Jeep engines- rebuild or new?

[Rick W]

Whats the rough price difference between getting a shiny new jeep engine with all ancillarys that you see advertised on the net, and getting an old engine, putting oversized cylinders and new liners in and recon/rebuilding it yourself. Assuming you need to get ancillary items. The full engines on the net are £1,600 + vat which seems a tad on the high side, but would obviously save a lot of time/grief/hassle? :?

[Mark]

If you have the money go for a new one, I rebuilt my one at a fraction of the cost as funds were not available for new.

[Simon Daymond]

thing is as well, are the 'new ones' ones you can trust? I'm not just tight :-) but I like to trust my own handy work, if it breaks it's because I didn't do it properly, not because someone else couldn't be bothered.

 

I've fitted plenty of 'new' or reconditioned gear in the past that's failed, and now try to check as much as possible myself beforehand. we have a coach here at work that had a reconditioned engine fitted a few years ago. One cold very wet January night this year, I had the enviable job of lying in the locker, at the side of the road, miles from home reattaching the fuel pump drive after the bolts attaching the housing had sheared off and the timing was lost as the whole assembly rotated. In the end it turned out that when the engine was overhauled, some clown had fitted bolts that were too long into blind holes, to secure the pump drive, all had been tightened down but didn't nip, and gradually all 6 sheared off as the vibration etc fininshed them off one at a time.

When I've looked around the rest of the engine it's the same story, different size bolts, wrong or missing washers, hylomar sealant being used like it was going out of fashion, and this engine came from a reliable firm.

 

In short, if you can then do it yourself, you might make a few cocks up but they'll be yours, but you'll learn.

 

[Tony B]

One point of a proffesional re bulid or a new one is if it goes wrong you throw it back. I know its fun to do it yourself but do you have time space specalist knowledge and equipment etc? Sometimes works out a lot cheaper and easier to get new.

[sirhc]

Rick,

 

If you add up the cost of professionally rebuilding an engine, including new parts, labour time, machining etc £1600+Vat isn't too bad!

 

Chris

[Rick W]

All valid points, I was looking at the rebuild doing it myself. Looking at it, it will be a lot cheaper, and from what I can make out internals like pistons etc dont cost an arm and a leg. How much did it cost roughly to rebuild your own engines?

And does anyone know of a courier company that would pick up an engine?

[Tony B]

Have you done a complete internal on the engine, and do you know its history? It wouldn't do any harm to strip down before deciding. Then if you need any proffesional work done you'll know in advance.

[Rick W]

Havent got the engine yet Tony, but if and when I do, it would have a complete stripdown to check for any cracks etc.

[Simon Daymond]

something that most rebuilders overlook is to clean out oilways and check the oil pump. It's relatively quick and easy to go for the big stuff. ie pistons, re-shelling the crank etc, but if the engine oilways etc are aren't up too much, you're wasting your money. Also, if you strip your engine, then you know what state it is in. As for tools and expertise, well aren't we all meant to start somewhere? I know it can be expensive buying tools you might use occassionaly, but often if you ask around much can be borrowed. I have owned the militant for 14 years now, and although progress has been slow, 99% of the work is mine, not everything goes to plan, but on balance I've enjoyed it as it is my hobby after all. If I finished it tomorrow, what would I do? - but another, most likely. :-)

 

[Bodger Baz]

Rebuild it, usually the best option, at least you knows it been done properly (especially if you do it yourself)

I have seen so called recon engines with odd size bores :schocked:, timing out and even rattley bearing!!

a Hotchkiss engine we recently used has suffered low oil pressure since fitting, it was supposadley brand new! next on the list to fix!!!

 

i rebuilt my own jeep engine 6 years ago and have covered 12,000 trouble free miles since :-D, i even run it on straight unleaded and have not suffered any valve issues :-)

 

Be careful of Ford blocks, i had one apart a while ago that had been completely rebuilt, had even welded all the external cracks, unfortunately they did not spot the internal crack, it lasted a couple of miles!!!!

 

Baz