3.4 swap into 1985 Jeep Cherokee questions?

[cardana24]

I took mine to the local machine shop, they had the official Melling tool to hammer the pickup in. The guy charged me $5, and talked at me for about a half hour about oil pan baffles and the history synthetic oil.

One of my manuals has instructions on how to make a tool to drive the pickup in, I haven't tried it. I'll try to get a scan of the page later today, but you might just want to call your local machine shop and ask. It's a simple job and using the right tool is usually the way to go...

If you can find out what the tool is I would appreciate it. There is not a machine shop in town so I would have to go out of town to get it done.

Also the hammer trick worked on the vavles but I have questions now. I have all of the parts out. I have put a new seal on the lowest groove in the valve stem leaving the top groove open for the keepers. Im fine with that but I need to know what all I put on now. With the stock parts it looks like there is a part on every other valve called the oil shield....well my retainers will not fit with those...is it fine to not use these? Also there is some sort of metal insert on the inside of the stock springs that does not seem to come out very easy. The new valve spring do not have that but rather they have some thing that looks like a spiral reinforcing insert on the inside. Do I need to use that stock peice? It seems like all that fits well together are the new springs, new retainers and the keepers. Is it fine to just put it together like this or do I need the oil shield and the insert on the inside of the stock valve spring? Here is a pic of the parts.

[Canyonero]

I don't know where to get the real tool, or if it's worth it.

Attached are the pages covering the pump install. This book is out-of-print. If I'm not supposed to post stuff like this because of copyright, go ahead and take it down.

[cardana24]

okay I have done half of the valve springs and I moved to cylinder 4. When I put compressed air to the cylinder in the spark plug hole it blew out of the heads where it would mate to the intake manifold....so what does that mean? Can I go ahead and change the other Valve springs even if I may need to have work done on cylinder 4? Please let me know.

[geoffinbc]

Do you have the rocker arm on still? If air is coming out of the intake port then the valve is open or broken.

As for the springs. Just disregard the stock components. Use the after market stuff. If you cannot fit the oil shield on the new retainers see if you can get a valve stem seal for the exhaust. If not just leave it.

[cardana24]

Do you have the rocker arm on still? If air is coming out of the intake port then the valve is open or broken.

As for the springs. Just disregard the stock components. Use the after market stuff. If you cannot fit the oil shield on the new retainers see if you can get a valve stem seal for the exhaust. If not just leave it.

I left all of the oil shields off. I replaced the small o-ring seal on the second notch of each valve and I put the umbrella shields on each of the intake valves. I'm going out now to take the heads off to try to figure out what is wrong with cylinder 4.

[cardana24]

I took the head off of the messed up side. What should I do from here? How do I know what is wrong? Here are a few pics.

[cardana24]

I replaced the valves in cylinder 4 today, and now it is not leaking so i am moving forward again. I changed the head gaskets and put the heads back on. I painted a few parts today too. I put the push rods and rockers back on and I need to set the valve lash tomorrow.

I need to pick up a thermostat tomorrow too. Should I get the stock one that opens at 195 or should I get the one that open at 180. I understand cooler is better but would that put too much of a strain on my water pump?

[cardana24]

while putting my engine dampner back on the crank shaft I turned the crank about 1/3 of a turn trying to get the bolt to the proper spec of 58 ft/lbs. Will the cause any problems? When I started the timing marks were all lined up. i am assuming since the timing chain was on when I turned the crank then everything is fine. Can any one varify this? Thanks.

[Canyonero]

Have you installed the distributor yet? If it was in place and timed right, I think you're fine. If not, you'll have to figure out how to get that done. Or was this an SFI swap? I guess if you aren't using a distributor, that isn't an issue either. :P

[cardana24]

Have you installed the distributor yet? If it was in place and timed right, I think you're fine. If not, you'll have to figure out how to get that done. Or was this an SFI swap? I guess if you aren't using a distributor, that isn't an issue either. :P

I'm going to run it fuel injected.

[cardana24]

I got some stuff put back together today, and I am moving forward with the swap. I just thought I would post a few pictures, I have cleaned some things up and done a little painting. I plan on pulling my 2.8 this week and putting the 3.4 in.

How important is it for me to use a 5 speed ECM? Will it not run with the auto ECM? I only have an auto one right now and my jeep is five speed...will it even make a difference in this swap since I don't have any sort of transmission sensors.

Also I have not had any luck getting a newer cherokee fuel tank/pump/sending unit. I went to the junkyard yesterday and all of the fuel tanks had holes in them so that they could drain gas So I may end up going the inline option if I cannot get one in the next day or two.

[cardana24]

One other thing. What should I do about a throttle cable? Is there a common solution for this or do I just need to make something work?

[Canyonero]

I used the throttle cable from a 2nd Gen Isuzu Trooper (w/ 3.2L), since they have a similar throttle body to the 3.4L and the firewall and inside connections are the same between the 1st and 2nd Gen Troopers. It's too long, so I put a loop in it. The cable from the Rodeo/Amigo is shorter, so I might try to pick up one of those someday. BUT, that's an Isuzu thing. Don't know how much it can help you.

[geoffinbc]

Well it will run without the trans but you will get a check engine light.

[cardana24]

Well it will run without the trans but you will get a check engine light.

how about performance? It would not retard timing or anything like that from using the wrong PCM would it? Since I am using the stock gauge cluster there is not a check engine light, light, so if it does not affect performance then I am not that worried about it at this point. I can file it as a classic vehicle (few more years antique) and I will not have to get it inspected...but I would not be able to legally drive it that much.