bwalt's MSP build log

After hoarding parts for months I'm finally making some progress on the new engine..


Block was bored proper using a torque plate and ARP studs. Balanced and polished crank, line bore with ARP studs, machined deck surface. Cylinder head rebuilt, needed a valve job but otherwise in great shape.

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Transmission received an inspection and double cone synchro upgrade for 1st and 2nd gears.

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Box full of OEM parts.. I replaced all frost plugs, oil gallery plugs, oil squirters, oil cooler, cam cap bolts, mbsp bolts, oil pump bolts, rear main seal bolts, cylinder head dowels, crank bolt, cam bolts, timing tensioner/idler bolts, crank woodruff key, crank timing sprocket, waterpump, thermostat, all gaskets and orings

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Primer, Black and Clear engine enamel. Three coats of each, I like the way it turned out. Also had some left over high temp red caliper paint and used it to highlight the FS tag before hitting it with clear coat.

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Dry fitted bearings, crank and rods with plasti-gauge. All clearances checked out in the 0.0015-0.002" range.

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Ring gaps set.

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Nice update. I’m not sure if I had to do a round 2 if I’d trust myself to assemble and measure clearances lol. Can you post where you end up mounting your meth tank and pump? I could use some inspiration 🙂
 
Rods and crank buttoned up, oil squirters installed and clearanced.

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One thing I completely overlooked last time was piston to cylinder head clearance. Most people, including myself, just slap a headgasket on and call it a day. Setting this clearance in the 0.040-0.045" range will provide maximum squish effect and a more homogenized mixture within the cylinder. This increases efficiency and resistance to knock.

I measured 0.019" from the piston crown to deck. That means the rest of the clearance will be taken up by the headgaskets compressed thickness. I went with a Fel-pro Permatorque MLS headgasket which is 0.024" compressed and will bring my total clearance to 0.043" which I'm happy with.

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Headgasket thickness combined with machined block and cylinder head surfaces alters the distance between the cams and crank. A side effect of this is cam timing becomes affected once the timing belt is installed, even if the stock timing marks line up. Adjustable cam gears are essential so the valve opening and closing events happen at the right time. I tried to degree the cams using a degree wheel but there's no way to get a dial indicator positioned properly on the lifter bucket to take a reading, they're completely blocked by the cam lobes. I'm stuck with trial and error adjustments until I get it right.

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Almost there...

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Nice update. I’m not sure if I had to do a round 2 if I’d trust myself to assemble and measure clearances lol. Can you post where you end up mounting your meth tank and pump? I could use some inspiration 🙂

For sure.
 
Impressive rebuild. What did you coat your Pope manifold with, the same as what you just did to the engine?
 
Engine assembly complete!

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Found some ARP flywheel bolts that are a perfect match for the FS. They're listed for a Ford Duratec but the under head length and thread pitch are the same.

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Topped it off with a SPEC Stage 3+ clutch. Hoping this will be a little less harsh over the 6-puck I ran before.

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Always wondered about that trans saver doohickey. Can we get a review of it when the car is driveable again?
 
Gold!

I got sick of my exhaust wrapped intercooler pipes leaving itchy fiberglass strands everywhere in the engine bay.. this wont shed anything and I like the look.

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Only quality fluids here:

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Driven Racing break-in engine oil. High zinc/low detergent oil required for proper engine break-in. Process I will follow is a 20 minute initial run-in at 2500rpms, then drain oil. Fill again and drive hard for 4-500 miles. Heat and friction needed to activate the oil so rings can properly mate to cylinder walls. Ideally one would do this on the dyno but that's not an option for me at this time.

Canton Racing spin on oil filter with replaceable cartridge. The beauty about this filter is that it doesn't have a bypass valve. All the oil gets filtered all the time regardless of operating conditions. Filter flows 40gpm and smallest particle captured is 8 microns!

Torco RTF transmission fluid and Liqui-Moly gear protect. Ran this combo last year and it has by far the best shift quality I've experienced. Made my MFactory gears quieter too.

Motul DOT 5.1 brake fluid. High boiling point of this fluid will help brakes deal with high speed fade at the top end of the strip.

*not in picture* Driven Racing CSP and demineralized water (can't have anti-freeze at the racetrack). The additive basically does the same thing as water wetter but is better quality in my opinion.
 
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I'm going totally over-kill with my oil system. Installed a Turbosmart oil pressure regulator to keep oil pressure at the turbo no higher than 40psi and eliminate any flow/volume problems that may occur using a restrictor fitting.

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Also installed an electric oil pump that will be used to prime the system before cold starts and after oil changes. This will eliminate the couple seconds of no oil pressure when the engine first fires. My bearings are happy.

I tapped it to the oil pan drain plug and it pushes oil through a one way check valve to the oil filter inlet.

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Anyone ever index their spark plugs before? It's supposed give a more complete and even burn across all cylinders by locating the ground strap away from the intake valves. These special washers will allow the ground strap to end up in the right spot when torqued to spec.

More can be read about the topic here

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Oil pan magnet to catch all the metal bits from first startup. This thing is dangerously strong!

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