What Ive been doing lately.....56k beware...

[Justincredible]

For the last few months, besides working on my own race car, Ive been helping my engine builder with his project.
I think Ive invested more hours on his car than my own, but he builds my engines and does my chassis dyno tuning for free, so its well worth it.
Plus the fact that he's my best friend...lol

We started on his car last winter and its now mostly complete except for a few minor things to tidy up.

Its a 1988 Mercury Cougar (aka Ford Thunderbird) with a 410 cubic inch V8 sporting twin 70mm turbos.
Thus far....its made 820rwhp with only 12 pounds of boost and a very coservative/safe break in tune.
Once we get about 500 miles on this new engine, we're going to turn it up and hopeing to put down around 1200rwhp.
That should be enough to put this 3800 pound sled into the 9's in the 1/4 mile.
My largest contribution to this build includes all the chassis and engine wiring, and retrofitting a late model EFI ECU from a 2002 F-250 Ford truck (faster & smarter ECU) into this setup. Plus I and a few others provided the much needed moral suport to help the cars owner (Greg) through the ups and downs of a project of this caliber...aka beer and constant second guessing on all decisions made.

Other than my day job...this car has pretty much taken up most of my free time for the last 8 months.

Now that this project is mostly complete...its time to finish MY car. lol

Here are the pics...

Underside prep, all factory seams are now welded, rear suspension mounting points reinforced, and sub frame conectors installed.


Underside is primered...ready for paint.


Engine bay...extra factory holes are filled and smoothed.


Painted engine bay...


Underside is painted and brake and fuel lines installed...


AC system pumbing and engine bay hardware installed...


Power brake booster and front suspension...


410 cubic inch Ford V8.


Custom built 1500 hp capable automatic 3 speed trans + overdrive.


Engine/trans installed...


Trans and oil coolers installed and plumbed...


Custom built oil pan...


Custom built fuel tank with gravity fed sump and fuel pump...


Intercooler and related piping...


Complete power plant....


Bumper cover and fenders installed...


Fresh paint...


Base coat wet sanded and getting ready for final Clear coat...


Final product after buffing the clear coat...custom hood fab under way...

 

[Stevey.D]

Looks like all the hard work has paid off! Fantastic all round especially under the bonnet!! id hate to see the mpg, but id love to hear the engine soundtrack!

 

[Justincredible]

Looks like all the hard work has paid off! Fantastic all round especially under the bonnet!! id hate to see the mpg, but id love to hear the engine soundtrack!

The mpg should'nt be too bad with the boost turned down. We expect 15-18 mpg with the "cruise around" tune. But with it set to "kill" we're sure it will drop well into the single digit range.

I'll post the final chassis dyno and track vids as soon as it happens.

 

[joost]

Very nice!

Which engine is it? Mate's doing up a 400M (with 0.040 overbore) to put in his Torino but he's also got a 429 sitting doing nothing at the moment - I've told him to do the 429 instead but he's adamant.

He's got Aussie heads, Crane (I think) roller rockers, cam and lifters, custom ground crank, MSD coil, Holley 750cfm double pumper carb and Street Dominator intake and yet to find pistons and h-beam rods. Too much money if you ask me...

 

[Justincredible]

Very nice!

Which engine is it? Mate's doing up a 400M (with 0.040 overbore) to put in his Torino but he's also got a 429 sitting doing nothing at the moment - I've told him to do the 429 instead but he's adamant.

He's got Aussie heads, Crane (I think) roller rockers, cam and lifters, custom ground crank, MSD coil, Holley 750cfm double pumper carb and Street Dominator intake and yet to find pistons and h-beam rods. Too much money if you ask me...

Its a 351 Windsor based block design...but in all reality...its not really a Ford engine because there are actualy no genuine Ford parts in it. Every part of the engine is aftermarket.

Block is made by World Products http://www.worldcastings.com/prods_pages/087110.htm

The heads are AFR 205. http://www.airflowresearch.com/205sbf_rh.php

Comp Cam custom grind cam, roller rockers, solid roller liftershttp://www.compcams.com/DefaultWide.asp

Ross custom pistons (website down)

Scat 4340 crank and rods http://www.scatcrankshafts.com/

We sat down and did a rough estimate on how much $$$ is in this engine. He got depressed and quit adding it up once we got to $20,000.

Which...in turn....didnt make me feel too good about my own engine we're building because they're almost identical, except mine is setup for nitrous and has a stronger crankshaft and bigger cam.

As for your buddies Torino (very cool car btw)...why in the world is he going with the 400M?
Unless he is just saving the 429 because they are worth alot and getting very hard to find in decent shape.

BTW... KeithBlack makes a very affordable aftermarket piston for the 400M.
http://kb-silvolite.com/spistons.php?action=details&S_id=161
Good luck trying to find a "off the shelf" h-beam rod for that 400M setup.
He'll most likey have to go with a custom made rod to get one.

 

[rickparmar]

well done mate, looks good

gets some vids up soon

 

[vdubstar]

That just looks naugthy!!!

 

[campbell]

awesome finish, would love to do something like this myself but havent the money lol

 

[nky_84]

looking good. Kinda sounds like a similar situation to me. I'm currently building a racing mini as well as co building a prototype race car chassis et all.

502 CI chevy big block (540bhp) going in this beast, no turbos, but will weigh in at arund 600KGs!!

power to weight ratio of around 900bhp/ton should be interesting( my S3 is around 160bhp/ton)

Project is in the very early stages but when things start happening will get a thread up.

chassis mocked up in wood

rear subframe tacked up

front subframe almost complete