Kenne Bell Explorer Phase 2 build begins!!!

I finally got off of my lazy butt and started tearing KBX down for its phase 2 stage of mods I have planned for it. I took a vid but way too busy/lazy to post it. The whole front end and hood are pretty much torn off and I just dropped the radiator out. I should be pulling the engine tomorrow if my schedule allows. A lot of interesting things going on with this stage of mods. After this stage of mods are completed I should be able to lay down some pretty respectable power finally; along with some good ET's in the 1/4 mile.

So far the additional mods that are sitting in my garage are:

*VT built 4.6 Billet shortblock
*Kenne Bell 8 rib swap kit w/ 2.75" snout pulley
*KB 8.5" crank pulley (20psi boost)
*New adapted fenderwell CAI fabbed by yours truly (very custom)
*Steeda billet fuel rails w/ -8AN crossover
*JBA headers
*Meziere electric water pump WP347
*Meziere wiring kit
*SD 60 lb/hr injectors
*SCT BA2800 MAS (swapping from my existing BA2400)
*Art Carr 4R70W tranny w/ 3200 stall TC built to withstand 900 hp. I am sure the swap from the 5R to the standalone 4R will be fun.
*8 bolt flywheel
*SN-197 Tranny K-member adapter for 4R70W
*Dual Ford GT (supercar) fuel pumps
*Dual -8AN fuel lines
*Aeromotive A-1000 FPR
*-6AN return line
*Baumann TMU for 4R70W
*4R70W tranny wiring harness



*Custom driveshaft (after new tranny is in)


Anyways in the list of mods I am probably forgetting something in one of the lists. Should be fun. Hopefully I can get it to 600 within the next few months if things go well (money+time). I love doing all the work on my own truck and all, but I kind of wish I could snap my fingers and have it done. Along with the power mods I am also going to be going with a chrome accented Black and Ford blue theme under the hood. The valve covers will get the Ford blue along with the billet rails which already are blue along with the elec fan. Depending on price I might take my PA perf. alternator I been running and have it powdercoated blue also. Well I have yapped for long enough in here tonight. Good night.

 

[rocket 5979]

Everything was going good last night...but we ran into a pretty major snag. I will let Rob explain what happend. It really sucks, but for not having any major snags so far, this shouldn't be really a big deal, more of a pain in the ass.

Yep, we were making great progress. I pretty much got the new fuel pump assembly done. I started fitting a few more front drive accessories. Along with that I had to grind an area of the front engine cover to make room for the 8.5" crankover pulley. It is a standard procedure in the modular 4.6 world when running such a big crank pulley. The crankshaft position sensor and its mounting boss sits right next to the area where the new and much bigger pulley have to go. So a little grinding is in order to make enough space to fit the pulley in there and also allow room for the 8 rib belt too. Lets just say that the particular area around the CPS is fairly thin. Long story made short; I punched a nice little pencil lead sized hole in my front engine cover. It really isn't the end of the world, but it still is a pain in the ass to fix. I am probably going to end up taking the cover back off and taking it to get tigged to seal it back up properly. Once the new metal is built back up, and thicker, I can grind it smooth and then reinstall everything. Nothing major, but just one of those things that gets in the way of good progress. At least my TMU isn't coming in for another week or so which means I would not have been dropping the engine/tranny combo in just yet.

On a more positive note. I finally took a good look at my new crank pulley and happened to notice that it is not 8 rib, but 10 rib. That means that once I feel like getting even more belt grip I can move on up to a 10 rib system that much easier. That is a pretty great thing being that the crankover pulley itself costs $400!

Once I get the SAE30R10 submersible fuel line then I will be able to finish the pump assembly and snap a pic or two of it. It is looking pretty nice, and very functional too. Too bad it will not be seen.

Overall if the little hole in the cover is the only gremlin in this project then I will be happy.

 

[rocket 5979]

Well I tore the front of the engine off yesterday. I cleaned and prepped the engine cover for the TIG welding today. Ten minutes and $25 later and the little hole is gone. Not too bad a deal. Now I can get onto putting things back together.

Another good thing also. I received my Tranny Management Unit today also. It is a week early. That was the last big item on my list to get before I could install the engine tranny assembly back into the truck. Things should be moving along briskly here in the near future.

 

[Jakee]

Well I tore the front of the engine off yesterday. I cleaned and prepped the engine cover for the TIG welding today. Ten minutes and $25 later and the little hole is gone. Not too bad a deal. Now I can get onto putting things back together.

Another good thing also. I received my Tranny Management Unit today also. It is a week early. That was the last big item on my list to get before I could install the engine tranny assembly back into the truck. Things should be moving along briskly here in the near future.

Another positive note for you. Thank goodness it wasn't chrome. My MAC tube I had welded up? Yeah, well it's not chrome anymore. hehe. And that's the only reason I liked it. Oh well, it's wrapped with black now. Doesn't look all that good but you can touch it now without getting 2 degree burns.

 

[rocket 5979]

Here is a few update pics now that i got the front cover back on and the accessories started again. You really get a feel for how big the crankshaft pulley is now. Compare that to the blower pulley! Yeah, 3.09 step up ratio on a twin screw is pretty high! The blower displaces 2.2 liters of air per revolution, and the blower turns 3 times to every single turn of the crank so thats a total of an additional 6.6 liters of air being shoved into my engine every revolution! In essence you could almost look at my engine as having 11.2 liters of displacement. Not too bad.

 

[rocket 5979]

Heres a closer look at the FPR.

 

[Jakee]

If it were mine, i'd be sleeping with it. hehehe

 

[Troll]

That looks like a nice set up Rocket. It looks like you will be done soon. I saw the new KB blowers in the latest mustang mag. They make a 2.8 liter blower now. You will need that blower and NO2 just to see the back of my truck in a race. If I spray you the only thing you will see is my tail lights far off in the distance. My new set up is almost done. Just need to mount the turbo and run the down pipe to the exhaust. I am just curious but what size injectors are you going to use for the 800 hp you are looking for. I am going to start with 83 lbs. and move up latter. I hope to hear good news from you soon about your beast.

 

['97 V8]

83 ibs...lol. we stockers with our 19 pound injector. troll, your truck on the dyno was badass. Cant wait to see when its all done with the new shtuff.

Rocket, Just looking out for ya, can that stp filter handle the extra pressure?

 

[rocket 5979]

That looks like a nice set up Rocket. It looks like you will be done soon. I saw the new KB blowers in the latest mustang mag. They make a 2.8 liter blower now. You will need that blower and NO2 just to see the back of my truck in a race. If I spray you the only thing you will see is my tail lights far off in the distance. My new set up is almost done. Just need to mount the turbo and run the down pipe to the exhaust. I am just curious but what size injectors are you going to use for the 800 hp you are looking for. I am going to start with 83 lbs. and move up latter. I hope to hear good news from you soon about your beast.

Good to hear from ya Bill. Yes I will be done soon. The new Big Bore KB blowers are out but they aren't putting down as good of numbers as people originally thought they would.

We will see about my truck needing the 2.8 and nitrous to see your truck at the track. You better have one really strong bottom end to be able to take the kind of power that turbo is going to push through it......billet internals.....

I am glad to hear you say your almost done with the new setup but i have heard that same reply from Dan almost a year ago when regarding your truck. Not trying to call you out but you have been talking of this "new turbo system" for quite some time. I have no doubt that you will be going to the turbo, but "soon" gets a little old when it has already been 2 years of "soon". For the 600rwhp I will be making very shortly I am running Seimens Deka 60 lb injectors. When I step up to my turbo 2 seasons from now I will most likely start at 83's too. Only thing that sucks is that I will have to go with FAST or some other low impedance injector driver at that time. I think someone just came out with a high impedance 83 lb squirter, but I don't think I trust it just yet. Oh well, it is not like I haven't thrown enough money at this project to go with FAST. The turbo is a long way off still. Till then I am happy with a streeable 600rwhp on the blower till next season.

I hope to hear good news from you soon about your beast.

Same to you bro. How's about you make a new thread and post a picture of your hot/cold sides of the turbo tubing so we can see. I would like to see a few new pics of your truck being that I haven't seen any new engine pics for a few years.

PS. Anyone buy that blower from ya or are people still trying to lowball you?

 

[Troll]

I have the AEM box now so I will run the low impedence 83's with the injector drivers to make it low impedence. The internals of my motor are forged and when my motor breaks I am stepping it up with an aluminum block to save weight in the front end. My turbo is good for 1375 hp and with my lentech behind it I hope to max those injectors out soon.

 

[rocket 5979]

I have the AEM box now so I will run the low impedence 83's with the injector drivers to make it low impedence. The internals of my motor are forged and when my motor breaks I am stepping it up with an aluminum block to save weight in the front end. My turbo is good for 1375 hp and with my lentech behind it I hope to max those injectors out soon.

What internals are you going with when you go with the alum block? You going to try to stick it out with forged again or move up to billet? If you haven't already, I am guessing that your stepping up to a transbrake to build boost off the line. You planning on doing a 4 link rear anytime soon? Good luck.

 

[rocket 5979]

Here is a few pictures of the fuel pump hat that I just got done with.

 

[Spas]

*subscribing to hear all the smack talk* Lookin' damn good, Rocket!! If I had any $$ you'd be inspiring me to get my crap done already

 

[Jakee]

Troll - You're like a god around here. I wish you well. I think you two should go on "pinks".

 

[Jakee]

My money's with Rocket. Sorry, Troll....

it's like boxing....once you get to the top, you loose the hunger. Then you get you're a$$ knocked out.

 

[sn0border88]

that would be a helluva pinks race, but im sure niether of them wants to race for slips

 

[Jakee]

I've already tried to negotiate with Rocket. I wanted 15 lengths and him to be in reverse. (I'd still get my butt reamed)

 

[rocket 5979]

[QUOTE='97 V8]Rocket, Just looking out for ya, can that stp filter handle the extra pressure?[/QUOTE]


It is the break-in filter. After the first 100 miles I will switch it out to my real filter. The filter could handle it anyways, but it would be a matter of the particulates it could pick up, or not. I like to keep with a decent oil filter but why waste an expensive one when breaking in a new engine. No point to waste an extra $15.

 

[rocket 5979]

I've already tried to negotiate with Rocket. I wanted 15 lengths and him to be in reverse. (I'd still get my butt reamed)

Ooooh, c'mon Jakee... How's about I race you naturally aspirated in my daily driver?

 

[Jakee]

Ooooh, c'mon Jakee... How's about I race you naturally aspirated in my daily driver?

What, the LS? Sure, give me 15. hehee

As of now, I probably couldn't beat a dump truck so I'm just talking crap. Hopefully in the next few months that will change and I'll be able to run with the middle class. (Not real slow, not real fast)