Completed Project My 98 super charged EX

Dono said:

Do you have another motor stashed in the garage?

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Good thought, and the weakest link, do you have another transmission?

I'd either make plans to build and upgrade a spare engine and trans, or make the 302/4R70W swap and not worry about breakage any more(unless you can push 550-600hp and break the stock 302 block).

Keep having fun though, that's the goal no matter what.

i say stay v6. just because. that and the shock factor

vroomzoomboom said:

i say stay v6. just because. that and the shock factor

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I'm sure the engine can be built to take far more than the transmission. However, the V6 trans was never intended to handle big power, and you are basically there now.

There isn't anything(hard parts) to upgrade in those either, unless you happen to imagine it and fabricate it yourself. The 5R55E is a great trans, at the power level it's made for, and when operating correctly. I think you have a good one right now, and it'd be a great candidate to rebuild if you keep it a V6.

Garage

Dono said:

Do you have another motor stashed in the garage?

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(rolling on the floor laughing)
No, I have a broken 4 door explorer in my garage. lol.
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3323562

Transmission pump broke. Worst thing is I rebuilt it last year (10,000 miles ago). I did not put a pump in it last year. When the pump broke it ruined the torque converter I just put in last year too. lol. So I have been driving my 2000 Ranger(on 31's) and the supercharged Explorer 40 miles each way to work and back for 80 miles a day total. and I get about 14 mpg in the Ranger and 12 in the SC explorer if I go light on it. I am glad gas prices dropped a little recently.

Transmission

CDW6212R said:

Good thought, and the weakest link, do you have another transmission?

I'd either make plans to build and upgrade a spare engine and trans, or make the 302/4R70W swap and not worry about breakage any more(unless you can push 550-600hp and break the stock 302 block).

Keep having fun though, that's the goal no matter what.

Click to expand...

Another transmission, you guys are cracking me up. lol.
I was thinking about getting a spare transmission for a year now. Should have done it.
I broke two one way sprag clutches 2 years ago in December in the supercharged truck doing a 3,000 rpm burnout with all 4 wheels at Atco Raceway. It was great because I had already got 11 runs in and it was the last run of the day for me and for the season since the track was closing. I had 4 months to fix it. I was able to drive it home in D2 which is 3rd gear, 4th and 5th worked too. So did reverse. No 1 or 2 though. I fixed it with new gaskets and used parts(sprags with reverse drum and O/D assembly) from eBay and it is still holding together. I don't do burnouts anymore. lol.

I guess we are not modifying our old explorers because we have a big bank account

You have been pushing everything well beyond any sort of reliable limit, that's for sure.
On my 5r55e trans (on my m90 4.0 ohv explorer), there is a big one way clutch that I think is for overdrive?? Anyway, the guy working on my trans allowed me to 'help'. He said he had not seen this model of trans do this before. It made a bit of a mess. The only reason I mention this is that you might know what I'm taking about and know to give this clutch a close look while the trans is apart.

LOL, I'm poking you guys for playing with the 5R55E, and I broke mine in my stock 99 about 2.5 years ago, and it sets in my yard still.

I found what looked like a piece of a Torrington bearing race, in the pan. That explained the EPC error code saying it had a bad internal leak, so it slips. I need to get that fixed so I can drive it to work in the Winter, and work on my Mercury.

Soon soon soon.

Transmission

Dono said:

I guess we are not modifying our old explorers because we have a big bank account

You have been pushing everything well beyond any sort of reliable limit, that's for sure.
On my 5r55e trans (on my m90 4.0 ohv explorer), there is a big one way clutch that I think is for overdrive?? Anyway, the guy working on my trans allowed me to 'help'. He said he had not seen this model of trans do this before. It made a bit of a mess. The only reason I mention this is that you might know what I'm taking about and know to give this clutch a close look while the trans is apart.

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Post 73 of this thread has a picture of the two one way clutches
(sprag clutches). They are the ones I was talking about. I broke both.
You were lucky if you only broke 1 of them. lol. Were you doing burnouts?
The supercharged explorer transmission is still holding together after installing used parts from eBay. Even after all this beating. lol.
Luckily with my 4 door explorer in my garage it looks like the pump just failed this time around. I should have it back together this weekend.

Transmission

CDW6212R said:

LOL, I'm poking you guys for playing with the 5R55E, and I broke mine in my stock 99 about 2.5 years ago, and it sets in my yard still.

I found what looked like a piece of a Torrington bearing race, in the pan. That explained the EPC error code saying it had a bad internal leak, so it slips. I need to get that fixed so I can drive it to work in the Winter, and work on my Mercury.

Soon soon soon.

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You should take that apart and take pictures of it to post here so we could all see the carnage. lol. I have to admit my fondness of broken parts is probably a bit unusual. My neighbor looked at me strange when I asked him for his bad water pump, the propeller had rotted right off. You can learn from broken parts and I love to take something apart that has broken and see what exactly let loose. I guess all the years I got paid to diagnose and replace those broken parts might have had something to do with it. When the day comes that something breaks on my own vehicle and I can not afford to fix it I will not be so fond of them then.

4pointslow said:

You should take that apart and take pictures of it to post here so we could all see the carnage. lol. I have to admit my fondness of broken parts is probably a bit unusual. My neighbor looked at me strange when I asked him for his bad water pump, the propeller had rotted right off. You can learn from broken parts and I love to take something apart that has broken and see what exactly let loose. I guess all the years I got paid to diagnose and replace those broken parts might have had something to do with it. When the day comes that something breaks on my own vehicle and I can not afford to fix it I will not be so fond of them then.

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Will do, I'll make a thread about rebuilding it when I get to it, and buy some tools. Did you buy any specialty tools to install the pistons seals etc? I know that others have rebuilt theirs, but I'm not sure if I've seen someone make a thread about it besides Glacier many years ago.

I have the AOD-4R70W tools to build them, but every trans is different. I'd like to keep my 4.0/5R55E as a V6 for as long as I can. But if it does have another big hiccup, I'll convert it to 302/AWD for my backup winter mail truck. I didn't like using my Mercury this past winter, but it was a bunch safer than my big white POS mail truck(they stick cheap chains on the back tires, and all four tires are recaps). They don't stop or steer worth a damn in any snow.

Yup, that's the one way all right.
And, no, my 5r55e has not taken the punishment yours has. It has been a solid trans since the rebuild though.

Transmission

CDW6212R said:

Will do, I'll make a thread about rebuilding it when I get to it, and buy some tools. Did you buy any specialty tools to install the pistons seals etc? I know that others have rebuilt theirs, but I'm not sure if I've seen someone make a thread about it besides Glacier many years ago.

I have the AOD-4R70W tools to build them, but every trans is different. I'd like to keep my 4.0/5R55E as a V6 for as long as I can. But if it does have another big hiccup, I'll convert it to 302/AWD for my backup winter mail truck. I didn't like using my Mercury this past winter, but it was a bunch safer than my big white POS mail truck(they stick cheap chains on the back tires, and all four tires are recaps). They don't stop or steer worth a damn in any snow.

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When I fixed the supercharged trucks 5R55E I just replaced the two broken 1 way sprag clutches, new gaskets, filter, bonded separator plate, and 1 O/D band (since they usually burn up first). No special tools.
When I did the 4 door I spent 1,100.00 in parts and tools. About half is tools.
I cant say that you would need them all, there are ways around some things but I wanted to follow Ford's procedures in the workshop manual as close as possible. I even made a few tools with strips of 3/16 metal and "all thread" for compressing the pistons in the drums. I really did take my time to do the 4 door transmission, there are some tools for measuring clearances and I even got them. There are 4 different sized Torrington bearings(you will end up only using one) that are selected by the measurements. There are tools for aligning the pump to the bell housing that are essential. I heard some people use the torque converter but I got the tools and used them. If you have access to Ford's workshop manual they list the tools on different pages in the transmission sections. I looked up all the tool numbers and searched on eBay and other sites to get used ones.
I figured since I have three trucks with the same transmission the tools will come in handy. I just did not think I would be pulling the 4 door trans back out so soon. lol.

4pointslow said:

When I fixed the supercharged trucks 5R55E I just replaced the two broken 1 way sprag clutches, new gaskets, filter, bonded separator plate, and 1 O/D band (since they usually burn up first). No special tools.
When I did the 4 door I spent 1,100.00 in parts and tools. About half is tools.
I cant say that you would need them all, there are ways around some things but I wanted to follow Ford's procedures in the workshop manual as close as possible. I even made a few tools with strips of 3/16 metal and "all thread" for compressing the pistons in the drums. I really did take my time to do the 4 door transmission, there are some tools for measuring clearances and I even got them. There are 4 different sized Torrington bearings(you will end up only using one) that are selected by the measurements. There are tools for aligning the pump to the bell housing that are essential. I heard some people use the torque converter but I got the tools and used them. If you have access to Ford's workshop manual they list the tools on different pages in the transmission sections. I looked up all the tool numbers and searched on eBay and other sites to get used ones.
I figured since I have three trucks with the same transmission the tools will come in handy. I just did not think I would be pulling the 4 door trans back out so soon. lol.

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Thanks, I'll try to bend your ear later about which tools are essential, and which aren't. I do have the spring compressor from doing my 4R's, that one should do most pistons. The seal install tools you need to have, those are hell to do without. The front pump alignment I need to read more about, the AOD and 4R transmissions aren't hard or picky to do, no failures from normal bolt it in procedures. the 5R is clearly different in the pump procedures.

was just looking over your thread to see if you were running a 6 rib belt (looks like you are, and have no slip either, lucky guy) and thought of a great name for the truck if your into naming inanimate objects like some of us are.
SOHC FACTor
you know, like the saying shock factor. people cand believe what they are seeing?
SOHC for what motor it is, and FACT for the class's you have at school....
i thought it suited it, i could be wrong.....its also late...and i am tired lol

name

SOHC FACTor
It took me a while to figure out how to pronounce that.
For those of us that are slow like myself it would be "sock factor"
I don't know, that could have a bad stink to it. lol.

HP and Torque gains

New dyno sheet.
Got it on the dyno at work today.
Not a huge gain but a small gain across most of the rpm ranges.
This engine cant flow much more. It also needs lower intake air temps and more timing. I installed 1 heat range colder plugs and indexed them but have not tried advancing the timing yet.

plugs

Looking at how the spark plug sat kind of against the top of the cylinder head it seemed like this would be the best way to face the electrode. The picture doesn't really show exactly how the electrode really looks against the head but you can sort of get the Idea. Seeing it in person on this spare cylinder head at work really made me think this was the best way to position it. Another experienced coworker looked at it for a while and agreed. But really, how much is there to gain? 3-4 horse power or more like 1-2? Or none at all. Wish I had time to run the vehicle on the dyno to test the theories out that I come across.

I think most of us on the forum would be happy with 1 hp/cubic inch.
Your a long way past that.

Good work and attention to detail. Indexing the plugs should be worth enough for a high performance engine to do it, maybe more worth it for a boosted engine. I think just balancing the ignition start in each cylinder could be helpful.

video