Dubai to Dibba Daily

Hello all,

Well she has gone boom! My trusty Jeep Wrangler TJ has finally blown up after 160k + km! And of course she waited until I was at least 20km away from a road when she did it! Great!

As such (and I know I have already asked about scrappies) does anyone know of any guys who sell complete engines / written off cars in Dubs / Shrj?

The garage (Jeep Specialists in Al Quoz) are quoting me 5-7K AED to change the cylinder head gasket which in my eyes is f**king crazy as if I had the space I would do it myself. So I am thinking of just swapping the whole block out (maybe including the front axle) from a scapper / written off (rear ended/ rolled) one.

Any tips or am I going to have to go to the scrappies in Sharj / Mussafah (shudder).

Cheers

Blue Cat

yes speak to Chris at Icon Autos - do a search he has a website.

Dubai to Dibba Daily

Thanks for the responce but i'll give them a swerve.

I have used Icon in the past and would trust a blind one handed mechanic to have more knowledge than that bunch!

Blue Cat

each to their own Chris is a good pal of mine but it's your choice

Dubai to Dibba Daily

Fair call, and I admit that they 'did' use to do a lot of work on my Jeep but TBH the lack of knowledge (5 mins on the internet), communication and standard of work was poor and I had to take it elsewhere to be redone properly.

This wasn't in depth engine work either but 'basic' bread and butter wiring. The other garage said it was an electrical fire waiting to happen. As for a refund for the original work......... not a chance.

Blue Cat

mmmm I am saying nothing

Confucius

I want to have your babies...

Dubai to Dibba Daily

Biologically that could be tricky!

Update is that the Jeep is now at a Jeep specialists in Sharjah (guy who built the 500odd bhp 6.1L Supercharged Hemi engined Jeep that you may have seen).

Few options:

1. Replace the head gasket - seen as a bad idea apparently as the head normally cracks when the head goes on these engines apparently
2. find a low mileage 2nd hand engine and do a straight swap
3. Import a big valve, gas flowed yankee head and fit that for ~+50BHP and a good few more ft/Ib of torque
4. Whip the block out and 'stroke' it and in doing so increase the displacement and therefore increase the power output.

I am thinking No.3......... I am not convinced about the power gains so will need to research it but it has potential!

Keoic

OK a bigger better head, producing bigger better HP. For how long?
Hasn't the rest of the engine done 160K?
Front shocks? You'll need to stop without hopping along the road.
What's the tranmission rated at - the clutch packs ( if jeeps have them ) on the 4x4?
Option 4 - just take the head of the 2nd hand engine & be back on the road in a day?
Too easy I guess?

Confucius

What are you wearing???

Dubai to Dibba Daily

As long as my foot is pushed down....?
Ps. Bigger aint always better! My mrs told me that!

Sure has but the block in general is deemed bullet proof by the people in the know. At the end of the day it is a 4.0L straight six with minimal strain on it. It has been compression tested in the last few days and the results were excellent.

These are already uprated with a full 4" Superlift kit imported from the good old U S of A. God Bless America! Also the tyres (not tires) are nearly 12" wide so foot print is definately something I have! And at the end of the day we are talking maybe +20-30%, we are not talking torque steer and a light front end like a dragster.....

Transmission???? By that I assume you mean gearbox?? Rated at waaaaay over the piddly 180 BHP the lump packs as standard and will comfortably handle the extra GG's. If not I will just uprate the clutch with a stiffer sprung plate next time I fancy some car bling.


That is actually the silliest option to be honest. That would be more expensive than just swapping the whole lump over as a whole with a 2nd hand one.

TBH my Jeep is my bit of indulgance. I don't use it as a daily driver as I have a company car. I don't use it for thrashing about in as I have my motorbike. What I do use it for is most weekends in the winter flying over dunes or crawling up rocky wadis to find a nice serene camping spot! So at the end of the day if I spend a few dibs on my 100% paid for Jeep which allows me to have some fun and laugh at my mates with chromed up 'standard' Jeeps then - IMO cool!