WOW !! The engine is in !! I had the pleasure to shift through the gears and actuate the clutch last night just before I hit the hay ! Here's how I got there:
First obstacle, I woke up Saturday to see my pontoon boat frozen in the lake ! I was counting on the forecast of upper 30's here all this week. We had this, but the over night lows were quite cold. I tried to use the 9,000 # winch on the front of my Rubicon. But, the motor was locked up. Beware the Harbor Freight crap from China.
The motor has permanent magnets and an interesting commutator design.
We used a long chain and the cable from the winch, and backed the Jeep up in the 4:1 low with the front and rear air lockers spooled.
OK, now we could drop the engine in :-) First thing, the down pipe appeared to be in the wrong location AGAIN !! At closer inspection, the engine was tilted back about 15 degrees because of the location of my support chain. We released all the weight from the hoist, but it did not swing back enough.
So, we lifted it and I added another tab to the right side mount so the engine could be tilted level.
Back down again.. I has lucky to have my friend Christian help me. He retired in France as a diesel mechanic for Caterpillar. Now he works part time as the diesel mechanic for the dinner train.
ITS IN !!!
Notice there is a slight difference in the front to back alignment on both sides ? We accepted this as when we had it perfect, the shifter cable that moves in in-out would be directly in the center of the steering shaft, or the down pipe would be in contact with the firewall, or there would be no room in front of the engine for the alternator.
Slipping the flex joint on, we saw we are in good shape now.
Now to start hooking everything up. First the shift linkage. The one that moves the shifter in-out was first. It had to be routed around the steering shaft.
Next I tried to put the shift cable on that rotates the shifter, but the Chrysler has them opposite each other - one has a larger diameter end, so it has a slotted mount, the other was not.
I used a 3" cut-off wheel to make the slot, then mounted the shifter. It shifts very smoothly, but I have what appears to me a 4 speed with the 1st gear missing. I looked under the trans, and its a FF 10030 trans. Humm, it is a 5 speed OD with a final drive of 3.89:1 and a 0.76 OD gear. Maybe its sticking because the engine is not spinning. I'll need to dump the fluid and put the Mobil 1 full synthetic 80w90 gear lube in.
Now for the clutch. The VW and Chrysler are almost the same. I just had to cut off the rubber tab on the side of the Chrysler, and clean the aluminum hole it fits through.
Here's my clutch lever compression tool. Worked great.
Now I have a great feeling clutch. Much better than the Chrysler. Here's some of the junk I get to remove - the ECM for the gasser injection system. Ebay time :-)