Turbo on 2000 Limited 5.0

Well guys, I don't even have it yet and I'm looking at going turbo.

I think I'll be going STS style with the turbo underneath the the body. I'm hoping I can find room somewhere closer to the front to mount it. If not, I may just go classic style and cut the muffler out and install the turbo in its place.

Tim was kind enough to point me at a turbo for sale locally. I'm checking it out now. I sent the specs to James Henson to see what his thoughts are.

Here's the specs:
t4 F1-68 turbine .68 a/r housing 3" exhaust outlet with a 72mm compressor blade 4inch inlet, 2.5 inch outlet, journal bearing. Also, see compressor map attached. I have a vague understanding, and that concerns me.

Now, the next issue is oil routing.
Oil in to the turbo would be handled from a T off the oil pressure sending unit on the block. Return oil would need a scavenge pump to the top of the oil pan, or in the timing chain cover. The scavenge pump adds quite a bit of cost to the setup. I think saving a few bucks in this area would spell disaster. So, this seems to be the best pump out there:
http://turbowerx.com/Scavenge_Pumps/Exa-Pump/Exa-Pump.html
Stainless steel oil lines will have to be used. As I read about under cab mounted turbo's oil issues seem to be a huge issue. This is going to require careful thought and routing.

My real issue is routing the air filter and compressed air up to the engine bay.
The frame rails will be the the way. I saw one guy notched out his frame for the plumbing and re-enforced the frame by welding metal around the plumbing line (3 inch or 4 inch hole). I'm concerned about running the two pipes and think this will be the biggest challenge. I really don't want that air filter under the truck.
See what this guy did on his ranger?


As for Maf? Pro-M all the way, in a blow thru design.

Fuel pump, injectors, sct go without saying. I'll be having James put together a care package for me along with the Pro-M.
Aeromotive Stealth 340 pump
Bosch uscar (EV6) 60lb injectors part # 108191

I'll recycle my boost gauge and wide band o2 from my supercharged 4.0 ohv.

I'll be using stainless steel for everything under the truck as rust always seems to be an issue.

Also. intercooling. I learned from my last project that cool intake air is incredibly important. People say on under cabin turbo's you don't really need it as the compressed air cools on the way up. Not good enough for me. Im going to go air/water so I have flexibility as to where I mount the intercooler. This could change, but intercooling of some form is a must.

My eye's are watering at what this is going to cost.

I see 02Limited turbo'd his, but he must have had quite a few issues and fell off the forum.

Not much info on guys completing something like this to be found. All input appreciated.

This will be a long process.

 

[CDW6212R]

Excellent, you're getting down to the final pieces of the puzzle.

 

[4pointslow]

Even without paint it is an awesome looking set up. Glad the new turbo set up is building boost sooner like you wanted.
I guess if that port is missing you have no working boost gauge either?
Will be waiting to hear how it does when it is all ready to go hard on it.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

that looks snazzy. not looking forward to seeing it on a regular basis if you know what i mean.....

 

[Dono]

Quick update. No boost control. The waste gate can't vent enough exhaust gasses. lol

The 38mm wastegate that I currently have is too small. I was going to use an adapter, but Bill at Bullseye power emailed me back and said that an adapter won't work as the exhaust flow won't be there. This means another trip to my good friends at the exhaust shop.

Rather than continually cutting the exhaust off after the muffler, I'm going to have them install a v-band this time, lol. The v band will probably mean I will never have to pull the exhaust off again (Or at least I hope so).

Having a resource like bullseyepower has been priceless for me. Rightsizing components is so important. Knowing what I know now, I just don't know how guys can just slap anything together and make big reliable power.

My truck is officially leak free. First time in probably close to 2 years. I just replaced my transfer case output seal, and that could very well be the end of the all dripping for the moment. I'm pretty happy about that.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

that could very well be the end of the all dripping for the moment.

You had to say it, didn't you....

 

[Dono]

I am still knocking the intercooler pump control thing around in my head.
I was thinking pulse width modulation using the tps sensor. Problem with this is at low pulses, the coolant probably isn't moving enough.

I'm thinking this product:
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&title=Incredibly-cheap-voltage-switch&A=113008
With this, I could separate the tps from this unit with a diode, and still use the pot to adjust on voltage so the inter-cooler come on full at part(say 1/4) throttle. with this setup, I could use a switch in the cabin (Wired in-between the diode and voltage switch) to key the inter-cooler pump to have it on all the time if I wanted without affecting the tps voltage.
This would accomplish my requirement of the inter-cooler pump not drawing current in stop and go traffic but yet run when the rpm's are a bit higher and the alternator can supply enough current under all conditions.
The adjustable pot on the voltage switch makes me think this is the correct way to go.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i was thinking about this a few days ago. could you not have it triggered to your meth controller?

 

[Dono]

The intercooler pump needs to run much more than the w/m pump. It's the idling with air/e fan/air cond/headlights that becomes an issue. if I can have the pump turn on, and stay on, at anything over a quarter throttle id be good. I doubt it would bother to turn on under normal driving, but would turn on before hitting boost.... its the continuous run for a minute or two after hitting boost I haven't figured out yet.

 

[Dono]

I completed another 11hr round trip, no issues (mostly) life's great.

I clearly cursed myself by saying I had no leaks. I'm in my home city visiting my parents and I look at the rear tire. oil spray. nice.
a swipe of the finger, and its clearly rear diff oil.

Back home, I drove over to a well respected differential shop today. I simply asked 'how much for a full diff rebuild with bearings and clutches'?

I walked back to work, and walked back to the shop 5 hours later. Its all done but the crying (and paying for it).
They felt the burnt out clutches increased the end play in the axle taking out the seal. I have no idea, but I do know I now have warranty. I didn't even ask for the old parts....... how reckless is that? lol

 

[4pointslow]

At least it is done and you don't have to worry about it anymore.
Afraid to ask, what does that cost anyway?

 

[CDW6212R]

Good trip home I expect to see family yes?

The rear labor costs have gotten very high all over in the last many years. What used to be a $200 job to swap gears is now $500 easily(in the 90's Mustang shops used to do the Mustangs for $100).

Setting up the gears properly is the special part, anyone can do any other rear work readily. I did my 98 truck's rear, and the rear bearings and seals(not the pinion), Severe Gear fluid, for around $75. I left the clutches untouched knowing I'd upgrade to a better diff.

 

[Dono]

$700.00
They caught me at a weak moment when I just wanted the problem to go away.
The good part is that I know the shop is very good, and all they do is differentials and manual transmissions.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

lol, you have massive balls compared to me at the moment. i am still afraid to take a drive to gimili, and thats only 45 mins away! as for the diff bill, thats really not to bad. i think the bearing and seal kit it around 200, and the clutch pack kit is another $100. did you take it to asperline?

 

[Dono]

Yup, they are just down the street from work, so it was super easy for me.
I haven't tried out the limited slip yet. I really want to get the boost under control before I start hammering on it.

Interesting thing is, I have some amsoil gear fluid for the rear end, but they said they would not use it. Their experience is that synthetic fluid glazes the clutches. So, now I still have this expensive synthetic gear oil in the garage with no use for it.

 

[CDW6212R]

I haven't "inspected" the traction lok clutches of any of my cars, but they all have the Amsoil in them. I put the Torsen in my Mercury in 2004, and those have no clutches, thus no need for friction modifier either. I didn't use a friction modifier in my new 98 because I'm hoping to change the differential soon enough.

Most times the clutches are worn out for any Ford you see, they don't last very long unless the vehicle never sees hard use, gravel etc.

FYI, most times you can rearrange the clutches of the Ford LS, and end up with one more set on each side. Stock has three pairs, with steels doubled up in places. By removing steels and having frictions between each, usually four will fit. My 93 I did that with and it was very tight to fit the axles back in(the c-clips), but it fit and worked great. Those didn't wear out nearly as fast as my Crown Vic LS did before that.

The LS clutch kits used to be $50 from Ford(1999), and you have to have an extra set to be able to possibly fit the extra frictions.

Synthetic gear oil is required by OEM for the Explorer, so they all had it stock. It is no issue for clutches. You shop there may have been dealing with race applications where people are much harder on the rear gears and axles etc. Who knows, and in such cases those guys would be opening up their rear often, replacing with fresh cheap grease may be no big deal for them.

Ford and most synthetic gear oils are near $25 a quart. Severe Gear is $10-$11 per quart, plus shipping etc. It's also better.

 

[gmanpaint]

Sorry you got the whammy. I just went through this last week myself, but had a carrier bearing explode, taking everything with it. I had to replace everything but the 2 axle shafts. I know the pain on this one.

Am I understanding this correctly? They did an LS kit & housing tube seals, and used Dino fluids?

Which bearings did they replace? Axle tubes, or Carrier? Did they reset the gears and use a master install kit with all new bearings and pinion crush sleeve? $700 for just the LS kit and seals is high, but if they reset the gears, and installed everything that comes in a master install kit also, $700 is a good price.

I agree with Don and the diff fluids 100%. Full Synth is best in my book. Using Dino fluids, be prepared to change it often, if your going to use this rig as I think you will. LOL!!

 

[Dono]

They installed all bearings (axle's and carrier), seals, and ls kit using dino fluid and that anti chatter additive that stinks so bad. I'm going to leave the dino fluid in there for now. I do have the synthetics and additive if I choose to make the change.

I'm guessing that they would have had to reset the gear lash also. They would have done the carrier bearings as they told me with age that bearing wears causing wear of the rear pinion seal.

Its super nice not leaving any signature oil spots on the ground any more.

I have the new waste gate in, and its controlling boost nicely. I have the boost controller backed right off, and have a total of 2 lbs boost max. I'll start turning up the boost with the boost controller over the next few days. Then I can get back to wot tuning.

 

[4pointslow]

YES! waste gate is on now you can have some fun!
2 lbs is nice and low too, so you know it is working well.
Did you install the waste gate or did you have to take it to the exhaust shop?

 

[Dono]

I took it to the exhaust shop.
I could have bought an adapter that might have worked, but I had a down pipe that was randomly resonating on the frame that needed to be 'adjusted' anyway.

I added a spring to the waste gate for a couple of reasons.
1. fiddling with the boost controller knob, doing a wot run to check boost level, then re-adjusting knob can take a long tome to find the desired boost.
2. I was reading that a rule of thumb is that a boost controller should be used to no more than double boost on the spring(s).

I added a .3 bar spring to the waste gate and am now at about 6 lbs boost (opportunity to pass on the way to work today gave me a chance to test). Now I get to go back to #1 (above) to find a few more lbs boost.

 

[4pointslow]

Have you looked into an electric boost controller/gauge?
Some have settings that can be memorized, and pushing buttons on the boost gauge would be a little easier than turning a knob.
You could have setting 1 as daily driver mode, then if someone comes along that looks fast you could go to setting 2 which might be called leave you in the rear view mirror mode. lol