Jeep Strokers

All of the information here is a little overwhelming. About 15 years ago I designed and built a 383 for a boat that I owned, I had so much fun with that project I'm thinking about building a 4.7!!! I recently bought a 2000 Wrangler. I bought it from out of state so I haven't evaluated the engine, but I bought it knowing it would need a rebuild or replace. So here's my plan and a couple of questions:

• Pull the engine, break it down and take it to the machine shop for evaluation.
  • If the block is rebuildable I plan to build a budget stroker
  • If the Block is shot I will most likely go with a stock crate engine (Most likely from "Powertrain Products"

• The Cleg kits seem to be reasonably priced. Are they a quality product and are there any hidden gotchas that up the price?

• What is a fair price to have a shop remove and reinstall an engine in a Wrangler? I have to decide where I want to spend my time and it might make more sense to have the a shop pull the engine

• Can I build the stroker and get to a complete running Jeep for $3500? I know there will be a bunch of costs associated with the engine rebuild. I would most likely have the machine shop assemble my short block. I would want to have the head rebuilt while it was out as well.

Here's to my first step on this journey!

Mike

Building a stroker and having it installed for a total cost of $3500 is doable but you'll need to shop around for parts and do as much of the work as possible yourself.
A modified poor man's stroker sounds like a logical route for you:

4.6L Modified "poor man's" stroker

Jeep 4.2L 3.895" stroke crank
Jeep 4.0L 6.125" rods
Custom forged +0.020" bore pistons, compression height 1.380", dish volume 26cc
9.25:1 CR
Stock 4.0 camshaft
DIY ported HO 1.91"/1.50" 57cc cylinder head
Mopar/Victor 0.043" head gasket
0.043" quench height
Bosch 0280155703 injectors for '96-'04 engines
245hp @ 4700rpm, 315lbft @ 3000rpm ('96-'04 camshaft)

I bought all my parts from clegg so far and have spent north of $4k, but I had ordered stage 2 stroker kit and stage 2 cam kit, stage 3 ported and polished head from then, bored tb, head bolts, roller rockers, valve cover spacer and some other odd and ends. I had my block machined for $500, and have spent a few hundred on gaskets and other parts that I wanted to be new such as distributor and water pump.

Of course you can spend much less than what I did, but I want to get as much out of this build as I can. Still working on it FWIW, but that's because I started it in the fall and dont have a heated garage to work in atm, so I cant really tell you how this engine will run yet.

As far as clegg goes, I dont have any issues with them, they have taken care of me and have answered many questions I've had as well as taken care of some concerns.

I bought my kit from Clegg and I have no complaints. After I placed my order online, my phone rang... Somebody at Clegg called me up with a question based on the options I had chosen, and I ended up changing my order slightly based on his advice.