Just a heads up but KarKraft.com dropped the price on their bare block to $429.00 for the cast iron version!

 

Here is my parts list. What is missing?

Short Block
================================================== ==========
Bare Block - $429.95 - KarKraft.com
Steel Crankshaft - $99.95 - KarKraft.com
Mahle Pistons w/ Rings - $530.00 - Mustang Depot
H-beam Rods - $330.00 - Mustang Depot (4340 6.658" forged)
================================================== ==========
VT Stage 2 FI Cams - $500.00 -
Patriot Stage 3 Heads - $1200.00 -
HPS Hardball'r Intake - $800.00 - HiPerformanceSolutions.com
Adapter Plates - $375.00 - ReichardRacing.com

Flywheel (8bolt) - $239.00 - DDPerformance.com

Roughly less than $5000 for all of that. Do I get the steel or aluminum flywheel? What parts am I missing (small stuff?)

 

what about bearings(main,rod) and windage tray/girdle, also harmonic balancer. also a good clutch since your down there already

 

Transmission and rear end will be built separately and will be in before the engine so no worries there. Will the 8 bolt flywheel work with my AODE transmission? Steel or aluminum flywheel?

Where can I find bearings, windage tray/girdle, and the right harmonic balancer?

 

don't forget rear main seal, side bolts (and the little slide blocks that they poke through), oil pump, every gasket, oil filter mount, rear cover, pins galore, oil and coolant galley plugs, water pump & o-ring, water tube, head gaskets, head studs, main studs, and something else I can't seem to remember. Much of this can be cannibalized from your existing motor or a busticated donor motor. They're all pretty much interchangeable. Any bolt should be new and most gaskets will need to be new. All seals should be new too. SHM has good (not great) prices on their windage trays and all that stuff and it's easy to find what you'll need on their site. It's really well set up for piecing together a motor from nothing.

You'll need an 8 bolt flexplate (not flywheel... they're different). You should still be able to bolt your existing TC to it but I'm not sure about that. If all else fails you should be able to lay your hands on a TC for relatively cheap.

Don't forget to budget about 2K for assembly and installation.

 

I'll be doing the assembly and installation. TC?

 

check your latest copy of <insert mustang mag here>. There are sure to be several ads for AOD/E tinkerers who you can call and buy a flexplate from. TC=torque converter and whoever you call should be able to answer those questions too.

 

I figured you meant torque converter. A friend has an 8 bolt flexplate from one of his donor cars. I'm going to call around and see if itll work. I'm looking at about 6000 for the engine right now, plus another 2500 for a custom turbo setup (weve done plenty of them so shouldnt exceed that price).

 

Redneck how is your swap coming along?

 

it's moving along. I've torn into porting my HPS intake with a renewed vigor. That's a helluva lot of work but I'm sure it'll be worth it.

I'm waiting for my next cash infusion before I can go out and spend the 2grand or so it's going to take to get it all put together and in. All the parts minus the block are within miles of the assembler and the block is due to head down soon. I've been hella busy lately so it's slipped a bit. That and it's been so cold I don't want to go out in the garage and fiddle with anything.

 

Nice nice, why are you paying to have it assembled?

With the built bottom end how much boost would you expect I could run on the forged bottom end? Also could I run say 12psi and then hit it with say a 125shot? I'm use to toyota engines so not sure what these bottom ends can with stand.

 

Why pay to have it assembled. 2 reasons really. 1, because if I don't pay them they won't put it together or even ship it back and 2, because I want the motor to live when I smack it in the face with assorted power adders, not least of which is a total of 175hp in nitrous, and WOT runs that last 10 minutes instead of 15 seconds.

I'm not going to baby it... I'm gunna abuse it.

With a moderate build like I'm doing 700-800hp is about where you'll want to stop pushing your luck. 12lbs of boost and a 125 shot is not outside your comfort zone. 12lbs on hogged out heads and blower cams will give you upwards of 450hp... zapping it with another 125 isn't going to kill you if the tune is right. Hell you "CAN" do 1600hp on the 5.4 block... just have to put the right moving parts in just the right way.

You can blow a built motor with a shitty tune and a heavy foot. Don't kid yourself. Get it done by someone that knows custom tuning.

 

i believe that if you can build your own motor then you feel that much better when you mash the pedal and feel the ground shake...

 

I've done some pushrod motors which you can literally slap together and drive in some of the older iterations but I don't have the time or tools to be as obsessive as I would have to be with the closer tolerances on the modulars. Aside from that... a grand isn't so much to ask for machining, cleaning, blueprint & balance, and assembly. I'll put the rest of the car together.

If I had all the things I needed to put the motor together I might just do it but I want to have a shop do this one. I'll do the 4.6 for my firebird. (Yes... I have a 84 firebird that I'm going to put a blown 4v 4.6 in. Been working on that for years.)

 

u have pics of this project?

 

I should get some. I keep that car at my pop's place in Oregon so I get to work on it for about a week a year. It's HELLA rough. Paint is trashed, the dog uses it as a house, there's not a bit of wiring in the whole car, tires have rotted in place... really special car. I plan on finishing the project sometime after my 40th b-day (about 7years) as a retirement present to myself (if all goes well). I've got the bottom end in my garage waiting to have the rotating kit stuck in it.

 

2v4now, did u get the beast fired up and running???

 

Since the last time i posted ive been trying to get my car up to Austin from my home town which is about 4 hrs away.... its all loaded up on a trailer ready to go..... all thats left to be done is hooking up all the electrical sh*t, the problem is that i dont have a truck and its kinda hard to find someone who is willing to help out.... I'll definitely post up some pics as soon as i get her back....

 

where u live? i'm from san antonio. i now live in birmingham ala.

 

I live in Austin but my car is in Del Rio ( about 2.5 hrs west of san antonio on Hwy 90) I just moved up here about 7 months ago from san antonio, i was there for 4 yrs...

 

cool. well when u get it dyno'd post up the sheet, i'm dying to get mine in and running.

 

myillwill.. what do you have left to do before you're ready to toss that bad boy back in between the frame rails?

I'm fighting a battle with my rear diff right now that's decided to suck a grand out of my wallet. That's likely to set me back almost a month. Grrrrr. dammit dammit dammit.

In case anyone cares... my 98 cobra rear end has been flogged enough that it's about to pop. Bearings are all whining and loud and the gears are starting to howl. It's so bad the gear oil is getting to 250deg after only about 45 minutes of driving... and it doesn't seem to matter how hard I drive it still heats up. I'm positive I'm gunna shoot the whole works out the inspection cover if I can't get the thing rebuilt BUT... my neighbor keeps getting bogged down with piddly crap instead of hooking up my gears, which he's already been paid for. At this point I'm trying to find a new 99+ 8.8 for cheap and I'll just toss that in and go and kick the crap out of my neighbor. He's usually pretty reliable but lately....

 

i'm waiting on my buddy to bring over the hoist to drop it in. then i just need a radiator and headlights and bumper cover.

 

alright, here is the score tonite:

car: 1
tommy: 0

problems with the soild motor mounts not wanting to line up with the k-member.

 

awww.. sick burn. Can they be "modified" to fit or you going to get different mounts? How about some energy suspension poly mounts? They've always treated me well.

 

i'm gonna go look at some tomarrow.
so far this is the scene at my house...

 

Hey guys, thought this might be of interest. VT is coming out w/ a 4.35" stroker kit that will add about 10-15 ci. Imagine the torque with that? Or better yet, how about that w/ a sleeved block? I think I'm getting a raging clue pointing towards VT Engines, Inc.

 

sounds like the 6.0L kits that hit the market some time back. With the early kits there was excessive side loading of the cylinder walls leading to oval-ing of the cylinders and uneven ring wear. I'm hoping VT did their usual great job of R&D and figured the math around that problem. 4.35" is a serious big stroke... like big block chebbie tall deck kinda stroke. At 4.165 (stock) we start seeing piston speeds getting pretty serious so add another .1" and the piston speeds go up even more. I'll have to do the math later but I think there's going to be a speed of sound issue at some higher rpms with such a kit. It'd make a 4V into a fuggin monster though.

 

Since I'm putting off my 5.4 project until I can get around $5-6k in my bank account, I figure a good pick me up for the 4.6 would be headers. I know that LTs don't fit the 5.4 but I figure since my dad fabricates boiler tubes, if there is an issue in fit, I can always modify them. Anyway, for a 5.4, would a stepped header (1-1/2" to 1-5/8") be bad because of the initial tubing DIA or should I just go w/ a regular 1-5/8" DIA?

 

stay with a stepped header. the full bore 1 5/8" is more for a race motor. the step will help keep some level of back pressure so you don't lose as much tq.

BTW... I did the piston speed math and to get the same piston speeds as a 5.4 stroked out to 4.35" spinning 6000rpm on a 4.6L with the stock 3.5" stroke you'd have to spin the motor to 7350rpm. That's 1350 rpm difference just to hit the same piston speed.

This underscores the point that since we're adding this extra stroke we start to see the effects of VERY high rpms without ever treading into that territory. My motor will be set up for a 6500rpm redline. This means that I'll be pulling the same piston speeds at redline as a 4.6 winding it out to ~8000rpm. This is a huge factor in why I started doing silly things like hacking runner length off my intake manifold and getting the heads hogged till hell won't have it.

I'm also starting to consider going 4v earlier than planned but I really don't want to in the beginning. Too much hassle.