Derek's Project GFP

The alternator heating issue could be the wiring. When I upgraded the alternator I put in a 4 gauge power cable with a large fuse before it connects to the starter relay. If you haven't upgraded that wire then it could be that.

The stock wiring is 6 gauge, and from what I can tell that should be large enough for 130amps at 5' long.
 
Video update that my cousin put together... this one has clips of it running better than in the first video.

 
Last edited:
My cousin is in town this weekend which always helps get things moving on the project. Progress since the last update:
  • Finished wrapping the wiring harnesses and tidying the wiring stuff up.
  • Wired up the fan controller.
  • Found a late model gas take at a local used parts dealer and cleaned it up.
  • Checked and shimmed the trans cross member and front diff mount to match the drive line angles.
  • Installed the new to me aluminum drive shaft.

I found it difficult to measure the drive line angles. if anyone has any suggestions on how I can double check my work, im all ears. I was using the clinometer app on my phone, which I found a little finicky at times.

Also some advice for those who want to swap a late model tank... dont go to you local pull it yard. they drill holes in the tanks to drain them. I found out when i was under the car at the local LKQ. The local used parts dealers are a better source. I found the price to be similar.

For shimming the trans cross member, we made a 3/8 (really it was 1/4 plus 1/8) spacer to add behind the thicker top rubber isolater while removing the thinner lower rubber (which is about 3/8" thick. I dont like this setup, but its a starting point and its easy to change later. Id like to come up with something that looks less cludgie.

trans crossmember shim.jpg

al drive shaft.jpg

comparison.jpg

harness tidy.jpg
 
does anyone know about the v8 tach modification for an 89? From what I read, you need to ground out a pin to make the tach act like a v8 tach instead of v6 (using an LX tach not a SC tach). I am guessing that you connect the large pin labeled CYL to the large pin labeled GND. I assume the GND label is for the large pin... This tach is from a 92 sport 5.0 car.

tach modification.jpg
 
Look at your 89 tach; I don't think it HAS the CYL pin.

But for 1991+ tachs, not in SCs, yes, you ground the CYL pin.

What you might need to do, to keep the SC tach, is pickup a tach adapter, like this one (note: picked as a representative part, is NOT a recommendation for this unit!): http://www.allzim.com/store/tach-adapt-digital-tachometer-rate-adapter.html

RwP

I already have this 92 lx tach. I just wanted to verify that if I tied the two pins I had circled, that it would make it an 8 cylinder tach.
 
Swapped out the tach out in the cluster tonight and took some pictures. I removed the original tach from the cluster and compared it to the new tach from a v6-v8 lx bird. Right away you can see the difference... the v6 v8 tach has an extra pin labeled CYL. My understanding is that you ground this pin to make the tach work in v8 mode. The 89 SC cluster has no connection for this pin, so you just ground the pin with a jumper on the back of the board. I trimmed the CYL pin down to make sure it didnt interfere (not sure if that is required or not, but I did it anyways). I also took a few minutes to swap the gauge face and the needle over. My needle was in better shape and the SC gauge face says Premium Unleaded Fuel Only instead of the v6-v8 tach that says Unleaded Fuel Only.

TACH COMPARISON.jpg

CLUSTER.jpg

JUMPER.jpg

Ive got some work to do before I can start the car again and test it out to see if it works. But from what Ive read and now seeing the difference, it all makes sense.
 
Do you have the EVTM? Should be able to tell for sure and easily if grounding the pin is all that's needed with it.
 
Do you have the EVTM? Should be able to tell for sure and easily if grounding the pin is all that's needed with it.

Correction, it appears that the 92 EVTM shows that the "sport cluster" shows a circuit 875 coming from the tach going to ground. on that circuit there is a note that says "5.0L Engine Only". The performance cluster does not have this, and the electronic cluster is so complicated, i didnt look that close.

I thought the EEC told the tach what engine was in the car, but I guess im wrong. It appears that its the harness.
 
Last edited:
Down pipe is made! Its a tight fit... 3" off the turbine housing, immediately transitioned to 3.5". Its tight enough that I have to take the exhaust manifold off in order to install it. I massaged a couple places to improve clearances, but nothing major. Apparently I had ordered an extra wide band bung a long time ago... cause i found one in the tool box! Its a long one that keeps the sensor out of the direct stream.

I wish I would have bought mild steel u bends instead of this aluminized stuff. it really is a pain to grind off the coating. You can see the crap you miss floating up as you weld. I also added a brace to the bottom of the down pipe coming off the bottom of the bell housing. I still need to decide if im going to plumb the WG back into the down pipe. Once everything is all finished up, I will wrap it in heat wrap.

down pipe 01.jpg

down pipe 02.jpg

down pipe 03.jpg
 
I decided to break the remaining exhaust into two pieces to make life a little easier. Its made so that a resonator can be added if needed in the future. I had intended on documenting the fuel line upgrade, but you can pretty much see what is going on with that in the second picture.

mid section 02.jpg

mid section 01.jpg

mid section 03.jpg
 
I pretty much finished up the exhaust work. Now to check out that rear main seal that appears to be leaking... ughh. I hope i can get that fixed tomorrow and get this thing running on Labor day.

DP back.jpg
 
the good, bad, and the ugly...

so, the rear main seal appeared to be leaking... along with the oil pan. In order to replace the oil pan gasket, i had to pull the motor... so out came the gas tank, drive shaft, trans, clutch flywheel, exhaust manifold, down pipe, turbo, upper intake, drain the coolant, drain the oil... sucks but not so bad yet.

So the motor is on the stand, and I take the pan off. ~~~... there is trash all in the bottom of the pan. so i pull the rear main cap off and see the bearing is not real happy. it only has 10 mins of run time on it (if that). so i check another main and it is simliar, but not as bad. pull three rod caps and they are similar to not as bad. one was perfect. and yeah, the crap in the pan was metal, it stuck to the magnetic plugs. The bearing wear appears to mostly be the coating, nothing that your fingernail would catch on... but im not sure that matters.

pan.jpg

bearing.jpg

Anyways... here i sit, beer in hand, contemplating what to do... Part of me wants to send it. The other part of me wants to send it to the machine shop. either way its $350 worth of seals, bearings and gaskets in the trash. The risk is trashing the turbo, is about the same price... a little more. i suspect that for 1K i could straighten out what i got. for 2k i could straighten out an add some forged rods and pistons. and for 3k i could build a forged 408/427.

the dilemma as i see it is that 1k is still a stock rebuild junkyard motor, 2k is still a 351 when it doesnt cost that much more to build a 408/427, and 3k needs 2k worth of heads and cam (nobody in their right mind would put an e7 on a 408).

rods and pistons is probably the way to go, in order to reach 700whp. but it will still take a set of heads to get there. so why not 408???
 
I think you'll be fine...looks like the bearings had a little dry start thus the wear. If you're not snagging a nail I wouldn't anticipate any more damage to occur.

Keep up the good work. The work you've done is nothing less than super impressive!

-Tim
 
I think you'll be fine...looks like the bearings had a little dry start thus the wear. If you're not snagging a nail I wouldn't anticipate any more damage to occur.

Keep up the good work. The work you've done is nothing less than super impressive!

-Tim

Thanks Tim. I used a lot of assembly lube, and I primed the motor. My guess is that since I did not replace the cam bearings, there was some trash that i could not clean out well. the trash was either worse at the back of the block (im pretty sure that is the direction the oil flows to) and/or there is a line bore issue. but since its the crank that came with the block, i suspect any issue like that is probably livable. The only other thing that I can think of is the balance is not perfect. its a different balancer and flywheel than before, but they are both the 28oz imbalance for 351w so it should be fine.

I kinda feel like you said, its probably fine. Not ideal, but probably fine.

In hind sight, I wish i would have left this motor alone... maybe just pulling the heads to fix those valves... maybe just leaving them and living with it. Its kinda like sloppy says, "if you look at your cam bearings, they will be bad, if you dont, they will be fine". Im sure all that stuff would have been fine for what I was doing, but i just couldnt stop myself, I had to take it apart and look at it!

If i get a year out of it (maybe 1000 miles), that will be fine. I should be able to save up some money for the next phase by that time.
 
So I've got the car running now, but the power steering pump has been a battle. The pump from the previous motor had a terrible bearing noise after the swap. I replaced the pump, and the fluid still wanted to boil after a short test drive. I had deleted the cooler previously because it started leaking with the last motor. So I added a respectable sized cooler (the stock cooler is kind of a joke). I also insulated the lines to reflect any heat from the turbo kit. My last test drive seemed to be a success. Another trick I read about was to use a hand vacuum pump to draw a vacuum out the air from the system. It seems to have done the trick. Here are some pics from that work.

ps pump and lines.jpg

ps cooler.jpg


I had some initial concerns that the left and right engine banks were requiring drastically different fueling.... about 15% difference. With the power steering pump fixed, I was able to do a littler longer test drive. Its looking like the at idle the difference is 12%, but with some load on the motor its looking like 5%. I was really concerned at first because the initial evidence looked like 15% everywhere. Now I'm less concerned but there is a lot of tuning left to do, so I'll keep an eye on it. Im working the bugs out finally, and have gotten most of the oil leaks stopped (the rear main or rear of the pan is still leaking (but im not pulling the trans to work on it again until it become more than a annoyance). After this second hurricane passes through, I can get out and tune some more on the interstate next time. I find that is where I can do the best tuning, where there is reasonably flat and open space. Hopefully I can get it sorted enough to start building some boosty-boost. :):eek::)
 
Back
Top