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TRINDU

TRINDU

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Joined
May 19, 2020
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Central TX
Not much of a build at the moment, but a documentation and a place to bounce ideas off of. Bought this for the wife, she likes jeeps and I'm going to own/work on something (YJ) I like too.

Screenshot_20221004-171124_Gallery.jpg


Clean, low mileage (77k) 1992 4.0L that grandfather had, then gave to his grandson, who promptly blew it up. The only story I got was "driving 45mph and then the cab filled with smok

Not a fan of a zone 4" lift, but itll work for now.

Phase 1:

Picked up a 'known good' engine from a friend that's been sitting on the shelf for years. No details on rebuild.

Botched rebuild and boat anchor.

Ill pull the head and pan to verify it's in good shape then go forth. I have a good TJ bell for external slave. Any reason not to use it now?

Also, is there any advantage to using a different intake, exhaust manifold, PS pump? Etc. I'm not against spending money at this point with new parts instead of putting back in 30 y/o parts. Makes it easy to plug n play swap the engine as well.

Slap on a set of 33x10.5 KM3s instead of the MTRs from 2002.

Mend whatever else it needs and drive it.

Phase 2:

I'm going to hate stock gearing with 33s, but refuse to invest any money in a 30/35. Logical solution is 4cyl YJ front and 8.8 rear (phase 1.5?).

However, parts I have:

•scout 2 front axle w/ GM outers
•Isuzu D44 disc rear
•D300 (most likely add 4:1)

Build axles. Drop it down with [new] stock waggy 5 leaf front springs and BDS 2" rear springs. Same 33x10.5 tires.

Wife wants something to drive around town and trail ride. Dont want to take away from a 'stock' looking rig, but want something point and shoot for what it is.
 

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Seems like a good start to a build. Might look at a different exhaust manifold/ headers as the stockers are known to constantly crack and leak. No reason not to use the newer bellhousing now.
 
Well, tore the 'new' engine down and wasnt impressed. Timing chain had too much slack and a few other things. Definitely a rebuild, but not 5k like advertised. Taking it back and starting over. Sigh

I'm not against pulling a $150 JY engine and building one now.
 
I've gone down the rabbit hole. Apparently finding a 'good' 20 y/o engine is proving difficult. 10 years ago I could buy a running XJ for $300 :laughing:

If I have to rebuild, might as well throw the extra $1000 for a 'stroker'. Then use the 7120 head that's in it. Still need to do more research in cams and tuning
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
I remember a time when you couldn't give away a Jeep 4.0L if that says anything...
Click to expand...

In college, late 00s, I could buy a $500 cherokar, F150, etc for $500. Absolutely abuse wheeling and float the valves, then sell it the next week for a grand :laughing:

Theres a lot of GCs with the 4.0 in wrecking yards. A long block is $150 + time to pull it myself.

Since this isn't a need tomorrow scenario, I'm torn between finding a <79 258 with 12wt crank, 87-90 serp YJ engine (for the short snout 4.2l crank), or a 99-06 NVH block.

Honestly, buying a new crank, rods, and pistons for $1200 isn't sounding too bad. I can assemble it myself. ~$400 to bore the block and clean up the head. $2000 in a stroker is sounding appealing
 
Pick up my scout and K10 D44. Spring perch width on scout and YJ are identical. GM outers keep it right at 60.5 WMS.

Need to order some alloy outers. Any advantage to 30 spline stubs? I have warn 30 and 19 lockouts on the shelf.

Keep reading that a 96-98 isuzu D44 rear is 60.5 and uses 'JK' style r&p with the D60 sized pinion. Hoping to hunt one of those down now to match now.
 
co-parts.com is where I found mine at. Put it in the back of my XJ, they are spring under and a tad bit too narrow. Leaf springs are roughly 1/4-3/8" from the rear tires. I did put 5/8" spacer on the wheel flange, it was a quick guestimate. It's pretty much perfect so far but 3/4" would have given abit more breathing room.

Also ended up cutting and rotating the outer to move the brake calipers up, going spring over put them right in the way.

Anyways probably not an issue for you. Good axle as far as I can tell running 32's on a winter DD wheeler so don't expect many issues.
 
Well, latest revision.

Engine:
NVH 4.0L block
7120 head
12wt 258 crank
4.0 rods
~32cc dished stroker pistons

Trying to stay under 9:1 to burn 87.

Bout to track down all the CJ facebook groups, because theres nothing on CL/FB marketplace.

Weasel said:
co-parts.com is where I found mine at. Put it in the back of my XJ, they are spring under and a tad bit too narrow. Leaf springs are roughly 1/4-3/8" from the rear tires. I did put 5/8" spacer on the wheel flange, it was a quick guestimate. It's pretty much perfect so far but 3/4" would have given abit more breathing room.

Also ended up cutting and rotating the outer to move the brake calipers up, going spring over put them right in the way.

Anyways probably not an issue for you. Good axle as far as I can tell running 32's on a winter DD wheeler so don't expect many issues.
Click to expand...

I have a 94ish isuzu D44 that's 4.10, disc, 58.5 WMS or so. The 96-97 are supposedly 2 inches wider, 4.30s, set 10 bearings.
 
Emailed Russ Pottenger about a stroker kit. 20 min later he called and we had a pleasant chat. Hour later I have an in depth email and quote.

His customer service was so on point, I now feel obligated to buy parts from him. Dont know about the LS valve ported head, but definitely rods and pistons.
 
Trying to do some shopping...

JY 4.0 - $180 and a dozen to chose from

12cw 4.2 crank - too expensive, doesn't exist, or people wont return messages.

When dafuq did the NWF black box-I become $2k :eek: Guess I'm stuck spending $850 on JB gears.

Thinking about shelving the AX15 and like the gear spread of the 3550.
 
I looked into a stroker 4.0 for my YJ but at that point it makes more sense to do a junkyard LS. A 4.8 or 5.3 and the right bellhousing would make for a fun rig.

As for gearing I have 4.56s and with 35s it's way too low for anything on the highway. That 4.0 is singing on the freeway.
 
I can find a 'good' 4.0L, at all. The ads/people all have the same rhetoric of an engine sitting on its side, stripped of all accessories, and "runs great, unknown mileage, $800+". Yep, not wasting my time with that.

Buddy is suppose to meet up with me tuesday to lend a hand pulling an engine to rebuild from a JY. I'm at a standstill till I find an engine
 
Still haven't picked up an engine. Every JY engine looks too far gone, still can't put my hands on a 12wt crank either.

Was able to sort out the isuzu rear. Picked up a 97 rodeo axle. Its damn near bolt in and 60.5 WMS. <95 is 58.5 and 98+ is the JK pinion and 63 wms.

Going with the Amazon Chinese $425 e-lockers F&R.
 
TRINDU said:
Still haven't picked up an engine. Every JY engine looks too far gone, still can't put my hands on a 12wt crank either.

Was able to sort out the isuzu rear. Picked up a 97 rodeo axle. Its damn near bolt in and 60.5 WMS. <95 is 58.5 and 98+ is the JK pinion and 63 wms.

Going with the Amazon Chinese $425 e-lockers F&R.
Click to expand...
I have a 99 TJ engine with 90k in my shop, its not mine as it was gonna be used as a flip vehicle that needed an engine that I now plan to LS. ill see what my buddy wants for it. if you're willing to come to East Texas for it.
 
TRINDU said:
Still haven't picked up an engine. Every JY engine looks too far gone, still can't put my hands on a 12wt crank either.

Was able to sort out the isuzu rear. Picked up a 97 rodeo axle. Its damn near bolt in and 60.5 WMS. <95 is 58.5 and 98+ is the JK pinion and 63 wms.

Going with the Amazon Chinese $425 e-lockers F&R.
Click to expand...
What’s the details on the Chinese e lockers
 
 
thanks. Am I missing something, that’s for a JK 44 front and I thought you were gonna run YJ d30 and Isuzu d44 rear?
 
fl0w3n said:
thanks. Am I missing something, that’s for a JK 44 front and I thought you were gonna run YJ d30 and Isuzu d44 rear?
Click to expand...

Scout II 44 front axle with K10 outers, Isuzu rear.

JK is just a 3.73 carrier, so thick cut gears are needed. There is a difference in ring gear bolts, but spacers are available. Thinking of keeping isuzu 4.30s and run 4.27 front.

I also have a D44 ox locker on the shelf.
 
I've convinced myself ~70:1 isn't low enough.

Jeeps and they're stupid rear shaft length
There's no cheap away around this...

NWF ecobox-i: love the concept, hate how it's not highway friendly. A $300 pump, lines, and cooler just doesn't sit well with me.

231 crawl box: looks like there's only 1 player making them now. But didn't read any issues with highway.

Roughly measurements:

Stock NP231 - 20.5"
NP231 SYE - 16.5"
D300 - 11.5"
NP231 crawl box - 7.5"

I think I can get away with the 231 crawlbox... but not with a CV and the shaft will still be pathetically short. Moving the rear back an inch, and a Novak 300RX output would put be close to stock with SYE. I thought all this jeep shit was cookie cutter and done a million times over.

NWF will cost me $1500. 231 crawl box & 32 spline output will run me $1500. I'm leaning towards the latter. NWF and Novak output would be perfect, but money and still dont like the 12v pump and cooler.
 
TRINDU said:
hate how it's not highway friendly. A $300 pump, lines, and cooler just doesn't sit well with me.
Click to expand...
There are two old circle track fixes for this.

Mount a ram to the axle/frame and set it up with check valves so it acts like a pump.

Run a P/S pump off of one of your case outputs.

These days they all run a purpose built pump off the axle pinion.

And frankly, I bet how "highway friendly" it is depends a lot on your driveline RPMs. Some people can probably get away with just fancy gear oil and no cooling.
 
I am rocking the Magnum box, but my build is not done yet and I don't have enough miles to tell if is going to overheat or not. I am not looking forward to having lines and a pump if I need it, but I will do it if I have to. Just Empty Every Pocket.

Lots of folks are running the magnum on highway in full sizes and they don't have overheat issues that the ecobox seems to have. Since they are basically the same thing, I think the vehicle platform may be a factor on if it is going to get too warm. The more airflow to the doubler at speed you can provide, the better off you will likely be.
 
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