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This working plan stems from
my desire to convert my tired little coupe with 154,000+ miles on it to a
super handling, quick, and fast semi-sleeper. It has to remain street
legal to the extent that I can register it in the State of Texas. No
way I ever get it registered in California again, and we're moving to
Texas soon anyway. Here is a link to the Old
Working Plan.
Short Block:
Essentially, the only part of
the '88TC engine I used from the donor car has been the block. I
completely stripped the block down bare, and detail cleaned it. The
machinist vatted, magnafluxed, and then sonic tested it. There was
one questionable spot on the back side of the #1 cylinder bore, so I have
filled the block to within 1.5" of the deck. Virtually
impossible to blow out a cylinder wall now. The block has since been
back to the machinist where he cut the main caps for the Esslinger studs
and straps set. He align bored/honed the mains, bored the cylinders
out to 3.810", cut it to "zero deck", installed the special
Esslinger intermediate shaft bearings (grooved to provide direct oiling to
the intermediate and distributor gears), and balanced the entire rotating
assembly.
I have discarded the idea of
using a stock crank in favor of a stock stroke Esslinger ADI crank custom
cut to fit the standard sized bearings in THIS block. I am going to
fill the holes with custom JE dished pistons, ringed with Total Seal TS1
(gapless second rings), on top of Manley 5.7" Forged Chromoly
rods. Down in the bottom, I have a Melling high-volume oil pump and
an Esslinger windage tray.
Heads: I already
have an Esslinger D-port Aluminum head with solid lifters, and the 2277
roller cam, but I am considering a cam change to something a bit more...
radical. Covering up this very nice piece will be a non-dip rocker cover
(Ford, Fuel injected, TURBO) powder coated in candy blue (by Ben Schmitt),
with the high points on top (lettering et al.) sanded, polished and
clear-coated. The head will mate to the block via studs, and the rocker
cover will attach to the head via studs and 4" long aluminum HEX nuts
machined with threaded inserts on top to accept custom bracketry to secure
various components up top.
Intake: I have a
gutted and rotated (90 degree front) stock intake manifold from Bob
Lee. I machined the water jacket off the lower intake, and had the
water port welded and flange re-surfaced (Thanks again Rob!). Ben
Schmitt took both pieces and had them powder coated in silver. They
look great. Bob Lee also modified a 3.8L SC throttle body to mount
to the upper intake.
Exhaust Header:
Undecided as yet.
Intercooler: I
have a gargantuan 3.5" thick intercooler core that I bought from
Harry King that I still need to fab end tanks for, but have to wait until
I know the exact entry and exit angles to put on the inlet/outlet.
Turbo: I have a
new Garret GT30R turbo with application specific housings and
wheels. Ball bearing unit with a free wheel turbine housing for use
with an external wastegate (TiAL 38mm w. 0.9 bar spring). I had
Limit Engineering weld a 3" V-band flange on the turbine outlet to
facilitate turbo remval and installation.
Engine Management:
Currently, I am awaiting receipt of a complete Autronic Engine Management
Package consisting of an SM2 chipset version 1.94 ECU, Model B Exhaust Gas
Analyzer with an NTK UEGO sensor, and R500 Ignition box, 4 M&W single
tower coils, et al. This was a big investment, and a true tech jump
above and beyond the Haltech E11v2 that I currently have new in the box.
Cooling System: I
have a Davies-Craig remote electric water pump that will circulate the
coolant through the engine via a custom designed water pump block-off
plate that I had machined (Thanks again Rob!). I have a custom made
AFCO dual-pass aluminum radiator that will fit inboard of the intercooler
providing room for the IC inlet/outlet to wrap around it. Inboard of
the radiator, I will mount the SPAL 16" straight-blade puller fan to
draw air. Both the water pump and fan will be electronically
controlled via a controller I designed to maintain coolant temp to within
less than 1 degree Celsius.
Transmission:
Ultimately, I plan to install
a G-Force tranny with all the "bells and whistles", but I have
three OE T5s to trash first. I do have an Esslinger aluminum SVO
flywheel and a SPEC Stage III clutch/pressure plate that will go on the
initial build up. I had the flywheel and clutch assemblies balanced
at the same time I had the engine balanced. I still need to
acquire an aluminum drive shaft... The Ford Racing drive shafts have
increased so much in price recently, that I may opt for one from Moser
Engineering.
Differential:
I have the 8.8" from the
'88TC, and plan to use it with 9" ends, new axles, and diff from
Moser. I dumped the TC brakes, and intend to replace them with some
nicer ones from somewhere as yet undetermined.
Chassis:
The chassis is a big
project. First I need to fab/install the 2"x3" through the
floor sub-frame connectors. Then it'll be a 10+ point cage, front
and rear shock tower braces, et al. I have a Grigg's K-member,
A-arms, coil-over kits, Koni DAs and Maximum Motorsports bump-steer kit
and camber/caster plates for the front already on hand. In the rear,
I haven't decided for sure on everything, but there will be coil-overs,
adjustable LCAs with rod ends on both ends, and either a TA and pan hard
bar, or a 3-link.
Interior:
Interior is completely
stripped until the chassis mods are complete. it also helps to have
it all out while I build the new electrical harnesses.
Exterior:
While I already have virtually
a complete NOS (New Old Stock) set of exterior trim parts on the way, I'm
considering serious exterior mods to eliminate as much of the exterior
trim (and weight) as possible. I'd like to eliminate the body side molding
altogether along with the adjacent body panel folds as well. I also plan
to eliminate stuff like the exterior radio antenna (gone), door handles,
fuel filler door, etc. The paint scheme hasn't even been seriously
considered yet, but the entire car WILL be stripped to bare metal and
repainted. The undercoating will be stripped as well (necessary so that
all seams can be welded). The entire inspection/stripping process will
allow the thorough search for and elimination of oxidation of any kind.
Weight reduction:
(Moved to Weight
Reduction page) |
