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Welp It's been almost 2 years since the last post and not a lot has gone on in that time. The jeep has been working quite well and hasn't had any major issues. I've recently had a surge of motivation to work on the jeep and start some fixes and upgrades... so phase 5 explanation post to come!
In the meantime check out a few pics of a recent surge in effort and spending...
Rear axle seal has been leaking for... years. Finally dealt with it and replaced both sides bearings + seals. Have had the parts sitting for a long time (a recurring theme)
Rear diff fluid looks..... Great! let's just forget about that
Foamy and metallic.. yum
I haven't been digging the street performance of the KM3's lately soooo I bought some falken rubitrek's... at4's don't come in 35x12.50R15..
I haven't been digging the street performance of the KM3's lately soooo I bought some falken rubitrek's... at4's don't come in 35x12.50R15..
Backup camera installed for the Sony XAV4000 which I never did a post on.. so surprise!
Rear dash cam installed...
Now I have a dash cam!
You might be wondering why i'm doing all this wiring shizz with the and cameras now... well it's because it was headliner time!
And... V2 of Arduino OHC coming to forums near you!
Lots of random stuff last couple weeks and more to come
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; Sep 11, 2025 at 07:54 PM.
Haven't needed I actually checked and I am running daystar bump stops and I flattened the pinch seem in the wheel well. I obviously have modified my fenders but still have gotten some slight rubbing up front, nothing crazy. They ripped off my horn mounts the first day out =]
Last edited by ixanay_on-the_exjay; Nov 20, 2025 at 09:01 AM.
The why behind the stroker is pretty simple. I'm in need of more power! It's not really even a question. With the altitude here in CO, the mountain passes, 35's even regeared to 4.56 this tired and abused 4.0 with an unknown history is just not safe or fun to drive into the mountains. This is not cool. SO my goal is to hopefully build a reliable stroker engine. I'm thinking if i don't chase crazy power perhaps this will translate to a bit more reliability/longevity.
Block is 1997 C/N 3010341 I think it's from an XJ Bored .030 over
Bottom End Clegg Stage 2 Kit
Kit Upgrades Eagle Forged Rods ARP Bolts (Free Floating) Bushed, Hastings Moly Piston Rings, Balanced Crank
Comp Camshaft custom grind (duration @ 0.050" of 206/212, with valve lift being .435/.448, and a lobe separation angle of 113°) Cam Bearings Durabond
Rollmaster Red Series Timing Set NA-CS7100
PowerBond Harmonic Balancer
ARP Head Studs
24# Injectors from Clegg
Melling M-81A Oil Pump
I'm reusing my clearwater 0331 head and not planning on any upgrades (hence the mild cam)
Brian Crower BC8480 Lifters Push Rods SBI 9.650"
Harland Sharpe Roller Rockers
Hesco HF58-455 Water Pump
Cold Case Radiator
The current state of things.. I have the engine in the jeep still but mostly stripped and moving parts over to the new block. I am trying to minimize the time i have two blocks floating around my garage and the hoist all set up. Taking this slow bc i am known for being fast and making mistakes in my haste so i don't mind turning a few bolts and then sitting and staring for a while. After all this is supposed to be the fun part so why not enjoy it. With that said, the cold weather is rolling in so hopefully wrapping things up soon.
Hey thanks for reading and for the link. That is pretty cool and I did not know that. The rollmaster timing chain can be clocked as well so I would probably take that route if I were to mess with it tho I'm kind of nervous as it is so will probably keep it at 0 for initial setup. Funny enough tho the CPS might be more accessible to modify once everything is buttoned up.
As you can imagine i'm doing a lot of "while i'm in there" stuff but I am still dedicating a lot of time to the project tho the updates have been weak. The stress is starting to creep in a bit since I always feel a little over my head when i'm in deeper than ever before but I know things are gonna be ok. Here's a peak at the stroker. Parts are in the mail, mounts are getting media blasted, bolts getting drilled and tapped, paint drying.. you know the drill.
Leak on the Transmission, not exactly sure where it's coming from but since it seems to be seeping all around that tail housing seal I'm going to reseal it
...and break my first bolt of the project... dangit! Going to drill and tap bc welding and extractor was no dice. These are loctited in quite well
Stroker is in and running, it's been a wild ride but really that's just because I have no clue what I'm doing... and that's what makes it fun. First start was over a week ago and I did it with no accessories or coolant just to make sure the thing wanted to start and I didn't have to pull it out and tear it down again. I really was just expecting the worst.
As you can see it started instantly, I didn't even forget to plug anything in... wow.
Now started the slow process of bolting on all the accessories and getting the rad in as well as welding the exhaust back together. Since I dropped the transmission pan and drained the fluid I was now worried about juggling 20 mins of cam break in at 2k-2500k rpm while also managing the coolant system AND hoping I wasn't screwing my transmission up with low fluid while it gets sucked into the new cooler etc. I ended up filling it a little extra..
The break in process was eventful. This was the first time I used that rad filler assistant funnel thing. It's great but i boiled it over first thing... Second I forgot to tighten the lower rad hose... ya.. whoops. That was fun to clean up. To make matters worse after I finally cleaned up all the coolant and got it filled again it wouldn't start. That really was ****ty. Luckily i had some codes pointing to CPS/CPS and I had a feeling I knew what it was. The cam position sensor/synchronizer I half assed the install on. It was timed correctly but the top sensor portion I didn't screw down all the way bc one of the bolts was mostly rusted away. It ended up moving and destroying the sensor with the spinny bit.
Broke it clean off
You can see below that the magnet is sitting there in the middle and the metal piece that rotates is compromised (bent). This is important to note because when I put a new sensor on it ended up just chewing the new one up because of it's deformity. The clearance is a bit tighter than I thought.
New sensor magnet got a haircut and stopped working after my first test drive. You can hear it in the video below and see the damage in the pic
I'll likely do some more sharing of things that came up but that's the gist. Final vid of it running good now. I have a somewhat significant oil leak I think is coming from the oil filter adapter. I just replaced the orings today so will have my fingers crossed that was it... I'll also give it some time to gather my thoughts on the value of the stroker. First impressions are that I'm not blown away but i haven't gotten it on the highway yet or on any hills so will have to run it through it's paces and come back.
Nice work! I did an engine swap that took a few months and I was as surprised as you when it started within two seconds of my first time turning the key. I've got my own engine rebuild going on another car and I'm not thrilled with having to juggle coolant burping and ring seating. At least I don't have to worry about the cam though.
Sort of sad though that you aren't thrilled with the stroker. Hopefully some more time with it will give you a bit more satisfaction.
Firstly to address my satisfaction level with le stroke... After putting about 150 miles on it I can say OK.. i can feel the difference. It's def a bit more subtle than I was expecting for the $$ and time put into it but still it's pretty great. It mainly just feels less desperate to achieve desired cruise speeds.
I was really trying to see what the engine could do so was reving it up as high as possible on the road. A couple times at around 4200 I managed to float the valves. For someone who never has experienced it before i thought the engine was blowing up... like pistons meet valves type of noise. This possibility had been spelled out for me by the comp cam rep who put in my custom order. So I got to go moping back to him to let him know he was right that even this "mild" cam floated "stock" valve springs.
So, with the valve float events I did the right thing and jumped on some black Friday deals and bought an Edelbrock aluminum head and since the 2001 exhaust manifold is not compatible i also bought the banks torque tube header with the o2 bungs. I thought with the thanksgiving holiday and the fact i was buying from a dropshipper that i wouldn't get them for at least a few business days so safe to go out of town for the holiday... Wrong, head showed up NEXT DAY. F. Had a neighbor grab it for me.
Camshaft considerations: So something I didn't spell out in this thread is why i chose the cam I did. Basically I came across an old forum post that goes into mad detail about camshaft compatibility with the coil pack engines. They had created a custom grind that was working well but was on the more "mild" side of things. This was so that it would be possible (not guaranteed) to use with a stock valve springs This sounded great to me after already spending so much $$ and having a basically new (30k miles) clearwater head that I didn't want to send off and wait for (much less pay for) while the jeep sat waiting for it. So I convinced myself this was the way and the mild shaft would translate to reliability and I could live with the lack of massive gains. As everyone knows including me.. a lot of the power gains in a stroker build come from the top end. This is partially how i justified buying the roller rockers since I wasn't going to do anything drastic to the top end otherwise.
SO. Now we have a tricked out new head that can take whatever cam we want to throw at it and I'm stuck with this sucker cam that works but is way under spec'd for what we could theoretically use. So after some short but totally existent mental gymnastics I justified going back to shopping for another cam. I spoke to comp and I called Russ Pottenger. If you don't know Russ he is the go to stroker homie. He has been helping people build the right stroker for them for years. The only reason I didn't hit him up before I designed/built mine was admittedly bc I thought he had died (sorry Russ!). So it was nice to talk to him on the phone alive and well and he sold me a custom grind of his design along with some lifters. Happy to support his business.
The jeep is likely to start going under the knife for new cam, head, and manifold install later this week and thru xmas. Hopefully it is relatively warm in Denver.
One cool thing about the new head is that I still have my 0331 clearwater head to pair with the 2001 block I pulled out the jeep. I originally was just going to try the short block and get rid of it but now I'm just a few parts away from having... 2 strokers? Why would I want two strokers you might ask? And to you I say... shut up.
So I broke down the short block which I was going to do anyway bc I wanted to see if any damage was in there as I've always suspected cam bearing wear or piston skirt cracks... TLDR. I didn't find any cracked pistons but all the main and rod bearings are pretty scuffed up. IDK a lot about engines or bearings but I would describe these as "bad" but not "bad bad". I can catch my nail on some of the bearings and on the crank as well. Check it out and you tell me
Thrust bearing
Rod Bearings
Main Bearings
Crank flavoring
Freeze plugs are crusty but coolant passages were clean and free of debris
Amazing build, thanks for sharing. Curious what you think after the header is installed. Is that a Banks model for 02+ model?
How are those Clegg injectors? Have you tried a 4 port as well?
Hey welcome to the thread. The banks is for 00+ since the 2000 & 2001 xj's have the precats and obv will fit the wrangler/GC for the later years SKU #51306. The injectors from clegg are upgraded 24 lb injectors that have 6 ports. The stroker needs more fuel. Previously on the 4.0 I ran the ksus 4 hole rebuilds from dodge neon(?). Personally I didn't notice any difference tho in the videos it's clearly an improved atomization...
The stroker v2 is now in and running. I guess I never really took it out but the new head and new cam/lifters are rockin'.
Started on 12/15 and wrapped it up today so... 2 weeks of being slow. It's cold here alright...
It started like this, with two findings...
1. The cylinders have a fair amt of oil buildup on them. Hoping this is not blow by but instead just because i clogged up my PCV system or perhaps just what was in there from assembly/ring break in.
2. There was this stickyish oilyish stuff at the rad cap. Not sure what to think of it maybe stuff from the new radiator or engine etc. Will keep an eye on it to see if any more shows up.
Otherwise things chugged along pretty smoothly. Per usual, disassembly goes quickly and reassembly takes forever. Here are the two heads for comparison. Enjoy the lighting.
ARP studs are great if you have to do this job twice but crap otherwise. They force you to use the aluminum valve cover bc the stamped steel one doesn't accommodate the larger nuts.
New Banks torque tube all bolted up to the crusty old 01 pre cats. I messed up one of the o2 sensors so just replaced both those upstream ones with NGK-23179. Working good
A word of advice for any 00-01 peeps who are eyeing this header. There is about a 1% chance you'll be able to install this without at the very least removing the front clip. If you can unbolt and remove the precats and then reinstall somehow that might work but otherwise it was almost impossible to reach and tighten all the bolts. You might be thinking, oh he just doesn't know what he's talking about those are always awkward... no. Basically impossible. I am thin and was jamming my hand and arm in weird *** ways to get this done and it took an hr just to figure out the right combination of hand yoga and swearwords. If you have small children they will come in handy.
Welded it a little better this time around
Running smooth but waiting to really punch it but she's happy, i'm happy. Glad to be done now to clean up the garage and find something else to mess with.
Wordy boring update today. Been tooling around in the jeep a lot since the new version of the stroker and coming up on around 500 miles. Some observations...
1. CEL for not one but both upstream o2 sensors. Turns out the jeep does NOT like these NGK NTK whatevers. Put the function oem one back in and that code went away so I ordered another Mopar to put in. I'll be returning these junkers to summit. As you can imagine it has been running with the o2's not working and perhaps running rich just bc of the stock tune.
2. It's also been having a bit of a rough start. Nothing crazy just kind of chokes/bumbles to life and then smooths out.
3. It has never liked idling, it bumbles around seeking for idle and feels like it's occasionally missing this is nothing new, however when coming down in RPMs to a stop sometimes it seems to dip even lower than the 600ish it idles and and feels like it's about to stall out. That part is new.
4. Couple exhaust leaks, one self inflicted where I cut the exhaust out and poorly welded it and second is new at the cat flange it has basically just rusted away.
You can see how rich it's running
For these reasons and to just get the most out of my stroker investment I'm going to get this thing tuned. I've spent the last week planning and getting the jeep prepared for the tuning process. This involves the following
1. A not leaking exhaust system with functioning o2 sensors
2. A bung for wideband o2 sensor
3. HP tuners hardware/software
Today I had an exhaust shop replace a section of pipe between the y down pipe and the cat. Killed a few birds with one stone getting rid of the leaks, putting in a bung for the wideband, and getting the pipe a bit higher over my cavfab cross member which the exhaust pipe has basically been sitting on.
I'm waiting for the second mopar o2 sensor which is in the snail mail but should be in early next week and hopefully getting first base tune by end of next week.
Wideband stuff to install New pipin New bung for wideband
So I ended up tuning with FRP for a week or two but unfortunately I had this piston slappy noise that I really wasn't comfortable with. SO at around the 500 mile mark since the new head/cam/lifters were installed I pulled the oil pan and looked at a couple bearings. The first one I pulled was definitely no bueno. I have definitely had some metal in the oil but i didn't think it was excessive. Unfortunately can't argue with what I saw. A fingernail caught on the bearings and the crank so the only option was to pull the stroker...
2 and 5 rod bearings were the worst and main bearings weren't too bad. Nothing crazy on the pistons or the cylinder walls so i'm not sure regarding the noise. My running theory is lifter/valvetrain something.
So as you can see i stripped everything for full inspection. The bearings don't appear bad enough to make noise but the question appears which is what caused the bearings to fail? Well after a lot of thought and talking with Russ the running theory is I didn't clean the crank/block well enough. Which is a super bummer and straight up embarassing. We keep it real on this thread and sometimes I get to pretend I know what I'm doing and sometimes I get to show you all the reality which is I'm making mistakes and learning... sometimes the easy way and sometimes the hard way. Either way it's always expensive...
I was hoping to find more of a smoking gun for the noise but... oh well. While the block was out i'm taking advantage of this to send to the machine shop and deck the block a bit more. I should have done this to start with but now with the aluminum head it's going to benefit a lot more from more compression. Taking an additional .021 off which makes for total .031" decked. Engine stats below
So with the new deck height definitely will be measuring for new push rods which I neglected to do last time and just crossed my fingers that the stockish sized ones would be fine. This is possibly where the noise was coming from but not confident... Since I've also neglected to update the thread much while this has been happening I already got the block back this week. Unfortunately not going to be able to marathon this thing back into the engine but hopefully can marathon clean the block and get it assembled so I can measure for the push rods and get them ordered before I have to take a week off.
If you're still reading I did end up getting the stroker tuned with Ryan Hogan at FRP we were doing a lot of tweaking before I decided I needed to break it down. Excited to get back online with him and finish it off. It's doing SO much better with the tunes. I didn't even mention yet that I had to replace the post cat o2 sensors since logging showed that they were not working well enough to keep up. Sheesh! So much time and money spent but good times. Update incoming soon
