Engine Swap Started

[CobraB]

Well, It's been a while, but I'm back on the horse. I've been holding out till I was moved into my new house so now that I'm settled in, I've run out of excuses. I started tearing everything down. It's amazing how fast you can take things apart.

The body was lifted off yesterday. (see attached pic) I picked up Luce's body buck so I can roll the body around and get it out of the way when necessary. All in all it went smoothly. I have claimed a room and a half of my new house for car parts now.

Task list:
Engine swap: 95 4.6L SOHC for a 99 4.6L DOHC with Paxton NOVI 1000 super charger, including the wiring mess of an EFI system

Reglassing my front driver side fender and refitting my body so I'm "closer" to straight.

Adding mini cooper seats.

[Luce]

That's a sweet looking hunk of aluminum! Did you say some time ago you were adding a charge cooler too?

I'm glad to pass on (and recoup the cost of course) a few essential home made fixtures. Between the buck and winch hoist, I could set the body on in 10 minutes, or remove it in 4.

[CobraB]

I thought about an cooler but backed off. It may lose a bit on a hot day, but it will still be plenty of power to get me into trouble.

[Roush #1]

Curious to see what you do with the steering shaft when you straighten your foot box. Please keep us posted.
Thanks!
J

[CobraB]

I got the current engine off and the transmission separated. It looks like at some point my throwout bearing was snapped in half. I'm guessing it was caused by a bad angle on the shift fork, but the angle doesn't look that bad, especially bad enough to crack a metal ring. Glad I pulled it apart.

Transmission is going back to Rosehill because it's always been sloppy getting into 5th which left me hating to drive on the freeways. I also bought a little lincoln welder so I can fab up some new brackets. Get ready to laugh at my welding skills.

[CobraB]

I got the engine on for a trial fit. You can see by the pics that the valve covers hang over the frame rails just a bit. The DOHC heads come down at a different angle than the SOHC so it looks like a new set of headers are required. Also the DOHC requires a different set of flanges. I'm going to try to fab some up, but it's going to take some practice.

To get my last set of headers fixed cost about 800 of practically all labor cost. 2 mild steel flanges are on order for $70 with shipping. With a few bends and some setup materials I'm hoping to get it done for less than half. I hate to chop up the headers I currently have for the SOHC so I guess I'll keep them if anyone wants to do a SOHC build let me know.

[Skuzzy]

Tight fit. You got room to get around the steering shaft with the exhaust?

[Luce]

WOW! That thing is wide. Will you need to clearance the wheel wells too?

And yes, I bet you will be doing some steering shaft juggling too, but it will look nice having the engine bay all filled up with metal bits.

[CobraB]

It's been done before so I know it's not hopeless. The steering shaft has to have an extra knuckle to make the turn. I don't think the headers are as big of a problem as the front corner of the head.

The wheel wells will have to be trimmed in the front to account for bulge in the valve covers over the timing sprockets.

[CobraB]

I'm having to remake my exhaust and it looks like 2" is the way to go based on my exhaust ports. I have the older 1-3/4 exhaust so that means changing the sidepipe as well. The question to the group is should I convert the current sidepipes to 2" or completely remake them?

[cobrapilot]

Are you planning to use the stock EFI, or aftermarket?

Rick

[Luce]

I would run the same size primary tubes and muffler tubes, and you'll need a bigger collector, but if you feel the muffler is large enough, you could reuse it and the turnout. But Summit carries a nice 3' inside bore muffler that I think is made by Jones for $38 and change. It has the small louvers punched into the inner tube that reflects some of the niose int the packing.

Jegs sells a build it yourself header kit for around $100 that includes the 8 bends and 2 collectors. I have less than $200 in my side pipes. My thought was I would make or buuy some really nice stainless ones after I decided how much noise I could handle. I was considering adding a butterfly that could switcw between loud and louder, but that's still just an idea.

[CobraB]

It will be on the stock EFI system. I'll have to do a bit of dieting, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'll also be converting the fuel system from returnless to a return.

Thanks for the input Luce, I would have to get a new collector and tubes for sure. I already have bungs in my current set, but it's in the collector and would have to be done again anyways. I guess I'm leaning to total remake since I would also cut my end pipe off and rotate it to keep from blowing so much dust.

[Luce]

Another option I saw a while back on clubcobra was one guy used a shorty header and made the whole sidepipe out of 3" tube. I think it was fasterfitzpatric in the scratch built forum. Forgive my description, but the sidepipes looked Corvette ish, but good, and he claimed that he had a good race proven header design, but I would think the loner primarys would be better. I think the left and right were swapped to get a better exit location.

Another inexpensive option if you're remaking the headers anyway, Speedway sells http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Schoenfel ... 28000.html I think they have it in a larger tube size, but I didn't find it. Internet is a little slow here in Jamaica. The downside here is the tubes are almost touching, so You'll have to make the flange, and that won't be so easy. If you slip fit it, your O2 sensor will read lean when it's not.

[CobraB]

I'll probably stick with a weld up solution. Now that I've done a little more research I'm not sure increasing the primary size is a good idea. There isn't a single set from summit that will go above 1-7/8 and most are in the 1-5/8 range. Maybe I'll stick with my current sidepipe configuration and just remake the headers. I'm waiting on some feedback from another forum, but it doesn't seem to be a common thing to go above 1-5/8 primaries.

[Barnsnake]

If it matters.... Brian has the pattern for DOHC headers for a Lonestar. He supplied them to F150toCobra for his build.

Jim

[CobraB]

I'm enjoying the challenge of welding my own. It'll be ugly, but I've been practicing and getting better. It's not like anyone will be able to see the headers anyways.

[Barnsnake]

That's the truth.
They could be bright red and even then you could only see them through the "gills" with a flashlight.

[CowtownCobra]

I have only seen one Lonestar with a mod motor. And I only saw it once.

But some things, once seen, cannot be unseen. I sort of wish I could erase that image.

[CobraB]

Did a little work over the last week. I picked up the transmission from Rosehill and connected it up. I then realized that the dohc sits much higher on the mounts than the sohc. There was a pretty good angle from back to front on the engine. I was a bit worried dropping the engine would cause some issues with the passenger shock tower and the paxton, but there is plenty of clearance. I dropped the engine about an inch which still gave me just under 6 inches of ground clearance. I did get to break out the welder to tack up the pieces! I think they turned out really well.

Next up is fitting the body yet again. I am almost thinking I'll cut both wheel wells off and starting again. when putting it together the first time, the driver side was too far in and the passengers was too far out. One side kept me from being straight and the other required lots of fender washers.