Street Warrior S197 Mustang, 6-speed Manual Build

[diambo4life]

I ordered some King bearings yesterday and was also told my pistons should be shipping in a week. So, this is looking good.

 

[diambo4life]

April update: I got my King rod bearings in the mail and my Mahle Powerpack pistons came in some time last week as well. I now have everything needed to take to the machine shop for a rotating assembly balance which I should be doing no later than by end of next week. I pulled the crank out of the old block this past weekend, took me almost an hour to do it. Everything looked good. The Coyote crank is very well braced. 6 bolts on each main cap, 4 ontop and 2 on the side.... I also removed the oil pump (which I will reuse as I had installed billet oil pump gears) and I will also reuse what is similar to our front cover. The good thing about all Coyote stuff is it's modular. Everything bolts up, across Coyote generations, you just need to pick the correct parts. I will need to source an oil filter housing adapter from a second gen Coyote to use on this Predator block I picked up last fall. I also need to get Cometic head gaskets because I am using the Gen 1 Coyote heads on a Predator block (basically, it's a "3-1-1" build, 3rd gen block, 1st gen heads and 1st gen timing components) which has a bigger bore. Can't use the stock 1st gen head gaskets unfortunately. Cometic gaskets cost twice as much too . I also need to buy new ARP head studs because my car (a 2013) used the smaller 11mm head studs compared to the 12mm used in the early 11-12 Coyotes and the 18+ Coyote engines. Progress though.

 

[diambo4life]

Dropped off the stuff at the machine shop to get the rotating assembly balanced. I am looking at maybe 2-3 weeks since they are kinda busy, which is okay. I will be ordering the 2nd gen Coyote OFH adapter and Cometic head gaskets this week as well...and the ARP head studs shortly as well. Time to get this project going. LET'S GO!!!!!!!

 

[diambo4life]

I finally picked up the rotating assembly from the machine shop so assembly should begin in the next few weeks. I am excited. In the meanwhile, I have ordered the 12mm ARP head-studs and I decided to go ahead and order matching KING STD-X main bearing set. The car is covered in so much dust...you would think it has been sitting for 10 years not 15 months.

 

[diambo4life]

A bi-weekly update on this to keep me honest. I have the new bare block mounted on the stand. I do need to purchase a couple tools that will help my job a little easier. I am going to give myself a month to assemble the shortblock. My bearings (main) and studs did come in though. Just to reiterate, this is a brand new Predator block from Ford Performance. Looking real good. Ready to make some power. I will not be sleeving this. I have talked to lots of folks who have made 1500WHP on these without sleeving so I am very comfortable running it as is. Note: The 6 bolt main caps. 4 on top and 1 on each side.

 

[diambo4life]

Predator block, Mahle powerpack pistons. Piston/bore clearance will be right around 0.0030" +0.0005"ish. Right on the money.

 

[diambo4life]

My specialty cap removal tool arrived. Makes it much much simpler removing those caps. Nicely built. I didn't like the cost but you have to pay to play.

 

[diambo4life]

A shot of my balanced crank. Will be measuring bearing clearances shortly after my new torque wrench arrives. Don't worry, everything will be cleaned again before final assembly. . Last photo is of the JPC piston oil squirter blockoffs I will be using. This block comes with a set of oil jets but I will be deleting them.

edit
I had to reuse the stock blockoffs because the JPC ones (seen in the pic below) were making contact with my rods. So, I just reinstalled what came stock on my 2014 block. It had Compstar rods so I assumed correctly that they would clear these rods as well as they are the same profile.

 

[diambo4life]

Checked main oil clearance this weekend and we are good....right around 0.0025"! Spec is 0.0011"-0.0025". I am running STD-X bearings so this is on the money.

 

[diambo4life]

I know it's been over a month with no progress! However, I did some work this weekend. I gapped all the rings, per cylinder. I went with 0.019" for the top and 0.024" for the bottom. I used a combination of gaps I have had good experience with and also looked at what the Cobrajet Mustang specs were to find a happy medium for a mostly street driven car that will make close to 1100whp. The oil rings seem to fall in spec without touching them but I will check all before assembling on the pistons. This week, I plan to assemble the piston/rod combo. I would like the shortblock done within the next 4 weeks. Timeline is to have the engine ready to drop in by October and car running before Thanksgiving.

 

[diambo4life]

Crank installed. Endplay was right around 0.004" which is within spec. I mated pistons to rods and will be installing the rings and installing them in the block this week hopefully.
Using the TTY method (with angle) for the stock hardware, the inner bolts were right around 75-80ft lbs, outer were around 47ftlbs +/-3 and the side bolts right around 33ft lbs +/-2ft lbs with engine oil.

 

[diambo4life]

Shortblock almost complete.

Buttoning up.

 

[diambo4life]

This past weekend I completed transferring parts to the new head, including my upgraded springs, and cleaned everything up. I also did a recommended mod of staking the head where the ARP washers will sit to ensure the studs don't spin during the torquing procedure. Mounted the oil pump, torqued it to spec. I can't mount the oil pan permanently since I need to mount the rear seal plate and i just don't have great access with the engine on the stand. This is a new block and it has a couple dowels that need to be installed first. This is so close to putting together. I will soon move everything to the garage and complete final assembly.

 

[diambo4life]

I need to find time and go clean the Mustang engine bay. It's filthy from coolant overspray when the HG let go and layers of dust from sitting. It's just too gross to drop this nice engine in it.

 

[diambo4life]

Heads are on.

 

[diambo4life]

Will install the secondary chains and time it this weekend, then install the rear main seal plate, front cover and install and /seal the oil pan. I was not planning on doing all this now with the crazy heat but I got motivated yesterday. That's Cometic head gaskets (for use with Gen 1 heads on a Predator block). ARP head studs torqued to 125 ft lbs. I may be getting old but those had me winded after doing 20 of them .

 

[diambo4life]

...and she is ready to go in after I install the clutch. Not sure when I will be doing that though. Probably after this heat wave.

 

[diambo4life]

Cleaned up the engine bay today. Looks somewhat presentable after removing layers of dust and cobwebs .

 

[diambo4life]

What a pain in the ass.....but it's IN the car. Really sucks doing this by yourself without a lift. Do not recommend....

 

[diambo4life]

It's 99% done. Just need to add engine oil, prime the system then add coolant/water. Probably a good idea to check for fuel leaks too.

 

[diambo4life]

Another thing I did when I was under the car was to upgrade or replace my factory mid pipes. The stock piping actually necked down to almost 2" to fit to the resonators then flared back up gradually to almost 2.75". See below.

 

[diambo4life]

So I cut off those sections and installed straight 3" piping that I had for this purpose. See below. It should sound nicer too...I think.

 

[diambo4life]

I ordered a garden sprayer to rig up an oil prime mechanism since this is a brand new shortblock. The goal is for startup to happen this weekend! Wish me luck.

 

[92Turbski]

I ordered a garden sprayer to rig up an oil prime mechanism since this is a brand new shortblock. The goal is for startup to happen this weekend! Wish me luck.

Sick, man! This thing a beast. Nice job detailing the build. Good luck.

 

[diambo4life]

Sick, man! This thing a beast. Nice job detailing the build. Good luck.

Thanks man. I went back and added more photos because I know people like looking at photos. I do enjoy the process but it gets old as I am getting too old for this shit... I hope all goes well this weekend!