S&J Engines and ITM Head

BDiddy

BDiddy

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Jul 27, 2021
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North Bend, WA
Hey guys – The original 4.0 in my 2000 Wrangler has some gnarly piston slap and low oil pressure. I considered rebuilding it but to be honest dropping in a crate engine seems like less work for not a lot more money considering labor and machine shop costs these days. It had a cracked head when I bought it, which I promptly replaced with a TUPY. Looks like the bearings were already trashed tho.

I have a quote going with S&J and plan to place my order this week. They offer an optional "performance upgrade" of an ITM Engine Components cylinder head for $500. Anyone familiar with these heads? If their heads are as good as a TUPY then prob worth it, but I can't find much about ITM's track record. The description makes me think it's prob reinforced and has larger intake/exhaust ports. Including S&J's description of the head below, along with other upgrades I'll prob pass on.

ITM Engine Components Cylinder Head $500​

New, Updated Casting; Improved Air/Fuel Management; Superior to OEM Spec

Balance Rotating Assembly $250​

Improves Fuel/Power Efficiency; Reduces Vibration, Internal Stresses & Engine Noise

Port & Polish Cylinder Head $600​

Porting of Bowls, Port Match; Profiling of Combustion Chambers; Polishing of Surfaces; Removes Casting Flaws & Increases Air/Fuel Flow; Performance Gains Throughout Entire Rev Range
 
macleanflood said:
If you want help swapping the engine I'd be happy to drive up for a weekend.

Or if you want to come south I might have a shop and a lift in a couple months. If nothing else my tractor can lift an engine!

I think I'd skip the extras. If I wanted more power I'd go and LS swap it.

-Mac
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Bro, I might be in touch! Fulfillment is 8-10 weeks... That shop and lift sound mighty fine compared to doing this in my garage.
 
BDiddy said:

ITM Engine Components Cylinder Head $500​

New, Updated Casting; Improved Air/Fuel Management; Superior to OEM Spec
Click to expand...

Did they explain how it’s superior to OEM?

BDiddy said:

Balance Rotating Assembly $250​

Improves Fuel/Power Efficiency; Reduces Vibration, Internal Stresses & Engine Noise
Click to expand...

I’d likely want this done.

BDiddy said:

Port & Polish Cylinder Head $600​

Porting of Bowls, Port Match; Profiling of Combustion Chambers; Polishing of Surfaces; Removes Casting Flaws & Increases Air/Fuel Flow; Performance Gains Throughout Entire Rev Range
Click to expand...

Idk about this one I’d probably skip it.
 
How many miles on your existing Head? You may just need a short block?

I would ask around locally you might have a solid shop in your area that could build this for you,at least I would explore that option.
 
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JustDandee said:
How many miles on your existing Head? You may just need a short block?

I would ask around locally you might have a solid shop in your area that could build this for you,at least I would explore that option.
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I’ve asked around and got 3 estimates. All said they wouldn’t rebuild and would replace for… wait for… 10-14k. Complete madness. Prob marking engines up 200% and double charging labor.

The highest estimated 12-14k and specified they’d order a Jasper because they’ve heard good things about them.
 
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BDiddy said:
I’ve asked around and got 3 estimates. All said they wouldn’t rebuild and would replace for… wait for… 10-14k. Complete madness. Prob marking engines up 200% and double charging labor.

The highest estimated 12-14k and specified they’d order a Jasper because they’ve heard good things about them.
Click to expand...

wow- Agreed that is madness, that is the I don’t want to do it price.
 
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BDiddy said:
Real bummer about the crappy gaskets and backwards RMS on his engine. Has me second guessing things a little bit to be honest.
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Yea that was lame. I read about a Jasper unit arriving with a RMS leak as well. Certainly doesn’t give me a fuzzy feeling especially after having so many troubles with a Bullripper transmission.

I’ll try to find an excellent local builder before I go this route.
 
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Mikee024 said:
Yea that was lame. I read about a Jasper unit arriving with a RMS leak as well. Certainly doesn’t give me a fuzzy feeling especially after having so many troubles with a Bullripper transmission.

I’ll try to find an excellent local builder before I go this route.
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what issues have you had with your bullripper tranny? i've heard many many good things about them but i guess not which makes sense since you got forced induction
You got a similar setup i look foward on having, Stroker with forced induction,but ofcourse you need that power to go to a good tranny.
Sadly i do not know any good builders for the 42rle in my area, which makes me want to go with a completely different tranny like @Jezza did, That man has a badass and beautifully setup jeep, Man makes it look easy which it is since i see he seems to own or work at a shop that allows him to make custom one off parts 😄not only that he can design em
 
D's Jeep Wrld said:
what issues have you had with your bullripper tranny? i've heard many many good things about them but i guess not which makes sense since you got forced induction
You got a similar setup i look foward on having, Stroker with forced induction,but ofcourse you need that power to go to a good tranny.
Sadly i do not know any good builders for the 42rle in my area, which makes me want to go with a completely different tranny like @Jezza did, That man has a badass and beautifully setup jeep, Man makes it look easy which it is since i see he seems to own or work at a shop that allows him to make custom one off parts 😄not only that he can design em
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The tranny is good to go now and to be transparent the issues had nothing to do with the turbo. I didn’t even have it yet for the initial issues.

It showed up with a bad torque converter and they put the tail housing on with a leaking seal bc they wanted my installer to use the tail from the original transmission (but they failed to tell anyone, or tag it, or put it in the directions. And they shipped tue tail housing fully torqued down and RTVd. Stupid to think anyone would think to just rip off the tail housing when it’s gotta be turned into them. They said they usually don’t ship them with a tail housing. That would have made more sense.

Later I had a flared shift (fast slip) into OD and I jumped through hoops to get a valve body and solenoid pack. After install it basically only drove in limp mode.

My local installer felt so bad he installed a Mopar solenoid pack (that I purchased online) and double checked the valve body for free.

All is good now, thankfully. The transmission doesn’t mind the turbo possibly bc of the billet torque converter and reemed valve body. I’m super happy with the setup pushing a max of 7 lbs, so I can only imagine what the turbo 4.7L feels like.

You planning to run a low compression piston, race gas, or water/meth injection to prevent detonation?

Edit: Jezza is definitely the man :)
 
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Mikee024 said:
The tranny is good to go now and to be transparent the issues had nothing to do with the turbo. I didn’t even have it yet for the initial issues.

It showed up with a bad torque converter and they put the tail housing on with a leaking seal bc they wanted my installer to use the tail from the original transmission (but they failed to tell anyone, or tag it, or put it in the directions. And they shipped tue tail housing fully torqued down and RTVd. Stupid to think anyone would think to just rip off the tail housing when it’s gotta be turned into them. They said they usually don’t ship them with a tail housing. That would have made more sense.

Later I had a flared shift (fast slip) into OD and I jumped through hoops to get a valve body and solenoid pack. After install it basically only drove in limp mode.

My local installer felt so bad he installed a Mopar solenoid pack (that I purchased online) and double checked the valve body for free.

All is good now, thankfully. The transmission doesn’t mind the turbo possibly bc of the billet torque converter and reemed valve body. I’m super happy with the setup pushing a max of 7 lbs, so I can only imagine what the turbo 4.7L feels like.

You planning to run a low compression piston, race gas, or water/meth injection to prevent detonation?

Edit: Jezza is definitely the man :)
Click to expand...
Gotcha I would of thought the Fi had to do with something but that's good too know
Sucks you had to go through all that but that's how things are

And yes sir what I plan on doing is maybe keeping the stock compression or possibly bump it up to like a 9.1:1 Cr and pump Gas and maybe e85 and meth if I want to get rowdy every now and then easier said than done since I still need to get a full rotatating assemby and many other parts ,however I do have a 328 block to start from at the very least😁

As well where did you get a billet TC and what stall are you running ?
And if you are running a different stall why so and how does it perform as well as its driving characteristics?
 
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D's Jeep Wrld said:
Gotcha I would of thought the Fi had to do with something but that's good too know
Sucks you had to go through all that but that's how things are
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Yea the key is to get it running right then moving on with your life.

D's Jeep Wrld said:
And yes sir what I plan on doing is maybe keeping the stock compression or possibly bump it up to like a 9.1:1 Cr and pump Gas and maybe e85 and meth if I want to get rowdy every now and then easier said than done since I still need to get a full rotatating assemby and many other parts ,however I do have a 328 block to start from at the very least😁
Click to expand...

I installed AEM’s water/meth injection this summer. I just pulled it since I haven’t used it since installing the semi-custom intercooler in august. I’ll be listing it for sale after I get back from this trip. Let me know if you are interested in a like-new set up with a significant discount. Never used the tank and it will include the extra solenoid and filter. It pained me to remove it bc the architecture was beautiful. All good if you aren’t interested just letting you know.

D's Jeep Wrld said:
As well where did you get a billet TC and what stall are you running ?
And if you are running a different stall why so and how does it perform as well as its driving characteristics?
Click to expand...

The billet TC is made by precision and I got it through bullripper (transmission exchange co).

I felt pretty good about it since my installer said that’s what he installs in his builds. I can’t remember the stall speed specs sorry about that. I’d imagine bullripper can give you that info if you call them. Make sure they give u tue info for the billet and not their stamped “HD” that’s basically just brazed find (which my installer said is pretty standard not HD in his opinion).
 
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Mikee024 said:
Yea the key is to get it running right then moving on with your life.



I installed AEM’s water/meth injection this summer. I just pulled it since I haven’t used it since installing the semi-custom intercooler in august. I’ll be listing it for sale after I get back from this trip. Let me know if you are interested in a like-new set up with a significant discount. Never used the tank and it will include the extra solenoid and filter. It pained me to remove it bc the architecture was beautiful. All good if you aren’t interested just letting you know.



The billet TC is made by precision and I got it through bullripper (transmission exchange co).

I felt pretty good about it since my installer said that’s what he installs in his builds. I can’t remember the stall speed specs sorry about that. I’d imagine bullripper can give you that info if you call them. Make sure they give u tue info for the billet and not their stamped “HD” that’s basically just brazed find (which my installer said is pretty standard not HD in his opinion).
Click to expand...

Gotcha man well i appreciate your info and once its that time for me for a new tranny ill most likely go with bullripper or any reputable builder as well go with that billet TC since that seems to be the better&only apparent option out there for the 42rle ! like your installer said i can also agree with the brazed TC deal, it is better to have the TC's fins for the turbine to be welded compared to it being brazed and i can say that from experience from what ive seen from my buddies since they have cool fast stuff to say the least
Nut at the same time we probably wont run any more than lets say.....600 whp to where you know you need something better and at that point just run another tranny......easier said than done

And as to your offer like you said, im not truly interested in buying the meth kit so ill kindly decline
But yeah man let me know how all goes, ill probably see you around in the forum 😄
 
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D's Jeep Wrld said:
Gotcha man well i appreciate your info and once its that time for me for a new tranny ill most likely go with bullripper or any reputable builder as well go with that billet TC since that seems to be the better&only apparent option out there for the 42rle ! like your installer said i can also agree with the brazed TC deal, it is better to have the TC's fins for the turbine to be welded compared to it being brazed and i can say that from experience from what ive seen from my buddies since they have cool fast stuff to say the least
Nut at the same time we probably wont run any more than lets say.....600 whp to where you know you need something better and at that point just run another tranny......easier said than done

And as to your offer like you said, im not truly interested in buying the meth kit so ill kindly decline
But yeah man let me know how all goes, ill probably see you around in the forum 😄
Click to expand...

Yea I don’t know what the 42rle’s limit is but I don’t think I’ve surpassed it since I’m not running crazy hp. Let me know if you have trouble locating the billet part number from bullripper. Also, it might not be a bad idea to just have a reputable local rebuilder do the work….that way any issues are under warranty (gonna have to pay labor or do it yourself if you go tue bullripper route). Just something to consider.

I could be wrong, but I believe reeming the valve body, using an oem solenoid pack, and using a billet TC is a good way to go regardless of who does the rebuild.

I’ll be happy to see you around man best of luck with your build.
 
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Quick update: Just learned that Titan sells remaned short blocks. Considering this option so I can use my existing TUPY head which was sourced, rebuilt, and installed about 18k miles ago.

Only downside is no warranty if you choose a short block and no head. But kinda feel like I’m up that creek anyway if I do a rebuild, and it would realistically cost about the same.

Honest truth is I have a hard time believing any of the warranties from the online companies are worth much anyway if you have to pull the engine to ship it back or have labor reimbursed at $25-$50/hr.
 
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