1990 Wagoneer Tune Up.

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This is TGrandWagon's gorgous 1990 Grand Wagoneer with only 38,000 original miles on it. That is the good news.... The bad news is the engine is shot. It looks to me that it may have been ran with no oil in it causing the bearings to be wiped out and the thrust bearing has actually cut in to the crank about 1/8". So.... he wants to upgrade to a 401 with EFI. My buddy Bruce and I are teaming up on this one. I will build the engine and he gets to do the rest.
IMG_3618 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

Here is a shot of the thrust bearing in his 360. I have never seen one this bad.
IMG_3772 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SJTD]

Wow. Lotta clearance but where's the wear? Chamfers on the crank look even. Is the side of the bearing that's touching supposed to be that much thicker?

Obviously I've never been inside a 360 before.

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It is wore in to the crank itself. The bearing casing is steel. Once the bearing material is worn off of the bearing, you have steel against cast iron. The cast iron is softer. You can see it a little better in this picture.
IMG_3771 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

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Collecting parts for the new engine.
IMG_3791 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[rang-a-stang]

OH HELLZ YEAH!! ANOTHER SC/397 BUILD!!! And the new PRO FLO?!?!?!? Grabbin my popcorn!!!!

[TGrandWagon]

I kept seeing people going to LS swaps but when I saw the horsepower and torque numbers that Rick was able to get out of these motors I was sold on a 401. I am hoping that the Edelbrock ProFlo 4 and other parts will give me the reliability and the power of the LS. I know I wont get the gas mileage. I am excited about the power this thing will have.
I want the look of original with the power of an LS.

[SOLSAKS]

man I love that gold wagoneer !!!!

you don't see many of those.

especially in that condition !

the rims from that year are my favorite,...

more polished aluminum area to shine more......

more photos of the wag please,.....

wish I lived close to rick, my FSJ would get a transplant from him.

dave in NC

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This build will be the perfect candidate for the cylinder heads that I have been working on. With the number of cracked 360/401 cylinder heads that I have been finding lately, I thought I would try to use 304 heads with bigger valves in them for the full size Jeep 360's that I build. The idea is to use the chevy 2.02" / 1.60" valves in the AMC 304 cylinder heads and hope that we can get the flow numbers to come close to a stock 360/401 head. And I want to do this with the least amount of cost.

The 304 heads have a 58.92 combustion chamber so the compression ratio calculates out to 9.53:1 with the 27.5cc dished pistons in the 401.
The are more details over here: https://rebsamcandjeep.proboards.com...l-flow-numbers
Here is the mock-up of the 304 head with the 2.02"/1.60" valves on the left side and the stock 304 valves (1.787"/1.406") on the right side
IMG_2828 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
The stock 304 head.
IMG_2826 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
Machined 304 head to fit the 2.02"/1.60" valves.

At this point we have done nothing more than machine the heads and install new guides which means the cost is no more than a normal performance valve job.
IMG_2822 by Rick Jones, on Flickr.
IMG_2823 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

The chart below shows the flow numbers.

My goal was to meet or exceed the 360/401 cylinder head with a modified 304 cylinder head. You can see that we got pretty close by just machining the 304 head and fit them up with the bigger valves (Mod 304).

It took a extra 45 min each to blend the short side radius in the bowels to get them to exceed the 360/401 head but it worked (Mod 304-1).

IMG_3102 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


9-4-20: Got the short block together.
Pretty crankshaft at -0.010/0.010
IMG_3906 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
I have had a issue with the FelPro rear main seal leaking about a month ago. I have a buddy that had one leak as well.

They changed suppliers to one in Germany.

More info here: http://theamcforum.com/forum/rear-ma...pic106551.html
So beware of any rear main seal that has the words Germany on them.


FelPro still makes the best gasket kit - except for the rear main seal. Now I buy these and throw the FelPro one away. No problems so far.
IMG_3905 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


Here is another issue that has to have some attention. The ARP rod bolts come with a flanged nut.

The trouble is the flange is too big to seat flat on the connecting rod so, we chamfer the nuts and they seat correctly.
IMG_3495 by Rick Jones, on Flickr
IMG_3912 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


9-7-20: Laboring on Labor Day
This engine is going in to a 1990 Wagoneer so, I decided to keep the same metric oil filter. AMC had the same oil filter adapter from 1966 until 1986 which had a 13/16"-16 thread which is on the left side. A very common size and I use a Baldwin B39 or the taller B9 filter with those. The Jeep oil filter adapter on the right is a metric M-20x1.5 and was used from 1987 to 1991. I will use a Baldwin B141 with that one. As you can see, you can barely tell the difference in the fittings. I learned all of this the hard way a few years ago when a built a 390 for a retired AMC employee who gave me a pile of parts to build a engine out of. The stupid thing is that the old 13/16" filter will thread on to the M20 fitting and feel right to the hand. It will be fine with priming the oil pump with a drill as well. Boy, just start it up with some oil pressure and see what happens. Yea, it blows the filter off and by the time you realize what is going on you have about a gallon of oil sprayed all over the place.
IMG_3919 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


Installed the front cover, oil pan, and heads today. Even threw a coat of paint on it.

Tomorrow I re-torque all of the front cover and oil pan bolts and throw some more paint on it.

IMG_3920 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


9-10-20: Looking like a engine now.
In 1988 Jeep changed the starter to a high torque type and with that, they changed the flex plate.

The one on the left is the 1988 to 1991 version and the one on the right is the 1972 to 1987 version.
IMG_2559 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


The trouble is there is no 1988 to 1991 version for the 401 so my machinist just added weight to the 360 flex plate to balance it to the 401.
It was easier to add more weight than he needed then drill weight out where it needed it to balance.
IMG_3950 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


I really like these Scorpion roller rocker arms (SCP 1097) for the bridge type heads.

IMG_3947 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


The intake went on pretty well. I just had to tweak around 3 of the corner bolts for washer and wrench clearance.
IMG_3940 by Rick Jones, on Flickr


The chrome 1 1/2" sink drain works perfect as a oil fill tube.
IMG_3943 by Rick Jones, on Flickr

[SJTD]

Never paid any attention to this kinda thing. The chart doesn't have any reference to the delta P across the port.

Is there a standard delta P that's used? I assume it was the same for both heads or the data would be meaningless. With enough pressure on the inlet you could make pretty much any port flow whatever you want.

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This can explain it much better than I can.

https://www.musclecardiy.com/cylinder-heads/understanding-cylinder-head-flow-testing-procedures-part-2/

I am pretty lucky in the fact that my machinist has a flow bench that I can use any time that I want to. Except for the prep work, he ran the flow bench and I wrote the numbers down.

Yes, the bottom line was that I wanted a direct A-B-C comparison with no variables and that is what the flow bench does for you.

[itselliot]

Waggy

Rick,....that looks like Gertrude.....the waggy I sold in ~ 2016!!!

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Looks like it but not the same one. Our buddy Bruce has been working on the Waggy here and there so, I will see if I can get TGrandWagon to post up some progress pictures. The engine is back from the machine shop but I have to finish a 420 stroker before I can get to it. (96. OK401)

https://rebsamcandjeep.proboards.com/thread/11/amc-engine-builds?page=39

[TGrandWagon]

Tried posting some pictures but was unsuccessful. I emailed them to Rick. Hopefully he can post them. The car was bought over a year ago. It sat in an air conditioned garage for the last 5 years. It's a true 38k car with original paint and had to touch up a few places as the clear coat was fading. Interior is mint.
Bruce is replacing all the brake lines, brakes, front end parts, shocks, all U-Joints radiator, trans cooler, Novak in tank fuel pump along with installing a Dakota digital dash, 2inch Rusty's ad a leaf and a Hughes XTM Torque Converter. It will have 2 1/2" dual with high flow cats going into a single 3" QuietFlow muffler with a 3" tailpipe. I am of the opinion to not cut corners and "ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"Bruce is very meticulous and is exceeding my expectations.
The final product will have a Rick built 401, rollers, head work,Edelbrock ProFlo 4, Comp Cam 270H.

[SOLSAKS]

it is for sure,.... a sweet wagoneer, and getting sweeter.

I love those gold ones,....rare.

dave in NC

[TGrandWagon]

Great vehicle but it needed a motor. I went into all the door panels and cleaned up all the power window motors and mechanisms. This one doesn't have the plastic flex rack gear window mechanism. It has the metal screw type.
Here are some pictures of what Bruce has done..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgrandwagon/