You can read a bit more here on why I chose this motor for the 'go' of Project BOYJ, but to sum up, I liked the small size, the self contained and easy to swap wiring and EFI stuff, and the 5.0 Ford motor is sooo proven, cheap to modify, etc. The downsides are not as much afetrmarket support for swaps into Jeeps, but heck, that never stopped me. I used to own a Scout, remember? See more links on 5.0 motors and swapping them in the footnotes on this page.

I could have picked up a motor with harness and brain for not a lot of money, but I chose another way. I bought an entire wrecked car for $800.00. That way, I know several things:

• The car was running before it was crashed. A salvage engine you have to take someone's word for.
• I will have all the pieces...sensors, plugs, etc.
• I can take it apart carefully and tag it all so I have some hope of knowing how it all used to look like in the donor vehicle.
• I can part out the rest of the vehicle (what there is of it) and re-coup some of my money.

Here is the little darling. As you can see, it got whacked pretty hard and the auction buyer stripped most of the interior to e-Bay the stuff. He left the motor and drivetrain intact. I was quite surprised at how clean this engine was. It looked like it had barely gotten dirty all its life and the radiator hoses looked brand new. In fact, except for the impact induced wrinkles, it was obvious that this car was someone's baby. Too bad for them, but possibly good for me. This one was an auto which, depending what I decide to do, could work out fine.

There was some front end dress damage to the motor. The alt, alt bracket, smog pump, fan and fan clutch, and water pump had all died a violent death. As I tore it down, I could see that the water pump shaft had pushed into the timing cover and cracked it (you can just make it out in the second pic). Bummer. I was going to replace the alternator with a 3G model anyway, the water pump I would have replaced anyway, there will be a Taurus electric fan in place in the Jeep and the rest like the brackets, etc, will have to be junkyard sourced. About the only oil leak I saw was at the back of the intake manifold. I hate leaky motors, etc, so I will replace all the gaskets and seals, freeze plugs, head gaskets, oil pump, timing chain set, etc. I looked at the rod bearings and saw a little brass, so that called for a new set. When I pulled the valve covers, there was not one bit of sludge. It was very clean in the oil pan and in the lifter galley. Very nice. There was not a trace of a ridge in the cylinder walls and the tops of the pistons looked fine with some expected carbon coating.

I hit all the gasket surfaces and the tops of the pistons with a wire wheel, removed the freeze plugs and flushed out the block and heads. See below how to remove freeze plugs in a few easy steps (note: if they are badly corroded and falling apart, this may not work as well and they may come out in pieces).

I cleaned the block and heads up real well and shot them with about 5 or 6 coats of Ford Blue enamel.

All together now...well almost:

Well, from here... to here... took quite a while.

Actually, a dilligent and skilled mechanic with a good shop could have done it in a weekend, but I am distracted and less than skilled so it took me a while. After dissasembly and clean-up, I had a pretty good look at things and began putting it all back together. I pulled some rod bearings and saw a hint of brass showing so I plastic gauged them and ended up with stock replacements. I could have pulled the crank and had it checked for tolerances, etc, but there was no grooves of rough spots on any of the journals. We shall see. I also replaced:

• Oil pump
• Water pump
• Freeze plugs
• Timing cover (cracked)
• Timing chain
• Front and rear main seals
• All gaskets (including EGR and throttle body)
• Hoses, both water and vaccuum as needed
• Thermostat
• Alternator (replaced with a 3G 130A unit)

All surfaces were cleaned and painted as much as I felt it required. I really was just looking for a clean, tight motor, not a showpiece.

Notice the greasy power steering pump and bracket? Also notice it is not a Ford Mustang pump? Any guesses as to why? Cuz' the stock Ford Mustang pump leaves much to be desired as far as pressure and durability when pushed hard off road. One option is to upgrade it to an F-250 PS pump. I have not read up on this, but I have heard it will work with the stock 5.0 bracket and help things a bit. This one you see came out of a mid eighties Ford van with a V8 351 motor. It uses a Saginaw type pump and bolts up to the 5.0 block. It does complicate things though. The van bracket does not use the same A/C pump as the 'Stang does, so I either have to make a bracket for the 5.0 one or...well, I don't know yet. The Ford Van one will bolt up, but the manifold on it really does not look like it would be OBA friendly. I will see what happens. Also, an option is to run an A/C eliminator kit that places a dummy pulley in the correct location. A lot of this depends on whether I want to use the engine driven compressor or Co2 in a bottle for OBA (On Board Air).

Sharp eyes will also notice the 3G alternator. I will adapt the factory wiring harness to work with the 3G harness. I still have to re-do a lot of the vaccuum lines for the air bypass valves, EGR, etc. The hard, plastic OE lines pretty much self destructed when the motor was pulled. Anyway, just a few more details and I can swing it into place and see how it all fits. Other things up in the air are the exhaust manifolds and whether the PS bracket will hit the steering shaft. Aren't projects fun?

The King of all 5.0 Jeep swap forum threads (caution: expect rough language)

• Another good swap page

Motor Part 2