My Journey
Went out in the horrible weather today and drove an hour to pick up a NP242 t-case, the front axle and front drive shaft. Make it over there and they actually didn’t have the front axle or the driveshaft. So, made a little progress at least and now own the NP242 transfer case. Only had 130k on it so it should be good for a while. I found a front axle here locally for just a little more than I had planned on paying so I’m picking that up Monday. Will hopefully be warm enough this weekend to continue rebuilding the engine so that I can haul the front axle home without using the mini-van (wife’s not a fan of dirty stuff like that in her van).
The Score
Here’s a pic of the transmission and the t-case. The transmission is out of a 2000 XJ with only 130,000 miles on it. The transfer case is out of a 2000 also with about 130,000 miles on it:
Then today it was finally above freezing and I stayed home sick but was feeling better by the afternoon so I went out and got the engine tore down. Got it down to just the intake and exhaust left on the head.
Didn’t really have any issues but things are starting to make sense as to what all has been done to this Jeep. I had already ordered a replacement, rebuilt 0331 head (I know, I know, they aren’t good, but it’s done and too late now) but I noticed that the head was rusty whereas the rest of the engine was actually really clean. Well – got the valve cover off and saw that the the head on there is a 2686 from the 87-90 XJs. Which, now that I think about it is making sense. When I bought it we couldn’t get it to start (it was the Cam Position sensor) but it randomly started which let us put it on the trailer (we forgot the winch) and then drive it back off the trailer (we just drove about a mile and left it running). In that drive it overheated … when it was about 3 degrees outside – maybe colder. So, I assumed it had the 0331 head. Now I realize (and as I reflect back on the neighbor that “helped him work on it” I think he mentioned something about rebuilding it) that he must have overheated it, realized it was a cracked head and then replaced it with a non-rebuilt JY find that was just cheap. Wasn’t able to get the head off tonight as I apparently don’t have 12-point sockets for the head bolts, but I’m just hoping now that the block is all nice and not cracked (we had an issue with that on my 1990 XJ – had to go through 3 blocks before we found one that wasn’t cracked).
BUT … I also got my front axle today. $250 and they left all the shocks and steering parts on it. So now I can pick and choose which is best and go with them – although I might just upgrade it all when I do the conversion. It has a painted front cover so I’m hoping they were just getting creative and painted it and they didn’t regear it or something as I don’t plan on doing that. There’s a little play in it but nothing bad and it’s only got just over 100,000 miles on it supposedly.
Tomorrow it’s supposed to be 50 here so I plan on getting the head pulled so I can ship it back as the core return. Then Wednesday it’s supposed to be 50 again and I’m hoping to get it all put back together that night and maybe FINALLY actually have an XJ to drive again.