1968 J-3600

[ddversatile]

Starting a build thread .

Last summer I had the truck repainted, I did most of the disassembly and reassembly of the trim, panels, bumpers, etc.



Truck Looked good drove a 3-400 miles trouble free.

Then,

Last September I checked to oil, added to the top of the "safe" zone and drove to school.

Lunch hour rolled around and I went to town with my buddies and the lifters began to tick loudly, I put it off as sticky lifter(s).

The tick quieted down a bit and later on after school i began to drive home (i should've checked the oil in hindsight but as It didn't leak and I thought it didn't burn much oil I didn't)

Then It started to knock and that's when we trailered it home.



The truck burnt through the entire sump of oil in a 25 mile trip

So a few months roll past and Dad and I clean up the shop so the truck can stay in the warmth. (It was -10*C outside)



I filled engine with oil finally realizing that it was out of oil, however an engine burning oil like that needed a rebuild either way.

The 327 fired to life and didnt make a single tick, knock, or cough. It speaks to the toughness of the engine, and the truck drove into the shop on its own power.

Later, in January, disassembly began.

Took the whole front clip off to ease the removal of engine plus transmission



Motor is out



Stripped the engine down with Dad and my very helpful hot rodding neighbor (we are newbies)

I made sure to tag & bag all the bolts and take pictures of as many things as i could.

[ddversatile]

Next it was warm that week (5*C ) Very nice weather for March in Alberta, so I worked on stripping the frame and firewall of rust and junk and painted them!

Before:



After:




Painted with John Deere "Blitz Black" (Semi Flat) paint.

Sent out the Cam, Crank, Heads for machining. At home we reamed the cylinders and deglazed the cylinder walls.

My cool neighbor mentioned earlier went out of his way and custom machined a tool to remove the cam bearings, and I did, forgetting to take pictures of their orientation before pounding them out. I'm nearly certain that the bearing hole must face upwards towards the main oil gallery.

----------------------------------------------

Seeding began and I worked on rainy days on the Jeep doing the rewire, (The painless harness came just in time )
I wired everything from inside the cab to the rear of the truck, waiting to completely assemble the front before wiring that.

It went well but I had trouble figuring out the Jeep Connectors unique to the earlier FSJ's and using a multimeter and a notebook I slowly mapped out the connections and labelled them to match the painless harness.

I think the steering column was the hardest but I eventually figured it out



New backup lights




Went to pats auto supply to match my heater defrost hose (2 1/2" hose) and all they had was 2", napa had nothing either and being this far up north it would need to be bought online and shipped (not a big deal but shipping is very pricey) so i made due. It fit well inside and almost sealed on its own however I wrapped it in duck tape to ensure the seal, I always wondered why the defrost didnt work on the drivers side, mainly cause there was no hose

Behind the dash, even though its still busy back there its a lot better than before, and now I know my wiring versus scrathing my head at the previous owners wiring (overloaded circuts, lack of fuses, and just messy :P)



Now everything is fused via the new painless box. It was a extremely tight fit and i made spacers out of pieces of pipe so the wires didnt bent so shard against the firewall. I tried other places but there is so little room there that this was the only option, and look at the clearance with the pedal haha

I need to finish wiring the temp and volt gauges once the engine is in but everything else is done, minus the new gas pedal I have on the way (P.O wrecked the Jeep floor mount and replaced with a pedal with no adjustment that hurt the foot on any period of driving.


Now I'm cleaning pistons and soon the rocker shafts and bolts. After that install new cam bearings, thoroughly clean the block (For the 4th time but better safe then sorry) THEN ASSEMBLY

Before, very dirty and oil scraper holes mostly plugged..

Cleaned with old rings, a shoelace soaked in carb cleaner, and elbow grease. I currently have 4/8 done, takes an hour and a bit each

Then they look like this:



But I think that about sums it up to today!

[SOLSAKS]

NICE WORK
nice truck.

dave in NC - USA

[Frank Ziebert]

Doing great. Keep the pics coming.

[ddversatile]

Finished cleaning all the pistons finally! Happy with how they turned out, moving onto the rocker arms.



Bolts removed, the fancy drilled one on the right.




Took off the snap ring holding the end pieces off (yes it went across the shop, luckily I found it) and took the first pieces up to the bolt holder. I found out that they are pressed on and wondering if I should fully diassemble them to clean as there isn't much wear indicating it was receiving oil



The cap seems pressed in as well, so I am at a loss on what to do here.


I stuck a piece of wire into the oiling hole of the first rocker i removed and it came out as clean as it went in.


Also I somehow lost 3 connecting rod nuts .

So figured out that they are 3/8" fine tread (24 threads per inch i think) but the fine thread nuts we have in the shop fit however they are slightly shorter than the other rod nuts,

Do I buy a whole set from my AMC parts supplier (week away by mail at least) or replace all my nuts with these shallower but well fitting nuts we have on hand.

3/8-24" seems like a common size of rod nuts upon researching and used on Chevy motors as well, much easier to source the parts for up here (i think)

What are your guy's thoughts on this, I want this motor to last and such I don't want to do a silly mistake like putting the wrong nuts on the connecting rod studs...

[Crankyolman]

Nice thread and nice work. Not many people are willing to tackle a 327 any more. Truck looks real nice. Some day I hope to rewire mine like you did.

[rang-a-stang]

Super cool build!

[ddversatile]

Update, gonna be buying the third set of cam bearings for this engine soon.
I dropped my installer tool and made a knotch in it, then it proceded to gouge the bearing.

However that wasnt the main issue, me and my neighbor were under the assumption that the 327 has two different sizes of bearings (4 large bearings, 1 small in the back) but, I have been made aware that the 327 has 5 SIZES. Every single one is a different I.D.

We made the tool for the smallest of the supposed "large" bearings and that was fine, but installing the other 3 of the big bearings they got consistently larger. When the bearing is bigger than the tool installing it the bearing will "squish" to the size of the tool under pressure of the block (it needs to be supported)

Soooo, that means we made our bearings smaller by using a tool too small


When we get the new set of bearings, we will bring the block to his shop, and the cam aswell, we will measure each bearing, mark it with the respective piece of the cam, and make a tool for each bearing, then install them one by one and check each time with the cam to make sure the clearance is correct before we get too far!

Looking like the truck wont be on the roads this fall but I'm not too concerned as it will be done right the FIRST TIME haha. At least one can hope so, lol.

But Dad needs his shop back sooner or later, so i will finish doing my paint work on the inner fenders and haul that into the machine shed, and work on the motor, tcase (rebuild) and trans (needs a seal) while still having the shop open to work on all the other stuff that needs fixing!

Dads J20 needs wheel bearings I think, We want to pull the body off the CJ8 to work on the chassis/motor, and the 98 Ram needs the headlights replaced

LOTS of fun projects on the way

Doing this project makes me want to go to trades school to be an Auto Mechanic more and more, and possibly get my autobody aswell so I can make this into a career, If not, those skills will certainly help on the farm!

[bkilby]

You can't use something like this? Summit Racing sells it....

http://www.wilmarcorp.com/item.aspx?iid=10285

[ddversatile]

You can't use something like this? Summit Racing sells it....
http://www.wilmarcorp.com/item.aspx?iid=10285

That would be an option aswell, my neighbor likes to make his own tools, however that kit you linked, would work for any engine but the ones we will make will be 327 only.

Its cheaper to make our own (steel and lathe are here, no shipping and tool costs)

But they are specific to this engine only, and will be useless to me once the bearings are in (hopefully lol) whereas that kit would do many other engines.

[ddversatile]

Did some stuff today, put on the steering wheel, cluster is back in, and tach is on.
Week or so ago i redid the "Detroit Joint'' style joint on the steering shaft, much less play now. Repainted the dash needles fluorescent orange much better than before!







On a whim i decided to remove the paint from the radio backer plate and go with a bare steel look, and I love it!



A cheap eBay purchase for some laughs:






Found a few good lead on cheap distributors for the 327 to make into a priming tool, and new cam bearings on the way hopefully in the mail soooN!

[ddversatile]

Brought the block to the machine shop, he installed the bearings properly, 100$, I was very happy with the installation.

Not a nick on the bearings and he put the oiling hole facing down or the 6 o'clock position if the block is upright, he said from his experience with blocks with a groove around the bearing that 6 o'clock gives nice oil pressure and supports the cam well, he has built many engines and I take his word for it. Everyone I ask likes the work he does, and he is a very honest and straightforward guy. He even offered advice whenever I needed it for the rest of the build.

He also told me that the main cause of engines failing from his experience was them being dirty upon assembly, and the dirt of course ruining the engine.
I will wait to clean the block untill I am ready to assemble it, as even wrapped in a clean blanket the dust from the farm shop still works its way in.

[SJTD]

Aint the hole in the bearing supposed to align with the hole in the block? The groove won't do anything if oil isn't getting to it. In other words there's no choice in clocking.

[ddversatile]

Aint the hole in the bearing supposed to align with the hole in the block? The groove won't do anything if oil isn't getting to it. In other words there's no choice in clocking.

The oil feeds from a hole in the block, the bearing journal has a deep groove that goes around the bearing allowing oil to pass around then into the bearing under pressure then onto the main bearings

[ddversatile]

BIG UPDATE:

Haven't posted in a few haha, lots of stuff done. Painted the transmission, did a rear seal on it, new clutch release bearing, assembled the engine, then flywheel and clutch, and remarried engine and trans.

This week I plan on putting the engine into the truck, its in the shop again, i had it in the back of the yard beside my other project



Here are some pictures of the engine build process

Shop Cleaned, all of the engine parts laid out


Clean engine block


Crank In


Putting in pistons



Timing Chain


Oil Pan and balancer pulley


Head gaskets, then heads


Fully assembled, pulley to trans


A bit better I must say, in comparison to 10 months ago


The old girl ready for her engine


Also spent three hours on my back scraping off dirt, grease and grime from the bottom of my cab, then brush painted flat black paint, certainly not "perfect" but I really like the way it looks.
Should have taken a before picture, but you guys have your own jeeps,
and have certainly seen that disaster before,
here is after