360 install

[slickwillie]

Well, this was the big engine install weekend. My buddy came down from Portland to spend the weekend wrenching & drinking beer. We got off to a rocky start. The distributor drive gear & fuel pump eccentric needed a lot of smoothing with emory cloth to slide on to the camshaft.

Most of the parts fit fairly well. We got the engine assembled & installed with the tranny yesterday. Today did not go quite as smooth. Since I didn't want to break in the motor with my new headers on, we decided to throw on the stock exhaust. That took a lot of time to get lined up & bolted on. The t-case went on fairly easliy, but then we hit a snag.

We couldn't get the crossmember to line up with the mounting holes. We could get one side bolted up, but then the other side would be way off. After messing with it for close to 2 hours, we decided to call it quits. We were pretty tired & cranky by this time, & my buddy had to drive back to Portland.

Unfortunately, I might have to leave the country on Tuesday for a month or so. The Jeep will have to wait, & hopefully I can get it figured out when I get home.



More pics

[rick]

Nice looking engine! Let us know when you breathe life into her for the first time... As far as the crossmember goes, which direction were the holes off? Front to back, or side to side? It sounds like you are saying it is off from side to side... If so, you might have to "help" it a bit by spreading the frame rails slightly (and carefully). This could be accomplished a number of ways, but my favorite is a 4x4 piece of lumber with a bottle jack between the frame rails. Something about the chinsy little frames they put on CJ's makes things get a little out of whack after 20 years of thrashing... At least I know that's what is wrong with mine

[codfish]

holy schmokes! that is sweet! very nicely done.. lets see some progress shots with that thing. then i need a rooster tail picture

[slickwillie]

After flying back & forth to Algeria a few times & doing a lot of work around the house, I was finally able to get back to working on the Jeep.

Using Rick's advice, I got the crossmember problem taken care of, & I've spent the last couple of days bolting on the goodies.



I'm waiting on a new fan, & I have a new radiator ready to drop in. After that, I think the big thing will be the wiring. Hopefully I can fire her up in a week or so.

[rick]

Very nice work!!! Looks good!

[slickwillie]

I don't know about everyone else, but I had a mighty fine weekend. After 7 months, my CJ is back on the road . I was finally able to get my new 360 fired up. It was a great feeling, especially since I had never been this intimate with an engine. She runs great! I think I'll have plenty of power .

Now I need to put 500 miles on, then I can put my headers on & get some exhaust made up. I'm going to finish up the wiring today, then I'll post up a pic of the finished motor.

A few pics of the build-up

[slickwillie]

Before:

[slickwillie]

After:

[JeepJunkie]

That thing looks awesome! Great job!!

[Bachman]

You might want to think about getting a little beefier Trans to put behind the 360. I had a 360 built for my previous Jeep(84 CJ-7), the T-5 lasted for about 3 month's and then blew to pieces. I ended up putting a T-18 in and it lasted until I sold it, besides getting a much deeper 1st gear. Just a thought...