Turbo on 2000 Limited 5.0

[Dono]

4% and 9% change is not that bad, tuning will probably get it closer.
One thing that is sticking out in my mind is you said you made the wires longer for one O2 sensor. Was that the wiring harness or the O2 sensor itself?

The intake looks great! Maybe the old intake or gasket were bad.
Keep us posted on how it is running.

It was the 4 wires on the O2 sensor its self I lengthened. I was fighting this issue before I changed the O2's. The motorcraft definitely had a shorter harness than the one I removed. I just couldn't make it fit, and if I did the harness would be stretched. I soldered 1 wire at a time using the connector and wire off of the original O2 sensor, so I know I matched the wires perfectly. I bet I extended it about 3 inches.

Also, I re-used the old upper intake gasket. I know, but.....Its still in perfect shape. I did torque it to spec.

Lets hope things don't magically go bad again. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy. Now I'm ready for the turbine and boost controller. I wouldn't have even bothered till I sorted this issue out.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

kinda forgot how nice that intake looks on a motor. after all, it has been kicking around my shed for the last 2 something years. im almost tempted now to take your old one and see if i can polish it. almost....

 

[2000StreetRod]

injector connectors

I didn't like the stock injector connectors. Two of mine were brittle and the locking tabs broke when I removed them. I replaced all of mine with Delphi EV1s: EV1 FUEL INJECTOR CONNECTOR QUICK RELEASE (ev1 delphi) 6 QTY

 

[Dono]

Nice! thanks.
I'll be picking some up for the next time I have the upper intake off. Everything is pretty brittle under my hood and some of the injector connector lock tabs have broken off.

I need the USCAR style, but Im sure they are there.

 

[Turdle]

I didn't like the stock injector connectors. Two of mine were brittle and the locking tabs broke when I removed them. I replaced all of mine with Delphi EV1s: EV1 FUEL INJECTOR CONNECTOR QUICK RELEASE (ev1 delphi) 6 QTY
View attachment 79849

Thanks for that link. I ordered a set of 8 as I also broke 3 tabs removing them. I wasn't being rough either, just squeezed the tab and they broke.

 

[Dono]

Ok, I now know all 8 cylinders are actually working again.
I was happy with combined 18mpg going back and fourth from work in the past. Now I'm 22.6 mpg. I may not end up that high after all the smoke clears, but there is clearly a gain to be had here. I'm guessing the biggest gain in mpg has come from James's Tuning.
I did order some new injector EV-6 (uscar) connectors to have on hand for the next time the upper intake comes off. There are at least 3 that the positive lock is broken on. Some are just really brittle, and you look at them the wrong way and they break. Special thanks to streetrod2000 for posting the ebay link. While I can't use that style, I hadn't thought of ebay for these. I bought the pigtail style also, as I think soldering a pigtail gives a far better connection than crimping wires and inserting pins into a connector.
All I can think is that my issue was injector connector(s) being intermittent. It was a lot of work and frustration that could have been avoided.

 

[Dono]

and.....P0301 again.

This time, since I can get at the injector plug, I removed it with a suction 'POP' and reseated.

Lets see....Could be connector, could be a broken wire in the harness.

My new connectors haven't shown up yet, but lets see if moving the #1 injector wiring around and reseating makes the issue go away for a while.

I know its not injector since I swapped #1 and #5 end for end.

 

[Dono]

My new injector connectors showed up today. Good thing.
I was able to change the #1 connector without pulling the upper intake.

Interesting (and concerning) thing is, the connector had been changed once already. Whomever did it used solder and heatshrink tubing, so they didn't good job.

Does this mean someone else was chasing the same issue I am?

I installed the new connector (solder and heat shrink,of course) and the miss is gone.

While I was at it, I pulled the ecm connector and checked the pins and added a little dielectric grease to the pins before reseating the connector.

Let's hope this gremlin doesn't come back.

No turbo turbine yet. Probably a good thing as I can't go forward with tuning till I get my junk working properly.

 

[CDW6212R]

That's a good sign, again, still, but keep an eye on it.

I'd be gently moving the wiring that the #1 injector is run with, just a little here and there to try to make it happen again. I do mean gently, not enough to cause any damage. Just lift the wiring along the path to the PCM in places, a little wiggle here and there. If the miss doesn't return from gentle handling, hopefully the issue was in that wiring end section that you just replaced.

 

[Dono]

I'll try that. I'd feel better trying to re-create it and not being able to.

 

[Dono]

Small update...
No miss. That's fixed. Im pretty happy about that.

I think I have my issue with the catch can filling up solved. I attached a short length of hose to the inside of the oil fill cap where the turbo return oil comes out. Now the oil does not splash past the breather tube in the oil fill neck. Easy fix.
I still smell oil in the cabin from the catch can filter though. I'm almost thinking about trying an oil separator that air tanks use, and have been used on this forum many times for pcv valve oil separators. Either that, or I run a 3/8" line from the catch can to the back of the truck and stick the filter on. I haven't quite thought this thru yet.

While waiting on my turbine housing, my boost controller came in, so in it went.

Its interesting that I don't see much for boost in first gear, but on the highway after a downshift under heavy load I see 10 lbs boost easy.

I'm reading lots of conflicting info on line about dropping to a smaller turbine a/r not dropping the spool rpm, but giving way more torque.
I do have concerns that my turbine wheel (f1-68) might be too big for my application, even with the smaller turbine housing. That would be a bad thing.

I'll have to muster the energy and the desire to mount and plumb the intercooler rad and pump at some point. For now, I have just been happy to have a truck that's fun to drive and work out the small issues.

 

[jd4242]

Wow 10 lbs... how iats ? So I dont know much about turbos so can you slightly explain what the differences would do? I would assume the smaller would build boost earlier but what does the different sides do??

 

[Dono]

I wasn't logging to see the iat's.

The turbo concept is pretty simple.
The exhaust wheel spins the intake air wheel.

If you go with a larger exhaust wheel and exhaust housing the turbo can flow more exhaust air (higher rpm's). The down side is that it takes more exhaust air to spin the wheel faster.
Now, if you go with too small of an exhaust wheel and exhaust housing, you have fast spool, but choke the motor with too much exhaust back pressure at higher rpm's.

Now, the racers like to use big turbo's as they are more efficient at higher rmp's. Me? More street biased would be nice. Street guys prefer to sacrifice some top end horsepower for lower rpm spool. I do have options....

I may have to look at eliminating my cats (and muffler, but only as a last resort), and painting my exhaust and wrapping it from front to back. I may try wrapping my muffler soon, as I don't think it will rust. Also, a turbo blanket might help. The reason for keeping the heat in the exhaust is that you keep the exhaust gasses expanded as much as possible, creating more flow past the turbine wheels.
this stuff would be what I would do next to try to get a faster spool. I just don't want to rot my exhaust out really quickly. I don't know how I could get my exhaust off to paint it properly before wrapping without cutting it up though.

Ah, and my nice air filter...history. I must not have secured it properly back there. I have a cheepy on now till I can get a replacement. Then it will be a high priority to make a good air box type system so this can't happen again. The air filter is definitely another short coming of this type of system.

 

[jd4242]

So basically if you were to use current one and improve exhaust velocity by wrapping or removing anything it would build boost fast but max boost would be to high right? Which side are you changing now? Im guessing exhaust side right? If I understand it why do you want to get ride of cats or mufflers if concerned it will spoll to quick after change ? ?

All I can say is turbos is taking over and now im wishing I stuck to my original plan and do twin turbo on the ranger and leave the sc on the ex with better head gaskets and studs

 

[Dono]

All im worried about by removing the cats and muffler is streetability. I want to keep the truck reasonably quiet and legal. By removing the cats and muffler I don't think it would spool too fast, but would help a current slow spool condition. If the new exhaust housing doesn't help spool much, another option (although expensive) is to try a different turbo with a smaller turbine wheel.

Im not worried about too much boost, as the waste gate takes care of the excess boost. The waste gate is in the exhaust tubing before the turbo. It references the boost side and opens when the desired boost level has been hit. Its a fine line between efficiency and early boost. I can really hardly wait to get this new exhaust housing in and see what the results are.

 

[jd4242]

Gotcha. I forgot you can control max boost levels. Bet that thing is a ROCKET once that boost comes in.sounds like your getting it dialed in now, now the fun is starting!! Lol

 

[Dono]

air filter box

As its getting colder and more rain, it was time to put my attention to my air filter issue.

As I was digging around in our crawl space for something else, I came across a portable tool box. I liked the idea that this might be for the low cost of free.

So, I but of cutting ands some metal screws...I was done.

There are drain holes in the bottom of the lid, so no issue with water.

This will be great for summer, but Im not sure what will happen in the winter. Will the box shatter? Will it fill up with snow, and I'll shatter it popping the two latches off to empty the snow out? It iss possible that none of the above will happen, but I'm doubtful.

Were going to find out.

 

[4pointslow]

Air Filter Box

I like the low low cost of free! It motivates me.
At least it is something to protect against large amounts of water, and if the filter falls off you will still have it.
Any word on the turbine housing?

 

[Dono]

Nothing. Not a word.
Im starting to get very impatient. Its been 6 weeks.

Another month and it will be snow time. The warmer seasons are way too short here. I won't even be able to do wot tuning once the snows flying.

 

[Dono]

My .68ar exhaust housing showed up on Friday. I installed it today.
First impressions are really good.

Full spool by about 3500rpm. I set my boost controller to about 9lbs. This is ok, as at wot, after a shift I'm still at full boost. This makes my truck super driveable, just like stock unless I stay hard on the peddle. Not nearly the low end torque my M90 4.0ohv has, but at the same time there are great advantages of the turbo.

My trucks quieter now with that smaller exhaust housing. Its actually really quiet.
The right thing to do would be to pull the cats and muffler out, but I'm not sure I want to risk the expense of it all and have a noisy truck. Highway drone is the worst. With just the magniflow muffler I lived the 'drone', and am really happy it went away with the turbo quieting things down.

Later I'll do my drivearound datalog and get it off to James. Tomorrow is the last day at the track here, so there won't be any track times till next year. I might have taken it, but the wot tuning has not even been started and I can't really run at full boost because of detonation. No point in ruining my motor.

No rush to get my intercooler rad and pump installed now either. After today, the ambient temperatures are cool. Tomorrow would be a great day to run down the 1/4.