Jeep Strokers

I found a good 97 block to start with and pulled it down and everything looks good. Now I'm trying to decide what I'm going to do with it.

I was looking at the clegg kit with the ic944 pistons and reusing my 4.0 rods. Getting it bored .030" over. Cleaning up my head. Some minor smoothing out and a lapping the valves. Slapping it back together with new bearings , lifters and seals. Rebuilding the oil pump and a new water pump and timing set. The stock cam looks in good shape and I was thinking of reusing it but I'm still not sure.

From everything I read I should 0 deck the block. From what I can find online that should be somewhere between 030 to 020 with those pistons. That's got to screw with my pushrods at that amount right? If so where do I find shorter ones?

I recommend you get a set of pistons from Russ. They're taller than the IC944 and won't require you to deck the block.
You mentioned about rebuilding the oil pump. You really need to get a new one, and a Melling standard volume pump will do fine.

Cheromaniac wrote: ↑April 8th, 2021, 11:08 pm I recommend you get a set of pistons from Russ. They're taller than the IC944 and won't require you to deck the block.
You mentioned about rebuilding the oil pump. You really need to get a new one, and a Melling standard volume pump will do fine.

Dino is correct that the IC944 pistons will require additional machine work costs in needing to surface the block to make the IC piston work.

A new Melling standard volume pump and pickup is a small cost to ensure you have proper oil pressure and delivery.

Welcome to shoot me a email or call on my pistons or any of my other products.

Thanks,
Russ Pottenger
Bishop-Buehl Racing Engines
531 N. Lyall Avenue
West Covina, California 91790
Work (626) 967-1000
Cell (626) 673-2203
Email: [email protected]

Awesome,

You'll hear from me shortly !

Just pricing out the Mopar vs melling pumps and the Mopar pump is 5 times the price. Is there a reason anyone knows of? If it's a significantly better pump as the price suggests, would it be better to install new gears into that than just replacing it with a melling unit?

In the mean time I've pulled the valves and inspected them and cleaned up the head. Lightly smoothing out the channels and chamber head. On a couple of the valves there is some rust and when scotchbrited there is some light pitting. In the area where the stem transitions to the bell. Is this cause for replacement?

I've also been reading about increasing the tb diameter. Is there a direct replacement found on other vehicles to bolt on?

Thanks for the info and I'm ears open for any more you wanna toss my way!

In many cases buying Factory replacement parts is a good idea. For example I usually recommend my customers buy factory replacement sensors. They’re not that much more expensive and I would have more faith in their quality. Others are welcome to chime in.

With that said a factory Mopar oil pump could simply be a reboxed Melling M81 pump.

As for the valves, OEM quality replacement Chrome stem Valves are cheap enough to replace IMO.
For example my chrome stem 2.000 LS intakes and 1.550 exhaust valves are just $75.00 a set. Stock replacement 4.0 valves will be less than that.

As for Throttlebody‘s there are individuals that will bore out your stock Throttlebody.
I am a distributor for BBK so typically I’ll sell one of their 62 mm TB’s with my ported Intake.

Hope this helps,
Russ

I'm building a 4.7 and not really worried about peak horse power or even power above 4000 rpm. At what RPM does the stock throttle body become a restriction?

Brianj5600 wrote: ↑April 16th, 2021, 10:00 am I'm building a 4.7 and not really worried about peak horse power or even power above 4000 rpm. At what RPM does the stock throttle body become a restriction?

On a stroker, a 62mm TB would be the bare minimum needed and you could go as high as 70mm. Anything bigger than 62mm would require you to enlarge the intake manifold plenum opening to match.

Is there some OEM TB that works in this application as a direct swap? On Mazdas there are a variety of parts from other mazdas and fords that bolt right on to achieve the desired results. Is there similar TB I can use from say a dodge that will work?

You could use almost any throttle body you want with proper modifications. Put a 102mm LS3 unit on there if you want. The throttle body from the Jeep/Dodge 4.7L V8 is a common swap. There are actually adapters available for the 4.7L throttle body to the 4.0L Intake. You would still have to modify the valve lever. 70mm/3" inlet bolt on units are available for the 4.0L intake. That's what I run. Intake ports are what, 1.5"x1.25"? So the 3" inlet is not a restriction and works excellent with NA 4.7L inline 6 engines.