Grreatdog
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Annapolis, MD
My 97 4.0 had a head gasket go at 80mph and melted the no. 2 piston by the time I got off the expressway. It obviously overheated pretty badly. So I am almost done with a low buck motor swap using a donor 4.0 from 100k mile wrecked 97 GC. I just slapped on a new water pump, oil pump, rear main and oil pan gasket and called it good enough. I wouldn't have even bothered with the junkyard motor except I just dropped $2000 on five new tires and rims, all new track arms and a complete brake job. Plus the A/C still works and the body is mostly straight. Ok I admit I still like it having had it since new.
So we get to the question. On tear down of my dead motor I find the main and rod bearings look almost perfect and all but one cylinder and piston look great despite 280k miles. That is the benefit of regular oil changes and good oil I suppose. And it was still running like a scalded dog burning zero oil when the head gasket blew. So I assume the head is still good. Do I do a low buck rebuild of this motor, a full blown rebuild or just scavenge usable parts and recycle the metal? Remembering, of course, that my old XJ isn't worth much more than sentimental value, I ask what would you do?
So we get to the question. On tear down of my dead motor I find the main and rod bearings look almost perfect and all but one cylinder and piston look great despite 280k miles. That is the benefit of regular oil changes and good oil I suppose. And it was still running like a scalded dog burning zero oil when the head gasket blew. So I assume the head is still good. Do I do a low buck rebuild of this motor, a full blown rebuild or just scavenge usable parts and recycle the metal? Remembering, of course, that my old XJ isn't worth much more than sentimental value, I ask what would you do?
