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Stroker: Titan Engine: My Story

Re: Stoker: Titan Engine: My Story

Titan just opened up the valve cover to check out what's wrong with my engine that brok in fine, but starting dropping oil pressure at idle after less than a minute of start up.
Took them 15 days just to do that (putting it on the backburner in between jobs).. which seems fitting since at first it ran just fine during the break in procedure. Upon driving to my house 5 miles away though the engine started acting up and there was no power or constant oil pressure.
Turns out rocker #3 "isn't acting right." I've had two very qualified automechanics tell me at this point that it's on them in the particular area of valve-train failure.
They will hold out to their end of the bargain and get it running, or I'll have an ASE certified mechanic pull it apart and get the facts straight at its current condition; upon which I will be taking them to court and they'll pay for the labor to get it straightened out since they couldn't.

Don't ever buy from Titan. It's 2 years later from this guy's horror story and they F'ed mine up to. Is there ANYONE who's bought anything working from Titan? Every time I think about how Chuck Manis has talked about the strokers they've build (and a 5.0 that is actually still running around somewhere) and how he says it can't possibly be something on their end that's messed up because of how often they do it... yet all I see is F'ed up Jeep Strokers from them online from everyone else who's dealt with them.

Or maybe everyone who's ever gotten a working stroker from them hasn't been introduced to the internet... or just doesn't frequent jeep enthusiast sites. But that can't be... anyone who knows what a stroker is has to be on a Jeep site. And every time I search for Jeep and Stroker, I end up back here. Hmm..

Wayne P.~
 
Re: Stoker: Titan Engine: My Story

If you want a stroker you know is done right, from engineering to parts choice, to proper assembly, check with RussPottenger on this site. This guy builds the baddest off shore racing engines in the industry and he knows how to build a 4.0 stroker you can rely on. The quality will be well worth the cost to have it done right!
 
Re: Stoker: Titan Engine: My Story

tl1r said:
More Titan stroker bad news. Well sometime around $4 a gallon gas I bought a Honda and stopped using my YJ as a daily driver. Needless to say its gotten less than 4,000 miles in the last 6 months. I've off roaded quite a few times and am happy w the motors output. That was until last sunday night as I was driving around town and she just shut off. Well looking into it 2day my camshaft is no longer spinning and this is with roughly 10k or less miles since titan had the engine back at there facility. I will be taking my timing cover off within the next few days and determining what broke. Regardless of the outcome it will have been another 10k miles and the engine will be going back to titan again. I hate this motor and I hope anyone thinking about a titan finds these posts. Anytime I find a good review about titan I wonder if we are just extremely unlucky or if they are extremely fortunate.
Click to expand...

...or if they are posting those posts themselves to create false propaganda.
 
I have about 80k on my stroker. I built my first engine almost 50 years ago, so I kind of know what I am doing. It still runs great and I love it.
 
As another "old guy", I too have been building performance engines since the early '60's. From model T Fords, Triumph's (both bike and car), SB Ford V8's, I even did a Willys Hurricane. Ok, that was a long time ago.

What makes a good stroker is the same thing that makes any good engine rebuild. Quality parts and labor. Attention to clearences during assembly.

Can you get lost in the minute details? Yes.

The biggest contributor to a smooth runnig engine I have found is what used to be called "blue printing" the engine. Balance everything. Measure everything. Do all of the pistons have the same wrist pin to crown height? Do they weigh the same? If dished, are the dishes the same? Are the con rods the same length eye to eye? Do THEY weigh the same. Is the crank straight? Are the throws at the proper angles? Are the combustion chamber the same size? Are the intake runners the same volume? Are the ports matched to the manifolds? It all matters.

Once all that is good. The reciprocating mass should be balanced. Some engines have external weights, some don't and you wind up modifying the crank.

For that matter, are you going to niter the crank? How about a cryro treatment. Chamfer the oil holes? Radius the journals? How about cleaning the casting marks off of the inside of the block so that it doesn't hold oil out of the pan? Dry sump? Windage tray? Like I said, lost in details.

And people wonder why it costs SO DAMN MUCH to do a performance engine. Most of the cost is at the machine shop.

The point is, if it is done right, a "mild" stroker should run every bit as long as the stock motor. What is being built for the Jeep market is essentially stock parts with the exception of the cam and throttle body. I ran the tb off of the 4.7L V8 on my stroker I had in my '97 XJ. As for cams, everyone has an opinion of what is best.

There is a point in HP development where you start trading HP for longevity. For instance, an Formula 1 2.5litre V8 (these things idle at 2000rpm and are limited at 18000rpm) will run for 300 kilometers. Do not try to get 350 out of it.

I really do not consider myself old, I've just been around longer than most...
 
An update on the Titan Engine story from my own perspective:

They opened up the valve cover and said that the oil looked like metallic paint. It was silvery. Does anyone know what the cause of that is? I've googled a few times with people asking questions and being referred to the timing cover on other engines.

...also, they said the #3 rocker "wasn't acting like it should."

They think there is an uncharacteristically worn Cam-lobe, or a bad valve. Any clues anyone?

I will have a definite answer by Wednesday; otherwise I'm contacting the Better Business Bureau.

I told them I paid just like everyone else who has an engine in their shop they keep putting in front of mine; only my vehicle has been in their lot for a month. And then their excuse is they've had other engines in there for a while and they need to get them out. I guess that's their way of saying they haven't been paid by the other unlucky fools yet so they're higher priority. Of course it's been that way since I've been driving grandma's car for the past month.

Once again, for the love of God don't buy from Titan.

Wayne~
 
HttpWayne said:
An update on the Titan Engine story from my own perspective:

They opened up the valve cover and said that the oil looked like metallic paint. It was silvery. Does anyone know what the cause of that is? I've googled a few times with people asking questions and being referred to the timing cover on other engines.

...also, they said the #3 rocker "wasn't acting like it should."

They think there is an uncharacteristically worn Cam-lobe, or a bad valve. Any clues anyone?

I will have a definite answer by Wednesday; otherwise I'm contacting the Better Business Bureau.

I told them I paid just like everyone else who has an engine in their shop they keep putting in front of mine; only my vehicle has been in their lot for a month. And then their excuse is they've had other engines in there for a while and they need to get them out. I guess that's their way of saying they haven't been paid by the other unlucky fools yet so they're higher priority. Of course it's been that way since I've been driving grandma's car for the past month.

Once again, for the love of God don't buy from Titan.

Wayne~
Click to expand...


Oil looked like metallic paint. Ive seen v8 with wrong sized bearings do this to oil. Basically powdered bearing in the oil
 
Bigjfb said:
Oil looked like metallic paint. Ive seen v8 with wrong sized bearings do this to oil. Basically powdered bearing in the oil
Click to expand...

I contacted Eddies Valve-Grinding and told them how it ran with the oil pressure doing what it was after the break in period had completed. The guy really thought it was the crankshaft/crankshaft bearings.

I had to have the crank turned... so I'm wondering if they just slapped the usual bearings without considering the crankshaft turning...
How do you get bearings for a crankshaft that's been turned already?
 
One thing I'd like to add to this and not sure if anyone has mentioned this but I've been searching these forums like crazy looking for a solution to my 4.7 stroker heating problem and finally found a solution by just using common sense. 4.0 L has a cooling system designed to cool an engine displacing heat based off of the out put of the 4.0. When you use this same cooling system to cool a 4.7 which is possible producing 100+ more ponies then obviously you may run into problems. My jeep ran hot...close to red line until I replaced and upgraded the cooling system. Now it stays at 210 religiously.
 
FWIW, my 4.6 stroker ran at 205, regardless of activity or ambient air temp on the stock cooling system.
 
OMG!!! From the read, I have just saved 6 months+ of my life. I was looking into the 505 performance stroker and the Titan. I might go stock with a super charger now. Sorry for all your problems and props to all that helped out. Thats one of the reasons I love this site and my XJ, because of all the help.
 
To add a supercharger you'll end up getting forged pistons and connecting rods, meaning you'll have to take the engine apart. If you're going to go that far, you might as well do the stroker. .. ... depending on how much boost you add.
If it's only a little ( I know at one point I researched doing 6-8 PSI on my Ford Probe years back) and I wouldn't need to upgrade the internals for that.
Honestly, if you have a cherry picker I'd just do the stroker myself.
 
...turns out it was the cam. Improper cam break-in destroyed one of the lifters. They will install a new one with new lifters and drain out all the oil, then break the cam in theirselves for me at a solid 2500 RPMs.
Will have a price quote worked out tomorrow, along with pictures of the actual engine layed out so I can see for myself.. and you can see for myself. I will post them on here.
So in the end, me and my ASE certified mechanic broke it in incorrectly. The pictures will tell all tomorrow though.

Love,
Wayne~
 
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