MMR forged 5.0 stroker build

[kahmann]

Somehow I forgot to pick up a pilot bearing. So getting the clutch installed will need wait yet another day.

Anyone know if this Ford Racing part #M-7600-B is any better than the stock one? http://www.americanmuscle.com/ford-pilotbearing-96102.html

[jdb9]

Sorry to hear about all your trouble with MMR. It looks like they have struck again.

 

On a better note, the motor is looking great. Keep up the great work!

 

Jim

[kahmann]

I got the pilot bearing and clutch installed today, then got the transmission bolted up.

It's now finally ready for install, which is scheduled for next week.

 

 

[kahmann]

I'm scheduled to get on a lift at NorCal Motorsports this Thursday.

I'm just waiting on a refreshed tune from Justin at VMP, which I will use for the 500 mile break in. After that, I'll head to a local dyno shop for a full dyno tune, leak down test, etc.

[AstroDan]

I'm scheduled to get on a lift at NorCal Motorsports this Thursday.

I'm just waiting on a refreshed tune from Justin at VMP, which I will use for the 500 mile break in. After that, I'll head to a local dyno shop for a full dyno tune, leak down test, etc.

 

 

"The long and winding road"

 

Good news. Hope to see you at our next mixed run, Ken. Can't wait to see her.

[jmn444]

Gonna be sweet to see that beast back in it's "home"!

[kahmann]

Thanks a lot guys. Dan, I'll definitely be at the next mixed car run, if nothing else gets in the way.

I couldn't track down my original header bolts or exhaust collector bolts, so I ordered a set of Stage 8 locking header bolts today. For the collectors, I got some grade 8 hardware on order from the local CAT dealer, which I'll pick up tomorrow.

My only concern with the install at this point, now that I'm fairly certain that I've got every nut and bolt I need, is whether the big 3" Kooks x-pipe will clear the front of my Griggs torque arm without any modification.

Regardless, I'll have lots of photos Thursday night showing how everything goes together. The tow truck will be here at 8AM.

[idrathergolf]

Thanks a lot guys. Dan, I'll definitely be at the next mixed car run, if nothing else gets in the way.

I couldn't track down my original header bolts or exhaust collector bolts, so I ordered a set of Stage 8 locking header bolts today. For the collectors, I got some grade 8 hardware on order from the local CAT dealer, which I'll pick up tomorrow.

My only concern with the install at this point, now that I'm fairly certain that I've got every nut and bolt I need, is whether the big 3" Kooks x-pipe will clear the front of my Griggs torque arm without any modification.

Regardless, I'll have lots of photos Thursday night showing how everything goes together. The tow truck will be here at 8AM.

 

My 3" JBA's didn't clear it. We had to cut the pipes a little shorter to make it fit. No worries, it is an easy modification to get it to clear the torque arm.

[kahmann]

I wonder if the x-pipe sits in the same spot on the 4.6 as it ends up on the 5.4. Either way, you're right, it shouldn't be a huge deal to fix. Thanks for the heads up Dana.

By the way, is your exhaust 3" from the manifolds to the mufflers? My x-pipe is a 3" x 2.5" reducer, so I'm hoping that the 2.5" side might just clear.

[idrathergolf]

I wonder if the x-pipe sits in the same spot on the 4.6 as it ends up on the 5.4. Either way, you're right, it shouldn't be a huge deal to fix. Thanks for the heads up Dana.

By the way, is your exhaust 3" from the manifolds to the mufflers? My x-pipe is a 3" x 2.5" reducer, so I'm hoping that the 2.5" side might just clear.

 

3" from the manifold. This caused the x-pipe to be pushed closer to the rear just a tad, but it was just close enough to hit the torque arm.

[kahmann]

The tow truck will be here in 7 hours to bring my car to the lift.

I filled the engine full of oil last night, only to find that there were a couple leaks from the timing cover. My impact gun was shot, so I couldn't get the damper bolt off. I picked up a new one this morning, zipped the damper bolt off, and went to work. Tonight, I pulled the damper itself, along with all the pulleys, tensioner, etc, and yanked the timing cover back off. I RTV'ed the hell out of the cover, especially at the joints (oil pan, heads to block, valve covers), then tried it again. So far, it's holding oil fine, so I loaded it into the back of my truck and wrapped it with a tarp. I spent the rest of the night loading my truck full of everything else I need for the install. Hopefully all goes well and I'll have some good pics tomorrow night.

[AstroDan]

Thanks a lot guys. Dan, I'll definitely be at the next mixed car run, if nothing else gets in the way.

I couldn't track down my original header bolts or exhaust collector bolts, so I ordered a set of Stage 8 locking header bolts today. For the collectors, I got some grade 8 hardware on order from the local CAT dealer, which I'll pick up tomorrow.

My only concern with the install at this point, now that I'm fairly certain that I've got every nut and bolt I need, is whether the big 3" Kooks x-pipe will clear the front of my Griggs torque arm without any modification.

Regardless, I'll have lots of photos Thursday night showing how everything goes together. The tow truck will be here at 8AM.

 

 

 

Sweet! Can't wait to have you in the mix at the next run.

You do know Thursday night is game 4 SJ Sharks at Detroit, right?

 

I think it's time to change the bills in your sig/pic to C-notes!

[kahmann]

Sweet! Can't wait to have you in the mix at the next run.

You do know Thursday night is game 4 SJ Sharks at Detroit, right?

I think it's time to change the bills in your sig/pic to C-notes!

 

LOL good point on the bills, Dan! And yeah that Sharks game was pretty painful, if ya ask me.

 

So the tow truck came this morning, but it's bed was too steep to load the Shelby without destroying the front bumper. My brother-in-law Josh and I waited around for an hour before the right tow truck finally showed up. By the time Josh and I got to NorCal Motorsports, it was about 10AM. I thought for sure that too much time had been wasted to take full advantage of my time on the lift and so I was discouraged right off the bat.

 

But the guys at NorCal dropped what they had planned for the day and went right to work on my car to make up for lost time. Jason (NorCal's owner) did the majority of the work all day, with another NorCal guy, Josh, and I all lending hands whenever Jason needed us. We worked non-stop past 5PM, breaking only for the pizza lunch that Jason's dad Gary bought for us.

We bolted the new Kooks headers up with Stage 8 locking header fasteners, then hoisted the engine/trans through the top of the bay, after taking the hood off. I was surprised that we were able to get it to clear this way, especially with the long tubes bolted up, but somehow we made it fit without scratching anything.

 

Next, we rolled the car onto the lift to get the trans crossmember installed, along with the power steering/AC pumps, FRPP a-arm brace, and the rest of the Kooks exhaust/Magnaflow muffler deletes. After reading about a few guys having difficulty getting the Kooks x-pipe to clear a Griggs torque arm on their GT500's, I was anticipating having to make some modifications. However, my 3"x2.5" x-pipe cleared with several inches in front of the torque arm, so this problem must only affect the 5.4 guys. Everyone poked fun at me for installing straight pipe exhaust, so I agreed to consider adding some sort of muffler in place of my deletes 'someday'.

 

After installing the alternator and coolant crossover, it came time to sort the jungle of FoMoCo wiring. Since I failed to mark literally a single wire, this became more of a challenge than it should have been, especially since nearly 6 months had passed since any of us had monkeyed with these harnesses. But again, Jason devoted plenty of time to figuring out where everything goes, leaving me only a couple open plugs at the end of the day. He fabbed some nice wiring mounts for me, in order to clean the bay up a bit too. I got as many of the coolant and PS hoses hooked up as I could and then helped out with some of the electrical stuff.

 

I'm missing the tiny wire clip that holds the clutch line to the slave cylinder inlet, so that's scheduled to arrive tomorrow. The only other part that I need, before I can finish the last bit of assembly is a new cylinder temp sensor, because my original was broken today while trying to install it. Once I have those parts, I can slap the intake and blower on, then fill all of the fluids, and I'm on my way. So all in all, today was a really awesome day, thanks to the guys at NorCal Motorsports. We got a ton more done today than I expected to get done and my Shelby is a million miles closer to running than it has been in a long time. Big thanks again to Jason and Gary at NorCal for the high caliber of work they do and the enjoyable company they provide. NorCal has been my top shop for several years and will continue to be for many years to come.

 

[tispco]

It's great to see that motor going back in your SGT!!! It sure has been a long road. Congrats :happy feet:

[Dans07SGT]

Ken that's great news man! It's good to see the motor finally going back in. Congrats!!!

[kahmann]

Thanks a lot guys. It's a big relief to have this project so close to an end. I need to continue hassling Justin at VMP for his updated 'break in' tune, so that there aren't any unforeseen delays. I expect to have this running by the end of the weekend. Here are a few more pics we took today.

 

[kahmann]

[kahmann]

[blkGT500nCA]

That motor looks amazing Ken! It's good to see it in the car too. Do you have cats on that thing? OMG, it's going to be LOUD!!! I can't wait to see that thing @ Grabbers meet and greet.

[kahmann]

That motor looks amazing Ken! It's good to see it in the car too. Do you have cats on that thing? OMG, it's going to be LOUD!!! I can't wait to see that thing @ Grabbers meet and greet.

 

 

Thanks Brian! Nope, no cats, no mufflers, nothing in the way. I like it super loud, so I thought I'd start with the noisiest setup imaginable, then consider toning it down from there.

[blkGT500nCA]

Thanks Brian! Nope, no cats, no mufflers, nothing in the way. I like it super loud, so I thought I'd start with the noisiest setup imaginable, then consider toning it down from there.

 

 

Hopefully I can keep you behind me on the way up to WA then. lol. Probably not though.

[ShadowLands]

Nice!

[kahmann]

Thanks SD!

I stayed up late last night getting the wiring sorted out again. I had a few things plugged in to the wrong plugs and a few wires routed the wrong way. After a couple of beers, I could see things a lot clearer.

I got the intake bolted down, with rails and injectors, only to find that the 60's I bought off another forum don't match my injector plugs. I'm told that some adapters exist somewhere, so I'll need to track those down. I wish I would have compared the plugs when they first arrived several weeks ago!

Aside from that, Justin at VMP sent me a couple of revised tunes to try out for my break in, so I'm pretty stoked to have that ready to load up anyway.

Today, I'm going to get the damper bolted back up, then try to pull a belt measurement. I'll have some more pics tonight.

 

Ken

[strong_j]

kahmann slow downnnn!! let me catch up!! lol

havent been on here for a month (been working double shifts to pay for the rockers) and now i see basically ur car put together. you've been busy. lol

I cant imagine how excited you are that ur car is almost done. lol Cant wait for those dyno vids.

 

p.s. what did you do about the billet timing wheel??

[kahmann]

^Thanks man, I've gotten a lot done in the past couple weeks for sure. Which rockers are you going with? As for the billet crank gear, it's still sitting in my shop, waiting for an RMA.

The last I heard from MMR was that they'd call me back after talking to the head doofus. Never heard back from them and I'm tired of screaming and cussing on the phone.

 

Last night, I got the blower mounted after finishing up with the damper, only to find that my old belt is now too short. With a Paxton, you have to pull the entire blower and mounting support, just to remove and install a flippin belt. So I'm pulling a string today, in order to get an exact belt measurement. Hopefully I can track down what I need asap.

 

Aside from that, I need to figure out how to get a torque wrench over the passenger motor mount. The Kooks headers are in the road on that one. The small clip for the clutch line will be here tomorrow, so I can get that system filled and bled. The fuel injector adapters will be here Tuesday. Once I have the correct belt, I can wrap up the coolant and PS systems and get ready to fire her up.

 

[strong_j]

^Thanks man, I've gotten a lot done in the past couple weeks for sure. Which rockers are you going with? As for the billet crank gear, it's still sitting in my shop, waiting for an RMA.

The last I heard from MMR was that they'd call me back after talking to the head doofus. Never heard back from them and I'm tired of screaming and cussing on the phone.

 

Last night, I got the blower mounted after finishing up with the damper, only to find that my old belt is now too short. With a Paxton, you have to pull the entire blower and mounting support, just to remove and install a flippin belt. So I'm pulling a string today, in order to get an exact belt measurement. Hopefully I can track down what I need asap.

 

Aside from that, I need to figure out how to get a torque wrench over the passenger motor mount. The Kooks headers are in the road on that one. The small clip for the clutch line will be here tomorrow, so I can get that system filled and bled. The fuel injector adapters will be here Tuesday. Once I have the correct belt, I can wrap up the coolant and PS systems and get ready to fire her up.

 

 

 

I went with the jesel (hydraulic) rockers. I odered them 2 weeks ago from MMR and they told me it was going to be 1900 bucks. when they came in i only had 16 of them I called them back and apperently they sent me the 2v kit instead of the 3v kit. so i got to pay an extra 800 bucks for theyre mistake. i just love MMR.

what size kooks headers did u go with??

[kahmann]

Right on, those are some very nice rockers. Hopefully you get them soon.

My Kooks are 1 3/4" primaries with 3" collector

[strong_j]

Right on, those are some very nice rockers. Hopefully you get them soon.

My Kooks are 1 3/4" primaries with 3" collector

 

 

Did u have any problems with them?? I went with the same and ive been hearing about headers interfereing with the steering shaft. how does ur fit??

[kahmann]

^It's a tight squeeze for sure, but I bolted the headers up first and dropped the entire engine/trans through the top of the engine bay and it cleared without scratching a thing.

I called Kooks before the install to make sure they would clear the steering shaft and they said there was no issue at all. They had some trouble with older Mustangs with this size header clearing steering shafts, but the S197's fit like a glove. I was really impressed with how well the Kooks stuff fit actually. Super tight clearances, but engineered just perfectly. You shouldn't have any trouble.

[kahmann]

Here's a pic of the new cylinder temp sensor installed