Down for the count... **Possible motor found**

how do you start a story like this?

hmm.

Well, I drove my mom over to Post Falls a couple weeks back to an Arbor Day thing the city puts on. They give away three trees or shrubs to everyone that shows up. There more to it, but picking up free trees really isn't part of the plot line...

Anyway, we drove over bright and early to pick up six trees, and the transfer case started making noise on the way back. My assumption was that it was low from leaking, so we stopped and picked up gear oil so I could top it up when we got home.

Over the next 14 miles I remembered that when I picked up this used t-case last fall I didn't have the right oil for it, so we used what we had with the intention of draining it and filling it with the correct GL1 mineral oil. Needless to say, I forgot all about it.

The noise got worse on the way home and by the time we arrived, I knew I was looking at replacing the bushings and bearings at minimum. I pulled the pan and drained it. Of course, it was full of brass shavings. The rear bearing was completely shot and had ruined the rear bearing housing. There was wobble on the intermediate cluster, so I ordered up a bearing and gasket kit.

The next day, I tore down my original t-case and started soaking the parts. I've been waiting for the right time to get my turbo project kicked off, and I'd been making a bunch of parts over the previous month, so I took the opportunity get started..

I played with it for a few days, and when the transfer case parts kit came in, I yanked the t-case out from under the jeep. In true Murphy fashion, the mainshaft separated and dropped the bearings into the bottom, but I didn't notice...

Over the next couple of days, I worked on tuning the carb and playing with a couple different ideas for mounting the turbo. I was finally mostly happy with it and Tichelle came over and asked what the odd noise was. I've got high and low frequency hearing loss from my Army days, so I couldn't hear it.

So I shut the motor down and started checking things out, and what she was hearing was the synchro assembly skipping across the top of the cluster gear.

Yep. That's what I said, too.

I've torn the trans down now, too

All the gears have pitting from moisture/rust, but there's no galling on the gear faces. This isn't what's got me worried.

I can feel depressions inside the cluster gear from the roller bearings. They're very slight, but they're there. Everything I've read says that if you can feel anything at all the gear needs to be replaced. Does anyone have any experience with this?

I'll need a new main gear/input shaft, and a new main shaft. The bearing surface where the mainshaft fits inside the input shaft is shot on both...

At the moment, it's looking like a total overhaul, and I can't afford it.

I don't have the reverse idler out yet, but what's $40 on top of $500, anyway?

On the upside, I've completed a few body projects.

Oh - I have a spare rear bearing housing from my original t-case. So far, it looks like I might get away without having to buy any gears for the transfer case. Well see how it goes.

[update]

Between the two transfer cases, I have what I need to build a good case. Really, I'm only short a speedo gear housing and a cluster gear to have two good transfer cases. Granted, both would have rust pitting on the gear faces, but none of the gear teeth are actually worn. I suspect that they would last for a long time yet, but would be noisier than normal.

and it just keeps getting better.

<pours another drink>

So Ironsides has been blowing lots of blue smoke since I played with the turbo. Until today, I attributed that to the fact I changed the oil to synthetic 10W40 because the 30wt was too thick for the turbo. I figured I'd give it a week and change to oil back.

Well, I took it on a forty mile run today that has a ten mile patch of hilly, badly rutted road. Oddly enough, it's the section with a 60mph speed limit, so I was running with the pedal to the firewall.

I had to add two quarts of oil before I left. This seems kind of odd because I the only driving since the oil change (and playing with the turbo) has been a 60 mile or so shakedown cruise yesterday. It was blowing smoke, but....

So when I got to my destination, I had oil all over the passenger fender, cowl, coming through pinholes in the passenger side toe area, and a couple small holes in the hood. It was dripping from everywhere under the front end.

By the time I got it home, I was two quarts low again.

But I got to thinking...

At some point while I was playing with the turbo setup, I noticed that when I revved the motor and held it, the radiator hoses would shake like the coolant was boiling. The motor would also be blowing a blue oily mist out of the small hose hookup on the oil filler tube.

I think what's happened is that I broke something in the motor, and I'm pressurizing the crankcase and coolant system.

So the $4000 question is: Did I blow a head gasket, crack a cylinder wall, or destroy my piston rings? 

With a modern engine, I know I could have both these problems with a bad head gasket. They have to pass coolant, oil (sometimes), and can be open to the crankcase.  Can a bad head gasket on a Go-Devil cause these problems as well? I don't know of any holes in the Go-Devil head gasket that could pressurize the crankcase. But by the same token, killing the rings wouldn't pressurize the coolant system.

OK. Looks like the motor is toast.

new guides and the motor backfires coming off idle. I would attribute this to needing a legit valve job, but I'm thinking it's pointless. #4 isn't firing, even with new plugs, clean motor, new gaskets, etc. Swapped the wire with the same results.

The #4 exhaust stud has been broken off since shortly after I got it. Not much of a big deal, but it's showing me a serious problem with the motor.

There is a trail of oil an inch and a half wide under the #4 exhaust where it's drooling out between the manifold and the block. There certainly aren't any oil galleys this far up in the engine, so the only thing I can think it can be is oil coming past the rings. I can wipe it off and it comes back in seconds. It's a truly astounding amount of oil.

I'm still getting 50psi at cold idle, so I have a hard time thinking the rod and/or main bearings are shot, but it has to be coming past the rings.

The deck of the block is also cracked on the valve side of the cylinder on #4. It's been sleeved and appears to not be leaking, but with a .060 overbore and a cracked block, I don't see a rebuild in it's future.

I'm open to troubleshooting suggestions, but my gut tells me the motor is shot.

If I repower instead of installing a 'new' Go-devil, I'm probably going to go diesel or V6. A Perkins would be cool, but I haven't seen one for less than $3k.

The jeep fund is empty - I killed it attempting this repair. Tichelle needs shoulder surgery so money is tight anyway. It'll be down for a while. Probably measured in years.

anyway, I'm seriously depressed...

signing off

Les