5ltr freshen for supercharger! - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

blueoval · 06-23-2003, 18:31

Hey all, as you may already know I'm saving to upgrade to a Powerdyne supercharger from CAPA, and I know I will need to freshen up the motor as it's done 167,000k's so far and probably wont handle the extra power of the S/C. My question is............

What extras can I do to the motor while it is getting new rings and bearings?

Head Porting? Cam upgrade? Better intake? ARP rod bolts?

My budget for the freshen will be limited but I will not substitute anything for reliability in the end.
I was verbally quoted $4-5k for the freshen depending on the condition of the block and whether it needed to be rebored which will have to include new pistons. But 'IF' all is well I guess it will cost less.

I reckon I will do a mild bowl port & exhaust port to the standard heads, roller rockers, larger valves and maybe if I can find them, a set of EL2 intakes. Also, a set of ARP rod bolts, mild crane cam (the type that doesnt affect to CPU). I'm not after 500kw, I'm just after drivability, reliability and an overall power increase that will kick a bit of street ass!

Could you suggest anything better and/or cheaper? Pro's & Con's?

BlownV8 · 06-23-2003, 19:38

while you have got the bottom end apart i would defenately put a full ARP bolt kit thru the engine, that is the weakest link in the std bottom end. If their in your budget, you might also want to invest in a set of new Pistons. As your only running a powerdyne, i would go for HP pistons rather than Forgies, and their pretty cheap too. Go for a 30 thou over bore on your piston, this will take any nicks out of the block the the std slugs may have left behind, and its only another $80 to get the block bored anyway. The rest of the bottom end, if in reasonalbe nick, should be o.k. for your application.
Dont worry about the intake for the blower, as capa provide you with a K&N Pod filter, and instructions to cut a hole under your std air box and put it in the inner guard.
Head porting is usually a personall preference thing, but any porting is better than none. Cost has a lot to do with flowing a head, as the more you want, the more they charge. I got a quote for a set of brand new GT40P heads of a series3 xr8 for $1000 from herrod motorsport, they may be a better option for you.
As for the cam, i would use a crow, as they are made in oz, and you can get a custom grind for $300. If you want a crane, you ring them and tell them what specs you want, and they send you the closest off the shelf item that have. They did this to me and i was pretty upset by it.

If you have a local capa dealer near you, you can take the car back to them after you have done all your mods, and they will re-write you ECU Rom for you to better suit your other modifications. A mate had his done for $250, but it depends on the tune shop doing the work.

Please post lots of photos when its done.

blueoval · 06-23-2003, 20:03

Thanks BlownV8, that helps heaps!

As for the pod filter, I already did a Cold Air intake by going through the guard by cutting through the air box.

I guess it would be better to get the block rebored and new pistons. Better to be safe than sorry!

$1000 for GT40 heads? Thats quite a decnt price. Is that a complete price or bare?

Crow sound like the way to go in regards to cams. What about an SVO grind or would that be a rediculous price in the end?

What do you think it would cost you in the end to set this up? Ball park figures!

BlownV8 · 06-23-2003, 20:57

The heads were taken off the engines before they are ever started. When Herrod do thier engine builds, they buy complete engines, then remove the heads, and put on bigger/better items. I was told that the heads are compete, and unused.
As for the cam, i have no idea what SVO cams are like. They are big in america, but all the big guys over there have custom billet items, and they are expensive. I have never done a price comparrison on crow to SVO, for the simple reason i have has a crow cam before and was very happy with it, and i have seen them used in other application, and have not heard a bad word about them.

As for cost, if your pretty handy with your tools, you could assemble the engine your self, just get a really good torque wrench, ring compressor, plastigraph, and your usual socket set and associated tools.
It cost me $130 to get the bare block bored, honed, and chemically cleaned.
Pistons should cost about $300, and about a further $150 for a ring set.
You will need to get an engine shop to press the pins into the pistons on the small ends, but that should not cost a whole lot. You could get new rods with floating pins, but thats more money, and you dont really need them.
The rest of the assembly is pretty easy, the heads should come with torque settings and torque order for assembling the bottom end, cam comes with very detailed instructions, easy to do, the rest of the bottom end is very easy to put back together, just have to have the torque settings right.
Its not really that hard to put an engine together, it just takes time, patience, and common sence.

I think if you put the enging together your self, bought the GT40P heads, the cam, some new lifters ($110), pistons, rings, gaskets and ARP bolts, you could probably get out of it for about $2500.
I would also recomend you buy an engine stand($100), so you can roll the engine over for toquing the mains.

goto www.vpw.com.au and have a look at the price on thier bits, thats where most of my stuff is coming from, and they are very helpful on the phone with support too.

If you wanted to spend the $4-5K as previously mentioned, you could add an edlebrock, or trickflow, or whatever upper and lower intake manifold and bigger throttle body as well, you will have a very neat little package that will blow away most people that want to line up next to you.

EDXR8 · 06-23-2003, 21:12

When I had my bottom end done, I had the block cleaned, bored 20th, torque plate honed, mains were line honed, block was zero decked, rods were resized and shotpeened, crank was ground, and then the whole thing was race balanced and the rotating assembly was assembled using my own parts for $1910. Those prices are from a fairly expensive but good place, so you may be able to get cheaper.

As blownV8 said, make sure you replace all the bolts with ARP, and get the ARP studs for the block. Try and keep the compression down below 9:1 to stop pinging once the blower goes on.

elxr8393 · 06-23-2003, 21:15

Hi Blownv8, your combination sounds hot, do you have any pics ? interested in the custom manifold, how much boost and rwkw, thanks for any info.

blueoval · 06-23-2003, 21:38

cheers guys. I got some homework to do. The combinations sound very enticing. Unfortunately I dont have the time to do my own engine. I'll have to get my local mechanic to do the job respectively which I know will cost a fair bit more for the labour.
I had an XC GS Fairmont a few years back which was a 6 but was changed to 351 clevo and even though I sourced out the motor, trans and other items it still cost me $1400 to get the motor fitted. I'm estimating the motor will cost about $2500 + $1500 to get someone to asseble it and fit it. I have to admit that the mechanic I go to is quite cluey when it comes to Fords. He owns 2 XB GT's himself with less than 50,000k's on them. He's also built a mates motor who owns a skyline, his brothers car which is a ZG Fairlane and a number of guys cars that I know of.
I've also had a bad experience building my own motor too so since then I've lost confidence in my own abilities to tackle a job like this.
I guess I want someone to blame when something goes wrong.

I'm I being stupid or is this a fair situation?

BlownV8 · 06-23-2003, 22:28

Your not being stupid having someone else assemble your engine, it can be very daunting. The 1st 1 i built my self, i bounced a valve or 2 of the pistons, and the second one would not crank over, was way to tight. But after persevering you do get it right, i have even done a VG30DETT, thats a twin turbo quad cam V6 from a 300ZX. That had a lot of bits, and took ages, but it ran really well.

ELXR8393
No pics as yet, still piecing together the last bits of information, and a few more specs. The custom manifold is the main problem at the moment, as due to the length of the blower, and having to mount the T/B adapter on rear of the blower, i have to mount the blower furthur forward on the manifold, which then favours the front cylinders and starves the rears. Its not that dramatical a difference, but i am working with a few flow programs to try and get the manifold geometry right to ensure similar flow into all 8 cylinders.
At the moment the plan is to run about 15 P.S.I. and then eventually wind it up to about 20 or 22. I am expecting about 800+ HP at the fly @

BlownV8 · 06-23-2003, 22:29

Your not being stupid having someone else assemble your engine, it can be very daunting. The 1st 1 i built my self, i bounced a valve or 2 of the pistons, and the second one would not crank over, was way to tight. But after persevering you do get it right, i have even done a VG30DETT, thats a twin turbo quad cam V6 from a 300ZX. That had a lot of bits, and took ages, but it ran really well.

ELXR8393
No pics as yet, still piecing together the last bits of information, and a few more specs. The custom manifold is the main problem at the moment, as due to the length of the blower, and having to mount the T/B adapter on rear of the blower, i have to mount the blower furthur forward on the manifold, which then favours the front cylinders and starves the rears. Its not that dramatical a difference, but i am working with a few flow programs to try and get the manifold geometry right to ensure similar flow into all 8 cylinders.
At the moment the plan is to run about 15 P.S.I. and then eventually wind it up to about 20 or 22. I am expecting about 800+ HP at the fly @ 15 psi, but would like around 1000HP at the fly with 20+

Well post pics when i start putting it all together.

BlownV8 · 06-23-2003, 22:30

sorry about the double post, a little f#ck up on my behalf.