[THEFERMANATOR]

Originally Posted by Destroyer

Ugh. Never thought about cracked pistons. Figured that since I still had compression of 75 and above on the bad cylinders that I had not melted a hole in them... One more thing to look at. Still, with the pistons out to look at the rings replacing the piston itself should not be a problem.

Now it gets down to the "do I do the necessary work on the present engine or do I do a transplant?" question. <sigh>

The 96+ engines I had would crack between the ring lands when run hot. And you need the special fixture to change them out. The pistons where the rods go in is angled but the rods are flat, so you have to have the tool to hold the rod to press them out. 87-95 engines were flat in the piston where the rod went, and the rods were flat so you could just support the piston and press them apart. Just one more reason I like the 91-95 engines. Now if you find a 93-94 grand Cherokee short block to drop in, you will have a screamer on your hands. 93-94 grand Cherokees had a much more radical duration to the camshaft and held the valves open longer. 96+ engines made there power with hotter tuning, 91-95 engines did it with a better cam. Put a 91-95 cam in a 96+ truck and you will notice a difference. I put a 93 cam in my 88 and it woke it right up. Put one in a 96 and that sucker flat out MOVED! Then again these were just budget builds because I had the 93-94 grand Cherokee cams in the shop.