Free 401

[Motoracer13]

OK so I found 401. Fo sur 401! now the bad. Its been sitting in the bed of a pickup, for man says 7-8 years. Pulled out of a running cherokee for a cj-7 that had blown motor bla bla bla......anyway I am looking at it best I can and here is the problems I see.

1. Was covered at one time with a tarp that is some what left. Its very tattered and flimsy to the point it just kinda pulls apart.

2. at some point a guy that was going to buy it put the bottom half of an air cleaner upside-down over the carb-but now it direct water from a six inch circle directly into the carb! I had a walmart sack I went ahead and covered the carb with.

3. There are no exhaust manifolds on the motor at all.

4. Flywheel was for auto-I need Manual flywheel.

Now the good

1. Free!!http://www.cj-8.com/forum/images/smilies/eek.gif

2. Does look like at some time before 7-8 years ago it was rebuilt.

3. Complete other than the exhaust manifolds even has AC bracket and pump.

4. It looks better than what I thought it would-no parts or gapping holes in the block.

So what do you guys think? What kind of condition is the inside going to look like? How much is it going to cost to possible get it running? Oh and did I say it was FREE!!http://www.cj-8.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Cherokee01478]

Sounds like a good deal. The first step is to ascertain whether or not the engine is seized. If it is, then you have really two choices - you can either try to un-seize it, and then get it running; or, you can go for a strip and re-build. If it isn't seized, then you have the advantage of being more likely to be able to get it to run; however, given it has sat outside for such long time, you won't really know the condition of the internals. If it turns out not to be seized (or is seized but frees easily) take off the sump pan, water pump, rocker covers and intake manifold, and try and gauge condition from what you find. As your total outlay so far is nought, there's no reason why you shouldn't spend a bit of money now making a decent engine. Best of luck, whatever you decide to do.

[aerocorey]

It doesn't matter if it's siezed or not. If it's been sitting 7 years in the back of a truck and exposed to the point where the tarp that was covering it has rotted away. With no manifolds and water getting into the carb, and thus the intake, the valve train is probably corroded. It needs to be disassembled and cleaned. Even if the bottom half is sealed moisture probably found a way through an open valve and corroded a piston somewhere so you'll have to crack it open anyhow.

Still a free 401 though. Nice find.

[Ristow]

it's probably not worth rebuilding,but grab it for the crank and rods.

[aerocorey]

Why wouldn't the block be usable?

[Ristow]

if it sat out for as long as he thinks the rust in the cylinders is going to be very deep.if it's been re-bored once already the rust is likely going to be deeper than a safe rebore can reach.

but he may get lucky.

[badaboom]

With that scenario I'm definately in the camp with,

it's probably not worth rebuilding,but grab it for the crank and rods.

Get it tear it apart and see what you have.

Engines are like a box of Chocolates you never know what your going to get :D

[chrisnsarah]

It's free, so you got nothing to lose. Rusted bores aren't as big of a problem as most think. Cracks or a maxed bore are a bigger issue.

If the block is in good shape, it's always possible to do sleeves.

Personally, I think any salvagable 401 block should be saved.

[Ghinmi]

You can't beat free! :thumbsup:
Heck, even if the block's junk you could use the crank to stroke a 360 if you wanted to.

[AMX factor]

Free is good but...If there is rust in the bores I'll bet you won't be able to turn the motor over to get all the rods and crank out. Money sez you will have to take a steel rod and break the top of all the pistons to get the rods and crank out. When you crack those pistons you will probably crack the bores. I'll bet there is a beautiful rust garden in each cylinder.

[grand_wag_85]

Mine was free as well, sat outside of an old forest service fire-tower for years. Well not really free but they let me have anything I wanted if we got rid of all the junk there. I guess there was an old IH there at one time but it had been cut up and scrapped to the point that the only recognizeable part of the rig was the dash.

My motor had no carb, no exhaust manifolds and was seized however under the intake manifold, timing cover, valve covers and oil pan looked decently greasy. We brought the motor to a friends farm, hung from a chain-hoist and soaked in a 55 gal drum of old used motor oil for about a week and 'freed' it afterwards. Put the oil pan, intake manifold, timing cover etc back on, covered the fuel pump hole, threw a junkyard 360 4bbl carb on it as well as the ign stuff from a G-Waggy and a starter on it, sat it on a YJ frame, supported the motor and rigged a cooling system and it started after some persuasion.

To make a long story short I thought I could resurect it and put it in my then DD GW but the rings were so shot and it had a knock we couldn't figure out.

If you had a cylinder on the intake stroke you will be looking at something like this:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/spf150/100_4980.jpg

That is after having the intake manifold off of my S10 Blazer for about 2 weeks in a closed(but not air-tight) barn.

[Karl Streich]

If it were me I'd go get the frekin thing and take it home RIGHT NOW! :D for the price you can worry about the internals later...

I'd put it on an engine stand and pull the heads (don't bother asking if it is sized, it is siezed...if you find out later that it isn't then it is kinda like winning the lottery :)

Once the heads are off let it get nice and dry, go get half a gallon or a gallon of diesel fuel and one of those little oil squirter cans, squirt the diesel oil on all the rust, this is where allowing the block to get nice and dry is important, the dry rust will wick the oil deep into all of the cracks. Repeat regularly, perhaps once a day, and check to see if the bottom end is loose, should loosten up in a few days, it wouldn't hurt to use some steel wool to lightly scrub the oiled rust off and old rags to help wipe it away.

You may or may not be able to rering it, but it is worth a shot :)

[gump]

I agree take it home and see what youve got. If the cylinders are rusted they shouldn't be rusted beyond the point that you can't have it bored. Good find. Hope I can get that lucky some day.

[Motoracer13]

I hope to get it by Sun. I just have to push the 5 or 8 or one of six motorcycles out of the gagrage to get it to the front by the work bench.Hope ot have some pics up soon!
Yes they all run-no kids=lots of toys for me!

[Motoracer13]

Oh and of course THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!!!!!

[bigwalton]

Photos, photos, photos.... we need to document the free 401!

[billyrb]

Use a ton of PB BLaster in each cylinder, and a long (3-4') breaker bar on the crank. Little wiggles back and forth should help it break free. And be very liberal with the PB Blaster. It'll break most of the rust free and help it turn over. For the rust on the cylinder walls, you can use some emory cloth to see how far down the worst of it goes. You can also buy a cheap digital micrometer and check the bore to see how far out it's been turned (if at all). The crank is forged, so you'll probably be safe with that (usually just requires a good polishing). Lots of other work & choices, but that will help you figure out what you have and if it's worth rebuilding.

[etjeep]

I'll take one.....sorry, could'nt resist when I saw the title:D

[etjeep]

Seriously,
I would grab it. Once you get it cleaned up to the point you can do a decent visual inspection take it to a machine shop and they can dunk it. Just take small steps and don't get your hopes up.

[Motoracer13]

my hopees arent up tooo high:) but I cant wait! Anyway does anyone know about the heads? Were they any different from the 304/360's?

[Mud Thrasher]

Ive never tried pb blaster but myself and every mechanic and even all the chem plants all use kroil. It's in an orange can and works miracles. I've seen the diesel work before too. I've never heard of using a 401 crank to make a stroker though. Maybe one of yall could part with one for me since im fixing to have mine rebuilt?:D

[Motoracer13]

Well sorry it took so long.well I think its shot. havent pulled the oil pan off so I dont know about the crank. There was water in 3 cylinders.RUST was EVERYWHERE!! I will try to get some more pics up later...

[TexTJ209]

Kinda looks like it was in a truck that caught fire..

[Gambler68]

Kinda looks like it was in a truck that caught fire..

lol yeah. Either that's mold, or remenants of the fire retardant foam. the 82 I parted out had a slight flamage and they soaked the bay with the stuff. Nasty.

[crispyboy]

Put it in your garage and fill the cyliders with oil and let it sit for two weeks or so.
Should free up. It's amazing the antique tractor engines that I have seen come back to life.

[KaiserMan]

It's not that scary from what I can see in the pics. I have seen much worse come back from the dead. Just depends on how much money you want to throw at it.

[FSJnovice]

It will clean up just fine. If not just strip the engine down hot tank it and sleeve it. Just remember if they sleeve dragster motors and such then what is the problem. :)

[tjsean0308]

It's amazing the antique tractor engines that I have seen come back to life.

I agree.
I've seen much worse than that 401 come back to life. its amazing how resiliant quality engines are. :cool: and if sleave are good enough for a 1000 horse diesel engine than they can't be bad for our amc powerplants.

you suck! :thumbsup: good luck and nice score.

[Motoracer13]

about what would it cost to have it hot-tanked & sleeved?