84 grand wagoneer (wife's wagon)

He's under pressure to get it running quick, so that he doesen't get hassels over having too many cars, he mentioned earlier

 

True, but it is what it is, and if the wife doesn't understand, what can you do?

 

Well, yeah. And i would have done that except that I didn't know i would have had all of these issues. I was assuming just drop the new lifters and distributor in and be on the road again. I suppose I should have known better though . After the pan and the front cover, the only seals not replaced will be water jacket plugs and the rear main!

I'm guessing at this point that the non pumped lifters are causing a low vacuum / low compression type of situation. I'm hoping that once I get it pumping good, they will pump up and I will be off to the races.

 

The sagging lifters should show a symptom of retarded valve timing, on a vacuum guage

 

Yes, if the chain has jumped, between that and low-pumped lifters, you'll have a helluva time.

 

Well, I found the low oil pressure issue. On the bright side, there was no metal in the pan. On the bad side though:

This last image is the garden chunk of WTF that was blocking the pick up. and this is just an alignment reference for reassembly:

I have dug most of what I can out of the pan and pick up. I have filled the pan with gasoline and left the pickup in the pan to soak before the next round of cleaning. And, I will seafoam the engine when it's running again. All rods are still tight to my amazement. I am astonished there was no metal in the pan either.

Unfortunately, the wife has issues an ultimatum. The Jeep needs to be running and driveable by December first or it's going to be sold for whatever it goes for. So, I'll be checking cam timing and putting the pan back on and hoping for the best.

I do realize that this discovery warrants pulling the engine for a full rebuild. Unfortunately, time and money will not allow for that to happen. I simply have too many irons in the fire right now and need to be wrapping things up.

 

It was something simple, afterall. You'll now get it running way before December. I'd do the bare minimum, just to get it on the road. If it breaks down after that, it'll be her fault. If and when that happens, you could then do the full rebuild and blame her for tying you up with a major disaster. Use the Old School plastiguage, to determine if you could leave the bearings alone. Religiously changing the oil should keep them safe.
I wouldn't mess with the cylinders, though, if they're within tolerance. It looks like you got away with just ridding of the sludge, if there wasn't any shavings in the pan. The lifter wear was obviously caught by the filter

 

I do think I will he on the look out for an engine/ trans/ t case combo for sale to do a full rebuild on. A nice aluminum non egr intake with 4bbl carb and short headers and maybe a mild street cam. That would help it move along a little bit. Plus a refresh on the trans and case. A fella can dream anyways.

 

I thought, the vehicle is supposed to be for your wife. Are you, perhaps, planning what I'm thinking?

 

Oh, it would still be for her. I'm just predicting blow by and low compression issues in the near future with this engine. A fresh one would be nice. For her, you know.

 

Of course.

 

Ivy's right, hit the rods and mains with Plastigage; at the very least, if everything is smooth enough, you might be able to slip new bearings and a lot of assembly lube in, which could force more oil into the upper end. Flow is just as important as pressure. And I hope you plan on a new pump; though the filter may have caught the big stuff, any crunge below 5 microns would pass the filter, and if the filter plugged, the bypass would open up, allowing unfiltered junk to go through the pump again and again.

 

I'm just going to get it running for now. I'll give it the old razzle dazzle next spring. Snow season is coming up quick.

 

Then I think 10W-40 or 20W-50 and very frequent filter changes will be in your wheelhouse this winter.

 

Everything I own gets t6 rotella. Like Frank's red hot