My 97 SOHC 5 speed swapped sport street/drag build

I picked up a rust free 2wd 97 big flare sport with the SOHC 4.0l about a month ago now. This thing is SPOTLESS!!! I bought it for Penny's with a bad transmission in it and the plan to turn it into a 12 second turbo'd street/drag truck.
As of last week I finished swapping in a 5 speed manual transmission I built for it with the lower gear ratio out of the 4 cyl ranger. 3.73 posi rear end, I put on a custom bent Magnaflow stainless exhaust, lowered it 3" and put a set of 18x10 Ford Racing "Cobra" wheels on it.
The difference in power and acceration is incredible with the 5 speed compared to the 5r55e. I'm not entirely happy with the M5ODR1 though and will be swapping it out for a Tremec before I turbo it. I'm also swapping back to taller gears in the transmission since this thing has no issues launching in second gear with excessive tire spin as it sits now.

 

[Twisted1]

I just replaced my control arms yesterday, swapped out the 2 piece pass side for a 1 piece (half the weight) and I installed the Moog camber kit while I was in there, new lower ball joints, flipped the keys in the front, removed the bump stops and clearanced the torsion key pockets so the flipped keys sat in tighter and didn't bind. It's a superficial metal bracket and didn't effect anything structural so it can be ground down as much as you need. I put 150 mixed miles on it today between highway and a run up the coastline with no adverse handing at all. It rides beautiful a and doesn't bottom out with the bump stops removed.

Couple pics from today's drive

This guy with the Lambo was pretty cool

My wheels are 18x10 front and rear with the same offset. I don't know why the rear sits in so far factory but it's a lot more noticeable with those wheels on it.

I love my Rangers. That was a $500 beater I picked up the day after I lost the original engine in the explorer. I think I'm going to hang onto it so I'm not stuck driving the dually around all winter while the Ex is away.

 

[4pointslow]

Pics

Nice photos! Cool Lambo too. lol
Do you think there is anyway to still have a bump stop just in case?
Maybe shaving it down or something?

Truck is looking good, what is next?

 

[Twisted1]

back to the dyno...

Unfortunately I'm throwing codes left and right now and the truck is falling flat on my first to second and second to third shifts. So the track isn't going to happen this week. I called today to schedule some dyno time hopefully for next monday. I'm getting 3 codes, DPFE sensor upstream hose unplugged (which it's not), bank 2 upstream O2 slow warm up cycle and MAF exceeding minimum or maximum limitations. So it would seem that I'm in the market for an 80-90mm MAF, 70-75mm TB then get it retuned. Hopefully after that ill be all set for the track! Picked up my paint for my wheels, flares and front bumper skin today so I'll keep plugging away until it gets on the dyno.

 

[Twisted1]

bump stop

As far as bump stops go I had thought something as simple as a 1/4" or 3/8" piece of flat rubber could be put in place with the 10mm mounting bolt ground down a bit. But I'm down as low as I can and I haven't bottomed out once. Keep in mind mine is only 2wd so I don't know if you can even go low enough to have to worry about trimming the bumps.

 

[2000StreetRod]

my bump stop

I modified my bump stop when I lowered my Sport 0.75 inches: Front drop & bump stop

 

[Twisted1]

Codes!!!

So I've been fighting with throwing codes and lack of performance the past couple weeks in the truck. I'm getting annoyed....OK that's a lie, I'm past annoyed. Haha
I've reflashed the ecu, swapped in new Bosh o2 sensors and I'm still throwing a P1100 code. I have gotten all the other codes under control but drivability is becoming an issue now. I'm able to drive it fine if I don't bring it up into the 6,000rpm range, but where's the fun in that? If I bring it up to 6,200rpm during a hard run it stutters BAD between shifts and when power comes back it's only about half what it should be for my truck.

I've got a dyno appointment for Aug 10th so unfortunately I won't be able to get any track time until after then. I have Sunday/Monday off of work and that's his first available Monday slot.

My question is...do any of you built up SOHC guys think it's possible that I'm really out flowing the capabilities of my MAF and that's what causing my stumble? I know that's what the code is pointing to but my tuner doesn't think I should be anywhere near the limits of my factory MAF yet. He had me do some data logging to try and diagnose my issue some so I checked my bank 1 and bank 2 short term fuel trim to look into my O2 issue, which was showing intermittent slow response on bank 2. I changed the O2 out and that code is gone along with the DPFE code. I also logged my MAF counts but I'm not sure how to decipher what my readings were yet. (Tonights project) Pete (Performance dyno) said I should be between 130 and 170 which I am at idle so I know the MAF is functioning as it should at idle at least. When I bring the RPM's up on average I'm seeing MAF#'s of 875+or- with a couple peaks at 920 if I get into the 6,000rpm range. Does this mean anything to any of the guru's on here? I'll be copy and pasting this question in its own thread here also, just figured I'd throw it out there if anyone had any insight. Thanks

 

[4pointslow]

Maf counts

Maf counts can go up to 1023 usually, when enabled in the tune. I think before any adjustments to the tune it goes up to 980? I am away from my home computer until Friday night so I can not access my stuff to be 100% sure.

What was the definition of theP1100?
Maybe you were pegging the maf. Have you tried cleaning it?
I can look at your datalogs if they are done with SCT LiveLink but not until I get back to my computer. I am doing double shifts so not much time for anything until Friday.

 

[Twisted1]

P1100 - Ford
Type Powertrain - Manufacturer Controlled DTC - Manufacturer Controlled
Description
MAF Sensor Circuit Intermittent Conditions
Cause
Engine running, then the PCM detected a MAF sensor signal above/below the calibrated limit

 

[Twisted1]

I haven't entirely figured out the data logging as of yet. Haha, I know I saved the files but I'm not sure where they get saved or how to access them yet. Lol, I'll get it figured out

 

[mcclureautomotiv]

Love your build! I'm doing a similar build with my 99. I think I'll be building a 347 with a tremec 5 speed this winter!

 

[2000StreetRod]

stock mtf

Here's the stock MAF transfer function for my 2000 Sport with the 55 mm MAF sensor:

As long as the MAF count is below 1023.0 the MAF sensor should not be pegged. The stock rev limiter is 6250 rpm. If you have not increased it then you could be hitting the limiter.

Edit: I looked thru your past posts and I think you're still running the 19 lb/hr injectors. A 920 MAF count corresponds to 23.7 lbs/min. You may be hitting the flow limit of your injectors.

 

[Twisted1]

I've got 24lb injectors in it and the rev limiter was raised so it wouldn't get bumped at high rpm shifts. I shift it right around the stock limit so we raised it a few hundred rpm to prevent that from happening. I've been down the track too many times and hit the limiter 50' before the stripe so we accounted for it all in case I had to push it a little more

 

[Twisted1]

New toys

I love being able to shop for parts on E bay at 1am! I've got my 90mm lightning MAF on its way, I'll be poking through the local junk yards on Monday to find an 75mm throttle body that will work. Hopefully I'll have time to get a new set of larger injectors before the dyno

 

[2000StreetRod]

MAF sensor & throttle body

You won't have to worry about pegging the 90 mm LMAF sensor.

I was lucky to find an actual Ford racing ported and polished 75 mm throttle body on eBay but it wasn't cheap.

I cut up my wife's dishwasher safe cutting board to make an adapter to smooth the transition between the throttle body outlet and the intake manifold inlet.

 

[Twisted1]

The truck is getting more substantial upgrades over the winter and the 90mm MAF was going to be a necessity at that point regardless. After rechecking my numbers I may be close to maxing out my 24lb injectors and I'm on the high end of my MAF limits now. My tuner says he has a set of 42lb Lightning injectors for me but I want to make sure those will be enough to support the upgrades over the winter also. I'd rather over fuel it now than have to buy a fourth set of injectors. I need to chat with 4pointslow on his set up's capabilities before ordering my new injectors. We are shooting for 400-450rwhp by spring

 

[vroomzoomboom]

We are shooting for 400-450rwhp by spring

out of the SOHC?

 

[4pointslow]

Injectors

400-450rwhp, or did you mean at crank?
Boost or nitrous? or both?
Staying with 4.0 or going V8?

I am only at 310rwhp with approx. 16 lbs. of boost.
I have 60lb injectors but they are a little too big, the O2 sensor monitors wont run and I have to swap out injectors for inspection. I may try 52lb ones but wont experiment until after December since that is the last month ATCO will be open for the year. Then I have 4 months to experiment before racing season starts again.

If you are planning 400-450 crank with 6 cylinders, you may need bigger than 60lb injectors, unless some of the extra power is coming from a wet nitrous system.

 

[Twisted1]

Turbo and nitrous (if needed) with internal work. It's been done in the Mustang crowd on stock internals. All of the V8 parts I've bought are going into my other buddies 2wd sport and I'm going to stick with an SOHC. I like the way it runs and pulls with the 6 over the V8

 

[4pointslow]

4.0 sohc

I have heard that the rod bolts break at around 400 HP but I don't know if that is crank or wheel HP. Mine have not broke yet, but I am waiting for it to happen.
I don't rev my engine past the stock limiter either.

My GT500 supercharger is supposed to take 75 HP(crank) to spin it at high rpms, if you go turbo you wont have that parasitic HP loss.

Any Idea what kind of boost you will be running?

 

[Twisted1]

I want to swap out my pistons for something a bit more boost friendly and upgrade the bottom end a little while I'm in there. There are 3 different turbo'd SOHC mustangs all running 20+ psi turbo set up's off stock long blocks with no issues. 2 of them are into the 11's with 5 speeds and dyno just shy of 500rwhp.