My advice is to only snug up the bolts till the sealant dries then the next day torque up the bolts. If you do not have a heated shop then use a tarp over the hood to hold in a bit of heat, use a heat gun or small heater or something to keep the engine bay dry. Use the "right stuff" sealant it works great. I would re-do the gasket vs trying to seal it up after the fact.

 

For the end beads, I lay a fat bead and give it about 15-20 minutes to set up. Enough that I can touch it and feel it has a skin on it. Then drop on the intake and torque away.

For the intake gaskets, I spread a small amount of silly cones around the water jackets and then lay the gaskets in place making sure I lock them onto the head gasket.

 

I typically have not had an issue with super tack. Usually works really good. I just didn't wait long enough for it to become tacky. Not too big of a deal. As long as the motor doesn't have to come out (and it doesn't) Im a happy guy.

Now, on the exhaust leak. It was another learning experience. It turns out that the heads are emission heads. That why the 5/8" threaded holes are there. I had never seen this before. The 5/8" holes are right thru to the exhaust. That was the leak (And 2 big ones at that). The rear holes are now plugged with the correct factory plugs. Much quieter now (And this will obviously help the turbo spool). I'm super happy I don't have to lift the motor to deal with a header not sealing against the head.

Speaking of headers, I did uncover a spark plug wire that has decayed from the heat of being tight between two header pipes. I can hear and see the spark jumping, even though the wire is not burnt. Well, enter accel 9002 extreme heat wires. I will have them next week, and I already have the EDIS ends for the coils. The ngk plug wires were obviously not up to the task. They are not even old, and I did use protector boots. Just way to hot I guess.

 

small update.

The guy I had doing my remote tuning has moved on to other things. After weighing my options I decided to go with the SCT prp package, and jump in. Lasota racing set me up with software, training material, and base tune after I sent them my truck info.

Fast forward another 3 weeks, and I have my maf dialed in on the low end. Its frieken cold here, so there will be no wot logging to dial in the maf further. Also, my wide band sensor crapped its self. I have no desire to lay on the ground to change out that sensor in this cold. Even if I warmed up the garage, it would still be super uncomfortable. It can wait.

I will say that (so far) self tuning is probably the best possible investment in time and money that can be had. Having a tuner to tweak things like shift points, tc lockup, warm start, etc does not go well. Doing it yourself, you know exactly whats happening, and can try different settings extremely quickly. Drive-ability wise, my truck runs better than its ever ran. I'm certain that wot tuning will net the same results. Time consuming because of the learning curve? Definitely. What else am I going to do while I am hiding from the cold?

 

The black cloud isn't done sending lightning bolts at me.
What are the odds of a lifter breaking like this? one in 10 thousand? 100 thousand? ugh.

The roller ended up seizing the cam, cam bolt snapped, cam locator pin snapped.
Cam is trashed. I'm lucky only one valve is bent. Timing chain and gears should be replaced also.

So much for a low dollar build. This is turning in too an extremely expensive hobby.

#ad

 

I had one lose the axle pin and did the same thing, but with 3 bent valves. Found 4 more lifters with pins sliding out.

 

I'm a bit frustrated.
Not much can be done, but fix it and press on. I am going to try the Morel Link bar lifters this time.
Maybe the fact that the Morel's are made in the USA in their own factory will bring better quality control. The only failed Morel lifter I could find on line is where that guy admittedly took them way over the intended rpm range.

 

Morels seem to be working great.
Some new valves (straight ones, lol)
New custom cam with 115lca and .58x lift on intake and exhaust.
I can't say much for the Mr gasket ultra leaks though. They say they don't need a re-torque, but my experience says otherwise. I pulled the motor again and went felpro perm torque MLS sd's. Nice gaskets, and they are not leaking. I might finally have a win.

My turbo is still lazy to build boost. I thought the extra ci of the motor would help. Spools great once underway and stays solidly at set boost level, but ill never smoke the tires without some hard work.

I gave bullseyepower a call. It turns out that I have way too much turbine for a rear mount. I'm guessing the reduced volume of the turbo at the back requires a much smaller turbine, and that does make sense.

Best answer, a large t3 hot side. It turns out that the guy I was speaking with has years of experience working with mainly rear mount systems. I have a t3 on its way that is guaranteed to make between 500 and 550 wheel hp without choking the exhaust. That's perfect, as any more than that and I might be salvaging parts out of 2 x 4 cylinder pieces of block. If I'm not happy, he will make it right with a small t4 housing shipped to me. Bill is that confident that this is the way to go.

I'm far enough in to this that I just want to get it right. The lazy boost would be ok for the track (except for the crappy 60 foot times) but I really want to hit boost much faster for every day enjoyment. This is a hobby, and I'm stubborn enough that I need to make this work perfectly.

 

yep , in rear mounts you have to go small on the turbine cuz you loose heat and theoretically the engine pulses are dampened also. The exhaust gases being cooler means they dont take up as much volume allowing you to make the same power with a smaller turbine in the rear as a larger turbine at the motor.

 

I'm one of those annoying people that don't read the whole thread, but I have a question anyway:

Is it possible to pull the heads on a 5.0L Explorer with regular head bolts? If not I wouldn't be surprised, but if it is I'd ditch the studs. They obviously weren't helping head gasket retention with the GT40Ps anyway.

 

I think it might be possible even with head studs if you left the studs loose in the head and positioned it that way.
Unfortunately the passenger side of the motor needs to be lifted off the motor mount to remove the header before you can get at the head bolts or nuts. By the time you drop the front diff to do this, looking at the misery factor its just easier to pull the motor.

I'm sure my problem was first the gt40p's not holding with the thin decks, then with the aluminum heads I was using the Mr gasket ultra leaks whichI could clearly see rivet imprints in the heads from the gasket and I'm sure this was stopping the head from sealing properly.

The Fel-Pro MLS seem to be holding nice and firm. I did resurface the heads (very near mirror finish again), and block sand the block before using them. Absolutely no issues at all with head gaskets sealing so far. I think I actually have succeed with a solid motor.

The new turbo rips the tires loose at about 30mph, so that's a win also. After a year of pain (self inflicted, of course), I seem to be making solid progress with this build.

The old tool box turned out to be the perfect size for the air filter and allows easy access. Yes, there is plenty of air allowed in as i cut the end off of it. I just wanted to remove any chance of direct water splashing on it and creating issues for me.

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On to my next issue.
With the added volume of the bullseye t3/t4 turbo, my wastegate can't keep up.
Its a tiel 38mm 2 bolt flange unit.

I hear it opening, but it can't control boost below 14 lbs. This would be fine, except I'm on pump gas with a stock block. /i really don't want to split the block in two, and think 10 lbs boost is pretty much maxed out.

Any one know of a bigger waste gate that is a 2 bolt flange?

 

I'm pretty sure you can run more than one wastegate. Add a second one that size.
Are you going to add water/meth injection to control detonation?

 

Yes, I have my inter cooler running, and do have a water/meth kit pulled off a previous build waiting for me to install.
I do intend on installing it as the lower I can get the iat's, the happier my motor will be.

I just ordered a cheaper tial knockoff in a 45mm size. I could use an adapter, but think I'll need a larger pipe to the wastegate to ensure I get the required flow. The wastegate won't get the heat as its at the back of the truck, so it might last.
If the cheapie doesn't work, I'll call it lesson learned.

 

Did you have a pic on how you ran your air filter? Love the build. I need to get rolling on mine after I finish a buddies GMC Cummins swap.

 

If you look at the pic above, you will see the intake tube at the left. The tube is a U that goes in to that upside down tool box with the end cut off of it. It protects the filter from direct water, and with 2 latches the bottom opens up for easy servicing.

The filter is an amsoil filter with a pre-filter on it, again to help the life of the filter and stop it from being saturated by water. Iv'e been in some pretty heavy down pours for extended periods driving and have not had an issue.

And thanks for the compliments guys. Definitely not your average build. Our summers are only a few months long, and I wanted something I can drive all the time and enjoy. Also, this is fantastic learning for me. I have to say, lots of people commenting about the idle, and lots of others wondering what the whine is coming from my truck while I'm driving it. I had hoped for a bit more of a sleeper, but there is just no hiding the sounds.

 

Need pic of how and where your wastegate is setup.

 

The toolbox sounds like a good idea! I might borrow it when the time comes. My turbo going on the Jeep will be a mid mount, next to the tail of the transfer case. I do some wheeling, but I haven't had the opportunity to play in the mud or any water crossings. Just rock climbing and forest trails. I've seen a few run the intake pipe right inside the Jeep but I'd like to avoid that if possible.

 

We can all see that the angle of the pipe coming off the exhaust to the wastegate is less than perfect.
The exhaust from the muffler back will come off again (This time it will be v-banded as it doesn't make sense to keep cutting the pipe close to the muffler) and that wastegate pipe will be re-worked with a better angle coming off the main exhaust pipe.

The tool box worked out perfectly. I'd recommend it. One of the many down falls of a rear mount turbo is that air filter under the vehicle, and at least this helps a bit.

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Just a note on your wastegate troubles, the lower the boost number you're trying to maintain, the larger the valve you need. If you're going to have it all off I'd pick up a 44mm. I wouldn't worry about using a knock off china one that far down the pipe.

Edit: Just read your post above mine... I'm a horrible skimmer.