http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=8319&sid=281&n=158
Mechanic’s Tale: The Final Four
More engines to send everyone else back to the drawing boards.
by Douglas Flint (2005-03-21)
This is a continuation of the Top Ten Engines of my automotive generation - and my list goes to eleven. The rules are simple. The engine has to have been in mass production use (no Porsche or Audi please), and it has to have been in at least one successful vehicle and served for many years.
The next award must be given posthumously because it is going to the AMC 4.0-liter engine (American Motors Corporation to those of you under 40). In 1984 the Jeep division of AMC invented the sport-utility vehicle as we know it. In the past, four-wheel-drive vehicles had been the domain of hunters, mountain men, and farmers - quite unsuited for civil use (unless you count the rarefied few who used Jeep Grand Wagoneers to tow their horses aroundMiddleburg, Virginia).
The Jeep Cherokee of 1984 changed all that. With four doors, reasonable size, and good styling it brought four-wheel drive to the suburbs. Just one problem: it didn't have an engine. It used a GM-built 2.8 liter carbureted V-6, a very weak engine in both power and durability. Not much use if you were going to tow or go off-road - two things a Jeep should be able to do.
In 1987, the last year of AMC, the vehicle was re-engineered to accept an updated version of the 1963 AMC in-line six-cylinder engine, which had been used in Ramblers, Gremlins, and even the infamous fishbowl Pacer. The actual displacement of the engine decreased slightly from 4.2 liters to 4.0, but by adding fuel injection onto this engine they produced so much horsepower and torque it was actually scary when you first drove one and accelerated. Now we are used to the level of performance that electronic fuel injection can provide a big engine - but it was a new feeling then.
The basic engine design was extremely sound, with seven main bearings making sure that crankshaft wasn't going anywhere. It was extremely smooth running, although the balky electronics gave it a longer crank time than it should have had. I have never seen one of these engines fail - ever. Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 to obtain the desirable Jeep division, but continued to build the Jeep unchanged until '91, when the electronics of the big 4.0 six were upgraded. Chrysler added their own 5.2-liter V-8 as an option on the Grand Cherokee but it seemed to have less power and definitely less durability than the Big Six. This engine continued to serve as the main engine to the Cherokee/Grand Cherokee series until 2004 - a 15-year run - and most will probably still be running when the newer Jeep engines have all died.
Mechanic’s Tale: The Final Four
More engines to send everyone else back to the drawing boards.
by Douglas Flint (2005-03-21)
This is a continuation of the Top Ten Engines of my automotive generation - and my list goes to eleven. The rules are simple. The engine has to have been in mass production use (no Porsche or Audi please), and it has to have been in at least one successful vehicle and served for many years.
The next award must be given posthumously because it is going to the AMC 4.0-liter engine (American Motors Corporation to those of you under 40). In 1984 the Jeep division of AMC invented the sport-utility vehicle as we know it. In the past, four-wheel-drive vehicles had been the domain of hunters, mountain men, and farmers - quite unsuited for civil use (unless you count the rarefied few who used Jeep Grand Wagoneers to tow their horses aroundMiddleburg, Virginia).
The Jeep Cherokee of 1984 changed all that. With four doors, reasonable size, and good styling it brought four-wheel drive to the suburbs. Just one problem: it didn't have an engine. It used a GM-built 2.8 liter carbureted V-6, a very weak engine in both power and durability. Not much use if you were going to tow or go off-road - two things a Jeep should be able to do.
In 1987, the last year of AMC, the vehicle was re-engineered to accept an updated version of the 1963 AMC in-line six-cylinder engine, which had been used in Ramblers, Gremlins, and even the infamous fishbowl Pacer. The actual displacement of the engine decreased slightly from 4.2 liters to 4.0, but by adding fuel injection onto this engine they produced so much horsepower and torque it was actually scary when you first drove one and accelerated. Now we are used to the level of performance that electronic fuel injection can provide a big engine - but it was a new feeling then.
The basic engine design was extremely sound, with seven main bearings making sure that crankshaft wasn't going anywhere. It was extremely smooth running, although the balky electronics gave it a longer crank time than it should have had. I have never seen one of these engines fail - ever. Chrysler bought AMC in 1987 to obtain the desirable Jeep division, but continued to build the Jeep unchanged until '91, when the electronics of the big 4.0 six were upgraded. Chrysler added their own 5.2-liter V-8 as an option on the Grand Cherokee but it seemed to have less power and definitely less durability than the Big Six. This engine continued to serve as the main engine to the Cherokee/Grand Cherokee series until 2004 - a 15-year run - and most will probably still be running when the newer Jeep engines have all died.
