1975 Brutally Simple Daily Driver

Twice the engines yet currently twice as slow as it should be.

 

@Norcal69 would like that AMX.

 

Started on the engine cleaning today.



I got the 4.0 out of the CJ and on a stand. This thing is filthy! Layer and layers of caked on oil and the only obvious prior leak was the oil pan. Someone stuck it on with silicon and it was a real bear to get off. Otherwise, everything came apart easily. No obvious wear after taking a closer look at everything. Prior to cleaning I set it at top dead center just to have a known starting point.




Then lots of degreaser and scrubbing.




It’s not completely perfect but I’ll give it one more once over when the engine gets reassembled so I can paint. Had another look at the head I chose and I’m still pleased.




No broken bolts… no carbon build up… no fuss to clean.

One thing I wanted to do was call Kevin up at Performance Fuel Injection in Michigan. What the current engine has going for it is the injection kit and I wanted to see what Kevin’s thoughts were on running a 4.0 with his computer. He couldn’t think of any reason not to other than a factory multi port setup would probably be more efficient. This isn’t new territory in terms of putting a 4.0 in a CJ though. People have done it and then just plopped a carb back on. I’ll report back to Kevin once it’s all back together and in the Jeep.

Probably more tomorrow. I need to get parts coming soon.

 

More cleaning today. I wasn’t going to touch the block again until assembly but I wanted to give it one more go.



The oil pan got cleaned up too along with rockers and pushrods. Tomorrow I’d like to fit the 4.2 intake to the 4.0 head with the 4.0 exhaust manifold. Looks fairly self explanatory for what needs to happen.

 

It is! Feels like making a flow chart of different applications for parts though. Right now I’m at four vehicles when looking for part numbers. Seems like 1975 is a sharp cut off for finding parts… anyone know if a 1976 flywheel for a 258 is the same as a 1975 flywheel? Trying to track down the correct pilot bushing I need too.

 

Another good day in the shop. We’re leaving for Minnesota soon and I wanted to get the intake mated to the exhaust manifold before we left. Mission accomplished.

From looking around in internet land, there’s some information out there but pictures or a “how to” doesn’t really exist. To recap, I want to use my 4.2 intake on a 4.0 head with a late ‘80s Cherokee/Comanche exhaust manifold. The 4.2 and 4.0 heads are very similar and everything is within the ballpark of fitting. Both the 4.2 and 4.0 intake manifolds use dowel pins to locate them and that’s where this all starts. Due to the shape of the intake ports, the 4.2 intake needs to sit higher than it would’ve originally for complete coverage.



This means that the power steering pump bracket will need to be modified too… probably just elongating a couple holes though. I’ll deal with that later. Once I get gaskets I’ll match it up to where it’ll now live and do some port matching too. Anyhow, the holes for the dowel need to get turned into a slot.



I rounded the bottom corners for a little extra wiggle room. Then I started sneaking up on it.



… of course it hits. The two exhaust runners need a little massaging.




Yup… this manifold is in rough shape but I didn’t really want to cut up a good one. More on than in a bit. The two middle runners got a little heat and then were dimpled in with a pipe and hammer. I went only as far as I needed to give myself an 1/8” space between the exhaust and intake. As for the intake, the two outside bottom corners needed to get rounded to fit.









Now we’re getting somewhere. You can see under the intake that it moved up about a 1/4”. Now… that ugly exhaust manifold… these like to crack but the aftermarket has good options to replace them. I’ll deal with that in the future should it crack again.



For now I went through and rewelded all of the joints and deleted the EGR fitting while I was in there. My current set up in the Jeep has the EGR and tube still in there but nothing is hooked up. It leaks too. I’ll be making a block off plate.



I used stainless filler for the new welds and gave the whole works a good cleaning. The backsides got welded and then it got bolted back on the head to finish. The two outside runners did pull in a little but it still slides on and off easily.

Let’s get back to moving the intake up that 1/4” and how everything gets held in place. Some later manifolds use step washers and the older use conical washers. Regardless, the intake and exhaust share hardware. My flange thickness worked out that most of the conical washers will still work. Where I thought it was a bit of a stretch, I made up some fancy washers to cover more ground.




Two on the bottom and two on the top needed new washers. With everything snugged up, the intake just finds it home now.





Ready for assembly. I talked to Novak this afternoon too and got a part number for a pilot bushing that’ll work for me. Outside dimension is 1.05” and internal is .754”. Once I get back home I’ll get gaskets and seals coming.

 

Some engine rebuild parts have been trickling in but I’m still waiting on the full gasket set. I took the down time to give my Comanche a once over and to change out the leaking front input seal in the transmission.





Haven’t done much more CJ stuff than more cleaning on small parts and the intake manifold.



Waiting to paint anything also until the gaskets show up so I can fog the whole engine at once. Soon… I hope.

 

I’ve got this rule that I keep breaking about not going up and down my hill when it’s snowy.





This week is cold but I’ve got a small window between snowfall and more snowfall starting late on Friday. I was still waiting on engine seals (which showed up later this afternoon) so I decided to put a pile of material to use. A while back I started cutting parts for tying my cage into the frame along with rock sliders.

Let’s talk about tube work and tight notches. I don’t have a proper tube notcher but I cheat by using an angle finder and a long drill bit. There are so many simple angles on these CJs that it takes a lot of the proper measuring out of things. Is it 90°?… Is it 45°?… probably. I started with connecting the dots between the underside of the main hoop and an additional support I added.



There’s a 45° notch at the bottom and a 90° at the top. I did both sides at the same time.







… then the top…



… and then finish the notch with a grinder.



Easy, right? Yes. I’ve got a magnetic bolt holder thingy that I used for holding the tube while I tacked them.




I noticed a major spot of rust at the seams under the seats that I kinda sorta “fixed” before moving forward. P.S. it’s still rusty, but it made me feel better to stick the rusty top back to the rusty bottom.




Base plates were added to the frame…



… and then I plowed through the sliders and frame tie-ins because I wanted to get both sides at least tacked together today.





The other side went faster since I cut all my parts at the same time.




Overall, I’m happy with the look of them. I’m more of a fan of the heavy angle iron style sliders that we all know and love but I’m not sure how much I trust bondo over rust to absorb an impact.




Finish welding and paint tomorrow.

 

Nice work and beautiful property. You don't have too much snow, still manageable.

 

@neohic, you sir speak tube. Remarkable work.

 

Man, that's slick. I like the "flow" of the tubing.

 

Thanks, gang! I really enjoy making useful things out of scraps. This is probably the last big project before I’d need to go out and actually buy material!

Hoping to get this all wrapped up today.

 

Got everything pulled off, welded, and painted. Really nice when it all goes back where it belongs without any fuss.





While I was crawling around under it I looked over at the rear driveshaft and…



… noticed a completely wasted u-joint.




This has obviously been bad for a while. Who’s to know with all the squeaks and bangs and rattles that go hand in hand with driving a CJ?! Anyhow, guess it’s time for u-joints. I swapped them out and also gave everything a wiggle while I was in there. The rear output bearing in the transfer case is wasted along with the rear pinion bearing. I just put them on the list for now. I’ll dig into it deeper when I pull the engine.




Fun little project but I’m a bigger fan when there’s a bigger physical outcome. On to the engine next.

 

Wanna build another set of sliders like that?

 

Absolutely!

 

Some engines just don’t look good.



This morning I started on resealing the engine. No idea how long this engine has been sitting so I pulled apart the rotating assembly and gave everything a little assembly lube for its first start up. There’s new hardware for the valve cover that needs to go on, but everything that isn’t on it now will get swapped over from the old engine when it comes out.

 

I sanded the raised ribs on the valve cover and threw new hardware at everything I could.



My plan was to get started on swapping engines when I has decent weather for a full week came around so the Comanche could sit outside. Starting a new job tomorrow after giving up the last one six months ago. G-dang new job is already getting in the way of my shop time.

 

Changing of the guards in the shop today.



The truck got kicked out so the CJ heart surgery could start. Things started at the car wash to get as much grime out of the way…



… and then into the shop it went.




Last picture of the old engine still in there. Then the whole front clip came off and out the door.




The new engine got pulled over and all of the external parts being reused got moved over.




And then?





Up, up, and out! Not to surprise anyone, there were some surprises.




The engine mounts aren’t a huge mess but someone has torched the mounting holes elongated for some reason. They’ll get cleaned up some. Then I grabbed my fancy Novak pilot bushing and the input shaft was too small to fit properly! What the hell?!



I measure it, call Novak, and they confirmed the size to the part number. Maybe it’s an older T14 that had the smaller input shaft? Nope. Novak’s page says the older T14s weren’t this size either. The answer was staring me in the face the whole time.



Surprise T150! Not awesome because my crawl ration was already thought to be only 27:1 and the T150 drops me to 26:1, but kind of awesome should I find a T18/19 four speed to swap in here in the future that I have the right bellhousing.

I need to move the oil pan over to the new engine yet. When I do that I’ll pull the new engine off the stand so I can get a for sure measurement for the pilot bushing now that everything should have a caliper put on it.