Does anyone know the longevity/reliability of a 4.00" stroker. I'm setting up a 5.3 for a jeep and I've been trying to decide on whether I wanna buy a stroker crank or just grind the stock one. I'd love to go with the stroker but in the end I want reliability more than anything because it's gonna be a daily driver. And while we're on the stroker topic, anyone hear of a company called Ohio crankshaft? They have a 4.00" crankshaft for 695$. Also im not trying to run more than like 380 hp..I mostly want some torque. And please don't be a **** chung and say get a 6.0. Lol. I already have the 5.3 block.

 

I've got 8k trouble-free miles on mine, aside from some oil consumption. The pistons are pulled a little further out of the hole than the block was designed for, so there is likely more excessive piston wear.

This is not my daily driver however, I would not want an LS-stroker motor for my daily driver.

 

Your power goal is modest. Spend your money on the topend rather than a blind quest for displacement.

 

How much more oil are you going through. have you done a miles/quart. Any Smoke? Blow by ?

Very interested.

 

I have a stroker LS motor and have been very pleased thus far. It by no means is a DD, however. It does go through a little oil, but is expected at high RPM To answer your question, Ohio crankshaft is a respected shop in Greenville OH, doing parts for DD types all the way to high end drag applications. My dad had them build his stroker motor for his Chevelle and all good so far. The crank you describe is likely a cast iron crank, which for low end builds is perfectly fine, but is not the same quality piece that you see more often which are forged.

To 96caprice's point, have you considered just building a quality top end on the 5.3? Displacement is a good building block for power, but with your goals you may be best suited to spend money on good heads, intake, and a matching camshaft to meet your goals/expectations. G/L with what you decide

 

People are WAY too quick to look for more displacement and in the quest often build shortblocks that are a step backwards quality and reliability wise from stock.

There is a LOT of performance to be gained in a nice topend and a nice topend is needed to support extra displacement anyway so IMO unless a shortblock is a repair the topend should always be done first.

 

Rather than a 4" stroke crank, you could always bore the cylinders out to use LS1 size pistons.

If you're after torque, displacement is your best friend.

 

Thought and understanding can easily replace a blind quest for displacement. Granted the whole package has to work a $6000 pair of heads aren't going to be able to shine on a stock 5.3 shortblock but then again a 408 wont work well with a pair of stock 706s either.

It is all a balancing act.

Far as torque the guy said it is going in a Jeep. What does that weight compared to the fullsize 4wd trucks the 5.3l is most common in?

Displacement can be a good thing if done well but if you do it cheap and the machining is crap and then you have no money left for the topend then you built an expensive turd.

 

What about going the other way? I'd like to build a 4" bore 3.25" stroke motor for my 260Z with good heads and run up to 15lbs max boost. I'd like reliability and a modest power level(around 750 at the tires) along with good fuel economy(at least 20mpg) when daily driving.
RonA

 

The small bores of the 4.8L/5.3L engines are really good for boosted applications. Bigger bores lose a little efficiency as the flame has to travel a further distance across the piston and will have a tendency to have a lower knock threshold.

I'm pretty sure, however, someone has already done a 4.030" bore 6.0l block with a 3.26" stroke 4.8l crank and had pretty good results with a turbo.

 

I did a 99 wrangler with a stock 2004 6.0. I was very happy with it. A good set of heads and small cam would be very nice. My current 98 Wrangler is a LS1 rebuilt to LS6 specs. LS6 heads and cam. Comp high lift rockers. Six years on it and it runs great. Zero oil consumption.
If I was going to do another and I just might I would start with a 6.0.
Having said that I have a 6.0 LS2 block sleeved by RED to 4.125 bore with a 4 inch stroke and it doesn't use any oil to speak of. Not a daily driver but in a 1000 miles it's hard to see any thing down on the dip stick.

 

about 1.2qt per 1k miles.

My catch can only catches about 10% of that.

Zero smoke on startup, Zero blowby from oil cap, Zero combustion by-products detected in oil analysis, Zero chrome in oil from piston rings...

I'm stumped!