Jeep Strokers

Head with valves!

Degreeing cam:





My little engine next to a monster...still under wraps...

Installed freeze plugs today. tactical error on my part. I should have installed them prior to putting the engine on the stand. I barely got the cam plug in. I'll have to wait to do the last one.

Two questions:

First: How far in does the steel cam freeze plug go in? Just as far as the other brass plugs in the block?

Second: Any special bolts needed for the oil pump? I misplaced the originals...

Started swapping the brackets and accessories from the old junk to the new motor.

If anyone is going to use an 0331 head on a 99 and under XJ, don't forget to drill and tap the head for the temp sending unit.
Going to have to figure something out now because I don't think I can do that work without metal shavings going into the motor...

Aftermarket temp gauge into the dual gauge pod that i bought I guess.

are you talking the one in the back drivers side corner? i would think you could if the valve cover was installed and all the ports/holes masked off pretty good with some tape and/or rags in the ports?

After a little encouragment from the email group, I think that's what I'll do.

I'm off the next two days so I'll see if I can't get it all done in that time frame.

It's taking a lot longer than I thought to do this. Oh well. It's been fun so far.

good to hear its going well, hope to hear its running soon!

Got the hole drilled and tapped this morning. Broke a drill bit when I was drilling the pilot. Oh well, it came out and it's all done.
The sensor actually fit too. Score one for me!

Primed the oil system. It took a few seconds to fill the filter but I finally got oil up through all of the pushrods. It's Joe Gibbs BR (break in) oil. They say it's good stuff. We'll see I guess. They say that I need to preheat before break in. I don't think I need to worry. It's been 95 degrees every day this week

The motor and transmission were mated up today too. Let me tell you what a hassle it is doing that by yourself. Lots of down under the Jeep then back up to lower or raise the engine to just do it all again. Had to pull the motor out a couple times so I could get the angle right. Next time I do this I'll have a load leveler.

Can wait to hear the engine running .... see if you can get a video for all of us

here is ONE of the reasons that it took me all day to put the motor in:


Who knew that motor mounts were drilled differently?

it took me a minute to see the difference. wow, so subtle, what is the new one from? different year or different model?

I would think a different model. The one on my 2000 XJ looks like the old one.

Not sure what year the painted one is from. I'll get a part number off of it tomorrow.

Well, I got the motor in and everything hooked up. It won't start. Turns over great and it builds oil pressure, but no go.

I ended using the timing cover off of the 99 WJ instead of the cover off of the XJ. That means I don't have really have a timing mark on the cover. At least not like the XJ had.

I used a piece of welding rod to make sure I was at TDC of the compression stroke of #1. I rotated the oil pump to 11 o'clock and had the rotor pointing to where I had marked the location of the #1 post and it dropped in. The ears are about 10 degrees clockwise from where the bolt was. Everything looks good.

No time to mess with it tonight though. I'll give it another try tomorrow.

what year truck is the engine going into? i see an 0630 mentioned but am too tired and lazy to know what year head that is. does it have fuel pressure? is the coil still good?