new stroker build, some issues

[the grey ghost]

Ditto on the preload though, my striker has two different length pushrods staggered

[danimal]

i'm going out to finish checking the preload now. I used 4.2l pushrods so they shouldnt be too long.
i did double check the ignition firing order, it's all ok.

[sly-jeeper]

schweet dont forget silvers sugestion about swapping injectors for shits n grins

[danimal]

All the valves were between .025" and .05" preload. doesnt seem to be bad. I dunno!

[sly-jeeper]

dosent seem like it should miss from that...

[danimal]

So i drained the gas and put in some fresh 91 and fresh plugs, it definitely runs better. I no longer think it's a miss, it seems to be an imbalance issue. the 4.2 crank and rods seemed to have been balanced before, and i noticed the 4.2 balancer looked like someone removed some material to balance it with the crank and rods. I'm wondering if i need to use the 4.2 balancer instead of my stock 4.0 one. It is from a 89-90 wranger so it is serpentine but i do not know just yet if the grooves will line up.
Anyone else have any input on this?

[sly-jeeper]

im not sure but its worth trying

[6TIME]

Normally machinsts will zero balance the crank, damper, and flywheel. They aren't balanced together as a matched set like V motors. If someone had ground off material from the damper it could definitely cause a shake. Have a shop spin the damper and check for neutral balance....

[danimal]

no the damper on it is not modified. it worked fine on my 4.0 and is relatively new.
i thought the 4.2 balancer that came with the crank had been modified but on second glance i dont think it was. And i cant use it anyways, it's damaged.

[sly-jeeper]

ought oh!

[6TIME]

The 4.0 Damper works fine on stroker motors.

[danimal]

well yea but who knows what the previous builder did to "balance" these crank and rods. they were obviously ground down on the caps quite a bit on some. i was thinking maybe they did some work to the balancer to fix a screwup.

Anyways, i still dont know what's going on with it. Oil pressure is now low. it was 65psi cold and 40psi warm. now it's 40psi cold and 20psi warm. It seems to fluctuate some too.

[SilverXJ]

Hrm.... could the oil be contaminated with gas? Is the level growing?

Have you checked/replaced the map sensor?

40PSI hot is odd, actually a bit high.. but what is your definition of hot? When the coolant temp gets to 210* or 15 minutes of driving after that?

[danimal]

thats the first thing i thought. the oil level looks low and it doesnt smell like gas, so i dont think it's that.
I have not replaced the map sensor, but i guess i could. i think i have a spare.
Hot is driving it for 15 minutes or so. A little over 210 the last time i drove it, which was on some decent sized hills on the highway doing about 80. It definitely feels underpowered, even if it were a stock 4.0l.

All plugs were just changed about 40 miles ago and i just checked them. The electrodes are tanish, the end of the threads that stick into the combustion chamber are sooty black.

I'm tempted to pull the oil pan and check it out to see if the cam bearings are toast and/or if there is crap in the oil pickup on the pump.

[6TIME]

More questions for ya bro! What timing set did you use and was the cam degreed when installed? Also, That 232 cam idles smooth in a 4.0 and even smoother in a stroker. I ran one for almost 4 years. Your issues are very intriguing..... When you checked preload, did you check total movement at the pushrod after zero lash point? I'm throwing out another guess but.. If you used stock springs and increased the installed ht. on them, there may not be enough pressure to control the valvetrain with your cam. Can you tell us what your seat and open pressures are and/or more importantly the spring installed height?? I can run some stock 4.0 springs on my spring tester if you have the install ht. and give you some ballpark pressures. Those springs are pretty weak as is but, they will tolerate the stock cam's lazy lobes. Those Comp Xtreme grinds have very aggressive lobes ...even the mild ones.