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To Stroke or not to Stroke?

FaultyLine

FaultyLine

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
Burbank
I recently removed my old worn engine as I had no oil pressure at idle. :repair: In taking apart the motor I discovered scratched piston sides, burned oil all throughout the bottom end, sludge everywhere and came to understand how my vehicle was taken care of before I purchased it.

Now I'm faced with the question - Do I build a stroker or just go for a stock rebuild?

STROKER PRO/CON
PRO:
More power
More torque
More AWESOMENESS

CON:
higher octane fuel required because of higher compression
more expensive to do - looking like $2500-$3000
jeepstroker.com forums *seem* to indicate less reliability :explosion

I'm almost always a fan of MORE, but in this case I am having a hard time justifying the cost involved, when the stock power plant was more than enough for me. Reliability is an absolute must in this case - this variable is the true decision maker.

Thoughts :NAXJA:?

I appreciate any feedback, advice, comments, whatever!
 
If reliability is an absolute must, a long block from the dealer or a no-bullshit full-price engine rebuilder is a must as well.
You could have it done with a slight bump in compression or a done-up head.
Or go with an LS swap... you already have enough brakes for it :)
 
yossarian19 said:
If reliability is an absolute must, a long block from the dealer or a no-bullshit full-price engine rebuilder is a must as well.
You could have it done with a slight bump in compression or a done-up head.
Or go with an LS swap... you already have enough brakes for it :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply! I'm looking to work with a guy who builds race motors for drag cars. He gave me a rough quote of 2500-3000 for the full rebuild, crank, cam and a full valve job. Sounds like a decent price?
 
If you get the quench height set correctly you should be able to get by with regular gas on a stroker. I am running a 4.7L with 10.4 compression and have never run anything other than regular. I have over 100k on the engine now.
 
old_man said:
If you get the quench height set correctly you should be able to get by with regular gas on a stroker. I am running a 4.7L with 10.4 compression and have never run anything other than regular. I have over 100k on the engine now.
Click to expand...

Your elevation helps with that, no?
 
old_man said:
If you get the quench height set correctly you should be able to get by with regular gas on a stroker. I am running a 4.7L with 10.4 compression and have never run anything other than regular. I have over 100k on the engine now.
Click to expand...

just for my own curiosity... is your 4.7L on the .060" overbore?
 
having been a hot rodder for all my life im a big fan of getting the most out of what you have, and lean heavily to the modification side of the spectrum.
that being said, my experience with a hand full of strokers hasnt sold me that it is a reasonable reliable long-term path with the 4.0L....
i havent owned or built one myself, and i'm confident i could get good results if i did, but anything over a "stock" rebuild in my opinion needs to offer something substantial and i havent seen that.
myself, i'd keep the rebuild simple, bore it, cam it, rework the head so it breathes in and out better than stock and call it a day.
if i wanted real performance gains in a reasonably priced engine i would be looking elsewhere in the engine and vehicle choice.
if you do go with a stroker, i'd listen to everything that Old_man has to say, he found a good combination that has been very successful.
 
I put this in and am very pleased with it: https://www.golenengineservice.com/engines/jeep/4-6270hp-jeep-long-block

I definitely can feel a difference with it being 100+HP over stock. I like the fact that I can give it gas and its right there with acceleration even at 50-60mph its right there with response. I would go with a stroker rebuild for sure. As far as modified engines strokers are pretty dependable if they are not crazy bored and compressed.
 
cherokeeproject said:
just for my own curiosity... is your 4.7L on the .060" overbore?
Click to expand...
Yes, I am bored .060 over and run H802CP pistons. The block has been decked .020 and I run the thin MOPAR head gasket. I am running a cam I got from Crane some years back. If you do a search on here you can find all that data. I am also running a Clifford header.
 
if stock was plenty, why upgrade? You already know that the stock engines are almost all good for a minimum of 150k and as much as waayyyy more than that. Jeep strokers are not as reliable as a stock motor, there are plenty of people around who have had great success with their strokers and at least as many who have had terrible experiences. In the end, if you know something is plenty reliable and you have no issues with its performance, why change it? Much cheaper to stick with a 4.0
 
Re: Re: To Stroke or not to Stroke?

yossarian19 said:
a long block from the dealer or
Click to expand...
For that price, no






old_man said:
If you get the quench height set correctly you should be able to get by with regular gas on a stroker.
Click to expand...
No guarantee. Most strokers with good quench and higher cr need premium. Static cr is also a bad was to estimate fuel required.
 
If I could find the coin I would do a stroker in a heartbeat. A local member here builds strokers that reliably make more then 350 HP. I would also be interested in looking at a Kenne Bell twin screw setup. Either way its big bux for my budget.
 
A stroker is as reliable as you build it. Buy a budget stroker, get budget reliability.

Some builders give you more bang for the buck than others.

Compression is only higher if you make it higher. You don't have to....

Going to premium octane gas adds what though, $2.50 to a tank of gas?
 
It's comes down to how bad you want that extra power? I just chose a stock rebuilt on mine. With a good cleaning and some manifold porting, I regained a few ponies, and couldn't be happier. To me the added power would cause more trouble in broken parts down the line than the "Awesome" was worth. I never felt the need for more power with my 5000 pound XJ. And if your gonna spend that much, get the ATK crate stroker for 2900 with a 2 year warranty.
 
old_man said:
Yes, I am bored .060 over and run H802CP pistons. The block has been decked .020 and I run the thin MOPAR head gasket. I am running a cam I got from Crane some years back. If you do a search on here you can find all that data. I am also running a Clifford header.
Click to expand...

ah.. i only ask cause i could have swore there was someone on here doing a 4.7 stroker on the .030" overbore, but i cant remember the configuration. ive been searching for months so im thinking it was a dream.

To the OP ... there is no replacement for displacement, if you have the money and time then there's nothing like a LS swap, lots of power and very reliable but be prepared for alot of work and $$. I plan to do a stroker myself but only because ive got 2 inline 6's in my garage, and a limited budget
 
sidriptide said:
anything over a "stock" rebuild in my opinion needs to offer something substantial and i havent seen that. I'd keep the rebuild simple, bore it, cam it, rework the head so it breathes in and out better than stock and call it a day.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about the cost/benefit of a stroker as well - and am having a hard time with it. Thanks for the details about the head - hadn't thought of porting it.

Hoooper said:
if stock was plenty, why upgrade? You already know that the stock engines are almost all good for a minimum of 150k and as much as waayyyy more than that.
Click to expand...

My engine kept up to just under 180k and was badly abused by previous owners. I'm coming to the same conclusion regarding the stock performance...


jeeperjohn said:
If I could find the coin I would do a stroker in a heartbeat. A local member here builds strokers that reliably make more then 350 HP. I would also be interested in looking at a Kenne Bell twin screw setup. Either way its big bux for my budget.
Click to expand...

Yea, I have some money to build a motor, but not big bucks :(


cal said:
A stroker is as reliable as you build it. Buy a budget stroker, get budget reliability. Going to premium octane gas adds what though, $2.50 to a tank of gas?
Click to expand...

I've noticed this trend as well - the guys who rebuild engines w/o spending proper cash have had all sorts of issues, while the guys with 5 G's into their motors have little issues.


Thank you everyone for all of the information! I can't express my appreciation enough - it's great to have a community like this to ask these questions to!
 
I have around $2,000 in the 4.7L stroker in my MJ. That is only factoring costs associated with the long block just like if a long block stroker was purchased. The key there is that I assembled it myself and spent time researching all the parts I wanted to use in the build.

For me it was entirely worth it.
 
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