David Hill
New member
Im at a crossroads with my 87YJ, one of those moments in a jeep owners life where you know what needs to happen but just dont have the motivation to make it happen. And by motivation i mean time and money. But actually in this case I have a bit of both. Ive been saving for some time now, knowing that the next step in my jeeps steady crawl to adulthood is the inevitable engine replacement... or rebuild. She has accumulated well over 200k miles and just about every kind of liquid has puddled up beneath her in my garage, so clearly that time has come.
I have narrowed it down to two possible solutions: either a complete rebuild or a complete swap. Im the kind of guy that would much rather spend some extra cash to have new things rather than save a bit and risk it with used junkyard components. But in this case I cant really decide which direction to go, and was hoping for a bit of advice.
I discovered this beautiful Golen longblock 4.6 Stroker and have been tossing in my sleep trying to convince myself that the $3600 price tag is worth it. 4.6/270hp Jeep Long Block | Golen Engine
Keep in mind that $3600 only pays for the block.. ALL components must be removed from my 4.2 and used here. After a few emails between Chad Golen and myself, he has assured me that the parts are compatible and that it will be a drag 'n drop operation. However, the 4.6 is fuel injected whereas my 4.2 is carb'd, which means it wont be nearly as easy as he would like me to believe. And in order for me to have peace of mind about it I would buy most of the components new aftermarket rather than use all my old stuff, which ofcourse adds another grand or two to the end price, not to mention installation at my local shop.
Now, with all that in mind would a complete rebuild be the most cost effective route? What if I even went as far as to have the block port/polished to stack up against the Golen 4.6? (Chad claims 270-310hp, depending on components..) I would imagine that a rebuild would be quite a bit cheaper but I really have no experience by which to base that assumption off of.
So I turn to you guys. Help me out here and give me some sense of direction.. Im terrible at making decisions, especially ones that will cost as much as we are talking here. Are there other engine builders I should look into? Keeping it in the AMC family would be nice, Ive been down the Chevy road before to no avail.
I have narrowed it down to two possible solutions: either a complete rebuild or a complete swap. Im the kind of guy that would much rather spend some extra cash to have new things rather than save a bit and risk it with used junkyard components. But in this case I cant really decide which direction to go, and was hoping for a bit of advice.
I discovered this beautiful Golen longblock 4.6 Stroker and have been tossing in my sleep trying to convince myself that the $3600 price tag is worth it. 4.6/270hp Jeep Long Block | Golen Engine
Keep in mind that $3600 only pays for the block.. ALL components must be removed from my 4.2 and used here. After a few emails between Chad Golen and myself, he has assured me that the parts are compatible and that it will be a drag 'n drop operation. However, the 4.6 is fuel injected whereas my 4.2 is carb'd, which means it wont be nearly as easy as he would like me to believe. And in order for me to have peace of mind about it I would buy most of the components new aftermarket rather than use all my old stuff, which ofcourse adds another grand or two to the end price, not to mention installation at my local shop.
Now, with all that in mind would a complete rebuild be the most cost effective route? What if I even went as far as to have the block port/polished to stack up against the Golen 4.6? (Chad claims 270-310hp, depending on components..) I would imagine that a rebuild would be quite a bit cheaper but I really have no experience by which to base that assumption off of.
So I turn to you guys. Help me out here and give me some sense of direction.. Im terrible at making decisions, especially ones that will cost as much as we are talking here. Are there other engine builders I should look into? Keeping it in the AMC family would be nice, Ive been down the Chevy road before to no avail.
