Build Thread Want To Blow 5 Years And $50k On A Foxbody? Step By Step Instructions Inside!

[RacEoHolic330]

Work and other projects have been consuming me a bit lately.

Last time I started the car and drove it around a bit, the coolant was boiling when I shut the engine down. I suspected the radiator cap want bad. I bought a replacement 16 psi cap, but haven't had time to run the car again. I hope the cap was the issue. There's no signs of head gasket problems.

I also need to adjust the clutch a little. It's catching a bit too high.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Let me be the first to say that I appreciate the update even when there is little to say. (That means I'm not the only one)
'Cept even when there is little to say, I still say alot.

Still trying to source what I hope is a valve cover leak at the back of the head, I currently have a rag tied around the back lip of the valve cover hoping that the damn drip that shows up after running the engine is coming from there, instead of the head gasket.

As for engine coolant,I have an exact opposite problem going on.

I can't run the water pump continously. The stupid temp plummets from 180 to about 160 if I do, and never gets back there if I leave it on. I'm thinking the heater control valve is open, and allowing water to bypass the t stat.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Does the MS have the ability to turn the water pump on and off at certain temperatures? If you can program a hysteresis into it, that would be ideal.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Does the MS have the ability to turn the water pump on and off at certain temperatures? If you can program a hysteresis into it, that would be ideal.

Yeah it does, and I'll do that if I have to,...just seems crazy that the engine won't stay hot when the pump is running. I have a manual switch wired in to override the W/P control coming from the MS, and right now I'll let the tem get to 190 and then turn on the pump. It'll start coming down so fast from there if i don't shut the pump off at 175,...it'll continue down to about 160 and the stupid ECU goes back into WUE mode.
Crazy that I gotta use the ECU to act like a T-stat. The engine is partially filled, and half of the water passages to the head are blocked off, you'd think it would boil it's balls off for christsakes

Hmmmm.....it does have a 35GPM electric W/P split to 3 -12's....probably never was intended to move as much water as it is now passing.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

That's with no hood, fenders, or front end while parked inside a garage, right? Put the car out in the summer heat with everything buttoned up and you'll probably see things heating up a little easier.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I did start the car up last night and let it idle for a while. Water pump comes on at 150 degrees. The fan kicks on High speed at 190 and then turns off at 180. With the hood closed, radio on, headlights and fog lights on it took about 5-6 minutes for it to come back down to 180 before the fan turned off. The Taurus fan really does put a heck of a load on the electrical system. Voltage would come down to 13v while the fan was running. Everything seemed to work well though. No boiling coolant after shutdown either. Progress...

 

[Noobz347]

Are you running a fan controller of some kind or a relay? I don't recall.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

I was previously running a dccontrol unit, but now the fan is controlled by the ecu via a 75A relay. The lights don't dim when it kicks on, but it does pull the voltage down some when running.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Car is scheduled to be on the rollers again July 28th. I'll spend the next 2 weeks checking everything over to make sure she's ready to roll.

 

[90lxcoupe]

My fan also kicks the fan on quickly when i turn the key on. I wired it per holleys instructions so i never really worried about it.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Mine does that too. It blips on and off very fast. I read it's because the ecu initializes all the inputs and outputs when they key is turned on so it applies the ground or 12v for milliseconds.

 

[Prodigy]

Sweet build, looking forward to seeing more

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Just Saying it's been awhile since any pics.. Lol

It has been quite a while, actually. I probably won't have any new pictures until dyno day. There will be some professional rolling shots soon after that also.

 

[RacEoHolic330]

She's not smoking like a chimney on the dyno anymore. Fingers crossed that the rings are finally safe! We are focusing on driveability today, but will make a few conservative pulls.

 

[bird_dog0347]

Look out, there's a snake behind you.

 

[FoxMustangLvr]

Best of luck to you!

 

[RacEoHolic330]

Yesterday went very well overall. The cooling system was put the the ultimate test in the 91 degree humid weather we had. She handled it quite well. That Taurus fan moves some serious air!

As with any dyno day, there always seems to be a little bad with the good.

The good:
- The driveability is excellent now. The car starts fine when hot and idles within 50rpm (900 rpm idle). It does great when on and off the gas in a parking lot and doesn't show any signs of randomally wanting to stall. I'll still have to see how it does with cold starts. Some adjustment may be necessary there.

- There is no excessive smoking on the dyno. She puffs a very tiny bit on decel, but it's hardly noticeable. The breather doesn't puff visible smoke at all. I think the rings are happy. I'll be doing an oil change this week.

- Nothing blew up or failed. That's always a win.

The bad:
- I'm still having a boost problem. I thought it was due to the boost leak at the blow off valve, but the engine still isn't making boost off the wastegate like it should be.

The possible culprits could be a bad gate diaphragm, backpressure issues, as well as needing a higher rate spring in the gate. Frank, the tuner at PSI, thinks there is a definite backpressure problem. He blames the 2.5" catback and mufflers. We would increase the boost, but the car wouldn't make anymore power. His suggestion was to install an electric exhaust cutout if I'm interested in seeing how much power the car is really capable of making. I like how quiet and unassuming my car is, so a cutout would be a nice way to let the car scream, but only when I want it to. That will be a winter project. I'll need to fab a Y pipe and wire it up.

On his Mustang dyno, the car made 600/600 at 15 psi. Max power was only at 5300 rpm, which apparently is another sign that there are backpressure issues.

Despite the issues, which really aren't a big deal at all, the car rips. We took it for a drive to confirm the driveability. I rowed through the first few gears and could help but smile and nearly giggle. I can finally enjoy the car for the rest of the year. I'll shoot for big numbers in the winter. An exhaust cutout and probably some menthol injection will be on the horizon to get me close to that 800hp range on 20-22psi.

I plan to go on a nice cruise later tonight.

 

[bird_dog0347]

So bad ass, congrats man! You've earned it.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Yesterday went very well overall.
An exhaust cutout, and probably some menthol injection will be on the horizon to get me close to that 800hp range on 20-22psi.

I plan to go on a nice cruise later tonight.

Well good for you. Despite the persistent low boost bug, it looks like one of us had a better day than the other one did.

And....

Isn't an "exhaust cutout" that hole they put in your throat as a result of too much menthol injection?

Let people say what they will about lengthy worded updates, and replies. I prefer to read the story that goes with the pics, as opposed to "here are some pics, enjoy."

That does say something about the fact that I caught your word usage issues.

 

[89oem]

Awesome, you'll get the boost scenario worked out pretty easy, Hope the cruise was a blast and lasted a long time!