Might be go big or go home time on my '06

cavero

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Maybe progress is going faster than we both thought. The owner of the performance shop sent me an email, he was visiting the machine shop and my engine's being assembled now (short block machined and fully assembled, rest of assembly continues this week). Machine shop said it could be ready for pickup on Saturday, and if that holds, then they could be installing the engine on the Tuesday the 14th.

Seemed like it was a lot of draaaaaaaagging on and on like this was going to take till the fall, and both me and the performance shop were in limbo. Now all of a sudden the machine shop is almost done. the lack of transparency on the part of the machine shop kinda pisses me off. Got a lot of questions out to the performance shop about where we are w/ the valve covers, harmonic balancer, and various other little things that need to be done before the engine goes back in.

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cavero

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Well aint it fun....

Was stopping by the shop this afternoon and noticed a small tear in the car cover. Out of OCD, I went ahead and checked under the cover, maybe...it's fine....ok ok .... just in case....





GODDAAAAAMNIT.

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I went in and told them about it, they came out looked at with me and said they'd take care of it. They've got a security camera right in front too so they say they can probably figure out who dunnit too. No doubt whatever scumbag did it felt they hit it too.

At least the paint isn't scratched (cover probably saved it) and there aren't any creases in the metal. I'm hopeful paintless dent repair will be able to get this out. I've seen some pretty gnarly stuff online get pulled out.
 

cavero

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Just dropped off the stock intake manifold this afternoon, talked to the owner.
> Positives:
>> engine is still on track to be done Friday, if so they'll pick it up Saturday
>> They'll start installing early next week, should take the mechanic (or wizard as far as I'm concerned) 3 days to put everything back together
>> could be ready for pickup as early as the end of next week.

> Negatives:
>> the shop's insurance is saying no-go on covering the damage since none of the shop staff hit the car and the spaces out front of the shop is "public space" and its out of the shop's control. If the insurance was going to cover it he said he'd have no problem paying for it
>> he said they've been doing everything they can to control who parks in the vicinity of the front of ther shop and have chased people away before, but they can't control every minute 24x7
>> he did point out on every printout they did have a disclaimer saying they're not responsible for what happens to the car while it's parked in public spaces (yeah ...sadly that's true it's been on every sheet)

> Silver linings
>> He agrees that should be pretty easy for paintless dent repair and is going to hear back from a trusted place he's used on his personal vehicles
>> Especially in light of me being a 16 year customer, and the fact that this is a big job and we're going to be doing the supercharger next year, depending on what the cost of the paintless dent repair is, he'll see what he can do about making it right. I'm not expecting miracles but if they can at least meet me halfway, it's something.


Unrelated to the dent, they got the blue powdercoated valve covers in and yes they are b-e-a-utiful. Wish I'd gotten them years ago. Now how to keep them clean?
We're also going to put in the GT500 fuel pump now to lay some of the groundwork for the supercharger. Plus when I had the car tuned in 2015, the mechanic said my stock fuel pump was at 90% duty cycle which was going to be a problem if I tracked the car. (said when the engine starts getting really hot, the ECU will start dumping in more fuel for a cooling effect)
ATI harmonic balancer is getting ordered.
On the fence about the upgraded fuel injectors now, or wait for the supercharger. Wondering if big injectors will cause idling problems on a mildly cammed motor (like trying to mist with a garden hose)
 

cavero

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Been a busy week!

I'll let the pictures do the talking:

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And at the last minute I asked them if they could get the original parts from the machine shop for my Wall of Pain, and sure enough got a nice box o' goodies:

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What absolutely floors me is how small and light these pistons are. Kind of impressive what they can actually take when you think about it. I'll also get a pic of the cams later, you can definitely see which roller failed, there's a good 1/16th of an inch ground out of the lobe.
 

DieHarder

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So, what's the final talley for everything? Parts v labor.
 

GlassTop09

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Congrats!! :happythumbs:

How is she running now off fresh rebuild........................

If I can make a suggestion..........IMHO I think you should get\record a baseline actual operational EOP curve ASAP using the engine oil of your choice to have for future reference........if you haven't\the shop hasn't already done so.
The 3 points to record as I have learned is during initial cold start, at hot idle & at the Ford specc'd 2,000 RPM (to accommodate VCT operations as well as direct oiling to crank\rod journals).

Here is what I recorded on my 3V back in February of this year w\ the high mileage that she had on her at that time.........this was my 1st time since I bought the car so going forward, I now have a real reference point to go off of when I do my upcoming full timing refresh work to judge my upgraded MMR Hi Press\Hi Volume oil pump performance when used w\ the same grade engine oil.

Needless to say............when I saw those numbers on an engine w\ this amount of mileage, I got a huge warm feeling in my gut as this indicates to me that the internals (the chain tensioners in particular) are in very good shape w\ clearances still being very good for the mileage on her.

Tis is why I'm making this suggestion to you since you now have a fully rebuilt\refreshed 3V & these cars have a dummy OEM EOP gauge..............

Hope this helps.

Ford 4.6L 3V EOP Check Results 2-15-24.JPG
 

cavero

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That's a really good point, I've still got the break in oil in the car right now, but as soon as we get her switched over to regular synthetic I'll definitely get those numbers (got about 150 miles to go). I was thinking about getting a gauge pod for the Supercharger next year, one of the gauges was going to be boost, think the other is going to be oil pressure (going with the Saleen style pods on the dash).
 

cavero

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Speaking of oil, I was going through the box of takeoff parts, and found my $15,000 roller (at least that's what it cost me for the engine rebuild). Just look at the HEAT discoloration!
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And here's the matching lobe on the cam. As mentioned way back in the original post, there were several lobes on this side that showed advanced wear, though this is the only outright failure. The driver's side looks pristine, BTW. Seems like an oiling issue on the passenger side

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cavero

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As far as how she's running, here's the first startup leaving the shop (they put 60 miles on her doing tuning, so not the actual 1st startup)



She runs great! The Comp Cams 127450's are definitely lopier than the 127400's, feels a lot like a cammed muscle car now (127400 had a very smooth, stock-like idle). Only issue is on cold startup, it wants to rev to 3000 RPM, so I've been having to use the clutch and brakes to hold those RPMs down for a couple seconds still it settles down. Messaged the shop about that, imagine they'll need to adjust the tune.


I haven't done any hard pulls (break in and all), but she seems like she's got more low end torque with these cams and the stock intake manifold back on. We're going to do a dyno pull after the break in so we'll see then how much of a difference it makes.

And speaking of clutch, while they had it apart they put in a McLeod RST. WAY lighter than the McLeod Street Pro I had, although the pickup point is also a lot higher on the pedal than before, and that's taking some getting used to. And the rattle! Under certain loads between 1500-2000 rpm, it sounds like an old jelopy. But reading up on it, that's pretty common with dual disc clutches. So I guess I'll have to adjust my driving habits and avoid that rpm range cruising around town
 

JC SSP

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Sounds healthy. Go easy and do a good break in then you can jump on her hard.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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And speaking of clutch, while they had it apart they put in a McLeod RST. WAY lighter than the McLeod Street Pro I had, although the pickup point is also a lot higher on the pedal than before, and that's taking some getting used to. And the rattle! Under certain loads between 1500-2000 rpm, it sounds like an old jelopy. But reading up on it, that's pretty common with dual disc clutches. So I guess I'll have to adjust my driving habits and avoid that rpm range cruising around town
My McLeod RXT also has the same rattle but only at precisely 1500rpm. It's most obvious in direct drive 1.00:1 4th gear and, like you, I just try to avoid holding the engine at 1500rpm.
 

lwarrior1016

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Go easy on the engine? No way. We used to build engines and put them straight on the dyno. Load that sucker up and get some heat in it.

After I build any engine, as long as it’s not leaking and oil pressure is good, we send it.
 

JC SSP

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I have built many engines in my time.

things to look for.... make sure it doesn't overheat, no oil leaks, tuning... adjusting timing, fuel, etc. If it automatic, make sure shift points are correct... finally change oil & filter to get ride of all the assembly lube crap, etc. Then jump on it!
 

cavero

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JC, thanks will do. Working on a few of those at the moment:

What's been going on with it the last week:
  • Put 150 miles on her memorial day weekend, took it in to get inspected and it FAILED emissions.
    • Misfire: Complete (last time it passed emissions: Complete )
    • Fuel System: Complete (supposed to be: Complete )
    • Components: Complete (supposed to be: Complete )
    • System Type: Spark (supposed to be: Spark)
    • Catalyst: Not Avail (supposed to be: Complete )
    • Heated Catalyst Not Availl (last time: Not Avail)
    • Evap System: Incomplete (supposed to be: Complete )
    • Secondary Air Sys: Not Avail (last time: Not Avail)
    • A/C Refrigerant : Not Avail (last time: Not Avail)
    • O2 Sensor: Not Avail (supposed to be: Complete )
    • O2 Sensor Heater: Not Avail (supposed to be: Complete )
    • EGR System: Not Avail (last time Not Avail)
  • On cold starts, the engine was shooting up to 3000 RPM for 10 seconds. I was having it in gear and ready to start moving when I turned the key so I could let the clutch out and pull the RPMs down.
I talked to the shop about it, they had no idea why emissions was turned off again. We'd gone through this whole thing in 2020 about getting the car emissions compliant again after Virginia changed its rules on what it checks for emissions ( https://www.s197forum.com/threads/c...-cats-in-my-future.137637/page-4#post-2475035 ). He said go ahead and drop it off Friday, should be a quick update. Turns out the tune gave them a little more trouble than they figured. Now it's down to ~ 1800 rpm on cold start, and they've also been messing with a setting called coast back idle (or something like that ... basically when you coast or put it in neutral, how much it lets the RPMs drop).

They've got it 90% there, but everytime they reflash the car, it wipes out the onboard emissions tests. So we decided I've got to get my emissions done since it's expired (it elapsed in March when the engine was at the machine shop). I picked it up yesterday and I'm passing every emissions check except Catalyst and Evap System (still Incomplete). Evap takes forever to pass, so I'm probably going to bring it in for inspection as soon as Catalyst passes.

It's definitely driving better, running smoother and quieter than when I initially got it back.

And 310 miles! WOOT! Past the break-in! Just gotta get these taken care of before I can start having fun again:
  • Pass emissions
  • have the shop change the oil from the break-in oil to regular motor oil (it'll be Amsoil, gotta check with them on the recomended weight...probably 10W30)
  • get the tune dialed in
  • DYNO
And after that, just a few things before she's whole again:
  • Get that dent fixed (yeah I can still have fun but it's an eyesore)
  • get a gouge in my wheel fixed (my own damn fault when I was brining the wheels over in the back of the truck)
 

bambam 06

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> Negatives:
>> the shop's insurance is saying no-go on covering the damage since none of the shop staff hit the car and the spaces out front of the shop is "public space" and its out of the shop's control. If the insurance was going to cover it he said he'd have no problem paying for it
>> he said they've been doing everything they can to control who parks in the vicinity of the front of ther shop and have chased people away before, but they can't control every minute 24x7
>> he did point out on every printout they did have a disclaimer saying they're not responsible for what happens to the car while it's parked in public spaces (yeah ...sadly that's true it's been on every sheet)
They can have a 100 disclaimers that they are not responsible for damages, but the "LAW" disagree, as long as the car is under their care/control they are resposible for the damages whether the car is in the shop or parked outside. They are the ones that park it outside Is up to you.
 

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