adriaanvn99

Awesome! Good to know of a company that produces solid remanned engines

The 4.6 is ready to get dropped in! I am hoping to have it running by this weekend. Has certainly been a long process but I am hoping it will be worth it! Once everything is hooked up and running I will post a thorough breakdown

The XJ is approaching the final stages of the engine swap! I had some trouble originally with my RaceTec pistons. The oil groove was originally not machined deep enough, so once the rings were on they wouldn’t seat properly in the block. This set me back quite a bit time wise with the build. I also got to tearing down the original engine. Every single main bearing was spun within its cap. In some places it got so hot that it completely scarred the crankshaft. The only possible explanation to this is the high mileage it had. The original engine failed at 270 354 miles which isn’t too bad! For now, lots of engine bay cleaning and tidying up to be done before the 4.6 gets dropped in! Really impressed with the build quality and construction of this Mishimoto aluminum 3 core radiator. I am hoping this will keep the Stroker cool as they do tend to run on the hotter side at lower idle speeds

Some more shots

Thanks George! Yes I definitely think it was a step in the right direction, thanks for your advise earlier! I was thinking that since it was mandrel bent stainless steel it wasn’t necessary, but I might reconsider my thoughts!

The engine rebuild has started to take some shape! I was hoping to have everything buttoned up before months end but unfortunately I was waiting for my 258 crankshaft which was difficult to find! I eventually got a custom one from Scat and it was balanced and micro polished by Russ Pottenger. Once I get back from my travels, it should be a straight forward assembly! I was originally planning on doing a 4.2 Stroker, which utilized a 232 crankshaft and boring the cylinder .060”, but since I was upgrading to forged piston rods it made sense to run the 258 crankshaft and a .030” bore which puts it at 4.6

Epic man, styling hard! Glad it all worked out well

Thanks all! Just got the donor engine from a 1998 with 160 000 miles on it. Getting ready to strip it and send of some of the cosmetic stuff to get media blasted and ceramic coated. Once I get the final word from Russ the sub assembly will be off to the machine shop to get cleaned and honed

Thanks man! Was bound to happen with the high milage, but excited to take this as a learning opportunity. Building engines is always fun:D

The XJ's 4.0 has been defeated! After clocking 270 000 miles, the 4.0 failed on my way to EJS in Moab. I was traveling up the i17 N when I had a sudden loss of power. Pulled over and shut off, and I when I started it up again I had very hard knock coming from my top end. I creeped my way back to Sedona and rented a UHaul to tow it back to Phoenix. My first step was a compression test, which yielded no obvious signs. All cylinders were within spec (between 120-150 Psi) and the oil looked fairly normal. I am assuming I have a bent push rod from a collapsed lifter. I picked up a donor 1998 engine with 160 000 miles on it and will start a full teardown of it. I contacted Russ Pottenger from Bishop Beuhl Racing engines and he is putting together a full kit for me. Will be a pretty mild 'mini stroker'. The specs will be something along the lines of this: AMC 232 3.500" stroke crank Jeep 4.0L 6.125" rods Silvolite UEM-2229 +0.060" bore pistons 10.1:1 CR CompCams #68-235-4 210/218 degree camshaft Custom Ported HO 1.91"/1.50" cylinder head Mopar 0.043" head gasket 0.040" quench height Ford 24lb/hr injectors for '96-'04 engines Hesco High Flow Thermostat Housing Flowkooler High Flow water pump Banks Revolver header 62mm Throttle Body 270hp @ 5300rpm, 306lbft @ 4000rpm Pretty excited to be getting this project under way! I did manage to get one night of camping in though which made it a little more worthwhile!

Thanks Kris! Yes that’s exactly the kit I got, also through Amazon. Here’s a better shot of the Cerakote. This is the “titanium”. They offer black and silver too

The XJ has had a cracked header for a while now, and finally got to replacing the whole exhaust system. Whilst at it, I decided to do the 99-01 horseshoe intake swap. I got the intake manifold from DeadJeeps on eBay and then got it media blasted and Cerakoted by AZ Pro Strip in Mesa. It turned out real nice. I added the DEI insulation kit over the fuel rail and and intake shield to prevent any heatsoak issues. Full exhaust replacement with a Magnaflow high flow cat and muffler. I decided to have everything welded in by a guy close by, called Wicked Wrench. The 4.0 is breathing a lot happier now!

I have been busy with a number of smaller projects on the XJ over the last few weeks. The biggest upgrade which was done is that I finally regeared to 4.56 Yukon gears and swapped in my Chrysler 8.25 rear. Andrew at LetzRoll Offroad did a great job of regearing my axles and installing a SYE in the NP242 with a new Adam's driveshaft. I finished the break in period and of course had to go try it out! Headed up to Broken Arrow trail over the weekend and I am very pleased with the performance. A quick comparison; on the 3.55's I was at 2850 rpm at 65 mph, with the 4.56 I am cruising at 2050 rpm at 65 mph. The biggest difference for me is the off road performance... 4 Low is totally in proportion now and I hardly have to give throttle over an obstacle which is great! Everything is smooth as butter! The factory LSD also made a major improvement traction wise off road. I will still eventually like to upgrade to ARB selectable lockers front and rear I recently bought the Engel MR-040 fridge freezer. I have always been loyal to Engel as they make a great product and are well known in the industry. I needed a quick way to mount it, so I bought the Engel transit-lock slide along with it. Its quite a neat setup which allows you to slide the fridge into place and it keeps it nice and secure. Of course, I needed a platform to mount this too so I made a rear platform out of 1/2 inch Birchwood ply. It turned out great and serves a good job of keeping the fridge secure. I added some tie down points to secure my Wolfpack boxes to. I like that I still have easy access to my Hi-Lift and compressor on the driver side. I will eventually upgrade to a more complete system such as the ARB drawer system and drop down fridge slide, but this serves my needs for now! Another major replacement was my timing chain, rear main seal, oil pump and oil pan gasket. This was quite a big job but I am relieved it was done. The XJ was leaking pretty badly from the RMS and oil pan gasket. My timing chain was so stretched that it had completely destroyed the rubber isolator in the timing chain cover. Luckily all went well and I have not run into any major issues yet!

Awesome work theksmith!

The XJ has been working hard the last 2 weeks! I will add a full write up soon of the little additions made, but the added rack has been a nice addition in terms of added storage options.