Jeep Strokers

Here it is ladies! The official start of the Buschguy Stroker.
I am a junior wrenchhead. 20 years ago I helped my father rebuild the motor in my first car ('79 camaro), since then I have always done my own vehicle maintenance. I am now about to take a big leap from shock absorbers and brake jobs to performing my own Jeep stroker build. I plan on having the machine shop do the short block, and I'll take it from there. For all the time and money I've spent, I better not screw up!

Thanks to everyone posting on Jeepstrokers -You guys pushed me over the edge from performing a straight rebuild to going for the extra ponies! I got a lot of good info and knowledge out of this forum.

A cracked head forced a decision. A partial rebuild was in order, but I do not like to do things halfway so....after several months of planning ,saving and reading Jeepstrokers, I have started purchasing the pieces to my masterpiece.
Here is my gameplan for a reliable, daily driver with a little extra giddieup.
97 TJ, 4.0 block bored 0.030 over
258 12 weight crank, with Hesco spacer
Eagle Rods
Diamond Forged Pistons, 29cc dish
Alabama Cylinderhead Heavy Duty Head Casting
Stock cam
Melling HV oil pump
Cloyes Double Roller Timing Chain
Clevite Cam, Main & Rod bearings
Crower Camsaver valve lifters
Yella Terra 6:1 Roller Rockers
'99 Intake
62mm throttle body and spacer
Luk Cluth Kit
Gibson Ceramic Headers
Totally Stainless Header bolts
K&N FIPK -in place
Flexalite Fan -in place
Stainless Steel Marine Vents in hood -in place
BRX coolant Hoses -in place
Hesco HF waterpump -in place
Hesco HF Thermostat housing -in place
Performance Distributors Coil, Cap, Rotor & Wires -in place

Let the games begin. I will keep you guys posted with pics once the pieces start showing up and I start tearing it down.
Sound expensive? Yes, It is.
Sound foolishly expensive? Probably, just don't tell my wife.
Feel free to chime in -I welcome all comments and criticsim.

Wait...Strike that -Keep your criticism to yourself!

If you get the right crank you wont need a spacer. If you can only find on that needs a spacer you can just take the center section of an old harmonic balance. No need for a $30 washer.

I dont think youll need the Eagle rods (hard to find anyway) and Diamond pistons unless youll be going with forced induction.

Is the Alabama head worked for better flow or does it have roughly the same characteristics? If its the same just grab a head from the junkyard and have it rebuilt.

I think you would do fine with a normal timing chain, Not sure it would require much more.

If youre reusing the old stock cam, you will automatically wear its wear patterns onto the brand-new $100 cam saver lifters. At this point it wouldnt be much more to go for an aftermarket grind for some more power. You could probly buy one with the money you would save from not buying custom pistons.

If youre going for Yella terras just get the 1:7 rockers. More lift.

Unless you already have the TB spacer, I would waste a lot of money on one.

I fully understand sacrificing money for reliability, but so far the build plan isnt extreme enough to warrant such a high price. Youll find there will be several other things that youll need that you didnt plan for. There always is.

My first head cracked so I am going with the ACH head because it is a heavier casting than stock designed to eliminate cracking issues on the stockers.
The 12 weight shaft arrived yesterday -that is one heavy mamma jamma too.
I already bought the Eagle rods and the 6:1 roller rockers.
I am now leaning towards a comp cam and eliminating the Cam saver lifters.
Yes, I do know that I have gone a little overkill in some cases and spent more than I have to in others-but what the hell, this is supposed to be fun, isn't it?

Here are some pics of my jeep and the toys that will soon be going in.

more pics

Nice rods.

Do you have a part number on the header bolts?

I live in the northeast rust belt, where removing a single rusty, seized bolt could take hours as well as a torch, a drill, extractor bits and a tap; so whenever I swap something out it goes back on with stainless bolts and a healthy amount of anti-sieze. The header bolts from totallystainless are PN 6-5573 for 10 bolts ($45.40), 6-5586 for 12 bolts ($49.90). If you buy the 10 bolt package you will need to also pick up (2) stainless 3/8 studs and (2) 3/8 fine thread nuts. I am replacing the washers with 3/8 ID, 1" OD x .12" thick hinge washers PN 4245 ($0.69/ ea).

According to the catalog, the thick hinge washers you referenced that you are going to use are flat. I wouldn't recommend using anything but the factory dish-shaped washers - they're there for a reason. That reason is to help keep the screws from loosening under normal use... Screws that have to clamp aluminum and iron will have an uneven force under the head, that tends to unscrew them. The dish-shaped washers put a little "give" in the system to allow for this. If you lose them, replace them - you can probably still get them OEM.. definitely from a junkyard.

part number on the eagle rods? They're not for the Jeep originally are they?

Yeah Muad, I've been waffling on the header washers myself. I am now leaning towards cleaning the OE washers with a wire brush and some naval jelly and then painting them with ceramic high temp paint.

As for the Eagle rods they are part #CRS6150A3D. They are longer than stock 4.0 rods, but I will be making up for that with custom forged pistons. Cash flow has hit a speed bump so I may be looking at another month or so before I can get the pistons.

I had been waiting about 6 weeks for the Gibson ceramic headers to show up as they have been on back order. One week before they arrived, the cracked manifold on my 99 XJ 4.0 (the wife's daily driver) failed emissions testing. Since the TJ is nowhere near being ready yet, the nice shiny Gibsons will be going onto the XJ in the next couple weeks. I am hoping to have the dough to buy the headers, pistons and remaining pieces-parts by the end of June. I hope to do the machine work and installation by the end of July. Hopefully the month of August will be spend driving around every night after work for several hours, in order to accelerate the break-in period. Then-LOOK OUT!!!!