... Well I was afraid mine was a grenade without a pin until some other Jedis convinced me I was in the majority. I personally think the new Jeep owner has unrealistic expectations about a solid axle/body on frame/somewhat-submersible brick and trades them in. However, it seems to me that its about assembly of the bottom end. I am fine with rebuilding a junkyard block for lower comp./higher boost.

I agree though that besides a QUALITY rebuild there is nothing to be gained on these 3.8s besides cam and boost. If you CAN offset the factory crank for a BUDGET stroker- why not though, right?

 

I agree, and my '09 burns a fair bit of oil as well. I usually add another full quart in between oil changes. I still have the warranty on my motor and if I were to try modifying it, I can probably say goodbye to both my warranty and the money spent trying to upgrade an oil-burner.

 

Hesco has 3 diferent stroked 3.8 engins. they are around $4,000.oo . I have considerd this option as an alternative to a hemi swap. They have a 3.8 stroker with low compression pistions for super charger or turbo kits , and high compression pistons for normal asperated engines. the downside is that they are short blocks and you have to transfer everything over to the new block.

 

I looked and didnt see anything about them being strokers.

 

I agree completely. When I drove across country with my V8 mustang it felt like I was driving a 4 cyl once I got high enough. I had to constantly downshift to 3rd just to keep speed. When I drove across country in my turbo'd 3.5l V6 Nissan 350Z I barely noticed any power loss. Never had to shift out of 6th either.

I'd go forced induction all the way if I was high altitude. Why stroke it only to lose it due to being in high altitude?

 

The thing about the stroker kit would be the type of components used. Are the pistons, rods and cranked forged? Or are they cast, maybe hypereutectic pistons? If it's forged components, I'd throw a RIPP on the thing with the forged stroker crank and throw like 14lbs of boost at it. Obviously use some good head gaskets and an ARP head stud kit. But some nice boost would make that motor more of an animal. The block is pretty strong from what I hear/read. Just the factory cast components are the weak point with boost.

 

FI is the only way to go at altitude. Asking the mediocre heads to feed even more cubes that a stroker kit adds is just a recipe for a huge disappointment at altitude. Turbos and blowers were originally developed for airplane engines to offer sea level performance at high altitude.

Turbo's fit the bill even better at altitude because of the waste gate design limits max boost allowing the turbo to spin as much as needed to reach that boost where as blowers will see some reduction in boost at altitude versus sea level because of the pulley selection. As in 10 psi would be perfect at altitude, but at sea level that same pulley would over boost to 14psi. The turbo, with it's waste gate, would just release the extra pressure above 10psi.

But a twin screw or a turbo would be a better pick than a hemi. I don't get all the hemi love on here, the block weighs a ton and takes away from the nimble nature of the JK. I could under stand an LS1 style all aluminum swap but why throw a lump of iron under the hood.

 

an all aluminum 5.3 would be chhhhheeeeaaaaap. Hot Rod has made a 430hp 4.8L junkyard LS screamer and 700hp with a huffer on a $500 shortblock.

I traded a 3kGT with a T70 single on 3L for my JK because I was sick of dissasembly for every friggin thing. My WRX had a single VF22 on 2.5L . My F250 had a turbo on 7.4L. Yet my favorite daily driver was my Eaton twin screw'd 5.4L.

I wouldnt ever do a hemi...and your 3.8 actually makes more hp/cube than the hemi with lower mass. A stroker is do able though not for many cubes more. And the heads make top end power limited, so you can skip forged internals and keeps costs down.

It is doable. I have an empty engine stand and micrometer- donate an oil burning top end and ill get to work! A few measurements and I bet we can find some DSM rods to match an offset ground crank to!

 

*edit*

The 5.3L would be the CHEAP part. Bellhousing, flywheel and can-bus will NOT be. *whisper: motec*

 

Raced at Bandimere for years. I love displacement, but would love a turbo even more up here.