Sorry a little long-winded. New here and lookin' for answers

Mattywagon

Hello,
What did people do before the internet?! This and other related websites are invaluable. I have found so much information (maybe too much 111!!! ) that I would not have known anything about. This stuff is great.
I spoke to Matt at Bulltear today and he suggested I post my question here and see what everyone has to say.
I am about to undertake a 360 rebuild on a daily driver 88 Grand Wagoneer. No rock climbing, rodding (GW?. . . rodding?. . . really?) etc, the majority of its 4wd will be simply in snowy situations, maybe a few ventures into a mud pit now and then but that's about it.
I am going to have it machined locally and although my machinist is --or at least says he is experienced; I know from this site and others, these AMCs are a bit difficult to get right.
What I am looking for is (as much as possible) a comprehensive list of things that should be paid special attention to. Things like the timing cover issues, its tolerances and specs, and any of the other many things like that. Things that if not done correctly could really impact the quality of the engine. It would be REALLY handy to give my machinist a checklist just to cover all the necessary bases.
It would also be cool also to have a list of "daily driver" mods, their respective pros and cons. I'm sure that list could be very long but longevity, reliability, fuel economy and maybe a bit more power are my main concern, and I would suspect, the main concerns of alot of rebuilds, especially from the people, like me, who don't know and have to ask.
Thanks alot and I look forward to reading all of your suggestions.

ironman_gq

oil pump, cam bearings, oil passages, pushrods/lifters/rockers. THese engines are unusual in that they oil the cam FIRST and the mains are fed of of oil passeges from the cam bearings so if they are not right nothing is going to go well.

tufcj

A lot of these engines ran 100K miles from the factory, so for normal use, a "factory" rebuild is usually fine. Like ironman said above, the oiling system is different, but as long as your oil pump is within spec and bearing clearances are machined to spec, then the only thing I would vary from stock is the reduced flow cam bearings and pushrods sold here to push a little more oil to the mains and rods. AMC engines like to breathe, so spend any extra money you have on the heads, improving airflow at the valves, and a little bigger than stock cam. That will wake it up a lot. Bob tufcj

juggernaught

I just did my first 360 rebuild and one of the biggest head aches I ran into was the adjustment (or lack of), for the rockers and push rods.Granted my engine had been rebuilt before. Be sure that you full understand the difference between the amount of time you may spend on getting the right combination of pushrods and/or rocker shims vs. changing over to an adjustable rocker style.In hind-sight, I wish I had changed over. I have seen some very good/simple options listed on this and other bb's. Figure it out before any machine shop work.

Mattywagon

Thanks for all of the suggestions. . .How difficult is it to switch over to adjustables rockers? Also what would you all recommend for the heads to allow it to breathe better? I was thinking an RV cam, but otherwise not sure how to make that happen (breathing better that is).

tufcj

To switch to adjustable rockers you have to use guide plates, then mill the rocker bases about .250" + the thickness of the guide plate, generally about .375" total. The holes have to be drilled/tapped to 7/16", then you use SBC studs. You have to use a hardened pushrod and a GM style rocker (but not GM, the geometry isn't right). If you can find 71-73 heads, they're already built with GM style rockers. On my CJ 360, I had the intake ports gasket matched and blended, and any casting flash smoothed. I had it done with 3 angle valve job (pretty much the industry standard now), the exhaust I had ported with some re-shaping of the bowls. I've had good luck with the Edelbrock performer cam, although it runs out of steam above 4500 RPM. The Summit 8600 has had some good reviews too. Bob tufcj

jeepsr4ever

I think roller rockers on your motor will be a waste of money. All you really need is a deeper oil pan, good oil pump, RV type camshaft and an edelbrock performer intake and carb (if they are legal in your area) You could bump your compression a little but it is not needed for a decent lower end torque.

82Waggy

The timing cover does not necessarily align properly on the dowel pins, leading to distributor to cam gear alignment/binding issues, and possible consumption of the distributor gear.

Skillful use of a mallet is a prerequisite to proper AMC assembly :t:

RE: Oiling system - not really necessary to get too wrapped up in mods of this nature. If you are using stock type non-roller rockers, sufficient oiling to the top is necessary to cool upper valvetrain. In short, you probably do not need to worry about restricting oil flow to the top if extended operations above 5000rpm are not anticipated.

As Jeeps4ever has advised, proper pump setup and increased pan capacity are probably all you need to pay attention too.

Check pump pressure plunger for free movement - especially if you get a new filter adapter.

Learn all there is to know about the way oil is routed to the timing and distributor drive gear and make sure these paths are aligned properly and not blocked by a machining burr or other such dumbness.

Index mill the decks for .040-.050 piston to head clearance, bore and PLATE hone cylinders (Bet you machinest does not have a AMC torque plate).

Make sure the block is clean, clean, clean. Then clean it again.

AMX69PHATTY

Saw in an old car craft magazine where just some head bolts with sleeves were torqued down into the block cylinder head mounting holes to pre-stress the block before honing rather than using a torque plate ? There's abunch of little things, like putting a dap of silicon or other sealer along the longways chamfers on the bottom outer chamfers of the rear main bearing cap before installing it on the block to prevent an oil leak pathway there.

82Waggy

AMX69PHATTY wrote
Saw in an old car craft magazine where just some head bolts with sleeves were torqued down into the block cylinder head mounting holes to pre-stress the block before honing rather than using a torque plate ?

There's abunch of little things, like putting a dap of silicon or other sealer along the longways chamfers on the bottom outer chamfers of the rear main bearing cap before installing it on the block to prevent an oil leak pathway there.

Not sure how simply pulling on the head bolt threads is going to simulate the distortion of the head itself being mounted. With a torque plate, the gasket is also used to simulate the crush of the gasket and the clamping force of the head, pulling the cylinders out of round for honing - or, I should say, pulling the cylinders into the shape they will be in when the engine is assembled.

No secret that cylinders honed with a torque plate result in better ring seal and more uniform wear.