• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

What to do?

A

AJTorris

NAXJA Forum User
Location
California
So my motor went out yesterday (no compression on one of the cylinders) and i got a jeep today that cost me a total of $150. Gas and 60 bucks for the jeep LMAO! My jeep is an 87 4.0 Aw4 231 30/44 the new one is a 92 4.0 Aw4 231 30/35 or 8.25 (not sure how to tell the difference).

I need some advice. Either swap motor/harness/ecu trans, tcase and everything electrical or just swap my lift to the new one? I have long arms that i had to make brackets for that are welded on so i would have to make some new ones. and swap bumpers. Then deal with registration and insurance on it.

What would you all do here is a pic of my jeep and the new one still on the trailer

beach144.jpg

DSCF4024-1.jpg
 
keep in mind if you go blue you will have to trim the fenders again. but you will start fresh with a body that hasnt been rolled yet. or have a big hole where your antenna idea was... and you will have full interior... downfall you will be one step closer looking similar to looking like my blue jeep
 
I'm voting with chris y, it sounds like it will be alot of work either way but the
frustration of dealing with DMV would convince me to do the motor swap.
 
Why not just swap the long block from the '91 over to the '87? One day project. No real need to gut/swap out the whole drive train just for a motor replacement. You could sell the '91 as a roller that needs a motor, probably for more then you paid for it. Stripped, it would be worth a lot less.
 
I would pull both motors and strip both of them down spec the parts and keep the parts that are good from both engines order what you need to do a rebuild and build a nice fresh motor that you know will last and then put the new engine back in the 87.
 
I would also pull the AW4 and 231 out of the 91 and rebuild the AW4 for a back up on your 87 and put a tera low in the 231. This way you learn how to build the trans and tcase with out having any down time on the 87 and at a slow pace. When everything is built swap it all in and sell the old AW4 and 231 out of the 87 on craigslist. Then I would take all the brackets, fenders, bolts ect that you may need in the future for the 87 off the 91 and scrap the 91 at a local metal recycler in exchange for a credit to purchase steel from the recycler and buy some steel for future projects. :cool:
 
MaxxXJ said:
keep in mind if you go blue you will have to trim the fenders again. but you will start fresh with a body that hasnt been rolled yet. or have a big hole where your antenna idea was... and you will have full interior... downfall you will be one step closer looking similar to looking like my blue jeep
Click to expand...

If i do the blue one it wont be anything like yours. Also i wouldnt have to trim the fenders i would be keeping them on. And my interior is all there now. You havent seen my jeep in person in a long time. And the hole where i had the CB antenna is completly gone.

I think i will be swapping the motor over. I have another motor i was building anyways for my jeep. My father in law is building me a twin turbo set up. (i honestly have no idea what he is doing but hes a machinist and has done them before so im letting him do what he wants on it) So the motor just needs to get me by until the motor is built. Ill stash this one out back with my other jeeps until i need a body if i ever roll to bad. That or after i build the motor build one for the wife. She likes it anyways lol
 
Man everything works on the blue jeep. I mean everything. I just checked it all out and got it fired up. Sounds real good. Has a cracked manifold though. All of the interior lights work all the dash stuff works too. I think i may just swap the lift over. Ill see what DMV says first though.
 
Maybe fix the exhaust leak, throw on a mild lift and roll with the blue. Take the block out of the 87 and stroke it over the winter. If it's only down a cylinder, and hasn't chewed anything up yet, hot tank and a 30- to 60-over-bore, new pistons, crank & rods from a 4.2, mild cam, and you're rolling come spring.
 
Im gonna try to figure out why i lost the one cylinder first. If i can fix that, (i have a spare head with 150 on it), then i will just build the wife a jeep! She already fell in love with the blue one
 
If you have trouble finding a Jeep column, just find any mid-late 80s GM car in a JY. They're pretty much inter-changeable.
 
'Can't really think of an easy way. If you can see it through the intake port, you could try hand-rotating the crank until the valve opens and try to knock it off with a punch or brass drift. 'Problem is part of whatever it is might fall down into the cylinder. I'd probably pull the head, pull the valve, and go from there, but that's not easy.
 
id get a reman head. my intake valves were leaking in cyl's 1,2 and 3. i bought a reman head for 300$ shipped from ebay. it was from some shop in AZ.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

L
Manual to Auto transmission swap
Replies
9
Views
203
lvcanyoneer1
L
B
91 2 door 5.3 V8 swap
Replies
14
Views
2K
jmg222
J
J
Cherokee 2001 2wd to 4wd conversion
Replies
5
Views
2K
kastein
kastein
89Mock
Gauge Cluster Swap: Mechanical to electric speedometer
Replies
3
Views
3K
kastein
kastein
J
Help needed with nightmare XJ ABS to Non-ABS swap...
Replies
0
Views
69
JBinNY
J
Back
Top