Baystate Jeepers

Thanks for the offer Frank, but the motor I picked up from Mike should work just fine. Clean up the head a bit, toss a bunch of gaskets on it, maybe go so far as to toss in that new oil pump I've had kicking around for years, and call it good.

Well, I've actually made some progress on Blue Cross


I think somethings missing here.....


The $75 motor, torn down and about ready for new seals'n'gaskets.


If a jobs worth doing half-assed, it's worth half doing. Those pipes are now fully welded.

Long day today!!!

Got this far....


O.K. so I didn't do a V-8 swap in a day. But I did see a 2WD Comanche with a 'vette engine at the car show in Fitchburg today.
After spending the morning drooling over all kinds of cool rides, it was time to crawl back into the garage.....
Last night I had gotten the bottom end of the engine buttoned up so today's agenda was to tackle the top end. Things were going O.K. then I discovered what might have been causing some of that wonderful valvetrain noise.



Not sure how well it shows in the pic but the rocker arm bridge on the bottom is rather tweaked!!! Actually, three bridges weren't looking too good so I had to do some digging in my stuff. Came up with two brand new bridges and one with very little use. Cleaned them up and then it was on to this....



It was time to prime the pump!!!!!!!!!! I keep an old distributor with the drive gear removed on hand just for this purpose. Keep spinning the motor until oil is filling ALL the rocker arms. When that happens, you know the oil pump works and the engine is lubed up before starting.

Speaking of starting.... with luck that will happen tomorrow night!!!!!!! The long block is back under the hood and I even bolted the torque converter back on! By that time it was 10:30 and I figured I deserved to leave work early.

Looks good John. I had the joy of replacing a front unit bearing on Angie's Maxx. Someone needs to send GM a memo that aluminum spindles and steel unit bearings don't mix. BFH to the rescue.

Looking better! Your neice is a very lucky girl

It's alive! ALIVE I tell you!!!! Muh-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!



Got enough stuff hooked back up to the engine last night for a quick test fire. Started right up on the first try Idled nice but would stumble when I tried to rev it I figured I'd probably installed the distributor off by one tooth on the drive gear,but seeing as it was 12:45a.m. I called it a night.

Today/night I mounted up the H2O pump, stat, PS pump, belt, hoses, and fan. Pulled the cap off the dizzy with the #1 cyl at top dead center and sure enough, the rotor was retarded by one tooth Took a few minutes to pull the dizzy and get the rotor positioned so the trailing edge is just at the #1 post on the cap.

With the dizzy set, it was time to dump in a bottle of cooling system flush and a bunch of water, fire her up again (first shot and it would rev!) and let the chemicals do their magic on the crud in that nice new radiator.

While I was at it, I remembered to re-fill the t-case, top off the trans fluid, and adjust the rear brakes. With the system clean, the last piece of the puzzle was to replace the crap filled over flow tank. Dug a spare tank out of the shed, removed the 1st bolt without a problem, then found one of the rare PITA rusted bolts that a socket/pliers/vicegrips wouldn't grab Ended up going middle ages on it and cut the mounting tab of the tank with a pair of cable shears With the tank out of the way, there was room for the vice grips and that bolt is history

Next up is to tackle the rear springs while I'm waiting for the radiator mounts to be delivered. All you XJ owners know the part I'm talking about. Yeah, that little block of metal and rubber with the stud in the middle that always spins when you try to remove the nut The one that the "stealership's" never stock and want $25.00 EACH to get them. Soon I shall find out how good the replacements from Crown are. At $5.99 a pop, I'll take a chance.

That's awesome John. I'll dropping in a new-er engine into Michaela's XJ soon. Going to upgrade the cooling system too (need to get rid of what I call the "piss bottle"). Also dropping in a new evaporator for full functional A/C.

Great job and highly motivational. I think i need to take some time off and get ****** in gear.

In typical Heepinsteen fashion, Blue Cross' "new" motor consists of a block and rotating assembly from Mike White's old Jeep, cam/lifters/timing set/rockers/push rods from the dead head engine, and a cylinder head from my old '91 engine. It should have a couple HP extra.... I had ported that head when I was going to build a stroker.

Nice job stud!!

"Game has been delayed until cooler temperatures and temperments prevail........"

Seeing how 99%+ of the hardware on Blue Cross has come off without issue, I thought I'd brave the heat and start in on the rear springs. After two hours I managed to drain the rear diff (once I pried the overly RTV'ed cover off with a pry bar), remove a rear shackle bolt, loosen up the u-bolts on one side, and discover that the main eye bolt suffers from classic rust weld to the bushing sleeve syndrome On top of that, the blind nut turned into a spinner

Now I'll have the joy of cutting the bolt off both sides of the spring without destroying the mount

On the plus side, I did score a used PS power mirror off eBay for all of $19.99 SHIPPED today. And it will be here on Friday!!

As I wait for cooler weather (and some parts to show up), I figured I'd start some of the small projects that need attending to on Blue Cross....

While removing the nose panel I'd discovered this...


All six stud inserts that hold the nose to the Jeep were missing and some of the bosses were busted up a bit

After discovering what the stealership wanted for those radiator pads, I didn't even want to know how much for the proper stud inserts (they'd probably say they're only available with a nose assembly ) After some quick pondering, I came up with my own plan that cost less than $5 ......


A $1.49 length of 1/4-20 all thread, $.99 pack of quick set epoxy, and six 1/4-20 flange head nuts at $.20ea Cut a bunch of studs from the all thread and glued the suckers in the holes

And here's the final result.....


Not bad for $3.91 after tax and 1/2 hours work

"GAME ON!!!!!!"

Much progress today......


Anyone want some "hardly used" XJ leafs

ONLY ended up cutting off both main eye bolts and welding on the one spinner of a blind nut (even with much use and waiting of the P.B. Blaster)


Just had to hook up the welder and it was time to burn the blind nut back on..... The little hole on the right side of the mount is one I drilled to squirt penetrating fluid onto the blind side of the bolt. A dab of RTV will seal it back up. It's much easier to cut the access hole in the bottom of the mount than to go through the floor And yes, I did weld the cut out piece back on

Of course what's this project without some more nickel and dime stuff... one rear shock was blown so it was back to the parts store..... "Well, I gotta get parts... might as well check just how "recent" those front brakes are...." Recent turned out to be pads that are 2/3 worn at least the rotors are in good shape

And the Shopping Gods were with me today A quick check on the computer to see who had shocks and pads showed that Advance Auto Parts is doing another "pay online" special... 15% off purchase of $50.00 or more AND you get a coupon for $25 off a future purchase of $50 or more! hmmm..... "Monroe Gas-Matic LT shocks are $26.99 so there's my $50 or more... Wearever Silver pads are $20... the radio doesn't power the front speakers and who uses cassettes and CD's anymore, hey they have a nice cheap AM/FM Digital media radio for $40... " Discovered they actually gave me the Gold brake pads when I got back to the garage

Seeing as I was gonna be in the big city I gave Tire Warehouse a call to see how much to play musical tires... Got quoted $5 per dismount and $15.99 per remount and balance. $104 didn't seem too bad. Got to TW, all the guys were hanging out in front of the shop, told them what I wanted, next thing I know the pickup is empty and rubber is flying! Go to take care of the paper work and the guy tells me he's not going to charge me for four of the dismounts So, I got 8 dismounts, 4 remounts and balances for $80!!!!!!!!!!

Now the rear springs/shocks are in (with liberal amounts of anti-sieze!) rear diff is filled, front brakes are done, front u-joints are done, and it's sitting on 30"s Heck, I even charged the A/C and got cold air blowing out the ducts

John it sounds like you have a full time job ! Your niece should be very thankful , you did a great job on that sucka and should be proud. Also thank you for that part you sent in the mail. FjR68

Now that the mechanicals are DONE (except for changing the front diff oil) it's time to start in on my least favorite work, body work that is.


That's what Blue Cross looked like before the suspension and tire work. Kinda tame and lame


What a difference springs/spacers and 30" tires make

Last night was attack of the wire wheel on the front bumper and rocker panels. The bumper needed a little TLC with the BFH to fix a tweak Then the Naval jelly got applied to the rusty spots. While the jelly was doing its thing, I took the wire wheel to the rockers so I could see what there was to see




In typical Jeep fashion, the "That rust doesn't look too bad." turned into "Awe freakin' great... this will probably take longer than the engine " Now the quandry is do I patch it, or order a set of rocker skins

Go with rocker skins or tOOb sliders like your XJ.