Hey guys
I’m starting a build thread on here to show what I’m doing, to ask a bunch of questions, and to try and be helpful to other people down the road who are looking to do something similar.
I have an 03 cobra, currently stock longblock with head studs. E85, Gen2 2.9 and 24lbs. I just got a Gen5 3.0 and will be putting it on the stock longblock while building another engine alongside in the garage. It’s a second vehicle, I drive it to work every once in a while, and take it to the track as often as life/work allows
I don’t have a specific HP or ET goal in mind. I want a car that runs, idles, and drives well, something that’s reliable. I’m not looking to drive this car to the moon and back, but I’d like to be able to hop in and turn the key without thinking twice about reliability issues. I’m planning on ~10.5:1, with boost numbers somewhere in the same vicinity as I am at now. If it makes 1000rw and drives as well as it does now, that’d be great with me.
So, I figured I’d kind of have two things going on at the same time and would post up some pictures and where I’m planning to go with this.
First, getting the bigger blower set up and ready to install. I was able to get the J2Fab intercooler and water manifold, and I’m hoping those will help out quite a bit with charge temps.
I am going to run a trunk tank for the Intercooler with an EMP pump. Currently working on line sizing, fittings, and routing over the IRS (yes, it’s there still). I think the 7/8”ID hose will be the best fit in terms of flow/capacity and feasibility with routing. The ID of the pump, Intercooler manifold, and the heat exchanger barbs is all the same size, and the hose maintains a workable bend radius to snake up and back from the trunk. I coated the tank with some kind of bedliner to hopefully keep sweating to a minimum with ice at the track.
Currently waiting for top end gaskets to ship along with better pneumatic/vacuum fittings and then I’ll be able to install this guy:
I picked up a stock-bore Teksid block out of a MarkVIII from a local guy. Everything looks good and all cylinders have cross-hatching top to bottom on all bores. I spent a bit of time deburring and smoothing everything as well as chasing all threaded holes for heads/mains. I used James’ (Cobra Engineering) plate for the oversized timing pins, which worked out really, really well.
It’s over at the machine shop where we’ll use old gaskets and a torque plate to figure out just how far over I’ll need to go to end up with perfectly round cylinders. Hoping it’ll clean up at just a few thousandths over stock size. Then I’ll order Gibtec pistons with pins and rings as per Ed’s suggestions.
I ordered King main bearings part numbers MB5219SI and MB5281SI to combine for the full-flanged thrust bearing that’s been discussed here. It will have a six-speed behind it (for now, at least...) so I hadn’t planned to drill the thrust face, though certainly could/would if it’s suggested to do that. Stock-stroke Kellogg crank at standard/standard sizing that will be studded as per the Crank Tech article here. Still unsure which route I’m going to go for balancer (IW vs ATI) and which front assembly (stock caged vs Metco) I’m going to use. Not 100% if the crank stud makes the stock cage redundant, or if the cage offers more strength/stability for the snout.
Rod choice is still up in the air. I’ve talked with quite a few people about this and it sounds like it’ll likely be either the Molnar power adder or the Manley H-Tuff. Either choice I will use the ARP 2000 series fasteners. I’m planning to use King SI bearings here as well.
Heads/cams still up in the air. I’ll most likely order custom cams, and springs/retainers as suggested by the cam designer. I’ve learned I can reuse stock followers, and I ordered stock-replacement lash adjusters from Melling. I’d like to go with ported heads, waiting to hear back on a set, and I have a set of DB castings in the garage that I’ll send out to get done if it turns out the first set isn’t available. I’ll be using FelPro gaskets 26187PT/26222PT as they’re apparently up to the task after talking with a few guys who are making way more power than I’m hoping to make.
I have ARP studs for heads and mains.
I’ll have all sorts of questions as time goes. I’m still undecided on engine management, other than I know I don’t think the stock ECU is a safe option any longer. Holley, MS3, etc are on my radar.
Thanks for reading. I’ll post more as time goes, as more parts show up, and when I have questions.
Phil
I’m starting a build thread on here to show what I’m doing, to ask a bunch of questions, and to try and be helpful to other people down the road who are looking to do something similar.
I have an 03 cobra, currently stock longblock with head studs. E85, Gen2 2.9 and 24lbs. I just got a Gen5 3.0 and will be putting it on the stock longblock while building another engine alongside in the garage. It’s a second vehicle, I drive it to work every once in a while, and take it to the track as often as life/work allows
I don’t have a specific HP or ET goal in mind. I want a car that runs, idles, and drives well, something that’s reliable. I’m not looking to drive this car to the moon and back, but I’d like to be able to hop in and turn the key without thinking twice about reliability issues. I’m planning on ~10.5:1, with boost numbers somewhere in the same vicinity as I am at now. If it makes 1000rw and drives as well as it does now, that’d be great with me.
So, I figured I’d kind of have two things going on at the same time and would post up some pictures and where I’m planning to go with this.
First, getting the bigger blower set up and ready to install. I was able to get the J2Fab intercooler and water manifold, and I’m hoping those will help out quite a bit with charge temps.
I am going to run a trunk tank for the Intercooler with an EMP pump. Currently working on line sizing, fittings, and routing over the IRS (yes, it’s there still). I think the 7/8”ID hose will be the best fit in terms of flow/capacity and feasibility with routing. The ID of the pump, Intercooler manifold, and the heat exchanger barbs is all the same size, and the hose maintains a workable bend radius to snake up and back from the trunk. I coated the tank with some kind of bedliner to hopefully keep sweating to a minimum with ice at the track.
Currently waiting for top end gaskets to ship along with better pneumatic/vacuum fittings and then I’ll be able to install this guy:
I picked up a stock-bore Teksid block out of a MarkVIII from a local guy. Everything looks good and all cylinders have cross-hatching top to bottom on all bores. I spent a bit of time deburring and smoothing everything as well as chasing all threaded holes for heads/mains. I used James’ (Cobra Engineering) plate for the oversized timing pins, which worked out really, really well.
It’s over at the machine shop where we’ll use old gaskets and a torque plate to figure out just how far over I’ll need to go to end up with perfectly round cylinders. Hoping it’ll clean up at just a few thousandths over stock size. Then I’ll order Gibtec pistons with pins and rings as per Ed’s suggestions.
I ordered King main bearings part numbers MB5219SI and MB5281SI to combine for the full-flanged thrust bearing that’s been discussed here. It will have a six-speed behind it (for now, at least...) so I hadn’t planned to drill the thrust face, though certainly could/would if it’s suggested to do that. Stock-stroke Kellogg crank at standard/standard sizing that will be studded as per the Crank Tech article here. Still unsure which route I’m going to go for balancer (IW vs ATI) and which front assembly (stock caged vs Metco) I’m going to use. Not 100% if the crank stud makes the stock cage redundant, or if the cage offers more strength/stability for the snout.
Rod choice is still up in the air. I’ve talked with quite a few people about this and it sounds like it’ll likely be either the Molnar power adder or the Manley H-Tuff. Either choice I will use the ARP 2000 series fasteners. I’m planning to use King SI bearings here as well.
Heads/cams still up in the air. I’ll most likely order custom cams, and springs/retainers as suggested by the cam designer. I’ve learned I can reuse stock followers, and I ordered stock-replacement lash adjusters from Melling. I’d like to go with ported heads, waiting to hear back on a set, and I have a set of DB castings in the garage that I’ll send out to get done if it turns out the first set isn’t available. I’ll be using FelPro gaskets 26187PT/26222PT as they’re apparently up to the task after talking with a few guys who are making way more power than I’m hoping to make.
I have ARP studs for heads and mains.
I’ll have all sorts of questions as time goes. I’m still undecided on engine management, other than I know I don’t think the stock ECU is a safe option any longer. Holley, MS3, etc are on my radar.
Thanks for reading. I’ll post more as time goes, as more parts show up, and when I have questions.
Phil