Jasper reman engines??

[Doc Dave]

I am not a professional mechanic, just an amateur like many on the forum, with my own trucks.
My son's Jeep TJ engine died and stranded him. After we got it towed home, we pulled the pan and there was antifreeze in the oil, and also there were pieces of a piston there. There was also a hole in the cylinder.
This is way more than I wanted to tackle, so I contacted my neighbor who is a professional (master) mechanic, and contracted for him to replace the engine. He advised we go with Jasper based on his having several good experiences with them.
We sent them the core (which we were worried they might reject) and they accepted it and sent us a new 4.0 in line 6 cylinder engine. It has been in for two years now with no problems so far.
My neighbor said that at his shop they have only had one (minor) component problem from Jasper (on a tranny) and Jasper made it good when he called them about it; paid for the part that was needed.
I am not posting this to argue, rather just to provide the perspective I experienced.

[wayneh]

Did you happen to have a chance to bring your engine over to Wallace Machine? Please keep us posted of your progress and how they work out. I put an offer in on a wagon last night. The engine needs attention...

Wayne

[im02crazy]

moving forward, slowly.

The truck is still in the body shop where they are trial fitting the bed and then painting to match the cab. I picked up a diamond-plate 1/8 steel bed floor which has been prepped and is painted with a gripper flat-black primer.

So, no, not yet, but I'm getting close. First step is to the local mechanic for a quick eval, then pull it out and then (1) either the Jasper route, or (2) I take over to Wallace for further eval ($300 for him to diagnose the prob and make recommendation. Not sure which way it will go yet. Either way is within about $400 of each other for rebuild and in/out.

I will keep you posted as this unfolds. Either way, Im sure to be unfolding lots of large bills.

Added features: (1) My buddy that followed me to the body shop told me there were sparks flying out from under the engine/tranny area once in a while, not a lot, just once in a while. Anybody have a thought on where these could have come from? (2) The gas smell I noticed when I parked it was coming from a small pin hole leak in a rubber gas hose from the metal gas line to the carb - it was nicely spritzing onto the exhaust manifold and vaporizing. Of course I ran for the fire extinguisher, finally turned off the switch to the electric fuel pump (hint to rewire to key switch), and realized the fire extinguisher was in the OTHER truck, waited for the fuel leak to stop, and counted my blessings. NOTE TO SELF: follow recommendations on this site for fuel line routing, safety switching, and power cut-off for electric fuel pumps; mount two extinguishers in cab.

[wayneh]

OK, thanks for the update. From my experience, you get what you pay for... If the Wallace option is close in price to the Jasper, I'd would look very closely at that. I want to know what they do and what they don't do, and see the progress. My hesitation with Jasper is that it is a large operation, and your engine goes into a black hole, and comes out with new paint and all rebuilt. But was the crank ground? Oversized mains installed? End play on the crank measured? I have to believe they do all that, but they are in the business of trying to rebuild every engine ever made (well, almost...) and they might not be able to invest the time that a full time local machine shop would.

The place I have used is in Bladensburg Maryland. It is Martin and Otterback. Very cool as when I went in they were machining a crankshaft off of huge motor that was 10 feet long. I was impressed. The youngest machinist in the shop looked to be about 50 years old. Unfortunately, that shop is now closed. They took my block, rods, crank, cam shaft, head and re-worked them for me and gave me the kit back. It ran like a top and was a great project.

Maybe next time I'm in Westminster I'll cruise by to check out your progress.

Wayne
Wayne@flymha.com