M90 rebuild (rudy)

well figured i would start a new thread.just a quick background.did the whole build on my explorer but built it using stock head gaskets and head bolts.did it really as a safety net and i just couldnt afford head studs at the time.well to say the least i blew the head gaskets off from it wile i was in the mountains on a forum trip about two years later.

i picked up a 1994 ranger,its got the 4.0 OHV and is a 5 speed 2wd.the plan is to pull the motor out of the explorer and rebuild it.

this thread will basically cover the rebuild and build up of the new ranger.it will basically end up as a street race truck.ive named it Rudy so let the fun begin.


UPDATE
new motor specs
BORE: 4" JE asymmetrical pistons (custom over bore)

RODS: 6.058 Manley (longer rod)

VALVES: IN-1.8 EX-1.5 Manley heavy duty (.150 over)

Transmission:T5 hybrid from a 2006 Mustang and 93 Fox
HEADS: 93TM HEAVILY ported with custom brass guides and copper gaskets/O-ringed with ARP studs
CAM: 422 Comp cams with 988 springs and Toms custom lifters,push rods and 1.7 roller rockers
Complete blueprint and balanced internals
GM M90 supercharged with one 1" intercooler plates with ASP 8 rib belt conversion. .
pushing 16 lbs of boost with small shot of NOS
Running on E50
Dyno tuned by Dyno Tune Performance outa Virginia using SCT

old thread and pic
3800 M90 Build
ported and polished gm 3800 gen 2 m90
Water to air intercooled
port matched 76mm inlet and intake tube
mustang 75mm race tb
90mm maf
36lb injectors
255 fuel pump
sct 5bank dyno tuned
2.7" pulley 10lbs of boost!!

and the new 1994 ranger 4.0 OHV 5 speed 2WD with 115,000 miles on it.o and i only paid $1,000 for it:shifty_ey
RUDY

 

[jd4242]

Went out trolln today but couldn't find a race.made a video of a 2nd gear 45 hit..i didnt downshift or double clutch,just hit it.also short shifted like crazy,rev limiter is set to 6200..

Those that know what a supercharger sounds like when its under load and making full boost can tell by the sound that it wasnt a hard full hit..obviously im not going to post a video of a full hit with Nitrous on,atleast not yet.
[Youtube]pAR643q3tQ4[/media]

O and i totally forgot my camera holder thing that sticks to the window,its not easy without it. .lol

 

[4pointslow]

Ranger

That sounds nice and smooth! Tach is moving fast, I like it!

 

[jd4242]

That sounds nice and smooth! Tach is moving fast, I like it!

Should see a regular hit with a kit turned on and it taken to 6,000....3rd pulls about as fast as 2nd does in that video,the pitch of the exhaust sounds totally different..

 

[jd4242]

Got my quick disconnect and filter in finally

 

[jd4242]

Got my parts from Tom but haven't gotten the rockers yet,should be here tomorrow. .

I will say im slightly concerned about his recent changes for added strength. .if you view this picture/diagram you can see he has added two bolts that hold down the cylinder head, to support his rocker mount bar..the 2 bolts are 10.9 metric bolts that have be drilled and tapped through the top of the bolt head..he said he hasnt found a ARP stud yet to use so this was his quick solution. .to me,drilling in the head of the bolt is going to weaken that bolt drastically. .im going to try and find possibly a longer 10.9 bolt to go through his support bar,the spacer and then into the head..i think that would be stronger..going to try ARP but i assume they have nothing as he said he has..

Any input on this??

^^^^FYI these are his 10.9 head bolts that dont require replacement. .

Another thing,if you look at this picture you can see he has countersunk the last stud on this plate..dont know why but i think it would make the stud weaker as it has less thread...i emailed him asking for a reason..

Last he said his pushrods were adjustable, the ones i received are not..again i asked why..i will need adjustable ones or to measure which i pointed out before ordering. .

No word on the copper gaskets yet,machine shop still has all my parts waiting

 

[Dono]

Your in the realm of some pretty cool stuff.
Tom Morana kinda sounds like a mad scientist talking to him. I mean that in an absolute positive way. He is super passionate about what he does. I really respect that.

JD, I'm sure he has tested this, but you are right to ask the questions. I can hardly wait to see this happen!

 

[jd4242]

Your in the realm of some pretty cool stuff.
Tom Morana kinda sounds like a mad scientist talking to him. I mean that in an absolute positive way. He is super passionate about what he does. I really respect that.

JD, I'm sure he has tested this, but you are right to ask the questions. I can hardly wait to see this happen!

He was having issuse with the 3 bolts that mount to the existing rocker post,some stripped and some backed out..this was a solution he just came up with and from talking with him sounds like he hasnt tested it yet..said this is a ongoing process of testing..lol yea he is very passionate, me and him think alot alike.ill send you a PM

 

[jd4242]

So spoke with him..he said he tried to find a longer bolt but couldn't and swears it will be fine..

Well it would've been but the spacer he sent is too small.also the holes he drilled into the head bolts are not straight! !!haven't called him back about it because i decided to do my own thing..

So i took some measurements and called ARP..they found a bolt in the exact size i needed with a 200,000 psi rating,same as my studs..next i ordered some hardened tube(A513 DOM) with a OD-0.875" x WALL-0.188" x ID- 0.499" to make spacers..it will go through his plate,the spacers and into the head..should be much stronger..

Also received my rollers today

 

[jd4242]

Next..went out trolln today and really couldn't find crap..ton of cars out just none wanted to race..

Then i see a ""corvette "" at a stop light so i pull a uturn and wait for him...he gets up next to me and doesnt say a thing just stomps its..caught me off guard but he took off and jump about a car out..i started to pull and catch him and he lets off..you can see the guy in the video lookn back and turn to his buddy and say something. .lol i then get up next to him and he says ""NOO NOOO NOO"" shaking his head...WTF....

Yeaaa yeaa i know i wouldve got smoked if he down shifted and we kept going but i didnt spray and was very shocked i was pulln on him..to say the least i was mad he didnt wanna race..

Watch the video of the """CORVETTE"" and watch his buddy tell him ""hes coming"" <assume he said something like that to prompt him to lift..
[Youtube]9-gDm_FZvb0[/media]

 

[4pointslow]

Youtube posts

put your link between this but take out all the spaces
[ y o u t u b e ] [ / y o u t u b e ]

 

[jd4242]

put your link between this but take out all the spaces
[ y o u t u b e ] [ / y o u t u b e ]

Aww i was forgetting the "slash"/ lol

What are you thoughts on the head bolt thing??

 

[4pointslow]

Head Bolts

In the picture there is no head bolt washer, maybe that could have taken up some space.
I like your idea better to have the head bolt go through, instead of being drilled.
Plus its an ARP bolt, cant go wrong there.

 

[jd4242]

In the picture there is no head bolt washer, maybe that could have taken up some space.
I like your idea better to have the head bolt go through, instead of being drilled.
Plus its an ARP bolt, cant go wrong there.

He didnt say anything about a washer and didnt send one..but yea i did try it with a arp washer and still didnt fit..maybe he had some that were different and forgot to send them..idk

I just hope having the spacer and his brace being different metals dont expand and contract different or whatever

 

[4pointslow]

stock

I would love to see the stock set up to compare it to if you have any pictures.

 

[jd4242]

I would love to see the stock set up to compare it to if you have any pictures.

Rockers??

Stock

And with sealed rockers and my spacers

 

[4pointslow]

Desigh change

Wow, that is a cool design change, going from a round rail to the flat bar with studs.
Awesome!
As far as the expanding and contracting, you are probably on uncharted waters, you will be the test subject for a lot of things on this engine build. Looks good in my opinion.

 

[jd4242]

Wow, that is a cool design change, going from a round rail to the flat bar with studs.
Awesome!
As far as the expanding and contracting, you are probably on uncharted waters, you will be the test subject for a lot of things on this engine build. Looks good in my opinion.

Wel notice how the stock rockers are offset??

They use to make roller rockers back in the day but they kept having issues with them so they stopped making them..one of the issues was the rockers coming of aligned because of the offset..i asked Tom about this and he said ""they wont move after you tq them down" and "i haven't had any issues ""

About a month ago he told me i had the 2nd set to ever go out but then the other day he told me he has made many many of them and the rocker company couldn't keep up..specifically he said he sold 19 in January. ....ive only seen 1 other set and it was from a guy on here.bit he also said he had issues with the 3 stock rocker bolts stipping out and breaking.thats why he added the head bolt drill/tap for extra support. .so someone out there has had these and had them strip/break before..i wish i could find these other people and see how they worked..also interested in if anyone is running a 422 cam with 1.8 and the springs arnt coil binding or beating themselves up..

But yea i am in uncharted water..EXPENSIVE WATER AT THAT

 

[jd4242]

Ive been told ovet on rps that having the charger on or off shouldnt matter on a maf setup and that it shouldnt matter if its this motor or new motor but can you all help me understand it a little better??

What is used at start up?? Like is the maf only used or O2s only used?? When i first start i run REAL rich for like 5 minutes then runs REAL lean for like 5 minutes and then it settles down to where it should.at that point the motor is warm...

Once the motor is warm what is used?? Like is the maf and O2s used till WOT??or one or the other till wot??

Today i started it and it did its normal rich as **** and then lean..but after it warmed up it stayed lean for 10-15mins and then it would jump around from lean to rich,then back to lean..i then got a check engine light..it never settled down to running correctly. ..

This MAF is about 6 years old and had some dust/mud on the sensors from my big truck,i cleaned the crap outa it with maf cleaner before i installed it,you think its bad or think i have a bad O2?? The O2s are original as far as i know

O also im having major issues trying to get it to start..you have to turn the key 3 or 4 times letting it sit for a minute or two before trying again.normally starts on 5th try.


[MENTION=81804]4pointslow[/MENTION] [MENTION=102869]Dono[/MENTION] know you all have been doing alot of tuning lately

 

[Dono]

I can only really tell you about eec iv tuning. I'm guessing the nust and the bolts are the same though.

on startup when cold. Open loop. Doesn't use the o2 sensors. Just tuning.
This means that the maf ad counts from idle and below need to be set up perfectly for your a/f Target. From what you are describing, this isn't the case.

Now, once your motor is warm, you should go in to closed loop. Once this happens, the front O2 sensors are reading the a/f ratio and trying to correct and get you to whats commanded (14.6 probably).

Why the a/f would jump around from lean to rich tells me you are on the right track. Something mechanical. Are all 6 plugs sparking? You could get this kind of craziness if a wire was arcing to ground.

I wish you could log and send it to me, but I know you can't.

Also, The tuning is different when you add your SC. Even with a maf.
I can tell you first hand that as I turn up boost (Even a little) my mixture richens up.

I think you need to find the issue with the rick/lean thing before going forward. I can't see that being in the tuning. The hard starting could definitely be tuning but it can't be sorted out until the rick/lean issue is sorted out.

If a cylinder quits igniting the mixture your a/f ratio will be read lean by the o2 sensors (un-burnt fuel doesn't read) and your computer will start dumping more gas. If the computer cant correct within 15-20% you will see an engine code pop up.

Hopefully 4pointslow chimes in, but I think this is the basics.

 

[jd4242]

I can only really tell you about eec iv tuning. I'm guessing the nust and the bolts are the same though.

on startup when cold. Open loop. Doesn't use the o2 sensors. Just tuning.
This means that the maf ad counts from idle and below need to be set up perfectly for your a/f Target. From what you are describing, this isn't the case.

Now, once your motor is warm, you should go in to closed loop. Once this happens, the front O2 sensors are reading the a/f ratio and trying to correct and get you to whats commanded (14.6 probably).

Why the a/f would jump around from lean to rich tells me you are on the right track. Something mechanical. Are all 6 plugs sparking? You could get this kind of craziness if a wire was arcing to ground.

I wish you could log and send it to me, but I know you can't.

Also, The tuning is different when you add your SC. Even with a maf.
I can tell you first hand that as I turn up boost (Even a little) my mixture richens up.

I think you need to find the issue with the rick/lean thing before going forward. I can't see that being in the tuning. The hard starting could definitely be tuning but it can't be sorted out until the rick/lean issue is sorted out.

If a cylinder quits igniting the mixture your a/f ratio will be read lean by the o2 sensors (un-burnt fuel doesn't read) and your computer will start dumping more gas. If the computer cant correct within 15-20% you will see an engine code pop up.

Hopefully 4pointslow chimes in, but I think this is the basics.

Aww thank you.definitely helps some..

I assumed he couldn't nail the open loop but with it using the maf i would think it could adjust that 15-20% and get close. (This leads me to think maf is bad) could the tune be that far off at open loop but run fine in closed??

Once warm it runs dead on but once is awile it jumps back and forth but has always gone back to dead on. (Im reading lambda and the target A/f has been set to 11.9 as far as ecm) (my gauge still reads a 14.7 as lambda of 1 tho,why i changed it to lambda to read.i read 1 at cruise and .86ish at wot which equals 11.9 or 10.2@wot for e50)

Today with it not even settling down once warm makes me think the maf is bad or the O2 is bad..i didnt think a plug not firing would read lean,figured it would read rich..ill check my plugs first but this would not have been issues for cold running and maf not adjusting correct when cold..could it be fighting itself tryjng to use the bad maf and O2 to adjust? ?once it figures the maf is bad does or can it run off just the O2