4.6 Stroker build..pics included

[seanyb505]

Let me just begin by saying how much better I like the new forum format! This is the space for build and Ive just begun mine. My intent is to help any noobies that may have just heard about stroking the 4.0 and have no idea where to start. It took me a while to have many of my questions and doubts answered through research. I know what I know, and it isnt much, but hopefully this will help someone.

My intentions for my stroker build were to A.) get more power B.) build a reliable engine and C.) do it inexpensively. I know the fast, reliable, cheap paradox where you can only pick two, this is more like where can I find x part for the cheapest. As I went through the process of putting parts lists together and making a budget I decided to spend a little extra money for some more power.

First off, here is what I have come up with from the stroker calculator. This was incredibly useful as it shows what quench is, and what factors effect Compression Ratio. I was shooting for 9.5 CR until I came across some pistons dished to 28cc and I was able to deck some of the head and block (.015" and .0415, respectively) to lower the CR to 9.1 and the quench to a much better than stock .060"



Here is the budget/parts list that I have come up with. In light of all the aftermarket cam failures Im electing to regrind the stock 95 cam, which has better specs than my 97 anyway. New cam, new valvetrain. The shim kit is needed to offset the shaving of the head and block.



As Im sure you can see Ive begun collecting parts. I will include shipping prices to get a more accurate picture of what this type of build will realitically cost. Hopefully I can post pics whenever I get something, cause everyone likes to look at fun stuff. Heres what Ive gotten so far:

258 connecting rods. I got these from C45m on ebay, I believe he now sells them for 130 without shipping.


I hadnt yet found out about the benefit of buying everything together in the rebuild kit so I got these connecting rod bearings shortly after getting the 258 rods. Im not sure if I will end up using them or not anymore, but here they are.


I found a good deal on some 24# Ford injectors on ebay. 56.50 for seven and one messed up one; I only need six! They are Denso F55E-A2E and after checking, they are high impedance, so they should work.


I was going to have to machine the whichever pistons I got to lower the CR to 9.5, but I found these for sale from Artsound (the guy who sells bored TBs on ebay) on Jeep forum. It would normally cost arond 250 to get pistons and have them machined, and I got these for $190. As I mentioned earlier they are machined to 28cc, which should be safe assuming that Dr Dyno lists the same pistons as being able to be machined to 30cc. The pistons are Silv-o-lite 2229s.


ARP connecting rod bolts, pn 112-6001 for cheap insurance (which, btw, adds up). Not much, but again pics are fun.


Since then I have gotten head bolts which fall under the category of cheap insurance. I dont have a picture but they are Fel-pro ES71102. Some people say you can reuse them, I would rather not risk it. I also got a shim kit from Summit to offset the head and block being shaved .0565". They have not yet arrived, pn CRN-99179-1. Just imagine a bunch of washers.

That is all I have for now. If anyone has any advice, questions, comments, criticisms, snide remarks, shoot them my way and Ill do what I can to answer them.

[1bolt]

Great stuff Sean welcome to the forum, lots of familiar nicks from NAXJA here. I'm looking forward to watching your build. Just wish I had documented my own, the most I've got is a cam card and some notes scribbled, and a couple receipts.

[4point6]

Nice post, good details...

I am putting together the parts now for a very similar build (dished silvolite 2229's with decked block to get 9.1:1 with good quench). For the engine kit question, I just ordered parts from Falcon Stores on ebay (I have no affiliation with them). If you call them, they will put together a kit based on what you need. There # is 866.268.3192. The only thing I should have done was passed on the Victor gasket set and gotten a Fel Pro elsewhere (They don't offer the Fel Pro). I think Summit has it for around $95. At the bottom of this post is my order and price ($416.93 total). I had done a bunch of looking around, their prices were pretty decent for what you get (Melling, Clevite, Cloyes, etc.). I also went with brass freeze plugs and moly rings, which added a little bit. I haven't gotten the parts yet (tomorrow hopefully), so I can't say 100% that they are all that, but so far they seem reasonable. I'll be postinbg my build info at some point, when I get more time. I'm using the older camshaft also in my '97XJ, looks like that gets more overall torque (though less peak) and at an earlier rpm vs the Crane 753905.

Also what part # is the rocker shim kit at Summit? I need to get those too.

6 EA CB960P 10 $3.52 CLEVITE ROD BEARINGS
1 EA HS5713Z $39.37 VICTOR HEAD GASKET SET
1 EA CS5713X $24.79 VICTOR LOWER GASKET SET
1 EA MS1947P 10 $48.28 CLEVITE MAIN BEARING SET
1 EA SH1980S $16.46 CLEVITE CAM BEARING SET
1 EA C3041 $53.31 CLOYES TIMING SET
1 EA M-81A $62.3 + MELLING OIL PUMP
1 EA MC-809 $74.93 MELLING CAMSHAFT
12 EA HL-2011S $2.23 ELGIN LIFTERS
1 EA 40514CP 30 $37.92 PERFECT CIRCLE RING SET
1 EA PE-256-BR $11.43 PIONEER BRASS EXPANSION PLUG SET
1 EA KIT PLUS $.19 .19
1 EA 1222 200 $416.93 .00

[gradon]

Yeah Sean, it looks like you'll get yours done before I will. I have the cam, lifters, crank, and 4.2 rods already. I'm still riding the line on whether to use the 4.0 rods and KB pistons(if that option will be available). I'll yank the head off the 94 block to do the port and polish before it gets the valve job. So what was the break down of your machining costs? I also didn't take into account the shims(if I do use the 4.2 rods I'll deck at least .030, if not .040). Did you ask them to take .015 off the head or was that necessary to make it flat?

[seanyb505]

Andy - The pn for the shim kit is CRN-99179-1. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku Does falcon sell their rebuild kits a la carte? If they do I think that may be a better choice as Promar Precision Engines, the company I was looking at, does not. I need to find out of the melling camshaft is from the same mold as the cranes and all the other that have the 1/3" lobes or if it has the stock 1/2" lobers. I think i might I may stick with Promar, I can sell the pistons and offset some of the price, and they come with felpro or clevite gasket set.

gradon - Im not so sure Ill finish before you. If you look at my parts list you can see which parts I have bought and paid for. Crank, rebuild kit and machine shop work do not fall under the paid for category. I dont even have my engine pulled yet, and I still need to make sure the transmission I just bought works! Im hoping to get the scoop on the junkyard ax15 by the end of springs break (7th) and get my engine out by the end of march. The prices I have listed for machining are quotes I got from the shops. 163 for carquest to do the head, and 770 for a local respectable shop to do the block work. Its one of the areas Im sacrificing price for fast and reliability. Shims were 20 dollars shipped, Im sure you can just use hardened washers for a lot cheaper but I dont like risking what Im not sure of. I will ask to take .015 off the head for quench reasons...jk its to raise the CR from 8.9 to 9.1. If i cant have the block or head decked that much I may need to buy some new pistons.

[4point6]

Thanks for the shim info. FYI - I called Promar also - they just sell the Enginetech kits exactly as Enginetech packages them, so no picking and choosing parts. Falcon lets you pick whatever parts you want. I have a 97 block, but I didn't want the 97 camshaft, so I would have had to sell the pistons and cam, then buy anther cam. I had them do a couple of kit scenarios to see what the prices would be. As far as what Falcon said, the Melling camshaft is the same as the stock old cam, but I did not verify that. For the custom dished pistons you did, I saw the post on the Jeep forum where he was selling those pistons- does he do that as a business, or did he just have those lying around? If he does the dishing service, any idea what he charges? There is another guy, http://www.strokedjeep.com/index.html, that does the dishing for $120 per set. I'm going to need to get mine done.

[seanyb505]

In that case I will give Falcon and call and see what I can find out there. Brian from Promar talked down to me on the telephone; hopefully Falcon will have some better customer service. Artsound sells bored TB's for the 4.0 on ebay, but he was building his own stroker and then gave it up, hence the pistons. I know that the machine shop Im going to quoted me somewhere around 120ish to dish pistons, but Im not sure. They said 190 for pistons and having them already machined was cheaper than they could do it. Ill see if i can find out where he had them dished. I seem to recall some guy sending his pistons off to get dished from another forum and when he got them back he was not happy and had to buy new pistons. Ill look into that as well.

[4point6]

Yeah, I got the same kind of attitude from Promar when I was asking questions. Customer service was much better at Falcon. I talked to a guy Charlie there - I think I had him on the phone for 30 minutes doing what-ifs. He said he worked in a machine shop also, so he had an idea of what parts were what.

[4point6]

I need to find out of the melling camshaft is from the same mold as the cranes and all the other that have the 1/3" lobes or if it has the stock 1/2" lobers.

Got the kit today - 1/2" lobes on the melling cam MC809. Also just found this site if you're interested, I hadn't seen until now, I may have gone with them:

http://www.enginepartssupply.com/MK1024A.htm

[seanyb505]

I had my specs somewhat backward, the sock lobes are 2/3" and the aftermarket cores have 1/2" lobes. So it looks like that MC809 is from the same core manufacturer that all the other buy from. You had said that falcon lets you pick and choose, so I might as well just go with the Isky cam I was looking at, 133125/26, and not order a melling same-as-stock piece. The engine parts site lists the kit for 410, 10 dollars more than Promar, and probly a whole lot more than falcon if I dont buy the pistons or cam.

[seanyb505]

A good day: $1941 tax refund and $998 paycheck! Stroker is officailly a go! Ive decided on going with an isky cam, and 5.9 springs.

[1bolt]

Sweet, but before you get dead set check out the Lunati Voodoo series cams, they have some wicked asymmetrical lift cams with longer exhaust duration and some overlap for the 4.0 They advertize them as comparable to roller cams due to a special coating that allows them to snap the valve open and closed faster than normal flat tappets.

[Shark]

Sweet, but before you get dead set check out the Lunati Voodoo series cams, they have some wicked asymmetrical lift cams with longer exhaust duration and some overlap for the 4.0 They advertize them as comparable to roller cams due to a special coating that allows them to snap the valve open and closed faster than normal flat tappets.

sounds expensive.

[seanyb505]

I agree it does sound expensive, unfotunately I was unable to read the post until late and I have already purchased the Isky 13315/26 cam. Its also assymetrical, but probly not to the degree the lunati is. I think its kind of like a combination of the Crane 753905 and the Mopar 30.

Total purchases for the day:
Isky cam - $155.94
4.2 Crankshaft from O'Reilly's - $236.42
Crower Cam Saver Lifters - $104.52

Not bad for half an hour lol

[gradon]

Which crank did you go with?