DasFrogger's 96 xj stroker build

[dasfrogger]

Brief Backstory:

My grandmother and stepgrand father bought two xj's new in 1996. My stepgrandfather died shortly before i started driving and I received his xj sport as my first car in 2004 (it only had 16k miles!).


It served me well over 8 years, but once my grandmother stopped driving I sold it and bought hers, as it was a country and had 30k less miles than mine. After awhile it became my wife's daily driver and with just under 70k on the odometer the head gasket blew. We parked it about a year ago and I'm just now getting around to working on a fix.

The original plan was just to fix the head gasket. Had the head checked and cleaned at a machine shop, got ready to reinstall and decided better safe than sorry with a rebuild. Wanted to stroke it, but couldn't justify the $$$ so pursued a stock rebuild until we found out that the crank was way out of spec. Took that as a sign and dropped the block off at the machine shop to get it ready for a stroker crank and bigger pistons.

Since I'm new to Jeeps and in need of getting this back on the road quickly, I'm Picking up parts from Clegg. I'm going with their Stage Two 8.8:1 kit and Stage 1 Cam kit.

We've got the motor out and apart now. I took a timelapse video of the process which you can see here: https://youtu.be/3oQZM1gmtJw







I'm excited about getting this Jeep back on the road and doing some restoration work to get it lookin and driving great again. It's a big change of pace - my typical mindset is BMW's (build threads on my 67 http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/136403- ... -required/ http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/162645- ... f-frogger/and 1973 2002)

[dasfrogger]

After about two weeks the machine shop finally called on Tuesday. They cleaned and magnafluxed the block and checked the deck. The report was good, said block was in good shape and deck was straight. They recommended shaving off .005. Hopefully it won't take too long to finish the job once the pistons and rods arrive at their shop.

All the parts are finally in the mail - Rotating assembly is on it's way from Clegg, misc tune up parts should be arriving today, and i found a set of 24#blue top mustang injectors for 55 shipped on a mustang site. I can't wait to get this motor back together and all finished up.

Anyone have any tips on getting the jeep to go into neutral with the motor out? I tried hooking a jump box up to power the system, but the transmission is still locked in park with the gear stick in neutral. I've got to move the jeep to a new workshop space very soon and would really rather not disconnect the driveshaft to be able to roll it onto a trailer.

[SilverXJ]

Anyone have any tips on getting the jeep to go into neutral with the motor out? I tried hooking a jump box up to power the system, but the transmission is still locked in park with the gear stick in neutral. I've got to move the jeep to a new workshop space very soon and would really rather not disconnect the driveshaft to be able to roll it onto a trailer.

It shouldn't be stuck in park. The XJ doesn't require electricity to shift out of park. How is the transmission secured in the body now? Maybe something is binding or too much clash. Try disconnecting the shifter cable from the side of the transmission and shifting the lever on the transmission manually. Maybe try another gear, perhaps the location of the transmission is causing it to be slightly out of gear. Although the different location of the transmission shouldn't matter because it is a cable shift.

[dasfrogger]

It shouldn't be stuck in park. The XJ doesn't require electricity to shift out of park. How is the transmission secured in the body now? Maybe something is binding or too much clash. Try disconnecting the shifter cable from the side of the transmission and shifting the lever on the transmission manually. Maybe try another gear, perhaps the location of the transmission is causing it to be slightly out of gear. Although the different location of the transmission shouldn't matter because it is a cable shift.

Yep. apparently my buddy that is helping with the build disconnected the shifter linkage and didn't tell me. Got it reconnected and worked like a charm.

Spent 13 hours moving 4 cars (the jeep as one of them) on a flat trailer to my new shop space last weekend. Still packing up the rest of the old shop, definite setback, but its ok as the machine shop is taking their sweet time. Klegg parts arrived on tuesday, and shop said they might be able to get it done by middle of next week. Hopefully everything goes smoothly and we can have it reassembled and driving by the end of the month.

Crappy photo (Lights still don't work in my new place) of the jeep in it's new home.

[dasfrogger]

Much delayed post, here's some photos of the block back from the machine shop












This should have been back together over the labor day weekend but after getting the rings on the pistons we cleaned the "NEW" crank and realized there was major scoring on the journals. Clegg and Scat have been pretty good about taking this one back and sending me a new crank, but this setback will put me more than a month behind.











Is there really supposed to be this much 'gap' around the bearing?

[Russ Pottenger]

Jake,

That rod bearing gap is normal. While on the subject of bearings, if you put a small V notch at the parting line of the bearing at the location of the oil squirter, that will allow more oil to be thrown at the camshaft.

Lastly I'd ditch the steel freeze plugs and replace them with brass.

Russ

[jsawduste]

Russ, are you copying me or am copying you. LOL

Also like to add a small chamfer to the cam bearings at the oiling port to better lube the cam itself.

You did smooth and round over the filter adapter ports, right ?

[SilverXJ]

Gap is normal and I second filing a notch on the bearing. Some crappy quality control on that crank.

Since jsawduste mentioned the oil filter adapter it reminded me of the oil pumps check that need to be done. http://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/viewt ... =34&t=2671

[dasfrogger]

Thanks for all these tips! In all the reading i did prior to starting the build i hadn't read about any of these. Anything else i need to do during assembly to make sure i don't mess anything up?

Anyone have a photo of a v notch they've cut? or a link to another thread?

I haven't done anything to the filter adapter ports - what should i look into doing? Is it something that would have to be done at a machine shop?


THANKS!

[dasfrogger]

Got over to the shop last night and pressurewashed the engine bay and put a coat of POR 15 engine paint on the block and oil pan. I'll head back tonight to do a second coat and to paint the head and valve cover. I plan on assembling the motor on wednesday night and then dropping it in and getting it running this weekend. Hopefully all goes according to plan.





Engine Bay before pictures. almost 20 years of dirt plus oil/coolant mix.

[SilverXJ]

There is a pic in this thread of the bearing notch:
http://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/viewt ... ?f=8&t=444
Don't use anything abrasive to make it, nor anything that sparks. You don't want crap on the soft bearing material.

The filter adapter smoothing is covered here: http://www.jeepstrokers.com/forum/viewt ... f=5&t=4543

See if your local book store has this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/161325 ... tag=esx-20

Chapter 3 has a whole lot of tips on strokers. Read it there and take notes or just buy it.

[dasfrogger]

Went over to start building the motor last night and found scoring on the REPLACEMENT crank that Clegg/Scatt sent. I should have checked it sooner, but wanted to leave it sealed in the box until i needed it to completely avoid any chance for damage. The crank is headed to a machinist to be checked thru completely as i don't trust Scatt to get this right the third time. I've sent an email to Clegg and hopefully they will make this situation right.

[dasfrogger]

After more than a month we finally got some time to start back on the stroker build.

Machine shop polished the crank and everything should be good to go now. We got the short block assembled and timing gear on, but the old cam has gone missing, and with it the fancy bolt to hold the timing gear to the cam. It kills me because i just saw it a few weeks back. Parts are in the mail and we'll continue with the build once they come back. I guess that's part of the perils of starting a build in one place and finishing it in another. We did a pretty good job of packing everything, but there's a lot of parts, and a lot of places they could have ended up.

[dasfrogger]

I had planned a big update on getting the car back on the road...but now it's back off the road

Got it running and broken in A-OK on sunday. Made the 20 Mile drive home with no problems. Drove less than a mile to the county clerk to put tags on it and once I came out, the Neutral Saftey Switch had given up the ghost. Walked home, researched bypassing the switch, and went back to drive it home. Got the switch cleaned and replaced and back on the road on Tuesday.

Decided to drive it back to my shop to visit a friend on Wednesday - Drove fine for 18 of the 20 miles back, and then as i was getting off the highway I started hearing a terrible noise.

Initially I thought it was a rod knock - due to all the issues i've had with the crankshaft. After thinking about it it seems more probable that it's either a stuck lifter or (hopefully) a really bad exhaust leak.

What do y'all think? A video with the issue is here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WeOiaJLjrA

I haven't had a chance to investigate yet, but I plan to get out there and tighten all the exhaust manifold nuts and to check the connection from the manifold to the mid section. After that I'll pull the valve cover and check the rockers to see if there's evidence of a bad lifer.

If a lifter has gone bad, can I get away with only replacing the gaskets and lifters, or will the cam be toast too? I've put about 100 miles on the engine since initial start up and this is completely sickening. EDIT: Oil pressure & Engine Temp have been good & consistent - no changes etc.

[Russ Pottenger]

If any of your lifters are cuped and no longer flat, It'll take out the corresponding camshaft lifter lobe.