Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

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ZjStroker47
Posts: 7
Joined: March 10th, 2018, 7:18 pm
Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 1998
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Zj

Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by ZjStroker47 »

Wassup fello Jeepers. Long time forum scroller and figured I'd join the party. I have a 1998 Jeep grand Cherokee I've had and been building on a low budget. But of course, I like nice things. A service coordinator at a marine shop I used to work at described a work triangle, with Good, Fast, and cheap at each corner. You can land anywhere on the triangle. Good and fast wont be cheap, Cheap and fast won't be good. I opted to land on good, which of course was not cheap or fast.

My Jeep came as a stock Upcountry sprung 4.0. I gathered some funds and threw an Iron Rock off-road short arm 4.5" kit on her with 32s. Over the years, I wanted more. Steering was squirrely, so I upgraded to the Currie currectlync. Ride quality was suffering and my steering wasn't "sports car smooth" So I Clayton long armed the front. This got me by for a while until I broke my rear upper control arm.mounts off the unibody, and was "forced" to long arm the rear. With a fully Clayton long armed kit, 4.46 gears, and 33s, I made the drive from San Diego CA to Galveston TX. Afyer a few months here my Jeep began acting funky. A little electronic issues, a little motor issues. I began tear down after many tests showed lots of problems. In the end, I discovered a cracked head, blown head gasket, worn piston rings, etc. Unfortunately, while the engine was stripped down to a short block, but still mounted in the Jeep, Hurricane Harvey left a puddle of water to the top of.my fenders, and a lot of water got around the hood and into the open cylinders. Staring at rust covered cylinders and an oil pan full.of water, I got a little excited.

After many months of planning, shopping, and saving, I finally had all my pieces together.

My kit includes the Scat 4.2 crank and forged rods, .040 KB944 pistons, 0 decked, Titan stroker head with oversized valves, 68-231-4 camshaft, new lifters and push rods, flowkooler water.pump, selling HV oil pump, high plenum intake, bored throttle body, high power ignition, one step colder plugs... Of course this.motor build turned into a full on jeep rebuild. I replaced the entire front clip, grille, and headlights, New radiator and condenser, new motor mounts, new torque converter.

I will admit, I ran into a lot of problems I didn't expect after all my preparation. The beating of the oil pan sucks. The new motor mounts were a little tricky to get all lined up. Nobody talks about the throttle body whistle if you just search bored throttle bodies, but once you add squeal to the search you can find a list of threads. So needless to say, after.my initial removal and dremel job she sounds boosted vs. A bearing failure.

I'm still working out some kinks, but for the first time ever I'd say my jeep has "balls". She's torquey, she gets up and goes. I no longer have to hit the overdrive button to pass on the freeway.

Computer is acting up (not due to the build) so I just completed my "zip tie repair" and she hasnt stalled or surged since. My exhaust is relatively new, and yesterday my cat staryed buzzing and now sounds like a can of rocks at idle so she'll be back at the muffler shop next week. A few more tidbits before I get to head down to the beach for some play time, but I couldn't be happier with the motor build. No excessive valve train noise, no oil pressure issues, sits at 208* all the time.

In hopes of keeping the novel to a minimum, I'm gonna drop off here and throw in some eye candy. But stay tuned for more details
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ZjStroker47
Posts: 7
Joined: March 10th, 2018, 7:18 pm
Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 1998
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Zj

Re: Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by ZjStroker47 »

For some reason, some of my biggest problems were with failed new parts. One of which was the dorman heater bypass tube. This, obviously, includes draining coolant and removing the water pump. A bad $12 part cost me a little lost coolant and a new w/p gasket. And an extra couple hours. Luckily, I still had my old water pump and reused the tube off it. Like I said in the OP, very frustrating things to deal with when you buy new to prevent small issues.
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SkylinesSuck
Donator
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Posts: 545
Joined: February 14th, 2009, 11:11 pm
Stroker Displacement: 4.6L
Vehicle Year: 1998
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Wrangler
Location: Northern VA

Re: Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by SkylinesSuck »

We must have gotten our Dorman parts from the same batch. Mine leaked exactly the same way. Purdy motor!
ZjStroker47
Posts: 7
Joined: March 10th, 2018, 7:18 pm
Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 1998
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Zj

Re: Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by ZjStroker47 »

:bs:

I found a really cool list of stock push rods by length, I was able to measure my rods, determine what my minimum and maximum rod lengths were, found one that was the perfect dead center length, and had the same size oil feeds and spheres.... out of a 70s Vista cruiser. $2/pc from summit vs paying custom pushrod prices.

Also, I could not find a multi row radiator, so I am running a new aluminum core plastic tank single row radiator, and have no overheat issues.
Russ Pottenger
Strong Poster
Strong Poster
Posts: 889
Joined: August 15th, 2009, 1:27 am
Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 2000
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Cherokee

Re: Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by Russ Pottenger »

In most cases a stock mild steel pushrod will work fine, but keep in mind that a 9.600 pushrod is fairly long and in a 5/16 diameter it has been known to have flexing problems with upgraded valve spring pressures.

Go ahead and run what you have, but if you ever have symptoms of a valve float, the cause could be your pushrods and you'll need to upgrade to a .080 wall 5/16 Chrome Molly pushrod.

Good luck with your project. Looks like a pretty cool build.
ZjStroker47
Posts: 7
Joined: March 10th, 2018, 7:18 pm
Stroker Displacement: 4.7
Vehicle Year: 1998
Vehicle Make: Jeep
Vehicle Model: Zj

Re: Got Stroked! 98 ZJ

Post by ZjStroker47 »

I have no reason to believe they're causing an issue now, but thats definitely good information to keep on hand in case it presents itself in the future. Heres a link to the push rod I used: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/MEL-MPR-327


Just completed my 500 mile oil change and she's running very happy. Swapped a junkyard transfer case when some previous water damage finally got the best of mine, and now time to get a front axle in her. Got a temporary beam currently. Was building a 44 a while back and just got tight on funds and sold the parts. So planning out axle swaps now.
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