Finished putting the new engine and jeep back together and got it running over the weekend! took about 48 hours of actual work time, most of the time with one or two people over helping me... A couple of hiccups getting it running correctly, but it's good now. Drove it ~25 min last night, drove it into work this morning, fires right up and runs smooth.
With the brand new engine, I also took the tranny pan off and cleaned it out, put a new filter and gasket on it. Surprisingly clean in there, I was happy. Also installed a transmission cooler while everything was apart and easily accessible. New u joints on the driveshafts while they were off the car (technically still have to do the front one, it's not in the jeep quite yet).
Also used Brown Dog heavy duty engine mounts to keep that bad boy in place. The rotation of the engine with the stock mounts tends to cause the exhaust manifolds to crack (no flex pipe in the system). Off roading is also hell on stock mounts, so this should help prevent the engine from tilting forward into the radiator which can happen from a stock unit wearing out.
Went with upgraded injectors. the stock injectors only have one hole in the nozzle; I upgraded to 19lbs. 4-hole injectors that were rebuilt from K Suspension Fabrication. They should vastly increase the efficiency of my fuel delivery and combustion. I'm excited to see how that impacts my fuel economy (and power).
Everything else on the engine/coolant system that I replaced is OE spec.
All that said... I'm ready to take a break from turning wrenches for a couple weeks...
Next on the list: aux. electronics wiring and brakes!
