Engine Build Thread?

[American Off-Road Club]

Is there a designated engine build or engine mods thread? I'd like to share a bunch of things or at least give people the opportunity to ask about the jeep 4.0 (based on my experience) and I'm sure there's other folks with questions about other engines that other members could answer.

 

[Dilldog]

Heres a build done by a friends coworker that got press coverage...
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/horsepower-turbo-4-0-amc-jeep/

 

[Arailt]

There’s a vehicle build section. Doesn’t seem like there’s anything more technical than that, so maybe it’s the best place for an engine build thread.

Or I guess you could write an article in Hot Rod

 

[old_man]

I am a Renix 4.0L guru. Check out naxja.org My handle is old_man over there as well.

 

[American Off-Road Club]

I've got zero renix experience. But I am currently running OBD1 and I'm building a carbureted 4.0 for reliability and simple repairs. Problem is every carb build thread I read simply gets a ton of panties in a bunch and starts an argument over how much better fuel injection is and that's not my intentions. I'm sure there are people out there that could be drawn to this forum simply looking for info and hopefully read a build thread that isn't full of trash talk and actually has valuable information from trial and error experience. My OBD1 setup consists of bigger injectors, more air, more fuel and a bunch of things that people said couldn't be done yet here we are. If it is a more or less undesireable topic that's fine no worries just need to know. Sorta new to this.

 

[Dilldog]

I've got zero renix experience. But I am currently running OBD1 and I'm building a carbureted 4.0 for reliability and simple repairs. Problem is every carb build thread I read simply gets a ton of panties in a bunch and starts an argument over how much better fuel injection is and that's not my intentions. I'm sure there are people out there that could be drawn to this forum simply looking for info and hopefully read a build thread that isn't full of trash talk and actually has valuable information from trial and error experience. My OBD1 setup consists of bigger injectors, more air, more fuel and a bunch of things that people said couldn't be done yet here we are. If it is a more or less undesireable topic that's fine no worries just need to know. Sorta new to this.

I hear ya on wanting to run a carb. Before I became a professional mechanic I leaned the same way. But now that I have thousands of dollars in diagnostic gear, and a few years of experience I vastly prefer injection. But I still HATE OBDI systems and tend to avoid them.
As far as carbs go, I ran a Weber 32/36 on a 258AMC. It did alright but was under carbed and took TONS of tuning to get it right. If I were to do it again I would got for either a Holley 390 4bbl, or a Motorcraft 2100. Just a word of caution with the Holley, they are prone to flooding when off camber. On my 300 Ford build I mounted a 500 Holley 2bbl sideways and it did well off camber. I never really noticed issues pulling steep hills as I was always in the throttle enough for the engine to keep itself clear.

 

[American Off-Road Club]

One of the builds I read about used a 4 barrel and with the setup I'm running that's what I'm shooting for. I know very little outside of the edelbrock circle and that's only because I had one. While I love my fuel injected setup (and will continue that build) the carb setup is more purpose designed in the case of minimalist mad max to some extent. Not necessarily for rock crawling or extreme offroad more for guaranteed reliability in even some of the harshest situations. Also trying to do this in a manner that would simply bolt on to a stock 4.0 block for simplicity. Assuming I can get this to work, it will probably spend most of it's life bolted to a cradle unless I can get my truck build done. This is currently 4 years in the making so it's not exactly a whim.

 

[smritte]

As far as carbs go, I ran a Weber 32/36 on a 258AMC. It did alright but was under carbed and took TONS of tuning to get it right. If I were to do it again I would got for either a Holley 390 4bbl, or a Motorcraft 2100. Just a word of caution with the Holley, they are prone to flooding when off camber. On my 300 Ford build I mounted a 500 Holley 2bbl sideways and it did well off camber.

You hit that one on the nose. In my various jeeps over the years Ive run that whole gambit. 258, 304, 360 engs. I spent some time dialing in an eldelbrock that worked out well. Over all the best carb I ran was the motorcraft 2bbl off the 304. Very simple, easy to rebuild, a bit small for my 304 and 360 but it was always happy. I ran the Edlebrock small 4bbl (dont remember the size) on my 258. Took a long time to get it set up but you can tune every part of it. If they made one in a 2 bbl , it would have rocked. Im a very old school carb guy, Have been working, tuning them for decades. The biggest issue you run into is tuning. Because of all the different elevations I drive in, you cant beat fuel injection but, it can leave you stranded. With my Motorcraft 2bbl, I kept 2 sets of jets, when I would go mountain driving, it was easy to swap out. Funny thing about the Holley's, in the Jeep club, the guys who ran them always had dirt and flooding issues but they loved them. I always got teased about my wimpy motorcraft 2bbl that never had issues.

Scott

 

[The other Sean]

You hit that one on the nose. In my various jeeps over the years Ive run that whole gambit. 258, 304, 360 engs. I spent some time dialing in an eldelbrock that worked out well. Over all the best carb I ran was the motorcraft 2bbl off the 304. Very simple, easy to rebuild, a bit small for my 304 and 360 but it was always happy. I ran the Edlebrock small 4bbl (dont remember the size) on my 258. Took a long time to get it set up but you can tune every part of it. If they made one in a 2 bbl , it would have rocked. Im a very old school carb guy, Have been working, tuning them for decades. The biggest issue you run into is tuning. Because of all the different elevations I drive in, you cant beat fuel injection but, it can leave you stranded. With my Motorcraft 2bbl, I kept 2 sets of jets, when I would go mountain driving, it was easy to swap out. Funny thing about the Holley's, in the Jeep club, the guys who ran them always had dirt and flooding issues but they loved them. I always got teased about my wimpy motorcraft 2bbl that never had issues.

Scott

Holley and Harley fans are same similar. They have bought in to a cool club.

Sounds like the Harley guys I worked with when I had my little 750 CC Honda shadow. I rode it the rain and the cold, put 25k miles on it without a single issue, only needed chain lubes and oil changes, but, I got ribbed by all the guys at work who would only ride on Fridays if it was 85 and sunny.

 

[Dilldog]

Holley and Harley fans are same similar. They have bought in to a cool club.

Sounds like the Harley guys I worked with when I had my little 750 CC Honda shadow. I rode it the rain and the cold, put 25k miles on it without a single issue, only needed chain lubes and oil changes, but, I got ribbed by all the guys at work who would only ride on Fridays if it was 85 and sunny.

I know that feeling, I used to get tons of crap from the HD guys I used to work with because I rode a little Kawasaki 250 Super moto. Well I was always able to shut them down as I put 37K miles on it in the 4 years I owned it, and I would run studded knobbies on it and literally ride year round. I think a not very small part of my wife was happy when it stuffed the wrist pin through the top of the piston and locked up, lol.