn't look too horrible to be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dammerung Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Shortly after getting the Jeep home came the first bad news. A loud knock (LOUD) started emanating from the bottom end of the engine accompanied by very low oil pressure. Around this time I figured it would be fun to undertake rebuilding an engine so I set out to find a HO to rebuild and swap in. The BA10 was also shifting poorly and is just all around bad so when I stumbled upon a HO/AX15/NP231 combo for a good price I jumped on it. Without asking too many questions or looking very closely at the pictures I was on my way down to Nevada to pick it up. The kid had told me on the phone that it was a 91 HO that he had planned to drop into a wrangler. He said it ran when he pulled it out of a cherokee and had just been sitting in his garage since. The crank turned over just fine and the engine and trans looked to be in fair shape (despite being an internal slave AX15) and having another NP231 around is never a bad thing. I loaded her up and made the 6 hour drive back up to Utah. When I got it home and got it up on an engine stand is when I started noticing all the issues. Lots of things were just cut off to get it out of the donor vehicle. A bracket on the intake manifold it broken. I still need to check casting numbers to be sure, but there seems to be some mismatches going on, it may just be replacement parts that someone had put on the Cherokee thats throwing me off, it definitely looks like the newer HO throttle body and thermostat cover. The real surprise came when I took the head off the engine.... Unfortunately I was too surprised to remember to snap a picture, but sitting on top of one of the pistons was a screw! Someone had dropped a screw down a spark plug hole at some point where it lived for who knows how long. Fortunately it looks like it hadn't been started with the screw inside, but its a good thing that someone didn't buy the engine with plans to just drop it in and fire it up! The build up in the pistons looks to be pretty bad, I don't have experience with the carbon build up in these engines so maybe someone can chime in. Right now the engine is just sitting disassembled in my garage while I try and figure out what direction to go. The original plan was to take the block and head down to a machine shop to be magnafluxed and inspected. Now I am stuck between just rebuilding the Renix or moving forward with this one. I don't plan on a stroker build or anything crazy right now, just interested in the experience of restoring the engine. If I want more power down the road I may look at doing an LS or V6 Vortec swap but thats years away. Looks like someone ran radiator stop leak through it with those clogged channels. I’d probably go with rebuilding the engine you’ve got out, since it’s right there already1988 Jeep Comanche Pioneer4.0 Liter w/ AW4 2WD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 9 hours ago, Dammerung said: Looks like someone ran radiator stop leak through it with those clogged channels. I’d probably go with rebuilding the engine you’ve got out, since it’s right there already 1988 Jeep Comanche Pioneer 4.0 Liter w/ AW4 2WD 14 hours ago, Pete M said: doesn't look too horrible to be useful. Glad to hear you guys think its not too far gone. I think you're right and I'll finish tearing down the bottom end. I really need to find a machine shop up here. The only one I know of is like 3 months out before they will even look at your engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 I've been wanting a big table for garage projects for awhile. This engine rebuild gave me the perfect excuse to design and build one. I wanted to maximize the area of the table but currently only having a two car garage really limits me on space. I decided to design a table that uses a full 4x8' sheet for the table top, but collapses down to be pushed up against the wall when I'm not using it. When folded up, the base doubles as a workbench. So even though it is taking up space along the wall, I can still use it as a bench. Here are the drawings for the table if anyone is interested in dimensions. FoldingTop Drawing.pdfFoldingBase Drawing.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 nice! you can even use that temporary wall as tool storage for few items Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 Needs some hooks on the back side to hang wrench’s while working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 19, 2021 Author Share Posted March 19, 2021 13 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said: Needs some hooks on the back side to hang wrench’s while working. I thought about it. But I don't want to be taking tools on and off all the time when I fold the table down. My tool storage is also pretty good right now, lots of empty spots in my large roller toolbox (which must mean I don't have enough!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse J Posted March 19, 2021 Share Posted March 19, 2021 that's very cool might have to build one of those for the new shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MigglesYJ Posted March 20, 2021 Share Posted March 20, 2021 Ah look at that handsome man in the first picture I think I'm in love Just so everyone knows he has until summer to get the old girl running (mOaB oR bUsT) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted March 20, 2021 Author Share Posted March 20, 2021 9 hours ago, MigglesYJ said: Ah look at that handsome man in the first picture I think I'm in love Just so everyone knows he has until summer to get the old girl running (mOaB oR bUsT) Oh god who let you on this forum I'll try and have it ready sooner than later, but no promises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted April 26, 2021 Author Share Posted April 26, 2021 Here's a short little update on the past month. Between finishing up my last few weeks of college and work I haven't been able to get out into the garage much. On top of that I just received my EAD to Sheppard AFB at the beginning of August which is much earlier than anticipated. Once I start out at Sheppard I doubt I will have the time or the space to work on this thing during the next 2 years of training. This puts me in a time crunch to get this thing running! This weekend I was able to pull the valve springs and valves off the head. The damn things were so stuck on that it took PB blaster and some persuasion with a mallet to get the keepers to separate from the retainers. This was after trying the trick of hitting the tops of the springs with a socket and hammer to unseat them. I don't have a solvent tank to clean the head or the block so I'll be having the machine shop take care of that. The block and head don't seem to show signs of cracking or warping so here's hoping that the machine shop doesn't find any surprises. Hopefully by the end of the week I can have the block disassembled and the head, block, and crank off to the machine shop. The current plan is to use the existing crank and camshaft and just rebuild the engine to stock depending on their condition when I remove them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse J Posted April 26, 2021 Share Posted April 26, 2021 dang. here's to hoping it goes smoothly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 This week I sent the block and head off to Clegg Machine to get them hot tanked and inspected. I've been really struggling with which way to take this engine rebuild and after talking with Russ Pottenger I think I've been persuaded to go all out. I'll be doing the 4.2 crank with Russ's pistons and rods to bring me to basically a 0 deck with little to no decking of the block. I am struggling to justify going all out with the head and cam right now. Right now I have the Renix head at the machine shop but am considering either swapping to the 7120 head or the fully ported/LS valved head that Russ offers ready to drop in. I worry that the Renix head and intake won't breath enough and thus cause me some disappointment down the road. I might have to see what the local junk yards hold in terms of intakes and cylinder heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 Today I swung by a Pic A Part down in Ogden and was able to pull a 7120 head for a pretty good price. I also located a horseshoe style intake that I'll be going back for in the next few days. As of right now here are the planned specs for the build: Renix block New 4.2 Crank Russ's Racetec Pistons 0.030 over Russ's Rods Comp Cam (still need to spec one out) 7120 head ported with LS valves and springs 99+ Horseshoe intake with matching TB modded for Renix TPS 24lb Bosch Injectors on 91-97?ish fuel rail with vacuum pressure regulator I am hoping to use the full Renix system to control ignition etc. I don't have the time or space to do an OBDII swap right now. Anyone have experience with Renix controlled strokers? This budget stroker got expensive real quick.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted May 13, 2021 Share Posted May 13, 2021 pay to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huntr Posted May 13, 2021 Author Share Posted May 13, 2021 Call from the machine shop this morning. Apparently the block I dropped off has to many deep gouges in the cylinders to be worth saving. They bored it to .040 over and it still has deep ridges which means the "working well maintained HO" that I drove to Nevada to pick up turned out to be a POS Renix block that someone tried to bolt an HO manifold to and never did an oil change on. What a waste of time and money that was. Now I'll be pulling the existing Renix block from my Comanche out this weekend and dropping that block off at the shop which is what I should have done from the beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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