Turbo on 2000 Limited 5.0

[Dono]

Fricken sweat man!
Cant wait to hear about the power increase from them!

At this point, Im just really hoping I can keep the motor together.

And, Yes JD, they are off the shelf TW170's with a slight massaging by Ed Curtis of Flowtech Inductions. He does a competition valve job, and some minor casting clean up.

Im actually hoping the compression goes down a bit. Between that and the aluminum head, I should be a bit further away from detonation.

Also JD, my custom cam flavors the exhaust as it was designed for a rear mount turbo.

I ran in to a 'snag'. Explorer valve covers positively will not fit. So, who do I text? Tim. He says, come on over....I have a set of trickflows that will clear everything. Then after I explain that my passenger cover has an an6 bung for my oil return I get the 'who gives a cr*p', we will plug the hole.

Now, If I find an aluminum an6 bung and a welder tomorrow we still might get the motor in this weekend.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Tim you are one heck of a guy.

believe it or not knowing dons truck is still doa is driving even me a tad batty lol.

 

[Dono]

The heads took a bit longer than I would have liked. Ed ran in to a few issues that slowed him up, then the rockers were on back order with comp cams. Ed did manage to get comp to drop ship the rockers directly to my shipping location.

I am very pleased with Flowtech Inductions. I do like to deal with the small business guy for many reasons. This does include personalized service and what I tend to expect to be better attention to detail (This doesn't always work out for me).

On closer inspection of the heads, I can see where Ed un-shrouded valves ever so slightly. Also, interestingly enough, he spent some time massaging the oil return ports in the heads for smoother oil return with less restriction.

The trickflow valve covers from Tim do fit (I tested them 'before' drilling a hole in the side of one). The guy I get to do my welding has the valve cover and thinks he will be able to weld the an6 bung on tonight.

I checked the block with a straight edge before the heads went on. As flat as flat can be. After cleaning the block and heads with brake cleaner (again) I set the head gaskets. I will say the Mr Gasket Graphite's are very different. The surfaces on them are super sticky. I also found that a re-torque did tighten down about another 8th turn after they sat for a few hours.

This motor just might go back in this weekend after all.

 

[4pointslow]

car ****

Pictures of heads on engine please!

Glad to hear that you are making progress, I thought you were going to leave it be until next year. Glad that it is possible for you to get back at it this year.

 

[Dono]

Here's a few pics.

The headers have been extremely frustrating.
First, I knew I'd have to adjust the head and/or the #5 cylinder header pipe flange as the split pipe gets in the way. No problem, Mr. Grinder took care of that. Some off the head and some off the flange. Not to happy about clearancing (Is there such a word?) my shiny new head, but.....

Then, I install the valve cover...WTF? The header pipe is in the way. Valve cover wont slide in to position. Noooo...... Well, out comes Mr. Hammer. A bit of work on my header and the valve cover fits. Nice....I just tightened up an already small exhaust pipe slightly.
Ok, on to the passenger side.... WTF, not again? The flange won't mate to the head tight. Yup, time to pull Mr. grinder out on the other head. Now I want to cry.
I have a close look and notice the headers couldn't even have been designed further from the block as I can see the other side of the same area is rubbing on the motor mount. Headers have no business being on our V8's. Period.

Then, I go to install the dipstick tube....Where's the handle of the dipstick I say to myself? Found it....Broken under something else. After picturing myself behaving like a 2 year old, throwing myself on the ground and kicking and screaming, I regained composure with a deep breath. I tried some JB Weld, and we will see how well it holds tomorrow.

End result is that both headers are on. Im still not happy about what I did to my new heads. Tomorrow is a new day.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

WTH? the only problem i have with my valve covers is some goober snapping a bolt off into the head (and was able to get it out without a problem). and as for the headers, well, yea. had to grind a little of the head to fit and as far as i know, no leaks. once again, you pretty much have a carbon copy of my junk, but nothing wants to fit on yours? did you trip over a black cat causing you do drop a mirror while walking under a ladder today or something?

 

[Dono]

WTH? the only problem i have with my valve covers is some goober snapping a bolt off into the head

I wonder who the goober is?

:mattmoon:

 

[Turdle]

What the fudge? I have never seen anything like that

 

[Dono]

I know. I took the header wrap off in the area's that were against the valve cover and it brought me close. After that, some massaging of the header pipe was in order. The headers are just that tight.

With my turbo, I really have to question if the headers have been worth all this pain. The 'damage' has been done to the heads already, so the headers will stay on.

 

[CDW6212R]

Well happy Thanksgiving, or Black Friday. Keep at and enjoy what you can. I hope it screams this time.

 

[Dono]

Well happy Thanksgiving, or Black Friday. Keep at and enjoy what you can. I hope it screams this time.

I hope it just holds together.

 

[delexploder]

Any updates? How's it going?

 

[Dono]

And, here it is again!
Tim was a champ yesterday. Id have called it a day before finishing, but Tim was determined to hear the motor fire before leaving. And fire it did.
The heads created all kinds of fitment issues. Exhaust wouldn't quite fit, there is a bolt in each head that is 5/8" for the accessory brackets instead of the 3/8" factory bolts...After finding the bolts, then I had to find a 5/8" metal drill bit. Not common.
Spark plug placement is very different. There is room for plug wires and a spark plug wrench, but not without some finesse.
This modifying stuff takes so much time (even traveling back and fourth for bolts, drill bits, etc.) I'd never have completed it this weekend.
Motor started great. Then during warm up the coolant overflow tank filled right up and was bubbling. Noooooo...
Tim kept me calm. Just an air lock.

Its our CFL Grey Cup weekend here in Winnipeg. And yes, we are hosting here. Lots of festivities going on everywhere. Tim declined to come out last night with us, and its too bad. One of the bands turned out to be one that I really liked. 54-40, although I doubt any of you know of them. Anyway it was a pleasant diversion last night.

Today, I have some small stuff left like the inner fenders. I can hardly wait to get driving the old girl again. I do really enjoy it.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i didnt panic because just when he said that, i saw the temp gauge spike. figured it was a air lock

Tim declined to come out last night with us, and its too bad.

what don also failed to mention was who they went to see. or the band i heard his wife say.....loverbody... paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaass. i didnt think i could handle 60 year old groupies throwing their panties onto the stage lol

 

[Dono]

Went for the madden voyage.
The bad.... exhaust leak to deal with.

The good.... runs really strong. There seems to be way more bottom end. I flirted with 1 lb boost and it felt pretty good. Coolant level is where it should be.

 

[4pointslow]

Explorer

Yea! It is back together!
Congratulations!
That engine compartment looks great, not a lot of room but sure looks good!
Keep us posted on the boost, and power you feel.

 

[delexploder]

Can you notice the weight reduction? Its something like 80 pounds off the nose with aluminum heads,

 

[jd4242]

Great job guys! ! Don you got one bad as* setup! !Cant wait to hear back about how boost feels...that thing is gonna be scary fast!!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

same side? need "the wrench"? also, i bet the new heads flow better then the p heads you had, which also means the turbo will also spool up faster

 

[Dono]

I think I will need your special wrench.

I'm concerned that I have a bigger issue that the header is still not sitting flush against the head. There was still a slight rock to it without a gasket. I was pretty sure the remflex gasket would take up the space, but now I'm thinking it didn't crush enough.

So, there's a good chance the header will come off on the passenger side and one, or a combination of things will have to happen.
some more 'clearancing' on the header, some grinding on the head where there is still an issue, or doubling up on the remflex gasket.

****ty. I'll drive a bit more, and should be able to see where the leak is. Maybe a hose with one end at my ear and I'll hear exactly where the issue is.

I know there's a huge weight savings. I really need more time driving before I can answer on the weight savings. The front end does seem to sit higher now. There is no question there is a performance gain. My real questions will be....can I keep these heads seated to the block, and am I going to have detonation issues at suck low timing and boost levels again?