Completed Project 5.0 swap - w/ 4406

[CDW6212R]

I'm not familiar with how head studs would differ from bolts in creating a possible leak.

My first thought would be that something like a piece of debris is between the head and block, and kept the head from reaching the block fully. Try to be there when the head comes off. The evidence should be there right then, whether marks from the head gasket crush pattern, or an obvious interference between head/block/dowels. Check the locating dowels to see if they are misshapen at all. Let's hope it's a minor fix.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

sure its from the head gasket, and not the intake gasket? a buddy of mine didnt believe me once when i told him there is a top and bottom to those, until he put coolant in the motor and it leaked like a coolant river.

 

[CDW6212R]

Very true, the intake is much more common to find leaking.

 

[ExDude]

 

[ahodges]

Well I took it all the way back down to the lower intake last night. The guy that built the engine and I believe that that the owner is also coming out tonight to take the intake and head off. I pray it's a simple fix and the block doesn't have to come out. I wouldn't disagree that it could be the intake gasket except the back side of the head is completely dry and the river of coolant is clearly originating from between the last 2 head studs on the driver's side, ie. between the #7 and #8 cylinders... fingers crossed.

 

[ahodges]

Well.. The diagnosis is that used the wrong head gaskets for the BOSS block. The ford racing BOSS block has extra coolant passages along the cylinders that need blocked off depending on the style of head that is used. So they are supposed to be ordering the correct ones through Ford and double checking it will all work together. We had to pull both heads off obviously.. Nothin like doing it twice!

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm glad that you found it, and that it's just more time instead of hurt parts.

 

[ahodges]

It's alive!

I got it all put back together Friday night and Saturday and fired it up! It sounds and runs great! It has some tunning issues of course but over all it is drivable. It's running pretty lean too so I haven't taken it much above 3,000 rpms. I need to get some data logging going. I have a video of it too but haven't figured out how to get it posted yet.

Here are a couple pictures of the intake set up that I custom put together.

For those who want to make a similar set-up -
Parts List:

Amsoil air cleaner: EAAU4070-EA
Turbonetics: TNT-30302-4 HOSE COUPLING 4 (cheaper then Spectre)

- The rest are all Spectre part numbers -
SPE-97800 ALUMINUM ELBOW
SPE-9551 ADAPTOR
SPE-990003 ADAPTER SLEEEVE
SPE-9775 4-IN ID FLEX BOOT
SPE-9704 AIR INTAKE TUBE CLAMP
SPE-9712 AIR INTAKE FITTING
SPE-9701 BRACKET KIT

Grand total with the air filter came to about $230 for the intake system (not including the MAF sensor of course). Oh and by the way, I had to make the air filter mount that is bolted to the MAF (free).

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i like that. i like that a lot! thanks for posting up the part numbers. will have to do that in the next few months!

and congrats on firing it up. that is such a great moment when you hear it breath life for the first time, isnt it?!

 

[ahodges]

i like that. i like that a lot! thanks for posting up the part numbers. will have to do that in the next few months!

and congrats on firing it up. that is such a great moment when you hear it breath life for the first time, isnt it?!

Yeah it was awesome! All that work over the last 6 months is finally paying off!

Here's a link to a short video of it..

 

[Trolling]

does it really sound like that or is it because its still not fully tuned yet?

btw, i like your running boards and wheels

 

[ahodges]

Thanks!

No, it really sounds like that.. The tunning mostly effects the tunning of the power band. In the video it's straight piped through the sid pipes. I have dual dump valves on it to control that. It is much quieter through the muffler with the side pipes closed.

 

[CDW6212R]

Very cool, it's all great. That Amsoil part number looks familiar, that isn't a really expensive one is it? I got a very large one that with an adapter bolts to my Big Air MAF, and leaves very little room around it in the bay.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

yeep........i'm in love........

 

[ahodges]

Very cool, it's all great. That Amsoil part number looks familiar, that isn't a really expensive one is it? I got a very large one that with an adapter bolts to my Big Air MAF, and leaves very little room around it in the bay.

That air filter with the prefered pricing cost just under $50. It has a 4" outlet to the MAF.

 

[ahodges]

Question for you guys that already did this swap.. It seems as if the truck gained a lot of weight after all my mods and now the front is sitting very low. I even put new V8 style torsion bars under it antisipating it being heavier, but just not this heavy. I have the driver side torsion bar cranked all the way up and I think the ride is still below the factory height. Passenger side has some adjustment left in it. Is there something I'm missing or is it just that heavy now?!

 

[CDW6212R]

The torsion bars will alter the ride height based on manufacturing tolerances. The adjusters are mainly to even out the front height due to that.

You have gained about 70lbs I'd guess, but not enough to see or feel. If you swapped the bars, then that changed the ride height and the feel.

I changed to "B" bars also long ago, plus the lowering keys at the same time. So I expected to have to readjust the height to get mine back to the low height I was at before. I think mine is at about 8.5" to the front control arm bolt heads, stock is closer to 11" or so.

 

[electician0485]

Wow big hard on are you single lol
turned out better than i had hoped
you did a great job with the transformation i am busy changing the tranney in my 97 back 2 driving ranger with its 7mpg ass wanna race in 2wd for um titles

 

[ahodges]

Wow big hard on are you single lol
turned out better than i had hoped
you did a great job with the transformation i am busy changing the tranney in my 97 back 2 driving ranger with its 7mpg ass wanna race in 2wd for um titles

haha, yep I'm single, are you kidding!? There's no way I would have been able to do this if I had a significate other, at least not in the time frame I did it!

Once I'm tuned and have a couple passes on it we'll talk, or maybe not depending on how it goes! lol

 

[ahodges]

Update on progress:

-fixed the tach by switching the tach wires around on the gauge cluster wiring harness (Vroomzoomboom's thread).
- found out my speedometer isn't working because the guy that rebuilt the transfer case forgot to install the speedo worm gear on the tail shaft (i'm working on getting that fixed)
- the low rider problem in the front of the X is due to excessive slop in the Raybestos lower control arm hex's that I bought. (I'm going to try to install some stainless shims to correct this tonight)
- still working on getting the right dataloggin info to James for the tunning.

On a lighter note: I raced a 2000 mustang GT manual on Sunday and killed it from a roll - on starting at 40 up to around 70 or 80. Then he caught me off guard a the next light and I was in neutral when the light turned green. I burned the tires through the intersection and the gave up. I didn't really want to race a second time anyhow since it's still breaking in.