Itching for a bit more power, MPX?

[BKB]

The thickness of the Morana t-chain gear and hub is less than .020 thicker than the OEM gear and spacer. The difference between the bushing flange thickness the mustang 30k mile T-chain cover and the SC cover is .013, that's more wear on the SC bushing. Again no smoking gun, but looking at the gears on my 30k mustang engine it seems like a shit design.


I have a lead on a complete 3.8 and if that works out I have a T-chain cover I can cut up to see the gear mesh. I have no problem machining parts to get this mesh any better.

I have heard of t-chain tensioner failures and I'm wandering what people think is best, the original design or much simpler new design. I really like the new design.


I want to get the bottom end together before I do much more with this gear issue. These engines have such tight tolerances and it sucks you can't get any .001 bearings for more oil clearances. I'm swapping shells around and struggling to get over .0006 and shooting for .002

 

[BKB]

Can I get some clarification on ARP torque specification with the newest lube.
Head studs 85lbs?
Main studs I see 80 and I see 110lbs??
351 rods with 8740 ARP bolts I see 60 and 63lbs any idea on stretch If I go that way.
Waiting on my next set of main bearings, trying ACL to see if they are any looser then Clevites.

 

[BKB]

Engine deal fell through so still looking.

ACL bearings came in and they were tight except for main #4. Moving things around this is the best I can do between ACL and Clevite
1 - .00045
2 - .00085
3 - .001
4 - .0016
Need to check crank end play and correct that because it's always too tight. Plan is to have the bottom back together for this weekend.

Pictures of a stock lower and my raised, hard to get a decent picture but trying to show how the OEM is 2/3rds blocked and mine is straight through.


I started playing with my raised lower intake and I misspoke and forgot at some point I did put the triangle back in it. So I used one of those weather or HVAC velocity meters to test velocity out of each runner using the M90 to feed it and whatever RPM my large 110VAC drill spins at. It might not be the right way but its repeatable and gives me some #s and those #s correlate to the way the plugs look in those cylinders, Ill take that.

4 - 1220 -4.5% 1 - 1279
5 - 924 -28% 2 - 1023 -20%
6 - 650 -49% 3 - 1082 -15%

Cylinder #6 plug is pure black and caked and by far the worst plug, front plugs 1 & 4 are my best looking plugs by a long shot. I can see what needs to be done with cylinder #6 but I need to weld up that side because I will port right through the thin wall. Will update once I'm done.

 

[BKB]

Welding this manifold was pretty horrible. It has been epoxied and powdercoated many times and the media blaster did not clean it up well. But I melted aluminum down in those deep pockets so I could port a lot deeper.
4 - 1250 1 - 1220 -2.4%
5 - 950 -24% 2 - 984 -21%
6 - 850 -32% 3 - 1180 -5.6%

I'm happy with that and it took little port work to get it to this. I might do a bit more but I can see the big improvements are done and the last little bit I removed did nothing. Also heard from Morana and he says he will send out a new T-chain but to be honest I will believe it when its in my hands. T-chain is kind of holding things up right now. I can get this intake cleaned up and powder coated and I have the oil pan to powder. Would like to have this all back in the car in the next 2 weeks, It's Holding up my 2 post lift.

 

[David Neibert]

After having a stock timing chain tensioner failure a few years ago, Dave Dalke upgraded mine to his roller chain kit that deletes the chain tensioner and also includes a Torrington thrust bearing. Suggest looking into that before doing another Morana chain.

 

[BKB]

Seems DD doesn't visit like he used to. Will reach out about his set up, always good to have a backup plan. I'm also half tempted to slap a OEM replacement on it, my cam and valvetrain is very mild. Price and lead time will decide.

 

[davec73]

The thickness of the Morana t-chain gear and hub is less than .020 thicker than the OEM gear and spacer. The difference between the bushing flange thickness the mustang 30k mile T-chain cover and the SC cover is .013, that's more wear on the SC bushing. Again no smoking gun, but looking at the gears on my 30k mustang engine it seems like a shit design.
View attachment 99761View attachment 99762

I have a lead on a complete 3.8 and if that works out I have a T-chain cover I can cut up to see the gear mesh. I have no problem machining parts to get this mesh any better.

I have heard of t-chain tensioner failures and I'm wandering what people think is best, the original design or much simpler new design. I really like the new design.
View attachment 99763View attachment 99764

I want to get the bottom end together before I do much more with this gear issue. These engines have such tight tolerances and it sucks you can't get any .001 bearings for more oil clearances. I'm swapping shells around and struggling to get over .0006 and shooting for .002

I ditched all of that for a double roller from Dalke. No tensioner needed lol

 

[davec73]

Seems DD doesn't visit like he used to. Will reach out about his set up, always good to have a backup plan. I'm also half tempted to slap a OEM replacement on it, my cam and valvetrain is very mild. Price and lead time will decide.

Hes on here but it's just as easy to email him. I just text him generally lol

 

[BKB]

So I reached out to DD and he was nice to give me the part # for a replacement chain. I had to take .020 off the back of the double roller t-chain adaptor hub to get sprockets aligned to one another, then .050 of the face to get better alignment of the cam gear and oil pump drive gear. Had to put the oil channels back in since they were only about .010 deep. Picture is how off it was.


Since this is still an old regrind and possibly with the timing chain adapter things were about 14’ retarded. Had to skip one tooth on the cam gear and set the lower to the advanced position and ended up 2’ retarded using centerline method. I’m going to roll with it. I would need to redrill the cam gear mounting bolts to correct this anymore. Unless a bottom gear is available with more advanced options.

I took a break from this project because I ended up warping the lower intake with more welding. I was pissed and worked on other things. But since this car is stuck on my lift I need to finish it at some point.

 

[BKB]

Missing Carlisle has given me some motivation to jump back on this. The family did jump in the wife's Mustang and go to the CJ cruise Friday but we went straight home after that. Probably one of the worst Carlise weekends weather wise In the 20 some years I have gone, not super upset I didn't make it.


New maximum motorsports k-member to drop a few pounds and help with access. The TR6060 beast has some synchromesh in it that will hopefully make it shift smoother. Next is the lower intake and I need to make a inlet plenum for the MPX blower case.

My other projects and why the garage is such a mess.

Hijet 4/4 hi low 5speed EFI. Built a dump be for it.


1987 Conquest TSI with 1994 5.0 and T5 trans. Nut and bolt restoration and finished in BMW Estoril blue II.