The Little Engine That Could

I reached a fairly major milestone yesterday: getting my new engine mounted in my Jeep. Sure, there's still a lot of work to do before it's drivable (let alone finished), but it feels good to have gotten this far.



It took Dave and I about an hour to maneuver the engine into place and weld the mounts to the frame. I think we got pretty lucky because all we really had to do was jack it up high enough to clear the frame and then push the cherry picker while guiding the transmission into the hole in the firewall. It ended up sitting in perfect position with very little adjustment.



The two most important factors in the engine positioning were: 1) making sure that the hole in the floor of the body was positioned above the part of the transmission where the gear shifter will be bolted in, and 2) getting the valve cover as close to the firewall as possible so that there won't be any clearance issues when the radiator is re-installed.



Once the engine was in a good spot, Dave made some small welds between the motor mounts and the frame. Then we were able to lower the engine a bit with the cherry picker so that it settled into place. The weight of the engine also cause the motor mounts to sit flush against the frame, making it easier to create a solid weld.









After the engine was securely welded in place, I decided to install my new front shocks which I ordered last week. It was a really easy install which only took about 20 minutes. They will not only improve the ride quality, but the fresh white shocks and the clean black shock boots looks really nice.

Transmission Progress

I began my holiday weekend by leaving work in Dave's truck and heading east to Pittsburgh. I had found another AX-15 transmission on craigslist.com, and after speaking with the seller on the phone, I decided that it sounded like it was worth the money ($325) and the trip (2.5 hours).



It ended up being a really good trip because I was able to obtain a number of different parts that I needed all at once.



In addition to the transmission, I bought a radiator fan cover (my old one is too long for the new engine), a transfer case shifter (for shifting into 4WD), a master/slave cylinder set-up (for my clutch), and a black seat which I am now regretting because I can't find a matching one online and I just discovered yesterday that it doesn't recline.... great.



I also bought a steering column and a power steering pump for Dave. He happened to call me while I was still there and I told him that this guy had EVERYTHING, so if there was anything he needed I could check, and of course the guy happened to have both things Dave wanted and new exactly where the stuff was despite having a garage filled with stuff.



I had a nice surprise on Monday when I showed up at Dave's place to get some work done: the firewall had been painted and clear coated and was looking very nice and clean.



I finally removed the motor from the engine stand and lowered it to the ground with the cherry picker so that I could mount the flywheel/clutch.



I had to go to Tractor Supply Co. to get bolts that would fit in the crankshaft plate-thing (not sure if it has a technical name). The bolts ended up being the perfect size and the flywheel bolted up nicely.



Next I used a clutch alignment tool to make sure that the clutch disc was properly aligned with the crankshaft, flywheel and pilot bearing. Then I bolted on the pressure plate. I once again did not have the right hardware but luckily Dave had a few coffee cans full of bolts and I was able to find some that worked.



Finally, after a bit of a struggle, Dave and I managed to get the transmission mounted to the engine. It was difficult because the engine crankshaft and the transmission input shaft were not at the same height, so the transmission needed to be simultaneously lifted a few inches and slid forward so the shaft could fit into the clutch disc and pilot bearing.



I finally had the two units secured together and it felt good to have made this much progress. The next step will be to attach the motor mounts to the engine and to hoist it up into the engine bay so that we can figure out where on the frame the engine mounts need to be welded. Then the engine can be bolted in permanently and the wiring harness can be reconnected (this will probably be one of the most difficult tasks of the entire project).

Body-work, Pt. 2

Yesterday Dave and I welded in the two replacement body panels after spending a great deal of time cutting them down to the right size and shape. There was also a fair amount of cutting, grinding and sanding that needed to be done to the body in order for the new panels to fit and for the new panels to have a clean surface to be welded to.





I got to weld for my first time ever! (My welds were NOT pretty) After many sloppy welds I finally started to get the hang of it, though.







All that's left to do now is to seal up all of the holes/cracks to make them water tight. Then we can begin painting.

Body-work

I spent a couple hours doing some body work yesterday. Dave and I had already cut out the rust damage on the body (see the previous post, "Frame-work"), and the next step was to cut the replacement body panel to fit the hole.



It turns out that the replacement panels aren't of the best quality (I'm disappointed, JCWhitney.com) which is making the job tougher than it should be.



We might start welding the new panel in place today, then we can weld in the new driver's side floor panel. The final step will be filling in the gaps and blending in the edges in preparation for painting. Hopefully no one will be able to notice that any bodywork was ever done!

Frame-work

Saturday and Sunday were spent cleaning up my frame and doing a bit of body work. I bought some black, rubberized undercoating at AutoZone which is good for protecting everything under the vehicle and preventing rust. Before I could apply the undercoating, however, I needed to remove all of the dirt and rust from the surface of the frame.



This was not an enjoyable process. It took a few hours and required me to be under the vehicle a lot. By the time I was done, I was almost covered from head to toe with rust, dirt and dust.



With Dave's help I was able to remove the motor mounts. They are going to need to be repositioned for the new, longer 6-cylinder motor.





The driver's side floor and the front quarter panel were both pretty ravaged by rust, so they had to be cut out completely. I have two replacement panels ready to be welded in that I purchased online.






I am also going to be replacing the front shocks. When I tried to removed them the threaded bolts on top snapped off, so I now have no choice but to get new ones. They were old and rusty, so it probably makes sense to replace them anyway.





As you can see, the black undercoating really cleans up the frame and makes it look much better. In addition to making the frame look good, it will prevent rust from eating away at the metal when I drive on salty roads in the winter.





All of the components on the firewall that couldn't be removed have been masked off in preperation for painting.

Still Workin'

I hadn't planned on doing any work on my Jeep yesterday, but when I stopped by Dave's house to drop off the painting supplies I had bought earlier in the day, Dave came outside and called me out for not doing anything on weekdays. So I of course had to prove him wrong. One thing led to another and I ended up working for 4 hours. Here's a quick list of what I did:

- Sealed and replaced my front differential cover

- Filled the front differential with gear oil

- Put my rear wheels back on, rolled the Jeep out of the garage, then did a ton of organizing and cleaning (it's always nice to work in a clean garage)

- Vacuumed all the rust/dirt/dust/crud out of my Jeep's interior

- Unbolted the windshield from the roll bars to see what it would look like folded down

- Watched Dave and his buddy tear apart an old Trans Am for parts


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