• From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Mulry wrote:
komododave wrote:

Woohoo! Code worked.  They're cheaper than Oreillys but the shipping is more expensive.... About the same price.  Does shipping count against the budget??

Dude, you're driving a Gremlin. The judges are going to be uber-lenient on your budgetary items. Think of the scrutiny that an e30 or Miata team gets on every single item, then invert that scrutiny for what you will get.

IOW, so long as you don't put a full race motor in that car, the judges won't even care to look at your budget.

Ha that is true.  Here was an exchange we had during tech inspection at the last race:

Me: "We rebuilt a newer jeep head and put it on the car with headers and a 2 barrel carb instead of the one barrel"
Judge Phil: "Whoo you hot rodded that thing.  Hey Jay, would you fire me if I gave penalty laps to a Gremlin?"
Jay: "Yes"

Still, I like the challege of keeping it under budget.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Hayward, CA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 1,762

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

just checked www.car-parts.com and there are at least 18 engines available in the USA. But most of them are in AZ and CA and Canada (WTF?). So shipping will be expensive. There is one in Wisconsin that is "cracked", does that mean block or what??

1977
Engine
AMC Gremlin    R15373 327 CRACKED              NOF        Packwaukee Salvage & Auto Sales LLC USA-WI(Packwaukee) E-mail 608-589-5260 / 800-686-3036

Maybe you could pay them  for the crank and pistons/rod cut down on the shipping costs? Plus if you are buying spare parts.

Note the location of the three in California.

Dudes Ex Machina: https://www.facebook.com/dudesexmachina

?Everyone who has ever built anywhere a 'new heaven' first found the power thereto in his own hell- Frederick Nietzsche
  • From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 2,145

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

I know almost nothing about Gremlin mechanicals, but if you can swap a Jeep head onto the motor, why don't you just swap a 4.2L Jeep Cherokee engine in? You could probably snag one from Pull-A-Part for as much as you spent on the rebuild.

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

EriktheAwful wrote:

I know almost nothing about Gremlin mechanicals, but if you can swap a Jeep head onto the motor, why don't you just swap a 4.2L Jeep Cherokee engine in? You could probably snag one from Pull-A-Part for as much as you spent on the rebuild.

Yup, any Jeep or AMC straight six is basically the same engine with different deck heights and strokes.  Any would fit, which was considered, but we decided on an engine rebuild as probably cheaper and a great learning experience.  The pick and pulls were about $250 for a junkyard engine plus the time time pull and i would probably rebuild it anyways.  Found an engine after we began for $200, but I ended up just buying the whole AMC for $350 as a parts car.  Basically we thought the rebuild would be the better option, but hindsight is 20/20.  We're balls deep at this point and all we can do is just keep going.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

mackwagon wrote:

just checked www.car-parts.com and there are at least 18 engines available in the USA. But most of them are in AZ and CA and Canada (WTF?). So shipping will be expensive. There is one in Wisconsin that is "cracked", does that mean block or what??

1977
Engine
AMC Gremlin    R15373 327 CRACKED              NOF        Packwaukee Salvage & Auto Sales LLC USA-WI(Packwaukee) E-mail 608-589-5260 / 800-686-3036

Maybe you could pay them  for the crank and pistons/rod cut down on the shipping costs? Plus if you are buying spare parts.

Note the location of the three in California.

Feel free to bring me some parts from Cali!  A good quality crank would be lovely.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

31 Reply by Sir Thomas Crapper (edited by Sir Thomas Crapper 2010-11-01 06:28 AM)

  • From: Gilbertsville, PA
  • Registered: 2009-12-22
  • Posts: 3,251

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

You can go w/ a 4.0 IIRC.  They run forever.

Silent But Deadly Racing-  Ricky Bobby's Laughing Clown Malt Liquor Thunderbird , Datsun 510, 87 Mustang (The Race Team Formerly Known as Prince), 72 Pinto Squire waggy, Parnelli Jones 67 Galaxie, Turbo Coupe Surf wagon.(The Surfin Bird), Squatting Dogs In Tracksuits,  Space Pants!  Roy Fuckin Kent and The tribute to a tribute to a tribute THUNDERBIRD/ SUNDAHBADOH!
  • From: Craphole, NJ
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 517

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Its a Gremlin.  Swap in a whole Jeep motor and the judges will still high five you as they wave you through BS.

http://www.ducttapemotorsports.com/
http://www.teamdfl.com
"I can see it now, a pile of nickels and all the glory of being a real race car driver."
Prepping the Red wReck for the 24 Hours of Lemons

TeamDFL's Website

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

TeamDFL wrote:

Its a Gremlin.  Swap in a whole Jeep motor and the judges will still high five you as they wave you through BS.

That was a future plan, but we're gunning hard for IOE so the original 1973 engine adds to it's effluency.  if we win IOE at New Orleans, we have big plans to make a beast out of it.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 9,416

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

A Jeep engine wouldn't hurt your IOE chances in my eyes... but it's Jay you need to impress, and he's probably more of an AMC purist.

Murilee Martin aka Judge Phil on Facebook
Murilee Martin on Twitter
Judge Phil's Lemons posts on Car and Driver
MurileeMartin.com

Judge Phil's Website

35 Reply by OMGuar (edited by OMGuar 2010-11-01 01:30 PM)

  • OMGuar
  • Ripened Lemon
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-09-01
  • Posts: 320

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

komododave wrote:

I am on a schedule.  I need one so that I don't tear my hair out.  I even put some buffer in the schedule.  But while re-ringing and replacing the spun rod bearings on the Gremlin, I found this:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/512 … 9d783a.jpg
piston by coralcayaqua, on Flickr

My first thought was "FUUUUUUUUUUU....."
My second thought was my time table.  I checked and no one can get me a piston in less than a week unless I want to spend a ridiculous amount on shipping.  I have three weeks till New Orleans and about a billion different Gremlin pieces scattered around the garage. 
Should I:
A: Forget I saw it and slap it back in, risking a catastrophic kablooie and an all night wrenching session or
B: Order the piston and replace it, screwing my time table and risking a SpeedyCop on race day
I'm so conflicted....

I have to agree with others here..
do the job right you won't get penal;ty laps and you are well inside the spirit of the rules. Me? I'd simply start a serious search for a replacement engine..
   Try www.carparts.com
It's an internet web site for car parts from junkyards. 
You're likely to find what you need there or they can lead you in the right direction..
I was right, I went on and in a minute I found 3 complete small six engines, and 2 larger  6 engines.. That's here in Minnesota,, you might have more or less  where you are.    I don't know the exact details of what you need but you might find a lot of interchange stuff..

  • From: Redwood Estates, CA
  • Registered: 2010-08-10
  • Posts: 201

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Honed the cylinders already and have the re-ring kit waiting in the wings.  Two cylinders fro RockAuto and 2 day shipping came to $110.  A full cylinder set would cross $300 plus pin install since I don't have a press or a blow torch.  I'm TRYING to stay within budget though I doubt they'd really hit a 40 year old car too hard with penalties, especially since our baksheesh is a Judgemobile.

And how do you think the Judges will know that you spent ANYTHING inside the engine?? Replace all six now or be sorry later.

Dirty Duck Racing, #83 VW Rabbit GTI
'10,'11,12,'13 -Thunderhill, '10,'11,'12,'13,'14 - Buttonwillow, '11,'12,'13,'14 Sears Pointless, '11-Fernley, '13 Sears Even More Pointless-Class B Winner,  '11,'13 Arse-Freeze Sears Point, Return of the LeMonites Miller Motorsports-Class B Winner, '13 A&D Northworst GT-Overall Winner in MT-GT

Mr. Unruly's Website

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Mr. Unruly wrote:

Honed the cylinders already and have the re-ring kit waiting in the wings.  Two cylinders fro RockAuto and 2 day shipping came to $110.  A full cylinder set would cross $300 plus pin install since I don't have a press or a blow torch.  I'm TRYING to stay within budget though I doubt they'd really hit a 40 year old car too hard with penalties, especially since our baksheesh is a Judgemobile.

And how do you think the Judges will know that you spent ANYTHING inside the engine?? Replace all six now or be sorry later.

Well, I don't really have that much more after all I've spent so far.  If I'd known from the beginning it would have been a different story.  My budget for myself on this project is maxed out as it is.  Nothing's wrong with the other pistons, just the two that had loose/spun bearings.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 2,145

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Last time I was at Pull-A-Part they had a half-dozen old Cherokees in the yard. $250 and you'd have a good, larger displacement AMC 6.

  • From: DF-Dubya
  • Registered: 2009-08-19
  • Posts: 820

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

komododave wrote:

We're balls deep at this point and all we can do is just keep going.

Theme!

Summer's Eve Racing - '09 Yee-Haw; '10 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie, Yee-Haw; '11 Gator-O-Rama, NorDal Hooptie (Winner, Class A!)
TARP Racing - '11 Yee-Haw, Heaps; '12 Gator-O-Rama (Winner, Class C ... Looking for a Class B Win to Complete the Trifecta!), Heaps; '13 NorDal Hooptie, Gator-O-Rama

40 Reply by komododave (edited by komododave 2010-11-02 07:57 AM)

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

EriktheAwful wrote:

Last time I was at Pull-A-Part they had a half-dozen old Cherokees in the yard. $250 and you'd have a good, larger displacement AMC 6.

Ours is the largest displacement 258.  The Jeep 4.0s were 242.  There was also a 232 available.  Now a stroker 4.0 would be nice....

Pick and Pulls make me nervous for something as complicated as an engine.  At least on Craigslist they claim it was "running when pulled."

I'm 2/3 through rebuilding this engine and have a parts car with a running engine on tap so I'll put this one back together, maybe blow it up and steal the Eagle back from the Judges to flip the engines if I have to.  If we have a perfectly running engine, how can we win most heroic fix??

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

YesIFit wrote:
komododave wrote:

We're balls deep at this point and all we can do is just keep going.

Theme!

Just hang truck nutz all over it and keep ramming other cars from behind.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Choctaw, Oklahoma
  • Registered: 2009-11-12
  • Posts: 2,145

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Ours is the largest displacement 258.  The Jeep 4.0s were 242.  There was also a 232 available.

Some Cherokees had 4.2s. I was wanting to buy a 4.2 bored & stroked to 4.5 for my '02 Wrangler, but then I sold it to buy our '99 Suburban.

  • From: Houston (Spring) Texas
  • Registered: 2010-02-22
  • Posts: 1,624

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

komododave wrote:

If we have a perfectly running engine, how can we win most heroic fix??

You don't want to know... It sucks.

Yee-Haw 2010 "Most Heroic Fix" & "I Got Screwed" -2 trophies for 1 lap, but I took checkered on my lap.
Gator-O-Rama 2012 "Organizers Choice" -2 laps 1 trophy, but i still finished ahead of an E30
Yee-Haw 2013 No trophy -26 laps, I think I see a pattern here
Gator-O-Rama 2014 "Waiting for the Last Minute Call from the Governor Award" -who's counting? John

Hoonatic Racing's Website

44 Reply by Mulry (edited by Mulry 2010-11-02 09:43 AM)

  • Mulry
  • Mulry
  • Ayatollah of Rock-n-Rollah
  • Offline
  • From: Dallas, TX
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 4,607

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

Hoonatic Racing wrote:
komododave wrote:

If we have a perfectly running engine, how can we win most heroic fix??

You don't want to know... It sucks.

+1. It's the kind of thing that's nice to have done once. And only once.

Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67

Mandatory disclaimer: all opinions expressed are mine alone & not those of 24HOL, its mgmt, sponsors, etc.
  • From: Hayward, CA
  • Registered: 2010-03-23
  • Posts: 1,762

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

komododave wrote:

how can we win most heroic fix??

You think just changing an engine is going to get you most heroic fix?

Dudes Ex Machina: https://www.facebook.com/dudesexmachina

?Everyone who has ever built anywhere a 'new heaven' first found the power thereto in his own hell- Frederick Nietzsche
  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

EriktheAwful wrote:

Ours is the largest displacement 258.  The Jeep 4.0s were 242.  There was also a 232 available.

Some Cherokees had 4.2s. I was wanting to buy a 4.2 bored & stroked to 4.5 for my '02 Wrangler, but then I sold it to buy our '99 Suburban.

Easiest thing to do is take a 4.0 HO blakc, drop the crank shaft from a 258 (4.2) in it and it's a 4.5 stroker.  No need to even bore it out.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website

  • From: Houston, Tx
  • Registered: 2009-08-24
  • Posts: 490

Re: Cracked Piston Woes

mackwagon wrote:
komododave wrote:

how can we win most heroic fix??

You think just changing an engine is going to get you most heroic fix?

It's been won by engine changes before, multiple times.  It's how long you wrench and what amounts of JBWeld and bailing wire that sets each apart.

El Capitan de Substandard Racing -  Houston, Tx
2009 Yee Haw! It's Lemons Texas: 1973 Gremlin - Gremwow!
2010 Gator-O-Rama: 1973 Gremlin - Gremlin Express, Lassiez le Crapheaps Roulette - Gremlin - Most Heroic Fix
http://substandardracing.blogspot.com/

komododave's Website