New 4.6L stroker build

[dwg86]

I like the blue. It looks good. Is that old Ford Blue?

[SilverXJ]

The oil filter adapter maybe Ford blue as I just sprayed that, but the Valve cover and t-stat housing is a shade I picked out at the powder coater, don't recall the name, but I know it wasn't ford.

[Muad'Dib]

Copy Cat Although i used the high temp engine enamel ford blue.... and its not a stroker yet

I used the same paint on the front diff cover also. It matches the blue jeep.

[Diamond-x]

What's the latest on the fft fft sound? Distributor gear? Has it reduced any?

and the lean condition?

[SilverXJ]

That ftt ftt sound went away when i changed to spark plugs. Go figure.

On the lean condition I really haven't driven it enough to test it out, but it appears to be better.

[SilverXJ]

Well, the fuel pressure is back up, but the lean spot is still there. Other than that it is running well.

[SilverXJ]

Fixed the fuel level sender issue. The arm on the unit allowed the float to be lower than it should be. I noticed this on a pump assembly at advanced auto. Took mine out and sure enough.. the arm actually had room to drop after the unit was picked up from a flat surface. That was the majority of the problem.. the other part was the design of the sensor itself. On the stock pump there are 40 or so points (didn't count) where the pickup will slide over in relation to gas level. on the replacement there are at most 20 points. Which means a less precise reading.

And once again I smell like gas.

[Muad'Dib]

A few impressions since I have been driving it for.. oh.. two days or so... There is definitely some piston slap on start up. Its not the piston slap that I am familiar with on older 4.0Ls. In fact if you weren't listening for it you wouldn't know its there. It isn't a good sound but its not very loud and it goes away shortly.

Im starting to think this is normal and is caused by the KB944's since they are a forged piston. After doing a ton of reading online, it appears that forged pistons need a "looser" cylinder wall clearance compared to cast or hyper. When they warm up, they expand a little and the noise is gone. Apparently it also can cause greater amounts of blowby.
Do you know if the KB944's are 4032, or 2618? Supposidly 2618 expands alot more (thus greater cylinder wall clearance) and always will have that piston slap sound when cold.

[SilverXJ]

Yes, the piston slap is normal and I was expecting it.I just thought it would be a lot louder. Its a 4032 casting.

[dwg86]

Well Silver, how's the stroker running? What are yor impressions?

[SilverXJ]

Its running fine. May have a small exhaust manifold leak, but I torqued the bolts down after work so we shall see about that. There is still a lean spot, but I also haven't replaced the injectors yet. I bought a set off ebay and they didn't function correctly. They sent me a second set which I shipped out for cleaning, but that doesn't look good either. However, the work around (for now) is to just push the pedal harder. The idle is slightly rough, but nothing to complain about, but I will be playing with the plugs in the future (could be a slight lean miss at idle). I wasn't expecting a perfect idle with this cam anyhow.

Driving the mostly stock 95 ZJ and my XJ back to back is like a night and day different. Climbing hills is completely different... in the ZJ I need to push the transmission to kick down (Its the POS 42RE so that doesn't help) where in the XJ I don't need the kick down. That extra power is definetly nice, and I would think it will only get better with some more miles, larger injectors, and a proper tune. Oil pressure remains good too. If any oil has been burnt from the clearance on the pistons I haven't noticed it and the oil is still golden in color.

There is a distinct noise form the roller rockers, but researching roller rockers it appears to be normal. And it can only really be heard if you are looking for it. At idle at a stop light it can be heard, and just cruising with the windows up. The sound is so quiet that if you even roll a window down while doing 25mph you can't hear it. Even the turn signal and HVAC blower is louder. But as long as the sound should be there I don't care.

Its pretty much the same thing with piston slap in the mornings. Its there, but if you aren't listening for it you would think the engine is just loud. When I first heard that the extra clearance will result in piston slap I was thinking about the older Jeep engines with piston slap that you could really hear. Its nothing like that, not even that loud, its just noisier. At the same time I haven't driven it when it has been really cold, so that may change. But it doesn't last long either. Thats what remote start is for, right?

My problem with sounds is that my previous stroker had all kinds and different bad sounds, so now I am over sensitive to them.

So far so good, but I also only have around 400 miles on it.

[eastin82]

great build silverxj! ill be reading over this many more times in the next few months. hope mine turns out half as pretty as yours! and thanks for the heads up on the cam

[SilverXJ]

I found out what was causing that lean/bog condition. Some idiot didn't set the correction on the Apexi correctly (me). I stopped the low throttle correction exactly where the lean condition started. I was monitoring the MAP and TPS sensors on the apexi's graph read out (which were normal) and then switched over to view the correction % graph. I saw the correction % drop at the exact point of the lean condition. Doh. I'm still going with larger injectors as my fuel trim is still at +35%. At least it was an easy fix.

Other than that it has been running well. Might have a small leak at the exhaust manifold though or the bolts keep loosening up. However, I have had a leak in my exhaust where the down pipe meets the cat and I think that may be causing the exhaust sound too. That is getting fixed tomorrow though. I have about 400 miles on it and I am debating changing the oil at 500 miles.

[SilverXJ]

600 miles on it so far. Changed the oil using Vavoline VR1 10w30. Engine is still running great, no complaints on that side. That S&B intake has a mean growl at WOT, a lot better than the Rusty's air tube I was running.

The header gasket isn't actually leaking... the flex plate has a crack near the crank... will be pulling the tranny soon. I inspected it pretty well and never saw a crack when I was installing it. And I know I looked. Getting a bit tired of taking it apart... can't I just drive it?

Finally got my injectors installed. Reset the PCM and it starts better and seems to have a bit more pep. The injectors ordeal was fun. Bought one set of the Ford Cobras off ebay ($60 for 8), installed them. It didn't even start with them. Called the company back and they sent me another batch. From the smell of what use to be gas I decided to send them to be cleaned and didn't even try to install them. The company that cleaned them said that all but one were stuck closed.. the other one was stuck open. He cleaned them ($130 for 8) and they are flowing within 2% of each other. Still cheaper than buying new ones and I have two extra and a second set that needs to be cleaned to work.

On another note my exhaust was like swiss cheese. One shop installed my cat back, another installed the cat and yet another welded the header to down pipe adapter in... all had leaks.

[hmd100100]

I found out what was causing that lean/bog condition. Some idiot didn't set the correction on the Apexi correctly (me). I stopped the low throttle correction exactly where the lean condition started. I was monitoring the MAP and TPS sensors on the apexi's graph read out (which were normal) and then switched over to view the correction % graph. I saw the correction % drop at the exact point of the lean condition. Doh. I'm still going with larger injectors as my fuel trim is still at +35%. At least it was an easy fix.

Other than that it has been running well. Might have a small leak at the exhaust manifold though or the bolts keep loosening up. However, I have had a leak in my exhaust where the down pipe meets the cat and I think that may be causing the exhaust sound too. That is getting fixed tomorrow though. I have about 400 miles on it and I am debating changing the oil at 500 miles.

SilverXJ
Forgive me if my questions seem too basic as English is a second language to me and also I'm not familiar with the Apexi or how to monitor and correct the air/fuel ratios. Are you saying that there was really no lean condition problem and it was just a matter or misreading the Apexi device? I would appreciate if you could elaborate on this as I'm very much interested in this stoker build.