Thsi engine scrap or save?

[kljfamily]

Hello all,

Have a cj3a.
Originally I was told the starter was stuck lol..not the case...engine was frozen and I mean frozen.

Had all sorts of things sitting on top the the cylinders trying to free them. From brake fluid to mystery oil and pb blaster and a variety of mixes.
Let them soaks for weeks.

Finally with a little elbow grease and a soft blow hammer was able to knock the cylinders out.

The motor is now fully disassembled and for what I can see it look like water leaked into the top end and did some damage. The worst of which is on the deck where the rust has eaten into it. My first though was heck I'll just throw down some jb weld and sand it flat! But how well would that hold? Second thought is to have the deck shaved but is there enough material for that without having to shave the cylinder heads as well? I've added some pics to show you what I'm working with.

Seeing a new core runs around $1600 I'm willing to try anything to get this motor running again. Not a daily driver just a ranch jeep until I can afford a new block or find a used one on craigslist.

my plan as of now, jb weld the deck, hone the block, clean up the cylinders add new gaskets and see what happens..the cost of which is just a gasket set and time..

Thanks

Kris

[LarrBeard]

I see damage to valve seat area as well. If you have a local machine shop who would look at it for you, throw it in the back of the truck and have them give you an opinion about their ability to clean it up.

Will the block hold water - does it have any internal cracks that aren't visible? I've had a block with a crack in the well for the distributor shaft that I didn't find until I had a lot of hours in other tasks.

[Sebastian21]

I think you may have more damage then you see on the first inspection. I do not think JB weld would hold. Installing new parts into this block would be a waste of time and you would end up with a engine that would fail very quick. I would get another motor and only do the job once.

[gmwillys]

There is very little that can't be saved, but the economics tend to be the determining factor. If it were a matching numbers Chevelle, then the reward is worth the expense. Being that we are dealing with a Willys engine, my best advice would be to scrounge Craig's List for a good replacement engine. They are out there, just have to search around. Check out eWillys.com.

[SteveBonny]

You might take it to a good weld shop and see if they can salvage it. I have heard of people adding weld (rather than JB weld) to salvage a block followed by machining. I'm not sure I would trust jb weld for this. Personally I would look for a new block but I would be interested in how it works out if you try the repair.

[gmwillys]

A good weld shop can use nickel rods to build up the crusty sections, but the time it takes to heat the block, weld up the deficiency, then to slowly reduce the heat to prevent cracking would eat up a lot of shop time. Then the machine shop has to deck the surface, then add new valve seats. It can be done, but the overall cost may mount up to be higher than the replacement block. Then you may still have bottom end issues, i.e a cracked distributor mount, as LarrBeard spoke about.

[pelago]

" $1600 " cheap at any price compared to what you might sink into that block

[Toms51]

I feel your pain.