Jeep Strokers

Got my signing bonus from my future employer, which led to ordering an AEM wideband, Magnaflow front pipe, cat, and "off-road" exhaust. I'm curious to see if the stroker will be emissions compliant in TX. The engine MUST be put in by next Wednesday--keeping fingers crossed.

Checked in at the machine shop today. Pretty sure the engine hasn't been touched, but they assured me it will be done by the end of the week, delivering it to my place on Friday. Top end still isn't put together yet, but I decided to order a hesco valve cover spacer just in case. That and a case of Joe Gibbs BR oil. Gotta love Amazon Prime free 2 day shipping.

Got some goodies from UPS Santa today. Magnaflow cat/front pipe, case of Joe Gibbs, and the spacer kit from Hesco. Stopped into the machine shop and they are still waiting on pushrods that were ordered yesterday. Going to have them weld in the extra o2 bung (about 18-24" back from nearest port) and test the oil pressure today.

EDIT: Forgot to ask about replacing the input shaft bearing AGAIN!!!! It came with the clutch kit and I have no idea if it needs to be pressed in or not. Probably not, but it could still be a pain to remove.

That is a nice looking pipe... better than that kinked up mess next to it.

Are you talking about the pilot bearing in the crank? Usually the old one can be pushed out with the crank packed with grease and a tight fitting pin pushed into the grease. The new one might need to be soaked in oil before installing.

Nice pipe. Why can't they make that for a '98 XJ?

CobraMarty wrote:Nice pipe. Why can't they make that for a '98 XJ?

Or any XJ for that matter. There is a larger market in parts like that for the TJ. That isn't the stock pipe next to it, is it?

Yep. OEM beauty.

Update: Told the machine shop 2 weeks ago I needed this done by this friday at the latest, it is now saturday. I called them yesterday but they were still waiting on pushrods, told me to call back. When I did, no answer for 2 hours, then someone told me 9am tomorrow. 9am, no answer. I don't feel too bad because it's supposed to t-storm around here most of the day and I don't have a garage. Tomorrow will be sunny and I'll see if I can find a hoist for the day. Rebuilt the 703 injectors, assembled the intake manifold stuffs, swapped the throwout bearing, got the muffler. I'm pretty sure this thing is going to be LOUD, muffler looks more like a glass pack with tiny holes.

Question, should I have the cat on during the break-in or put a straight pipe? My guess is the break in oil will damage it somehow.

One cool thing I found on ebay was a place that makes shirts with the grill of most Jeeps saying Built Not Bought. I'm impressed with the quality of it.

Antifreeze2 wrote:Yep. OEM beauty.

I've never seen such a kinked up pos from the factory on and XJ, ZJ, or WJ I worked on. Sure it wasn't replaced some time in its life?

Antifreeze2 wrote: I'm pretty sure this thing is going to be LOUD, muffler looks more like a glass pack with tiny holes.

Definitely looks loud.. hope it sounds good though.

Question, should I have the cat on during the break-in or put a straight pipe? My guess is the break in oil will damage it somehow.

For the 20 minutes you will be running it for the cam break in it won't matter. Even if you use high ZDDP oil for the first 500 miles it won't matter. Think about it, for decades they have been using catalytic converters with higher ZDDP content and the cats lasted a long time. Now all of a sudden they need to change the ZDDP content of the oil to prevent cat converter damage? BS. I'm beginning to think that ethanol in the gas could be causing early cat failure and they are just reducing the ZDDP so there is one less thing damaging the cat converter.

i am running the magna flow stock size type on my xj and it is only loud when you are on it fairly hard , but running at 55 or so quiets down to almost stock sound.

It's Alive!!!!

Machinist was kind enough to trailer my rig to his shop instead of drop off the engine in my gravel driveway. Spent the afternoon/evening working and it was all worth it. Idle A/F ratio is 17, but it seems to like 13.5 while holding any rpms. The combination of cat + muffler makes it very quiet. Very happy to finally have a running engine. We'll see how long it lasts. More pics/vids to follow.

put 15 miles or so on the engine today. Going to the shop for something unrelated tomorrow. I feel like the valvetrain is a bit noisy and want your opinion on it. Sorry about the crap quality of my crackberry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho5Rndlm ... AAAAAAABAA

This video is the exhaust sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq10FfEj ... AAAAAAAAAA

I don't hear anything abnormal in the valve train from that video.

Congrats on the successful start up!

About 75 miles on it. Can't tell exactly because the fuse for the gauges went out, resetting the trip. She's running very lean, staying between 16.4 and 17.8. Decided now would be a good time to mount the stock o2 sensors (both of mine were ripped out wheelin). Bosch sensors will take some convincing to plug in. Pic won't upload from phone, but essentially the tabs are supposed to be at 90 and 180 degrees, the new plug has them at 110 ish and 180 degrees. Gotta love working on the heap. Had a bunch of trouble with my recently installed BAIID, but i think it should be fine now. Getting the rig ready for a 900 mile road trip in May. Got a new track bar, brake lines, and steering stabilizer to hopefully fix the occasional death wobble.