Rust Sucks!
Found some rust…
Read more below.
Today was a bit of a lazy day so I decided to take care of a rusty floorpan issue that I noticed when I was pulling the engine. Here is what I saw from below.
While it look small and simple I knew that it would be a bit worse when I looked at the top and I was not wrong. As I pulled the carpet up in the troubled area the padding was soaked (this Jeep hasn’t seen street duty in at least two years, that water was there for awhile!) so I ended up completely tearing apart the interior so I could remove the carpet and repair this right. Here are a couple of shots of the problems I found.
While I was in there I saw some mounting holes for something, probably a car phone (remember those?), I’ll patch these up while I’m at it.
Since I don’t have the skills or equipment I’ll just be capping these holes with sheetmetal adhered with structural adhesive and some rivets. After that I will coat the outside with a layer of Rustoleam and Rubberized undercoating and the top with just the Rustoleam. Here are a couple of shots of the trouble areas after hitting them with the wire wheel.
The carpet is now sitting face down on my picnic table, after a few days in the sun the padding should be dried out and ready to be put in as soon as the holes are gone.
I also did a little bit of engine work tonight while Holly was at the grocery store. All I really got done was getting the timing set and new-ish oil pump back on.
For the last bit… When I was checking over the engine after I purchased it I noticed an inconsistency…
That is the engine’s date code, it translates to January 8, 1997. This Jeep is a 1996. When I pulled the engine I got some confirmation that the engine had been replaced at some point.
I tried calling the LKQ Corporation but they were unable to look up products by their serial numbers (lame!). So all I know is that at some point this engine was put in, I suspect it was rebuilt because the main and rod bearings did not look OEM but it also could have been a used part out of a salvaged ’97 Jeep. So apparently the previous owner managed to screw up TWO 4.0′s at under 120,000 miles!
Sequoia
