briankeithsmith
Registered User
I don't have them man. Not my car... I can post plenty from mine though
Brian
Brian
I think Dave said something that was very important. The 3.8L has it's limits. If you don't want to go with proven small block Ford or Chevy performance (or even other cars, supra, porsche, Cobra) then you will have an expensive road ahead of you. The 3.8L has issues with the head design that will limit peformance. Does this mean it can't produce 1000HP? No, it just means you might have to pay $25,000 for the "worlds one and only" custom block and heads built to work with the Ford 3.8L components. If you have enough money and time you can make anything fast, but to chose an unpopular combination (and unproven) you can't expect to get lucky.
You also have a lot of misleading advertising in the aftermarket. If you've been around the block, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you'll be pissed when your 80mm MAF doesn't produce 25 HP at the wheels for you. I'm not saying anything directly to the vendors invovled here, but it's not uncommon for most aftermarket manufactures to use somewhat inflated claims that don't live up 100% to the real world results.
In the end, I think your friend might have had some unreal expectations. Maybe they were unreal because he doesn't know any better....or maybe he was mislead...or maybe a little of both, but to some degree it sounds like he wasn't adequately prepared for what the real world would have produced. And whether right or wrong...people buy stuff all the time that just doesn't live up to the hype and alot of the time they don't get support, refunds or exchanges, instead they just get leary of future purchases. I hate that it cost this much money, but if he's willing to toss even more money at it, I think he can salvage a very respectible car. Plus it won't be a lost cause as he'll have paved the road for future SC road racers. Hey, back in 1996 people were shelling out a HeII of a lot of money for some pretty crappy performance at the drag strip. They wanted to be the first and paved the road and helped to streamline the process for guys who now spend half the money for the same performance.
Micah
My Coy Miller Stage 2R Engine Story
- In August of 2003, I spun a bearing in my original 3.8L engine in my Super Coupe.
I contacted Coy Miller. Coy and I talked on the phone and I explained to him that I was Road Racing the car, and not drag racing the car. (For a little preliminary history, my car had a full roll cage, former Winston Cup t-bird front end, large Griffin Radiator, larger fuel pump, Brembo 4 piston calipers, etc. And I had been running the car on the track for almost 2 years.)
- Took the engine to Coy in September ’03.
- January’04. Received the engine back; had it re-installed in the car.
- Plugged Coy’s PCM program into my PCM, put it on the dyno, and within a short period of time blew the head gaskets.
- Heads went back to Coy; he returned them in May ‘04 rebuilt – no charge.
- Head Gaskets blew again.
- Whole car goes to Coy’s shop.
- While Coy has the car, the Magnum Powers supercharger dies.
- We contact Charles at Magnum Powers to get the supercharger rebuilt. (the supercharger barely has any time on it, other than dyno time, and probably less than 10 laps on the track.)
- It was determined that my PCM was bad.
- Coy recommended going to the Electromotive TEC3 for engine management {and it was installed}.
- August ’04. Coy takes the car to HP Werks in Colonial Beach Va for tuning. Larry notices car isn’t getting enough fuel; we need bigger injectors, and a larger fuel pump. (Coy selected the injectors originally)
- During the process of diagnosing fuel delivery on the dyno, the head gaskets blow Again.
- We get a bigger fuel pump/injectors.
- Larry makes a recommendation that I need to increase the size of the fuel return line back to the tank.
- Car goes back to Coy’s.
- October ’04. Coy takes car back to HP Werks. {on the} Dyno, belts keep snapping.
- November ’04. Back to the dyno. Still having belt issues.
- Magnum Powers supercharger dies again. (the car has barely any time on it)
- Feb’05. Received the rebuilt supercharger from Magnum Powers.
- Took it to the track. (still having belt issues: “I’d make 2-3 laps, and the belts would break”)
- June ’05. Back to the track to try again. Still breaking belts.
- After 3 attempts on the track, I cracked a head. (my {engine} temps were a tick high.)
- Car goes back to Coy. (Coy has the car for 16 weeks) Coy completely tore down the engine and built it back up.
- Took it back to the dyno in September ’05. Magnum Powers supercharger locks up again. (3rd one: car has seen very little more than dyno time.)
- Magnum Powers refuses to warranty the part, or refund my money. (Quote:“I guess that supercharger isn’t going to work for your type of application.”)
- Sept ’05. It’s been 2 years, I still don’t have a running engine, I’ve got a ton of money stashed in this engine.
All we can go on is what little information we do have, and draw conclusions from that. It would be nice if Ralph would come back and fill in the missing pieces here.XR7 Dave said:Right now we are very far from truth here (not because anyone is lying, but because we have virtually no facts).
Since the time Coy rebuilt the engine here I don't see Ralph complaining about this issue anymore:Ralph said:
- Car goes back to Coy. (Coy has the car for 16 weeks) Coy completely tore down the engine and built it back up.
Of course he hasn't actually run the newly-rebuilt motor yet, but from what I can see Coy has already addressed the engine problems; All that's left is the S/C. Wether or not Coy should be directly involved with assisting him in the S/C troubles or not depends on the original agreement between himself and Coy.Ralph said:
- Took it back to the dyno in September ’05. Magnum Powers supercharger locks up again. (3rd one: car has seen very little more than dyno time.)
Agreed... however there are people who run road courses with Eatons and don't suffer this type of failure, so I think you need to further define which "type" of Eaton doesn't work. Additionally, we need to know specifically what the failure mode(s) were, and we don't have that information.Hock said:Maybe the Eaton isn't up to the task of running that hard that long. As far as the belt breaking, again, look at the S/C. Will the bearings that are installed in it able to withstand the stress and temps that are produced? Its no different than anything else with the car, if your gonna run it a certain way, you gotta build it for that.
I don't think he knows Dave... at least that's the jist of what I got from reading his post. I also believe he's very frustrated at this point and some of what he posted reflects that (and IMHO quite understandable).XR7 Dave said:My 2nd question asks if this has been determined and what is involved in the remedy. If it is not an engine component or design failure then it follows that a supporting system failed and engine damage resulted.
Hock said:It seems to me that the supercharger may be part of the problem as well as the setup of the vehicle.
IMO, if there was a problem with the engine then there would be bigger problems then the head gaskets.
I think he needs to look at other means of forced air (i.e. autorotor, turbo, ect.) Maybe the Eaton isn't up to the task of running that hard that long. As far as the belt breaking, again, look at the S/C. Will the bearings that are installed in it able to withstand the stress and temps that are produced? Its no different than anything else with the car, if your gonna run it a certain way, you gotta build it for that.
FWIW, when Roush Industries prepped some Super Coupes for the Bondurant Race School in Phoenix many years back, one of the mods was to rip out the SC engine, and replace it with a normally aspirated 5.0 HO.
Then the SC became slower.fast Ed said:FWIW, when Roush Industries prepped some Super Coupes for the Bondurant Race School in Phoenix many years back, one of the mods was to rip out the SC engine, and replace it with a normally aspirated 5.0 HO.
Micahdogg said:Because it's well documented that any vendor who posts regularly will be flamed.
Micah