Does anyone make a stock or mild roller cam and lifter set for a 91 4.0L Jeep engine??

Thanks
Dennis

 

Not Me, I wouldn't even know where to begin making a camshaft.

 

505 performance makes hotter than mild to wild cams and roller lifters.
The various owner reports of extremely short service life and faulty roller bearings has made me take that option off my list.

If one of the top five cam makers were to offer a roller bumpstick in RV/Tow/economy grind or stock 96+ dual pattern grind, I'd buy it.
Then I'd buy roller rockers and roller timing chain & gears.

 

This is funny. I am currently in the middle of the development of Jeep/AMC straight 6 Roller Camshafts. The first grind is only a couple weeks out. 505 Performance was not machining billet roller cams. They were grinding roller profiles onto stock iron camshafts. That's why those cams didn't last long. I don't think 505 is even in business anymore.

There are important things to keep in mind when converting this engine to a roller cam. This is a public service announcement.

1- This will be expensive. None of the major camshaft grinders have ever wanted to jump on board. I had to go to the guys that machine custom Tool Steel NHRA Top Fuel camshafts. Jesel and Militia Racing Products are the only two companies that found this project interesting and doable. The camshaft itself will cost $1,700.00. No refunds, but they can obviously be reground several times if necessary. Considering the cost, this conversion is not well suited toward a mild or stock grind. Flat tappet cam work great for that. This project is geared towards aftermarket EFI, turbochargers and goals of 1000+ HP.
2- Getting roller lifters with an anti-rotation mechanism into the lifter bores of these blocks is not simple. Roller lifters are typically 3" tall so you can't snake tie bar lifters into the bores. Dog bones could work but there isn't a great way to fasten dog bones into the block. They would call for an experienced machinist to come up with a good dog bone solution. Keyway lifters would work great but they're only available as a solid lifter, also installing the keyed bushings is very expensive and not really a project for the home garage. What we'll end up with is a custom tie bar solution. The tie bars will either be slotted so you can snap them on with the lifters in their bores or the lifters will have fasteners instead of rivets so you can bolt them on with the lifters in their bores.
3- The camshafts are the same material that they use in top fuel engines. The manufacturer doesn't want any other material but bronze used for distributor gears. Guess what? Nobody makes a 4.0L distributor gear in bronze, they're all iron. We have found bronze gears that will work however. Turns out, the Mopar R5 engine uses the same gear as the Jeep engine. Although, the Jeep distributor shaft is about .040" larger than the R5's. So you'll have to drill and hone the R5 bronze gear to .5285" and it will work just fine. You may want to have some spares and keep an eye on wear because you'll now have a bronze gear driving the oil pump. Or you can always go to an external pump.
4- The distributor gear may only sync up with the late model 99-06 EFI systems. It may not work with an actual distributor, The gear on the iron cast cores is indexed to a specific degree because, apparently, the distributors on the early engines can't turn 360 degrees? Is that true? Can you guys clock your distributors 360 degrees? I'm only familiar with the late model cam sync engines. Getting the gear indexed properly presents a whole set of problems for the machinist, so cam sync will work for sure but not so sure for distributors.

If you guys have any thoughts on this project let me know. Especially with the lifter anti-rotation mechanism.

 

I am highly interested. Mine XJ is a '95

Pre coil pack 4.0 distributors have a horizontal forked ear cast integral with the distributor body's "stalk" that serves as both index and hold down.


Removing the ear and using a hold down clamp similar to this

​​​​would be child's play.

​​​​​Check your message inbox in few minutes.

 

First roller cam came in today. Looks pretty sweet, journals are ground perfectly.

 

wow Man this is quite the milestone ! I always thought of oneday having this setup having keyed lifters and a billet roller cam ! Its awesome being able to see this happening!

One day I'd very likely would want to do this once my Lj isn't a daily and it's just a fun toy for racing and crawling, in which i use it for that+dailying but I want to keep it simple......for now 😉
Had to make an account to reply cause of how great this is !!!

 

I was just talking to my machinist about this today. He is really into the 4.0 performance. I came on here to see what I could find about 505s cam set up. I found this tread. Knowing about 505s history and not knowing nor caring if they are in business still. Glade to see someone is working on his and can't wait to see the out come. I am definitely interested.

 

piece of art, i am intrested in the same project i would go for a key way roller lifter. And a roller needle cam bearing.

 

I looked into the keyway option and all parties involved advised strongly against it. Parts and machining would add over $5K to the job and there's no room for error in the machining and install of the bushings. Many keyway lifter bushing jobs done at inexperienced shops end up in a scrapped block.

The keyway lifter bushings have tiny .040" oil holes. This means that you can say goodbye to ever cleaning out the main oil galley and your lifters and valvetrain will always be somewhat starved of oil. The Jeep engine has a 4.5"deep lifter valley. Getting those keyway lifters in and out would take hours. It's difficult enough with tie-bars. Keyway lifters are only available as solid as well.

As for the camshaft roller bearings, that's another very expensive endeavor. Though, if budget allows, I do think it's practical. The Jeep engine only has 4 cam journals. You could bore out the cam tunnel to allow for a larger cam barrel. Also, the roller bearings primary advantage is higher load capacity. Both would result in a stiffer camshaft. We'll see how the stock setup works with a tool steel cam. The springs are setup at 405# open so I'm sure it will be fine.

 

Beautiful Little cam down there , i’ve been always wanting to try this myself for a high revving. Key way roller is very expensive, and no room for error.


All the best there

 

I am definitely interested also

 

Randy, how do I get in touch with you?