awodell

Ok, so for my Birthday this year, one of my best friends suprised me with an old Postal Jeep that needs to be restored.
It definately needs a lot of work, but I plan to document here…
Pictures will follow!

Ok, as the title says, it’s about 1 year later and I have been driving the Jeep almost daily with that replaced engine.
I have no complaints! The Jeep’s engine is stronger than it’s ever been, and gets pretty decent milage (for a vehicle with all of the aerodynamics of a flying brick!)...
I guess I could say that this was a successful venture!
I now have over 200,000 miles on my Jeep, with over 100,000 miles on the “new” engine.
Keep in mind that I got the 2nd engine used with about 80,000 on it already. So, in other words, I have put over 20K miles on the engine with no complaints!.
Mark another one of my “43 Things” as done!!
This is TOTALLY worth doing!

So… My 98 Jeep Grand cherokee had the engine blow at the beginning of this year.
Initially, I just wanted to rebuild the engine, possibly build a “stroker”, but I decided not to.
The Jeep was my “Family Vehicle”, so I needed to get it back on the road as soon as possible.
Needless to say, It had the 4.0L I6 engine and I replaced it with the same.
In looking around for a new engine though, I did get my hands on a bottom end in perfect shape.
The top end of my old engine is actually still fine. When the rod went through the block, it stopped everything and the piston shattered. It did NOT tag the valve though, so I think I’m going to try to use that for a rebuild.
I’m going to take the time and actually build that stroker that I want.
We’ll see how long it takes though…
The pickup truck is going to be restored first…