Jeepagon 3.0

wjeeper

Active member
Well cats out of the bag if you have been dropping by Jake's "Jeepagon" V2 build thread:
yGAHNLT.jpg


Jeepagon 3.0 is here!

Been debating wither to do a build thread or not. My previous threads usually end up being me talking to myself......but I figure I will give a build thread one last shot.

Some back story. Picked up a clean looking 2 door 1991 XJ for $300. Wouldn't go into gear, the owner assumed the transmission was shot. I diagonosed this was because the torque converter bolts had all fallen out. So I low balled the crap out of them and drug it home. Within an hour it was shifting into gear and driving again. While i was putting the torque converter bolts back in i discovered it had rusty floor boards on the passenger side. The rust was bad enough that the unibody rail was in rough shape. Upon further investigtion i also discovered it had about 1/2 inch of bondo in the rear 1/4 panel. The repair was solid, but in conjunction the unibody damage it turned out not to be the best foundation for a build. I eventually i ran acoss a 2000 XJ with a bad motor and so the 1991 became an engine donor.

The 2000 awaiting it's new heart:
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Both jeeps sat out in the yard for a longer than i care to admit......until we were 5 days away from an out of town wedding. Found out the wedding was in Silverton Colorado, home of one of my bucket list trails, the Black Bear Pass. Got the wild idea to lift and engine swap the jeep in 5 days!

After work on night one I tossed on some Craigslist OME 930 springs and 2 in pucks up front. Second night the rear got 2 inch blocks, a lift shackle and Rubicon Express shocks all around. Added some JK rims on wheel adapters and wrapped in new Yokohama tires........just had to make it look cool before it actually ran.

With a mere three nights left before departing I played "musical engines"

Unceremoniously hacked the donor out:
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Resealed the oil pan and valve covers, and gave it a good cleaning:
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Pulled the dud with the broken piston:
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And slammed in the Resealed 1991 motor:
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wjeeper

Active member
Finished the engine swap the night before we were leaving at about midnight. Fired the engine up and it ran first try!

The next morning we took it in to Les Schwab for an alignment. Once the alignment was finished and with less than 5 miles with the 'new' engine we made the 750 mile drive to Colorado. Only hiccup was discovering the A/C needs to be charged!

Wedding out of the way we hit Black Bear Pass! Everything was great until the 'steps'
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Jeep sputtered, diwd a acted like it was vapor locked. Weird, but not unheard of, especially on a 2000. Packed the fuel rail with snow, waited 20 minutes and we were on our way:
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On our way for a few hundred feet before it died again, wouldn't restart this time. With no other options we ended up coasting down the dozen of so switchbacks of Black Bear Pass with nothing but gravity to propel us.
 

wjeeper

Active member
We ended up towing the jeep back to utah and I started to sort out the vapor lock issue.

Went full nuclear so next time I can do Black Bear Pass without the drama. Started by pulling the intake/exhaust and covering the fuel line with DEI fuel line shield:
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Then I wrapped and reinstalled exhaust manifolds:
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I then put reflective tape on the back of the intake where it gets close to the exhaust:
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Then I topped off the engine bay with a DEI fuel rail heat shield kit to protect the restimate of the fuel system from radiant heat. Also knowing that a weak fuel pump can contribute to vapor lock (liquids under pressure has a higher boiling point) I swapped that out as well.

I also wired into the factory cooling fan circut in a momentary switch and timed relay so that if the engine bay is hot when I hopened out I can press a button and the cooling fan will run for 3 minutes to prevent heatsoak. Tapped into the factory fuse for the fan:
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Attached a socket for the timed relay:
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I then ran wire to the Ashtray for the trigger switch.

The end result of all that heatsoak/ vapor lock prevention was discovering that the culprit was actually a bad coil rail the entire time.........guess it really won't vapor lock now!

I ended up doing the 'Dodge Viper' coilpack swap with parts from K Suspension. Took care of the missfire and vapor lock symptoms immediately. Also since I swapped in an earlier engine without the bosses to mount the coil rail I solved two problems with that swap.
 

wjeeper

Active member
yynuKLt.jpg

Got tired of looking at the donor, so I striped off the few parts I thought I might need and scrapped it :(

Spent a few months daily driving my rig then I ran across this top:
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It was 800 miles away in San Diego (sorry jakegrovephoto, I stole this from your backyard) I just had to have it. It has hinges to swing to the side like an old doormobile, but I am modifying it to open like a westfalia. The origin of this top is unknown. The last owner just wanted to take it off and install a roof rack. It appears to be a tonneau cover that's been trimmed down to fit an XJ. It does have a big seam down the middle that supports the idea.

Now the delima, it's the middle of January, I live in northern Utah where it snows. But I really want to have this top ready for camping season. So logically out came the sawsall last weekend:
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I do plan on adding in some reinforcements to beef up the chopped out roof structure. None of the perimeter frame has been cut into, just the roof skin and two supports for the roof skin. Not doing a full blown roll cage, as I feel it's unesssary for my planned use. Imagine a halo of tube around the opening.

Hopefully now I have this online and everyone up todate I will get some peer pressure from other fourm members to finish this project soon. Hopefully even faster than jakegrovephoto finishes his!
 

phsycle

Adventurer
Funny, the last time I was out at Black Bear Pass, there was another XJ that was sitting on the side of the road. Owner said it had to cool down for a bit before he could restart. I’m assuming it was the same issue!

You were brave to head out on a long trip with a fresh engine swap! Nice build though.
 

wjeeper

Active member
Funny, the last time I was out at Black Bear Pass, there was another XJ that was sitting on the side of the road. Owner said it had to cool down for a bit before he could restart. I’m assuming it was the same issue!

You were brave to head out on a long trip with a fresh engine swap! Nice build though.
I bet it was the same problem! Heatsoak/ vapor lock is a big problem with some XJ's and never effects others. Never quite understood why it's the case.

Not my first motor swap unfortunately. But luckily this swap went super smooth and hasn't give me any problems beyond the coilpack! (Knocks on wood)
 

Justincredible

Adventurer
I too am in northern UT, so if you want I'll periodically drive by your place honk my horn and yell at you to get back to work on this.
 

wjeeper

Active member
I'm in Roy too.
You're in trouble now.

Well shoot! Now I guess I gotta finish it fast now. When its close to being finished we will have to take it out and break it in.

I have had a 4x4 van, a WJ, two YJ's and I keep coming back to XJ's. Light, cheap and tons of aftermarket support.
 

wjeeper

Active member
Had a bit of an idea this morning. Not sure if its crazy or brilliant (the line between the two is a fine one sometimes): power tool batteries as an power source for camping.

Started a discussion on the power systems subfourm here: (LINKY)
 

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