Well, my Jeep Wrangler is well on it's way to being back at home. I spoke with Dave of Engine Lab of Tampa today and he told me to come on in to see the progress. I have not received this level of customer care in years and I truly think that anyone in the Tampa area who needs their engine rebuilt that Engine Lab of Tampa is the way to go.

First off, my pistons looked like hell. There was black, flaky residue from unburnt fuel all over them. I had told Dave that the engine always ran cool. Turns out, the Temperature Sending Unit had died and all this time my engine had run terribly hot which caused a lot of excess wear. Since the computer was under the impression the engine was cold, it ran the gas mixture rich and wasted a ton of fuel.

My radiator suffered along with the rest of the engine and I needed a new one put in. Yeesh. The water pump looked kind of dodgy too, so I'm having that replaced. Plus the PCV was crap, a few hoses, and a bunch of grommets and assorted things were needed to complete the job. I didn't have them do the fuel filter since it was something I can do myself.

ETA for my Wrangler is this Thursday! Thank God, because I'm renting a Chevy Cavalier which has to be one of the most uncomfortable cars I've ever driven. Plus, I can't see over the hood of a Jetta. After being a few feet higher in the air, you get spoiled.

Anyway, I'm trying to think of a new label for the car since it's not any particular model like the Sahara or Sport (although it has all the features of the Sport). I want to put something over the 4.0 label on the back to indicate the more powerful engine. The normal straight-six 4.0 puts out 185 horses, when I get mine back it should be about 240. Dave keeps calling it the Super Jeep mod. Maybe I'll be geeky and call it 4.0++.

I'll post again about this when I have her back. I wanted to take pictures today but I didn't have a camera with me and didn't feel like driving all the way home then to the shop. Maybe next time!