Jeep Strokers

tigerShark wrote:have a link for brown dog?

anybody have an idea what those unused holes were put there for?

http://browndogindustries.com/ This guy is well know for customer service and satisfaction.
John

Well after about 2 months delay, I finally took out the engine, dissasembled it and brought it to the machine shop. Everything went pretty smoothly. There was no sludge anywhere and the bores still had cross-hatching, even after 200k miles! The bad news is what it costs for quality machine work. I dont want any weak points in the engine so Im having a high quality shop assemble it so from the time I brought it to them to the time I get it, it will cost $1667! But at least I know I will not have fudged up anything, risking my engine's life. On the upside, they said they would paint it free of charge, all I have to do is pick the color. Im thinking either Hemi Orange, light blue like the old AMC engines, or just boring black again. Input welcome...

On a different note, I finally got through to someone at Isky cams who said they will actually grind a new cam for me after four months of not doing anything they said they would. It should be shipped out today (prayerfully) which means that the shop will just be waiting for the cam to finish the longblock assembly. After that they said it would only be about a week to finish it. So far Ive spent over $3000, but at least I know it will be done correctly.

So we can officially change your MIA status?

wow, $3000. thats a bunch more than my first stroker will cost. if you did it all yourself you could probably even afford to turbo that thing on a budget like that.

I have at least $2500 into my stroker, with only $660 of that in machining costs, and I still want to buy a ~$500 wideband o2/obd2 scanner/data logger. I feel $3000 is a reasonable budget for a medium-level stroker. mk153sa over on the NAXJA forum spent $5K on his 5.0. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=958134

gradon wrote:I have at least $2500 into my stroker, with only $660 of that in machining costs, and I still want to buy a ~$500 wideband o2/obd2 scanner/data logger. I feel $3000 is a reasonable budget for a medium-level stroker. mk153sa over on the NAXJA forum spent $5K on his 5.0. http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=958134

yeah, i saw that 5.0 over on NAXJA. didnt know it cost him that much but not terribly surprised.
i understand medium to extreme build can eat some cash with a quickness its just that its so far out of my budget its amazing. i know you can justify every dollar youve spent. youve taken all the precautions to ensure your build will be successful and your getting it right the first time. i commend you and cant wait to hear how it turns out. good luck from here on out.

cant remember if you mentioned already, will this be your daily driver?

Mine's a DD.

It will be daily driver when I cant take the bike out like when its raining or I need to haul stuff. Most every part will be new, and the machine shop is high quality. Assembly will only be $400, def not enough for any forced induction. I think Im going with Duplicolor Chrysler Orange for the engine color.

I got the long block back from the machine shop about a week ago and Ive started to prep parts to go back on the engine. Its quite amazing, Chrysler Hemi Orange from the head to the drain plug and a gloss black valve cover. They didnt start it or anything, but they said it turned over quite nicely, especially for an engine with a somewhat random combination of parts. I hope to get it back into the Jeep in the next two weeks, and actually started before school starts in August. When its all said and done Ill try to get up an entire parts and labor list with prices, I know I spent a lot of money on random crap. Heres a picture of a cylinder before machining:

Engine is in, all the harness stuff plugged in new hoses and new belt on, I broke the hydraulic clutch line while manuevering the trans and its holding me up now. After that I just have to install the second efan, prime oil pump, install and index distributor. One quick question: my machine shop has advised to use 30wt non-detergent oil for break-in and first 1500 miles, so I just got some Shell ND and was planning on just throwing in some GM EOS. Will this be sufficient for the zddp and all the stuff i need to not destroy the cam?

I have read that a thin oil should be used for beak in. Thicker oil can hinder the lifters from spinning. So 30W oil should be good. Also, Brad Penn Oil sells a break in oil.

I take it you still have a few bottles of the GM EOS laying around since production ended a while ago and they replaced it with some other stuff. FYI...Joe Gibbs also makes an exelent break in oil, its not too expensive either, its what we've been using to break in engines on the dyno for the past year or so, works great. I'm either going to run the Brad Penn or the Joe Gibbs to break mine in.

~Alex

I went to my local Chevy dealership and just asked for two bottles to start off with. If they discontinued it Ill have to go back soon to clean them out. I already bought a enough Shell ND for two oil changes, so I start with the Brad Penn or Joe Gibbs for the last break-in oil change. Ive had to spend so much money on random stuff just to give the engine the chance to run.

They discontinued the thick green colored stuff and replaced it with a real tacky red "assembly lube" and I'm not sure what it has in it as far as ZDDP. I would put a few quarts of oil in the pan and prime it with the break in oil. Tip: don't put all 6 quarts in before you begin priming in case you need to drop the pan to inspect something, dealing with a long pan like that and 5 quarts of sloshing oil isn't fun.

~Alex

GM pulled the E.O.S from there selves and then are introduced into the GM performance line as a Cam brake in oil additive "only"

I talked the parts guy in to ordering a case of the stuff when they re- released it.

Flash