TKat13's Mach1 Build Log

[Mach828]

Friend of mine had a valve seat drop on his fresh motor too. Any idea on how to prevent such a failure? Seems fairly common.

[01yellerCobra]

This makes me want to leave my heads alone.

[devous1]

Don't feel bad, I spent about 3 years and **** tons of cash building my car. I drove it about 4 times/less than 100 miles and put it away last summer. I kinda felt it wasn't running right last fall but let it go. I fixed a few items on it this spring, put fresh E85 in it and took it around the block and it had no power. I parked it in the drive to take some pics and started it to move back in the garage "ping". I shut it down and took it in for help. I broke a secondary intake gear in 3 pieces. I was pissed. The next time it pukes that motor is gone for something closer to stock.

I just feel I cant enjoy the car anymore because every time I drive I'm just waiting for something to break. I never even got to do a **** burnout with the car before it broke.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by Mach828

Friend of mine had a valve seat drop on his fresh motor too. Any idea on how to prevent such a failure? Seems fairly common.

I wish I knew what to do to prevent this failure, the more I read the more I see this happening. I see the problem, but no solutions. Maybe bad luck or just a design flaw?

Originally Posted by 01yellerCobra

This makes me want to leave my heads alone.

I have seen this on stock heads as well in my research after my failure.

Originally Posted by devous1

I just feel I cant enjoy the car anymore because every time I drive I'm just waiting for something to break. I never even got to do a **** burnout with the car before it broke.

I know exactly how you feel. Never made it to the track, wanted to break it in first.

[TKat13]

Quick update,

Heads:
heads appear to be repairable. All Valve seats will be removed, material added where needed, machined and new seats put in.

Bottom End:
Crank is in perfect shape, not a single issue there!
Oliver Rods are in perfect shape!
1 piston took a beating, technically could be used but no way will I take that risk and HPP does not recommend it either.
The pistons I have only come in sets of 4, so I am seriously considering going from 9.2:1 compression to 10.5-11:1 compression. This is what I originally wanted to do but changed my mind. Should increase the fun factor a bit.

Bottom line, it sounded much worse than it was and caught it quickly. Just a bummer that I have to reinstall everything again and it is cold now.

I will be buying a truck/suv in the coming weeks, clearly I need a different car and my daughter will be driving soon anyway.

[not a gt]

I found this and thought of you and all the turbo guys here on the Registry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9pNxV00tpA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EaCnDCsslM

[Vndcatr]

Wow wow wow .. Thats horrible man!..Glad it wasnt worse though

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by not a gt

I found this and thought of you and all the turbo guys here on the Registry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9pNxV00tpA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EaCnDCsslM

crazy cars, I was shocked at how well they were able to spin that 88 with such a small engine. As far as the Chevy, WTH?

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by Vndcatr

Wow wow wow .. Thats horrible man!..Glad it wasnt worse though

Yes, I keep saying, it could have been worse. The heads should be done this week, only took this long because I requested them not to start work on the heads until after the Christmas holidays, attempting to avoid half the work done, then take a break and do the rest of the work.

I did decide to go with 11:1 pistons, so will be waiting for those as well. With my new 76m turbo, I think my 80# injectors will now be the limiting factors.

[machgsxr]

Great build, yet hate to see you having bad luck. I know how that feels when getting so far and only have problem after problem.

Best of luck on second go round. Ill be keeping an eye on this thread as im building some turbo cars as well.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by machgsxr

Great build, yet hate to see you having bad luck. I know how that feels when getting so far and only have problem after problem.

Best of luck on second go round. Ill be keeping an eye on this thread as im building some turbo cars as well.

Thanks, I have decided that every one goes through this at some point. If making power was easy I guess everyone would be doing it. lol

This week I dropped off my intake to get the treatment, did not want to lose low end but I heard it was more safe as the flow is made to be even. I am sure I will not miss the loss on the low end since I also upped the compression. Maybe enough pickup on the upper end to overcome. Tuner recommended it so I went for it and since it is all apart may as well knock this part out now. Besides, there are motor parts moving around in side the intake, I shook a few out and this was enough to convince me to cut it open and make sure nothing is left behind.

[TKat13]

Here is a pic of the debris I shook out of the intake:


Cleaned up the garage and boxed/labeled all the bolts in the plastic packages that my dinner comes in; great re-use. (health dinners, always on the go and these are really good, fresh not frozen)

[TKat13]

Another quick update to new decisions with the build. I decided to punt the 80# injectors and go with 120# with an injector driver from AEM. The 120s are all low impedance so this requires the injector driver. This should help the combo make a little bit more power, having the 80s as my limiting factor has been weighing heavy on me for months.

I will be putting my 80s up for sale here after I get some pictures. But, as this build thread shows, they have less than 2000 miles on them, easily. I am going to let them go for 300.00. I think that is fair.

[01yellerCobra]

Why not go with the ID1000's? I think they're 95lb/hr. But they're plug and play.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by 01yellerCobra

Why not go with the ID1000's? I think they're 95lb/hr. But they're plug and play.

I basically had an injector driver given to me, so it is down to the cost of the injectors, an equivalent 120lb injector in cc is 1258cc, this leaves a few options:
ID1000 @$944.00 for 8
DW1200 @$1200.00 for 8
ID1300 @$1800.00 for 8
or
120lb @$500.00 for 8

Any of the above will work fine so it came down to an overall cost, I'm not afraid to wire up a box, I have plenty of time on my hands. They charge crazy prices just to go high impedance.

At least that is my current opinion, open to other options but want at least 120lb.

[Dan03mach]

How much power are you trying to make? When I had 80's in my car with a TH400 and GT4276 turbo I made almost 800rwhp with E85.

How hard was it to pull the motor out with the trans installed? I'm about to pull mine out again and have been debating pulling it with the trans hooked up. I have a powerglide

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by Dan03mach

How much power are you trying to make? When I had 80's in my car with a TH400 and GT4276 turbo I made almost 800rwhp with E85.

How hard was it to pull the motor out with the trans installed? I'm about to pull mine out again and have been debating pulling it with the trans hooked up. I have a powerglide

I would like to have 800-900HP if possible without maxing out the injectors. I keep reading where some people like you made 800 and others maxed at 700 with E85. Last tune was 636 with the On3 turbo at 13psi with this new turbo and higher compression should push me where I want. But, even if I only make 800, I don't want to be maxing out my injectors. My logic is based on total cost, if I tune it with the 80lbs and it does not reach my goals, then I will be out the paid dyno/tune time when I re-do it with the 120s. But, then again if it makes it with the 80s then I save money. Trust me, I keep banging my head on the wall on this decision. BTW, cruising around town I always kept it on the lowest boost setting (7 psi), which made 500 to the wheels, this was plenty for daily driving.

Pulling the motor with the transmission connected was pretty easy. This is how I have always done it since I do not have lift. I installed it this way as well. Just make sure you get strong bolts. I have to remove the passenger header because it snakes through the k-member, the starter comes out as well, makes it easier. The biggest word of advice is to have someone there to help, I literally did 90% of the work by myself, call my buddy over after I had the hoist connected to the motor, this second person is needed to pull the hoist back while you lift the transmission tail section over the core support. Overall, easier than messing with the transmission under the car, I really hate those two top bolts on the tranny!

[01yellerCobra]

The injector max will also depend on the fuel pressure. I've heard of guys running higher fuel pressure with E85. It seems to work better for them and gives a little more room with the injectors.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by 01yellerCobra

The injector max will also depend on the fuel pressure. I've heard of guys running higher fuel pressure with E85. It seems to work better for them and gives a little more room with the injectors.

Currently mine is set at 57ish psi iirc. but I do not know what my duty cycle was when it was last tuned. I am sure I can find out.

[Dan03mach]

Originally Posted by TKat13

I would like to have 800-900HP if possible without maxing out the injectors. I keep reading where some people like you made 800 and others maxed at 700 with E85. Last tune was 636 with the On3 turbo at 13psi with this new turbo and higher compression should push me where I want. But, even if I only make 800, I don't want to be maxing out my injectors. My logic is based on total cost, if I tune it with the 80lbs and it does not reach my goals, then I will be out the paid dyno/tune time when I re-do it with the 120s. But, then again if it makes it with the 80s then I save money. Trust me, I keep banging my head on the wall on this decision. BTW, cruising around town I always kept it on the lowest boost setting (7 psi), which made 500 to the wheels, this was plenty for daily driving.

Pulling the motor with the transmission connected was pretty easy. This is how I have always done it since I do not have lift. I installed it this way as well. Just make sure you get strong bolts. I have to remove the passenger header because it snakes through the k-member, the starter comes out as well, makes it easier. The biggest word of advice is to have someone there to help, I literally did 90% of the work by myself, call my buddy over after I had the hoist connected to the motor, this second person is needed to pull the hoist back while you lift the transmission tail section over the core support. Overall, easier than messing with the transmission under the car, I really hate those two top bolts on the tranny!

I understand your logic might as well get the big injectors now. I run 160lb injectors with a versafueler driver and they work great. Now I don't need that much injector with pump or racefuel but if I deside to go E85 again I will need them. I could get away with 80's and racefuel with no problem.

I run 4 bolts and 2 chains with a D hook. It does sound a lot easier to pull that way with everything installed already. I think I'll try it. As for the headers I run stock manifolds facing forward so they shouldn't be in the way. The top two bolts never really been that big of an issue if you have a swivel and very long extension. I use alan bolts though not standard head bolts. Thanks for the advise

[devous1]

]When we finally tuned my car on E85 I think I had 80s and I ran out in the high 500hp range. I ended up getting ID2000s, then we ran out of fuel pump.

I have a few GT500 motors and Ford has a set of brackets that you attach to the block to lift the motor
[/URL]

You can see the two bracket one on each side.

[TKat13]

Originally Posted by devous1

]When we finally tuned my car on E85 I think I had 80s and I ran out in the high 500hp range. I ended up getting ID2000s, then we ran out of fuel pump.

I have a few GT500 motors and Ford has a set of brackets that you attach to the block to lift the motor
[/URL]

You can see the two bracket one on each side.

Are the brackets attached to the header bolts? If not where and where do you get the brackets from? Those look like they would come in really handy!

[TKat13]

Here is a picture taken right after I pulled it out, the leveler is a huge benefit!


Look at this turbo! Wrapped in a Turbo blanket and all, that is my brother in the picture, I think he said that turbo was $50k+. lol

[TKat13]

Oh yea, and I picked up a daily beater, this keeps me patient during this rebuild process. It belonged to my wife's grandfather, after he passed away it sat in his old garage for a few years and no one wanted it. I have since had to do some maintenance such as a full tune, rotor cap, plugs, hoses and belts. I also had to put on a new intake gasket, which is common on 350s. I slapped on a set of tires and she drives very well. It is an 88 2500 with 138k miles. Next on the list are front shocks so I picked up a set of bilsteins, hopefully this weekend will be warm enough. Good to have a truck again, after I got rid of my SRT10 I have been really missing not having a truck around.

[devous1]

I bought 4 of these motors a couple weeks ago and sold 3 immediately. I still have one that I put on a engine stand but I really haven't looked at it yet. I'll try to remember tomorrow to look for some sort of part number and where they mount up. I just assumed it was on the ehaust mounts.

I think 3 of the 4 motors had these on them so they must be a Ford or Ford SVT item. I had never seen them before this, but they work great and are very sturdy.

I stand corrected, they mount up right under the valve cover to a set of bolt holes.