Big Valve Stroker Motor

[SilverXJ]

You must have one of the older Thorleys if it is chromed. Its actually just a protective chrome, not a show chrome and it will change colors. They redesigned the header a bit over a year ago as that one was prone to cracking.... my original one cracked. They went with thicker stainless steel pipes, larger outlet and some other crap... oh and they coated it in that ceramic crap that falls off. If yours cracks you can always send it back as it does have a life time warranty.

Its never fun when the header glows.

[Alex22]

Its never fun when the header glows.

Just imagine the punishment your exhaust valves are taking when the timing is way too far retarded and/or running lean.

~Alex

[Maize583]

The fix for the hanging exhaust valves is in.

Here are the shots of the valve-train ready to go in. In the morning, I will fill the motor with oil and then prime it, and rotate the crank while driving the oil gear to oil all the way through the system.

I find it starts easier without the lifter pumped up all the way. But you still have the the oil passages filled with oil so they pump very quickly once it fires.

Wednesday after work, I start tearing the old motor out, and putting the new motor in. I think I am going to send the old head over to be milled and put an adjustable valve train in it. It is a good head that has been pocket ported and a new valve job, it just has to have an adjustable valve train to make it function properly. The lower block only has about 25,000 mile on it.

Anyway here is the valve train. It looks really nice. A good bling factor, anyway.

[dwg86]

Excuse me, but I am a little confused. Did you put the big valve head on and then have problems with the valves when you started the engine? Are the last set of pics of the big valve head or another head to replace the big valve head?

Sorry for the confusion... but in the words of Forest Gump, "I am not a smart man"

[SilverXJ]

What I gather is that the head with eh too deep cut valves is on the current engine in his Jeep now.

[Mgardiner1]

What brand R/R's are those?

[dwg86]

Crower

[Maize583]

Excuse me, but I am a little confused. Did you put the big valve head on and then have problems with the valves when you started the engine? Are the last set of pics of the big valve head or another head to replace the big valve head?

Sorry for the confusion... but in the words of Forest Gump, "I am not a smart man"

No worries....LOL.

The valve issue is in the motor that is in my Jeep, now. I did some modifying on that motor, but not to the extent of this motor. With a non-adjustable valve train, it is VERY hard to shim the rockers to the proper pre-load. So it is wiping out camshafts, and clatters.

I am pulling that motor, and then putting in this stroker motor.

Once the old 4.0L motor is out, I may have the head milled to accept an adjustable valve train. That way someone can get a very good 4.0L head, they just have to adjust the valve train (which the work will already be done to accept).

Or, that motor has a pretty new bottom end. I may just sell the motor as a complete engine.

[dwg86]

Have you adjusted the valves on new head with the Crower rockers? I am looking at using the same setup that you used, and I need to tell the machinist how much to remove from the rocker bosses.

[Maize583]

Have you adjusted the valves on new head with the Crower rockers? I am looking at using the same setup that you used, and I need to tell the machinist how much to remove from the rocker bosses.

Yes. They are all adjusted and ready to be dropped into the Jeep.

I set them to just touching, and then a 1/2 turn past that for lash on a street engine. If it is a race motor, I set them to 1/4 turn.

[Maize583]

Well....I have a dilema.

The Doug Thorely header is cracked. I called Doug Thorley. They don't make the one I have any longer. I got my old one in 2005. They have discontinued that header, and now make a stainless one that is ceramic coated.

I have the option of paying $140 additional to get the 'upgraded' one, or the tech guy told me I could just weld it. Nice.

So I say I can ship my header off to you, when can I get my new one. Says 6-8 weeks. Some dealer over in Europe bought all their stock, and they won't have any until that time frame.

I asked the guy what I am supposed in the mean time. He says well, weld up the header you got and put it on. When the new ones come in, I can take the old one off and then ship it in....get this....he then says he won't charge me extra for me welding the header?!?!?!?! WTF?!

I ask him if he is going to pay me to do the job twice? He seriously asks me, "What do mean, twice?" I tell him, quite politely, I will have to do the job twice if I do it his way. He doesn't seam to see the problem. The book time is something like 3.5-5 hours depending on what book. So I ask him if he is going to pay to do the job a second time because I have to wait 8 weeks for my header. His suggestion is to put on the old one, then take it off and send it to him, then put the new one back on...I tell him it is simple math 1 job + do over = 2 jobs.

I then ask him that when he gets the new ones in stock, could I have one sent out, then I can send in my old one. He said that I will have to take mine off and send it to them, THEN they will send me another. So I ask him how long I will be without a car? How long is their turn around. He says 2 weeks on that, also.

So I tell him, "Let me get this straight...I can either do the job twice, or be another 2 weeks without a car during snowmobile season?" He says "yeah" with the tone of voice like "I don't see what the problem is". So I tell him I can see what the problem is....I bought a product from Doug Thorley. I told him I won't be making THAT mistake again.

I tell you...I defended Doug Thorley headers in the past. I will NEVER do that again. This is by far the worst customer service I have EVER seen. The crack was not very large. I drilled out both ends of the crack, then heated the pipe and welded it back together. That really isn't the issue here. They claim to have a Lifetime Warranty on their headers. They don't back it up, they treat you like you are an idiot and then go on their merry way.

I should have the new motor fired up tomorrow afternoon.

[John]

I vote with my dollars as a customer also. Some of the company/reps have also convinced me I was wrong the first time and I don't know why I would do it the second.
John

[SilverXJ]

I tell you...I defended Doug Thorley headers in the past. I will NEVER do that again. This is by far the worst customer service I have EVER seen. The crack was not very large. I drilled out both ends of the crack, then heated the pipe and welded it back together. That really isn't the issue here. They claim to have a Lifetime Warranty on their headers. They don't back it up, they treat you like you are an idiot and then go on their merry way.

I should have the new motor fired up tomorrow afternoon.

I've had mine warrantied by them a few times. The first one, like yours cracked. The second one (the newer one), the "ceramic" coating flaked off. And now its doing it again plus the flange is warped. The guy was a bit rude when the coating came off the first time. I'm not fond of the coating and I am looking into getting it jet-hot coated.

[Maize583]

I guess I should say that I don't have an issue with the header cracking. That is not my point. My point is manner is which this issue is being handled.

I know things don't always go the way they should. That isn't the testiment to a good business. It is how you handle things when things go poorly that is the testiment as to how you care for customers. This was handled poorly, and unprofessionally.

I was waiting to have them offer me to hold my debit card for the new price of a set of headers, and then have them send them out. If I didn't send back my old one, or they were beat up, then charge my account. If they weren't then they could just charge the difference to my account. They didn't even offer that option.

It was obvious that they were doing everything they could to make me go away so they didn't have to deal with it.

I sent an email to their site with the link to this thread so they could see how many hits it has had, and my story.

If nothing else, at least venting here made me feel better. LOL. :bangnerd:

[Maize583]

Nick from Doug Thorley Headers will be responding to this thread, just like on another board. He is going to tell you that was being unreasonable. Trying to out the blame back on me for the whole issue. Like the whole thing is my fault, and Doug Thorley is the innocent bystander being slandered by roque customer. Well. I beg to differ with you Nick.

He says I gave him 'attitude' over the phone. I never gave him ANY attitude on the phone, he must be confusing me with someone else.

There must be multiple people with the same issue. I was nothing but extremely nice on the phone to him. He wasgoing to get back with me on the time frame and didn't. I had to call him back.

There was no effort on DT Headers to remedy the issue. NO follow up.

Again. No offer was EVER made to send me out a header until I sent them mine back.

He used an excuse that some of his worldwide distributors wipe him out of inventory.

I run a business out of my home. I NEVER wipe myself completely out of inventory. That is just bad business, especially when you claim to have a lifetime warranty. Depleting inventory when you know you get these units back shows lack of customer service, and fore thought.

All I have to say is defending DT Headers is something I won't be doing going forward. Trying to spin this whole thing like it is my fault is just part of why DT is getting a bad reputation. This situation isn't of my creation, and I got no help to correct it.