1977 Jeep 401 Wagoneer (Wedding Wagon)

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

Wait... you had to bring the 401 in for them to tell you that or was there other work they had to do too?

Yes, just for them to tell me that You can only imagine how frustrated I was.

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

How are you supposed to go to 2 weddings without the wedding wagon?

I know the wife and I are so bummed we took it apart this early, had I know the engine was going to be at the machine shop for a freaking year we would have driven it with the 360 for all this time then taken it apart.
Live and learn.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Hey guys, i know I havent been on in a long time!
I dont have updates yet, but I am taking almost 3 weeks off at the end of this month and progress will be made on the 401!

Updates to come!

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Hey all,
I finally made some progress, and it is getting me motivated to keep going (finding time is still an issue ) but things will progress.

To recap a little, I finally got the engine back from the machine shop after literally a year. I went to start putting it together and noticed the crank bearings didn't seem right, long story short I had to take it back to the shop and weeks later its back and the bearings are correct. In between that time I crashed my daily driver ('85 Dodge Ramcharger) bought another one and swapped the drivetrain over. Life, work, and family things happened that all pulled me away from progress. But fast forward to last couple weeks and here we are.

Last excuse: another reason it was so hard to find time, is my wonderful wife loves this rig and wanted to help assemble the engine, she also helped disassemble.
Here is the crank installation, measured the bearings installed and the crank clearance, I also used plastigage but I like to double check it with calipers. And bam shes installed.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Pistons and connection rods next!


All 8 are installed, just dont have a picture of it.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Now to the story part:
My plan on this rebuild was to reuse alot of stuff, cam, lifters, springs, push rods. I had checked over this stuff during disassembly and it all looked good.
I was about to install the cam, when I decided to inspect it again (you know since its been a year) and well I am glad I did, I found the last cam lobe had some significant wear, a slight ridge and flat spot. Hard to see in the photos but its there, and on the lifter too. It actually looks like the lifter was bouncing based on the wear pattern.


So a new cam was bought and installed (Stock Cam, pictures to come).
Have new lifters, and am picking up push rods today.

Last thing I need now is valve springs, which is a bummer since I assembled my heads way back when I sent my block to the machine shop. But I figure I should just go new on everything and they are not that expensive.

Ultimately this is all stuff I wanted to do, and I should have just done this from the start and not tried to be so cheap, but honestly a year ago, the wife and I were not where we are now.

[rang-a-stang]

What did you torque your rod caps too? The ARP instructions are different between 401/390 vs 360/304 (if you used ARP hardware). I made the mistake myself and had to drop my pan and re-torque.

Also, I notice the studs look dry. The ARP ones are supposed to have their lube on them. I am not sure on stock...

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

What did you torque your rod caps too? The ARP instructions are different between 401/390 vs 360/304 (if you used ARP hardware). I made the mistake myself and had to drop my pan and re-torque.

Also, I notice the studs look dry. The ARP ones are supposed to have their lube on them. I am not sure on stock...

Not ARP hardware.

I believe I torqued them to 32 foot pounds, whatever the book said under 401.
I can check when I get home.

Does that sound right?

My book told me to lube under the nut, which is what I did.

[rang-a-stang]

Maybe? I am no expert having only done one engine (twice because I sucked at it the first time ). ARP instructions called for 50 foot pounds with their lube on the stud for 401 and 40 foot pounds with their lube on the stud for 360 but ARP is different than stock.

My service manual is for '79 and does not have 401 specs in it so hopefully someone else can chime in? When you say "book" are you referring to the service manual?

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

Maybe? I am no expert having only done one engine (twice because I sucked at it the first time ). ARP instructions called for 50 foot pounds with their lube on the stud for 401 and 40 foot pounds with their lube on the stud for 360 but ARP is different than stock.

My service manual is for '79 and does not have 401 specs in it so hopefully someone else can chime in? When you say "book" are you referring to the service manual?

Yes, the service manual. Double checked, it was 39 foot pounds in that book for 401s. It says 33 for 360.

You were correct different for the 2 engines.

[rang-a-stang]

you're gold! Well done sire! Continue on smartly.

BTW, who is the professional photographer taking all your pictures? That pic of you measuring your mains looks like it is straight out of a tool catalog! I can totally see the flat spot on the lobe you are talking about, too.

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Originally Posted by rang-a-stang

you're gold! Well done sire! Continue on smartly.

BTW, who is the professional photographer taking all your pictures? That pic of you measuring your mains looks like it is straight out of a tool catalog! I can totally see the flat spot on the lobe you are talking about, too.

I will pass on the kind words to my wife
She takes most of the pictures and is an amazing photographer although she will never admit it

Yeah bummer to see the flat but glad I got to do all new parts