Winter Mods on the DOHC 90 XR7 (lots of pictures)

racecougar

Registered User
Where to begin...

Well, I was pretty happy with the performance of the car early on last season, and then I went for a ride in David Neibert's 1.7L AR powered 91 SC...wow. I had been leaning towards just dropping in a higher stall torque converter, but after that ride I simply had to have a twin-screw SC sitting on top of the DOHC. And so it began. I waited anxiously for Kenne Bell's new "big bore" line of twin-screws, and I bought a 2.1L unit as soon as it became available.

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That was back in November. I drove the car around until the end of Christmas, then started tearing it all apart.

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While tearing it down, I happened to notice at least one reason why the car was only pulling high 13's at the track. The passenger side IMRC's were stuck closed (the driverside were fully operational). :eek: It was at that point that I decided that I would not be putting IMRC's back on. I purchased a pair of 96-97 Cobra IMRC's (which are necessary to mate the blower manifold to the heads), and turned them into IMRC deletes.

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I also decided to do the "even flow cooling mod" while I had everything apart. In stock form, coolant in the rear of the driverside head has no outlet to return to the radiator, which in high performance applications tends to "cook" the #7 and #8 cylinders. To remedy this, I replaced the upper freeze plug at the rear of the driverside head with a fitting, and tied that into the heater core return line.

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The blower manifold and the driverside IMRC delete required a bit of clearancing to clear the fitting, but nothing major. The alternator and the front of the blower manifold also required a bit of work to get them to clear one another. I stuck a set of 42lb. injectors on a 96-98 Cobra fuel rail, and finally was able to set the blower in place.

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After that it was just little stuff...oh, you know, rewiring the engine harness, getting the '03 Cobra radiator/fan to fit, vacuum lines, finding a temporary location for the boost and fuel pressure gauges, making an intake tube, getting the old CAI box to fit around said intake tube, getting an initial tune for the EEC, etc., etc.

Finally, David Neibert and another friend stopped by on February 10th and witnessed the first firing of the engine with the blower on top. We were completely shocked with how well it started up and ran...no stumbling, erratic idle, hiccups...nothing. Big props go to David Dalke (XR7 Dave) for both the initial tune and the ongoing tuning of the car.

This video was shot the next day (Feb. 11th):



Once it was up and running, it was time to move onto a few other mods. First of which was an oil accumulator setup. I'm running a 1.5 quart Moroso oil accumulator with a electric solenoid valve and a one-way flow restrictor. The accumulator allows me to flip a switch inside the cabin to prime the engine with oil pressure before firing the engine.

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I wasn't finished wiring it and cleaning everything up when that picture was taken, so disregard the mess. I also hooked up an inline oil seperator into the PCV-to-inlet plenum line to reduce the amount of oil being sucked into the engine.

I started datalogging everything last weekend. Just babying it on the short trip I took it on yesterday, I could already tell that this is a totally different car. I can't wait to get all of the little tuning bugs worked out of it so I'll finally be able to get into boost with it.

And that brings us to today:

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We're currently working on a new hood, as the stock hood will obviously not clear any longer. I'll post up pictures of it when we have that done...you can't expect me to give up all of my secrets. ;) :D We're also working on a driveshaft safety loop, a better stereo, and of course tuning.

Big thanks to my family, especially my dad, for helping out with everything. Needless to say, it sure was a lot of fun sticking a blower designed for a 96-98 Cobra on a 94 Mark 8 engine in a 90 XR7 with a Dalke-tuned 97 Tbird EEC and a J-modded 94 4R70W with a 99 valvebody and 97 controls. You should have heard the long pause on the line when I told the guy at Kenne Bell this when I was explaining why I didn't want their chip for my EEC. :D

-Rod
 
I truly bow down to gods like you Rod, that is incredible work. Yourself and the other few true mn12 enthusiasts on these boards are the reason I have begun my long project on my SC
 
Rod, that is pure gold you have there, my hat is off to you sir, the craftsmanship is outstanding. Keep us updated on numbers of this beast, as I said to you at the shootout I thought your car was A1 then, Now I dont know what I would call it, Id prolly just get drool all over it. I cannot Wait to see it in action man.

Bruce
 
Hey Rod,

You gonna document this for the Ford Builder guys?

Looks like your hard work is paying off. It is fun talking to folks when ordering stuff and they ask what it's for. I usually have to tell them to never mind, just get me that part number.
 
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I wonder if it will do a burn out:rolleyes: :D :D :D :eek: Sounds real smooth and has a great exhaust note, what mufflers are you running? Plus what is that coating in the engine bay, looks kinda like carpet?
 
Hey Rod,

You gonna document this for the Ford Builder guys?

Looks like your hard work is paying off. It is fun talking to folks when ordering stuff and they ask what it's for. I usually have to tell them to never mind, just get me that part number.

I've been keeping a little log of everything as it's progressed, mainly at the request of the guys at Kenne Bell. What I posted above is the "condensed version". Hey, did the article in Ford Builder mention anything about this? My issue hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't seen the article.

I agree completely about ordering things. Kenne Bell was pretty pushy about using their chip in my EEC to run the car until I told them exactly what it was going on. The reply on the other end of the line was, "...(long pause)...oh...wow." LOL. I usually get the same thing at the local auto parts stores when I need a part for this car or the 94. It can be a little annoying at times, but the look on their faces is usually pretty priceless.

-Rod
 
I wonder if it will do a burn out:rolleyes: :D :D :D :eek: Sounds real smooth and has a great exhaust note, what mufflers are you running? Plus what is that coating in the engine bay, looks kinda like carpet?

Hehe, yeah, I think it will do a little burnout. The exhaust consists of:

Kooks 1.75/3" ceramic coated headers
3" downtubes
3" polished Magnaflow cats
DIDO 18" long Magnaflow muffler with Tru-X core
2.5" pipes through the fuel tank area
3" tailpipes turned down at the rear bumper

Here are a couple old pictures of it:

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The paint in the engine bay was done to look like the trunk paint found in cars built back in the 60's and 70's. It's a gray base with black and white flecks, and then three coats of clear.

-Rod
 
Absolutely amazing Rod, you are one of the true enthusiasts around here and tccoa. Can't wait to see it in action and see some numbers!

-Trey
 
...
Hey, did the article in Ford Builder mention anything about this? My issue hasn't arrived yet, so I haven't seen the article.
..

Not a word, but they did mention the help you had from family to get as far as the pictures show. PM me your email address if you don't get your issue soon.
 
Good, I'm glad that they mentioned my family in there. My mom and my sister take the pictures and videos, and my dad has done a TON of work on this thing.

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PM me your email address if you don't get your issue soon.

No need to hide it, it's all over this place anyway. :D rodsv6cougar@cs.com

If you get a chance to send it to me, that would be great. I can't wait to see it.

-Rod
 
Very nice Rod, just what I would do if I had the money.
Props to you and family. Looks bad A$$, YEAH
 
Rod,

Cool car and a top notch job...can't wait to see how it runs with some boost.

David

PS: Sorry if I let the cat out of the bag.
 
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