I just got a 5.0 mountaineer was thinking about doing this same thing was it worth the trouble I'm wanting to build a bit of a sleeper

 

It all depends on what you want. Its no mustang, but if your after something unique that really pulls hard, I'd say do it. Definitely a success.
Once that turbo is spooled in first, it stays at full 10lbs boost right thru the gears.

This is my first turbo build, so I wanted to keep it easy.

I do think I'm getting a bit carried away though, as I see a performance 347 in my trucks near future. With the right cam, I'll add a bunch more low end torque, and will definitely spool that turbo much faster. I figured if I was going with a higher lift cam and forged pistons/rods I might as well go 347. The cost is really about the same.

 

It starts like this.....
I had a bad oil leak that the moroe had to be pulled to fix.........
Then, in goes a new 347 (Bore and stroke my 302) with wiseco pistons, trickflow trackheat, and custom cam. 9.6:1 compression for good power on the street out of boost. Thought it would be a nice addition to the gt40p heads with oversized valves, and professionally ported.

I take my time, and make sure everything is perfect before the motor goes in. I picked up a higher stall hybrid converter that retained the full size clutch. Need to get all this weight moving as fast as possible.
Then, on first start, the unthinkable happens. Distributor gear shreds its self (not quite a distributor,Its really called a cam sync on my setup). That means, no oil pressure.
I replaced the gear, hoping I caught it in time and ran with it.

I have an oil leak. Really? All this time and money and still have a leak dripping on the exhaust. Out comes the motor, and it really looks like oil pan gasket. It turns out that it wasn't that. Out comes the motor a 3rd time to re-do the rear main and rear cap. What do I see? Badly worn bearing. Off comes more caps, and then a rod bearing. Crank is scored. Go inside, pour a stiff drink, and assume fetal position.

Down to the short block and off to the machine shop. They don't think all my issues were to do with the gear breaking and that one rod journal wasn't getting oil for some reason. Who knows? So, the crank took a grind on the rod bearings and undersized bearings went in.

Motor is back together, installed, and a week later life is great! A few tuning issues, but small stuff.

One thing I noticed right away is that the turbo really doesn't go in to boost any faster than with the 302. That does seem very odd to me. Maybe the air ingested is still in the same ratio as the exhaust creating this effect?

I still have work to do such as installing my a/w intercooler radiator and pump. This motor has consumed all my spare time this summer. I'll have it working perfectly just in time for winter

 

So sorry to hear about the new engine eating itself up! VERY good work sticking with it and getting it back up and running!

The good news is you have a turbo 4x4 347 powered SLEEPER! I am subscribing to see how this one goes.... OH and please post pics and VIDEO of how it runs down the road??

I am subscribing to see this one.

 

I'll get something up.
I'm finding myself lazy with this project right now. The motor sucked the life out of me.

I just installed a larger muffler before the turbo(Yup, very bad), as there was just no room after it. This makes my neighbor very happy as I was waking him up every morning when I would leave for work. It didn't seem to hurt spool time any more though, so that's a good thing. The truck still doesn't exactly sound like a sleeper, I went with another straight thru muffler.

I'm logging 165 degree iat's at 6lbs boost. Who ever said you don't need an intercooler for rear mount? Another crazy fable.
I do have my a/w intercooler already plumbed in the air intake path, but need to add the radiator and pump. I'll hopefully get that done over the weekend, and then turn up the boost and add some more timing.

I did my second oil change on the motor and find those goldish swirls in the oil very unsettling. I'm told not to worry about it, and its normal. I'm a bit stressed after what I've just been thru. I still need to cut the oil filter open for a closer look.

 

A year behind schedule, I have the intercooler rad mounted and a fully functioning a/w intercooler.
The bosch pump is mounted lower that the top of the rad so it primed right away. The pump turns on with a relay mounted to a hobbs switch set to turn on as soon as I roll in to boost. There's no need for it to be running all the time.
The system has a little over a gallon of coolant in it.

I haven't logged a stab at wot yet. Lets hope the results of lower iat's are worth the work.

I still have to work out the tuning, and pull more timing out. Even at 7lbs boost I have detonation issues.
Total timing is 17 degrees. I guess that's still too much for 9.6:1 compression and iron heads?

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HI there,

Each combo is different so it is tough to say what your timing will need to be. My gut would say that you may be too lean that would cause detonation as well. Have you datalogged the air fuel ratios?

 

Thanks for the reply.
I had A/f at 11.3 wot
I just wen's down tp 11 and dropped the timing to 14. There's a bit of detonation at one point running thru a pull, so I'm certain these iron heads just can't seem to take a lot of timing.
I'm a bit stalled right now as I keep throwing p0340 cam position codes now. I have a new sensor and harness connector on its way. It's pretty tough to tune with this sort of stuff going on.

 

Yes be safe and lower that timing... It is tough to know where to start with the timing, I know I am going through the same thing right now. I plan to put in some fresh plugs, dyno test it and pull them out to see how they look.

 

Too much timing at the track.
Boom. Coolant all the way down the track starting at about the 1000ft mark. I wasn't a popular guy. I let off the gas, but it was way too late.

Not a great feeling when you pull the plugs, turn the motor over, and see coolant spit out of the cylinders.

So, out comes the motor. I expect to have it out Monday night and do the tear down to the short block so the machine shop can assess the heads and bottom end.

I'm not even sure what to look at.
Bent valves?
Bent rods?
Damaged bearings?

I can just imagine the pressure with coolant in those 58cc chambers. Maybe the lifting heads pushed coolant out fast enough that the rods and rods are ok.

 

The carnage doesn't really look that bad.

I'll still have the block and heads assessed and make sure nothing is bent.

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Ouch!

 

Quick update...
Motor went back together after an approval stamp from the machine shop. No damage. Used standard head gaskets.
Motor came back out again after bubbles in the coolant started to happen. - Resealed with high performance head gaskets, and back in the motor went.
.....AGAIN...boom baby, boom. WTF??? I had the boost turned down to just touch on 5lbs. No detonation, very easy on the motor. Extra attention was put in to surface prep and I'm still blowing in to the coolant passages after a few days of driving. Obviously there has been some damage done to a head. Or, very unlikely, the block.

Motor is out, waiting on some Twisted Wedge 170's to be prepped with proper spring rate springs for my cam and a 5 angle valve job.
I'm not going to keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

I read in more than one place that the gt40p's have a thin deck and are prone to lifting. Its quite possible that the heads need to be resurfaced and they would be fine. I have so much labor in this, I don't want to risk the heads lifting again, and having sealing issues. The TW's advertise a thick deck that works great on boosted applications.

I really want to land on 10-12psi max boost. The way this hole things been going, I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever manage to get there.

 

Awe man I am sorry to hear about this! If it makes you feel any better I am fighting with my boosted engine as well... I have blown the head gasket 4 times now on the drivers side and the passenger side is still fine and it is really frustrating I know. Hang in there, it sounds like it will be a killer sleeper when it is running as it should.

 

I sure wish I had the room to pull my heads with the motor in the truck. Its the most frustrating thing in the world pulling that motor over and over.

I know exactly what order each bold and assembly needs to come apart in to make each step of the pull super easy now. I'm not exactly proud of it, but I can have the motor out in 3 to 4 hours now with hand tools.

I'm not giving up. Im to the point where its all about principal now.
Funny, I was so worried about the reliability of a rear mount turbo, I never would have guessed I could have so much trouble with a motor.

The turbo setup has been rock solid.

 

Hang in there! We are cheering for you!

 

So, a custom set of Twisted Wedge 170's went on the motor from Flowtech inductions.
The heads and intake bolted on just fine, but that's where it stopped.

The accessory bracket bolt thread sizes are larger, so the front dress didn't want to go back on without a fight.
The heads are 'wider', so the exhaust needs work. Also, the block hugging headers are too tight agains the block. I thought I had massaged the heads and headers enough, but have to pull he header on one side again as it requires some more massaging. The painful part is that the motor needs to be lifted up slightly to do this work. There is just plain no room in these engine bays.

Power? Yup.
Way more.
The manners are great until you step hard on the gas. Then the tires spin. That didn't happen with the gt40p heads. The 4x4 will be a good thing.

Work in progress. I'm really hoping I can keep these heads seated to the motor.

 

Awesn sorry to hear about the challenges with the heads this vehicle has put you through the ringer!

Nice persistence though, lesser men would have given up!

Go boosted 4x4 sleeper explorer!!!

 

Great thread, sorry to hear about all the problems. Keep us updated, I am pulling for you!

 

This isn't exactly the success story I had hoped for, but definitely outlines the issues that can come up for a novice.

The interesting part is that the real issues I have had really have had very little to do with the actual rear mount turbo setup. I'm glad I started the head swap right away as I have lots of time thru the winter to sort out the small issues that can be a pain in the arse. As long as the heads stay seated, and I don't have to pull the motor again I'll be extremely happy.

On a side note, in the cold 'super tak' is more like super slippery.
Im going to have to pull my lower intake off again as my lower intake gaskets slid down as I was torquing my lower intake. This created a bit of a fold of the lower intake gaskets at each corner at the china wall that is a bit of a oil leak and vacuum leak. Lesson learned.....I may try cleaning up the areas with brake clean and forcing some ultra black in the corners with my finger to see if that solves the leak (Even temporarily till things warm up in spring). Rookie mistake. The good news is that there is no motor pull required. Anyway, its all learning. If I save one person from making this mistake, it was worth posting.