79 cj5 amc 383 stroker

BigD

New member
I bought my first jeep a few weeks ago. 79 cj5 fiberglass tub, 4 speed transmission, v8 motor, what was thought to be a 360. Had a knock in the valve train so we started to pull it apart and found a bent push rod, pretty cheep for new set of push rods thank The Lord. Being in college push a pinch on the budget. Checked the cam and lifters, all good, took the heads off and gave them to a buddy, he could take them to school and check valves and have the whole thing cleaned. In doing all of this I found a problem. My identification number wasn't for a 360, it was a 327 out of a rambler, I believe bored and stroked to be about a 383 after some measuring. Now that I have all of this info, what are the chances that my pushrods are going to be stock length, what headgasket should I try to find, I figure the POs PO replaced the valve springs but not pushrods and that's why it bent, I hope. Oh and I am not at all an expert on engines, I can get by, but sorry for my small amounts of knowledge. Just realy good atreading and looking through all of these forums.
 

Man gaskets are expensive. Pricing out all the parts to put the motor back together. Heads are getting machined on, couple things where worn out in them. New push rods. Going with cheep head gaskets for now because of the tight budget. Maybe when I blow one ill have some more dough, hopefully they just hold haha. Maybe if parts take awhile I will do some painting, I like a nice painted motor. Jeep will be orange in the end I think, what color looks good on the motor.
 
whats up.. Ok, so you have a 327 thats been stroked. First off, what make is the engine??? Chevy or AMC. Amc discontinued the 327 in the late 60,s and I would be suprised if its an AMC motor. If you do not know, post the block number. The AMC and Chevy engines are nowhere near the same motor so you will need to know when ordering parts. What heads are on it? that should tell you what the rod lenght should be then you can measure them to see. My heads came with to dif lenght rods for dif years so you really need to ID the head I think and go from there.. I went through this mess a year or so ago. what make engine and year, what heads and year,
 
It's a amc engine, 3195528 it the number on it. I think it was out of a javelin but I realy don't know, trying to remeasure the bore, my brother did it the first time, I'm at college during the week. Me and him i guess own it together, I don't know what heads are on it right now, haven't actualy seen them off. Hopefully going to know a lot more come Friday. The pistons say .030 over but that could be .030 over about anything. I'm going to get him to remeasure tonight and I think the original displacement is by the motor mounts on the amc v8s he's going to try to find that too. How do I know what heads I have, they need work already I know though
 
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you dont need to remove the heads to ID them. Just take off the valve cover and there will be a ID number just like the block (exampl: mine are 3890462) then google the rod lentgh for them. the 30 over pistons wont nessisarily mean longer rod, I believe the rods just dictate how far the valve opens. larger pistons mean a overbore (larger displacement engine). ur engne size is now probably around 331CI now.
 
Alright, I had just read a lot about using sbc .030 over 400 heads to build a stroker, it had a new cam and lifters, that could change the length of push rod I would need wouldn't it? The PO decided to just half rebuild the engine, the stuff that gives it more performance, but never upgraded valve train, I would say that's why I had a bent push rod
 
Not nessisarily, I had a bent push rod (actually more than one) and they are stock length and the internals of the motor were stock at the time. Something happened inside that caused the rod to bend, for me I think it was some toasted lifters. Are all your lifters flat? not concaved at all. I really dont know if the stroker kit requires longer rods but I really doubt it. I had wiped some lobes on my cam and about 4 toasted lifters and a couple bent pushrods in mine. The cam was the culprit. Il try to look into your rod length on the stroker, I am no expert by no means or nowhere close for that matter. maybe others with far more smarts on this than me will chime in. Il let ya know what I find out. Just realized something,, I stated that your CI was now probably 331, That is wrong.. I was thinking of just boring a 327 .30 over, and not the 383 stroker kit.. sorry about that hope it didnt confuse you
 
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Ok found the info... YES the stroker requires longer rods. I did a google search "when stroking a 327 are longer rods required" you can check it out if you want... I didnt read all of it so I dont know how much longer rods it needs. Hope it helps
 
Thanks, I get home in a few hours so I will get to check my baby out. Looks like I know what to ask for for Christmas this year. And supposedly the lifters and cam are good, I haven't actualy looked at them myself, that's just what my brother, and "mechanic" buddy says. Though I got to trust him, I think he rebuilds at least two motors a week around her for people.
 
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So is an adjustable push rod used to find the needed push rod length? I have seen them for sale, don't realy know what they are for.
 
Home, got my "new" steering column ready to be mocked up. Looked at the casting of the block, says 360, measured the bore, 4.108 so they are .030 over 360 making it a 365 I believe. Got pics of the heads and the block in the jeep, little rough looking.
 

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I have no idea about the ajustable rods, sorry, I dont know enough about rebuilding. I dont know what you mean about shaft or stud mounted rockers, sorry. can you post a pic. If you havent cleaned up those heads, they look better than a lot I have seen. most I have seen were caked in oil sludge.
 

I got my heads back, pushrods ordered and gaskets ordered, all should be here by Friday or Monday. Then putting it all together after that. Got my plates yesterday so once it's running it can be test drove
 
The exhaust valves were all re machined on the seats, and also all of the tubes the valves run in, can't think of the tech name. Was 200 bucks from a guy that has done thousands for me so I prob got a little bit of a deal
 

thanks, I was wondering about prices, (I know you can spend a fortune on them). My heads are 40+ yrs old and I have no idea if they have ever been worked on (original cam was still in it) and have read that it would be a good idea to have them looked at. So thanks again.
 
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