Godson - 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited

[Godson]

For those of you in chat, you already know I had been eyeing a trail rig for several months. I had the stipulation that I wouldn't buy any toys until student loans were gone. But that didn't pan out. I had a deal approach that was too good to pass. Here are the specifics.

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited
113,500 miles.
4 in long arm lift kit
35x12.50r15 tires
Salvage title
242 transfer case
Spare 5.9 v8

I'm technically the third owner. Vehicle was salvaged by first owner when they hit the rocker panel on something. Replacement rockers are 60$ each, so I will likely replace it and get some sliders.

I bought this for 1k dollars with a blown head gasket and all the heavy parts in the lift gate. Previous owner let it get too hot and didn't take care of it when the temps got high. No head damage that I could see. Head was off the vehicle for the better part of 5+ months in the Midwest, which typically doesn't bode well.

First order is as always, get the engine to rotate. Little atf, breaker bar, and about lbs of force and it freed right up. Score.

Next was to get into the rear hatch, and adjust/clean/lubricate the rear hatch release. That took about 30 minutes working blind and with bad prop struts.

Parts inventory was taken, ran to the parts store for a hefty list. I'll add it here later.


New headgasket, intake manifold and plenum gasket, and we had 90% of the engine back together with the needed wiring to get it to start by 230 last night. Cranked the engine to see if it would light, and the starter began smoking. Called it a night when we saw that. Likely the kid before cranked and cranked on it hoping it would get him home. I'll add the engine was not wetlocked and all pistons came up to flush with the cylinder deck.

Next order of business is to figure out why I wasn't getting fuel pressure. Likely a wiring hack job and the pump isn't getting any voltage. Will look into that this week. Should be running by weekend.

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