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XR7-4.6's Disjointed Build Thread

150K views 1K replies 78 participants last post by  XR7-4.6 
#1 · (Edited)
Decided to change up my annual spring Cobra wheel install a bit by FINALLY reinstalling my Cobra brakes as well as check the passenger side for any rust development...

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The good:
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Oh yeah:D

The front portion of the rocker had some surface rust and pitting but like the driver side it turned out to be rock solid after going at it with a wire wheel and my trusty hammer. So that's a load off my mind.

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The bad:

This area was a bit of a concern since I've owned the car, I initially put some rust converter (not POR15) over it and hoped for the best. Just recently I was looking around and noticed a audible crunch sound when I push up on the fender liner...

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That hole used to be a 1/4" punched by the factory lol The good part is all the bad rust was concentrated to the bottom area, the upper rail is solid other than some surface rust the foam touched.

Strangely the driver side fender support has no rust in this area it seems, normally the driver side gets the brunt of the problems:confused:

The hole was actually smaller than that initially, but I enlarged it to get every last bit of this out...

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Did I mention I hate this foam? :redmad: Further opening it up also allowed me to scrape off and seal the surface rust inside and better yet get to clean metal.

I'll be posting more pics as I go...
 
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#510 · (Edited)
98 Cobra cams!

Been holding out for a pair of these since I bought the motor, conveniently a local member of my Mustang club posted up a full set recently, including the heads(which I may copy Racecougar with, vis a vis sweet table :D) for a good price. Paid much more than I would Conti cams but I really haven't been able to go junkyarding to get them anyway, so extra 4 degrees it is.





Also learned what a pain it is to pull the cam on the drivers side head, the tensioner can't be removed like the other side so the sprocket needs to come off. Probably not a big deal on the car but it sucks getting leverage when the head is loosly placed on a bench!
 
#516 ·
Yep. Replaced the valve seals, valve cover gaskets/grommets, exhaust manifold gaskets, oil filter adapter gasket, timing cover gaskets, front crankshaft seal, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, oil pan itself(rust free!) installed the 96-98 Cobra cams and degreed them to 108* ICL/114* ECL. Sorting out other odds and ends occupied most of the season.
 
#517 ·
Are you running the 03-04 EEC?

You are doing an awesome job; I can't wait to see it run!

I never thought of trucks for wiring lengths, lol. Good tip!
 
#518 · (Edited)
I'm going to use the MBE3 PCM for now, I modified the EEC harness in the spring to work with both PCMs since the pinouts are actually quite close, so my car is wired for knock sensors, returnless fuel, ect if/when I do it. I even added 4 extra wires to the engine harness for the COP jumpers, I just need to clip those and plug in the 4 other true COP wires tucked away in the harness. Kind of OTT but it'll cost me a minimum of $500 to use the Mach PCM, between the PCM itself, SCT's database and the aftermarket tach driver (there's no output in the PCM for it, just a do all CAN bus), not worth it unless I stumble across one cheap one day

Speaking of trucks, 99-00ish F150 5.4s have throttle cables that are the correct length and correct connections(2 bolt firewall/square bracket clip) for 99/01 Cobra/Mach 1 intakes. HUGE savings from what I've found for the real deal online
 
#519 ·
Cool; I was going to use my stock eec as well.

I believe the 03 and 04 had widebands from the factory; that might be nice, as well as working knock code.

When our (MBE2) code trips, it really trips, lol.

My 'test tune' yanked about 10 degrees, it looked like. (I wired Lazarus for knock sensors, before I knew about the code...)

It drove like grandma's car until I got where I was going; it was ok going home, with my foot under control.

It didn't start off this way, but I'm "Engine Stalking" you a bit, lol.

Your build is pretty much what I'm doing; IIRC, you pointed out the deal I got on cams. :)

C heads are So much nicer than dealing with IMRCs.

Was your M1 intake cleaned up with a CnC, or was it still flashed all over?

I saw the "as cast" version in Hylands book, but my intake was CnC'ed in all the openings; I haven't cut it open or anything, but I'm thinking about it. :)

Awesome thread; I'm completely interested. :)

You mentioned documentation on the harnesses; would you sell plans for the underhood harness you made?
 
#520 ·
Yeah my intake has the factory CNC work under the lid, supposedly all the Mach 1 lowers are like that, while the 99-01 Cobra are left fully cast(although I hear the recall intakes had similar work done).

The Mach 1 PCM definitely doesn't use widebands however, I think you're mixing that up with the Coyote

As much as I'd like some cash for plans the engine harness is effectively a clone of the Mach 1 harness:tongue: I pretty much used a 2004 EVTM and a bunch of pictures from ebay as well as the engine itself as a lifesize guide to infer what goes where and how much. All I did was add a couple aeformentioned wires on top for waste spark COPs, and setup the alternater portion of harness for the MN12 bay. And the EEC harness it's literally a 96-97 harness with some circuits added, nothin too fancy. Most work I put into that actually was gutting it of automatic trans circuitry
 
#522 · (Edited)
I'm wrong on the widebands; that is coyote.

I skipped a line while reading a post about knock sensors... If it knocks with WBs, you need a better tuner. :)

The 03-04 knock sensor code is supposedly way better than ours, and it's still used in later cars.
 
#525 ·
Worked like a charm on all 32 valves, so it passed the durability test too :D

I'm wrong on the widebands; that is coyote.

I skipped a line while reading a post about knock sensors... If it knocks with WBs, you need a better tuner. :)

The 03-04 knock sensor code is supposedly way better than ours, and it's still used in later cars.
Yeah that's why I'm seeking out the Mach PCM. I could easily find a 99-04 GT PCM on the cheap and load the 4V values if all I wanted was true COP and returnless but I'd really like to utilize the knock sensors.

I'm not as attracted to the WB O2s the Coyote uses, sounds expensive lol
 
#524 · (Edited)
It continues!

I haven't taken pics of the disassembly up to this point, and I know it seems like I'm leaving you all hanging on this gripping thread, but I assure you, you're not not seeing anything you haven't seen before so just use your imaginations for trans removal, driveshaft removal ect. Real documentary worthy progress will come in the assembly side of things.

But until then here's how I spent the afternoon, after replacing the bent 1-2 shift fork yesterday. For new readers or those who forgot, second gear would pop to neutral when any power was applied, and the only part I neglected to replace from the damaged second gear assembly during the first rebuild was the fork. The difference between forks is very subtle, I needed a straight edge to see the old one was bent but it most definitely was, and the corner wear on my bronze fork pads told the tale as well. Fingers crossed the new fork solves it. For good measure I added a 1/8"shim to the 1-2 detent plug to add spring tension just in case.

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Also of note, or maybe not, this is the first time I used Right Stuff RTV to seal it up. Up to now I've been using Ultra Black, which takes 24hours to dry, have to initially hand tighten, then torque in an hour yaddayadda. Right stuff is torque within 5 minutes and done, literally that's what the instructions say, so I'm a bit on edge wondering if all my synchromesh gushes out like a waterfall lol
 
#527 · (Edited)
So this doesn't look factory right? :tongue:





I've had the car since ~70k miles, and a lot of repairs were logged in the owners manual before I got it and a leaky oil pan gasket "fix" was definitely not in there. I noticed some of this crap on the sides some time ago, thinking it was just some quick dirty fix by the dealer I bought it from back in 05 - the oil pan always did get covered in a little film by the time I'd change the oil - but all the way under the rear main cover, sandwiching the factory gasket??? Did someone actually remove the transmission to do this? :eek:

And here I thought I broke this car's cherry. Whore. :tongue:
 
#528 · (Edited)
Got the 2V stripped to the longblock, ready to pull. Today I mocked up my one of my most desirable "mods" on the 4V with the removed parts





If I cut the hose where my thumb is it'll clear the pulley easily. It's actually a pretty good fit despite the different location.




I'm going to up my oil change frequency just for the hell of it with this kind of access! :D

Ironically getting to filter from the factory location was super easy today with the power steering pump off... Yet I still managed to get an armfull of oil!!! :tongue:
 
#529 ·
That's awesome!

What adapter is that? F150?
 
#530 ·
Question: The Heater core doesn't give a **** if I flip the inlets and outlets does it?

The factory inlet fitting (fed from the intake/head) is on the left side, while the factory outlet fitting (feeding the water pump) is on the right. With my Mustang valley tube however it would be cleaner easier routing to run to it from the left fitting. As far as I can tell the fittings on the core itself are the same size, the smaller return hose simply flares out to attach




02 explorer. The one most of us throw out LOL. You need a corresponding timing cover to use it though since the front two PS pump mounts are cast into it, so with a 2V you use the Explorer cover, with a 4V use the Aviator cover.
 
#537 · (Edited)
DOHC still awaiting transplant, but spent my time making sure it'll fit under the stock hood.... I hope. Got this idea from the the first gen FN10 crowd with Cobra intake swaps.


My "kit"
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The K member to body alignment had me somewhat concerned doing this and after some careful thought, measuring and sifting through my bucket of bolts I found 4 with flanges the correct diameter, so I cut them short and drilled/tapped the two front spacers and put them in each end, one to align the frame and the other the K member. works perfectly

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#538 ·
Are you using 1/2" spacers between the K-Member and the body?

I was just looking at an old picture of your car..Not much gap is in between the top of your front tire and the bottom of the fender arch..
It's not bad actually..You're car sits pretty evenly front and rear..

I'm interested in seeing how much front wheel gap you're going to have now..
With the combination of the DOHC, and using spacers between the K-Member and the body..

What motor mounts are you going to use?







Rayo..
 
#539 ·
In theory, the spacers shouldn't affect the ride height because the where the shock mounts, and therefore where the spring sits, is still in the same spot. It will throw off his alignment and suspension geometry slightly, but I doubt enough to cause any adverse affects.
 
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