2023 GT Premium - My Twin Turbo Build

[wingnutt]

I also grabbed a 2004 F-350 I found online. It has gotten the complete Sinister Diesel bulletproofing setup on the 6.0 and has 81,000 miles on it. Overall it is in great shape for a 20 year old truck in New England. I've been wanting to try out a pre-DPF truck again after the hassles with my 2018 Denali HD. I feel like it's gonna be a money pit but I'm having fun for now. The 6.0 is a tough motor once it's known weaknesses are addressed.

NICE (in addition to your TT journey) and I agree, the 6.0 may have been rushed out by Ford, but it ain’t the red headed stepchild that the 6.4 is

I am currently in the midst of putting an ‘04 6.0 under a ‘75 F100…just for funsies

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[AcceptableNebula]

NICE (in addition to your TT journey) and I agree, the 6.0 may have been rushed out by Ford, but it ain’t the red headed stepchild that the 6.4 is

I am currently in the midst of putting an ‘04 6.0 under a ‘75 F100…just for funsies

That is awesome!

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Yesterday was a fantastic day, probably the last warm day we will have this year. I figured I would take the car up to the Quabbin State Park for a few snapshots. Being almost 80 degrees, I figured perhaps I could get some WOT tuning done.

Unfortunately while trying to get my flex fuel sensor to work on my boost controller, I somehow locked myself down to 0 psi if boost. After the photo shoot I tried to restore it and on the ride home had a blistering 1 psi of boost. Clearly I need to start over as before I was able to hit 7 psi at part throttle.

Considering the car has never been waxed, I think its looking pretty good.

 

[Decible]

Yesterday was a fantastic day, probably the last warm day we will have this year. I figured I would take the car up to the Quabbin State Park for a few snapshots. Being almost 80 degrees, I figured perhaps I could get some WOT tuning done.

Unfortunately while trying to get my flex fuel sensor to work on my boost controller, I somehow locked myself down to 0 psi if boost. After the photo shoot I tried to restore it and on the ride home had a blistering 1 psi of boost. Clearly I need to start over as before I was able to hit 7 psi at part throttle.

Considering the car has never been waxed, I think its looking pretty good.

What wheels?

 

[AcceptableNebula]

What wheels?

RSR Forged R901 Monoblocks in Brushed Titanium

 

[AcceptableNebula]

With what appears to be the end of the snow season, getting the car ready for the track opening is back on the forefront.

Decided to pivot on front runner tires. The Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R tires come in at a stout 25.65 lbs per tire. Fortunately, the Mickey Thompson ET Front radial is now in 18" size. So I got a set of those in and they are 17.25 lbs each. A weight savings of 8.4 ea or 16.8lbs for the pair.

I scheduled some dyno time at a local tuner on the 26th to finalize the wide open throttle stuff and to get the car to a comfortable power level for a stock bottom end.

I ended up taking out the 62lb/hr GT500 port injectors from the car and replaced them with Injector Dynamics ID1050X injectors. After 5 years with a GM LT4 motor and for some always not having quite enough capacity somewhere, it's safe to say I have running out of fueling PTSD. These should make sure I have enough.

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Removed the Telematics module from the car today. For anyone interested, it weighs 0.81 lbs. Since the XM attenna plugs into it also, I expected the XM to stop working. It just looks for a satellite now. Other than that I can't see any other disruptions

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Didn't have a lot of time today but I did check off a box that was irritating. The bolts for the battery terminals I used had already formed a little rust on them. I can only assume it's from battery acid fumes. So I modified some titanium bolts and nuts to replace them. They also removed 17g of weight. Doesn't seem like a lot but so far I'm over 7lbs in titanium bolt savings.

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Well the first piece as arrived to the next stage of my car. While I'll be happy with the current potential power level, aesthetically I am not happy that it doesn't look unique enough. With the 24 GT getting dual throttle bodies, I'm thinking a symmetrical engine bay with dual everything should have a unique look. From what I can tell this is uncharted territory but I do have a plan for most of the anticipated hurdles. I plan on racing the car as is for a bit but hope to start this in June/July.

 

[Joshinator99]

Didn't have a lot of time today but I did check off a box that was irritating. The bolts for the battery terminals I used had already formed a little rust on them. I can only assume it's from battery acid fumes. So I modified some titanium bolts and nuts to replace them. They also removed 17g of weight. Doesn't seem like a lot but so far I'm over 7lbs in titanium bolt savings.

So I’ll let this meme do the talking…

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Back almost a year ago, I weighed the car in stock form. The car came in at 3719 lbs with 1/4 tank. I weighed it yesterday with about 5/8 of a tank and it came in at 3775 lbs. I was happy to have done all those mods and only be at about a 30lb penalty after assuming 25 lbs of extra fuel in the car. That weight still includes all street driven things the stock version had (spare, jack, mufflers, street wheels/tires).

Got the car dyno tuned today. Of course my Cortex boost controller was acting up already and wouldn't turn on my extra fuel pumps. Even jumping the special relays didn't turn them on. Fortunately I was to steal a relay from my 6.0 plow truck and wire up a 5 psi hobbs switch. I plumbed the turbos directly to the wastegates and salvaged the day at 7 psi. It probably worked out in the end, as the rings etc still weren't seated yet. PCV volume was a lot more the first 2 pulls and settled down for the rest of the day. It'll be good to run it a few times at 7psi before cranking it up further on 4/16 at my next appointment. Car put down 647 rwhp on 93 and 700.7 on E85 both at 7 psi. With just 2 Walbro 525 fuel pumps running, it wasn't until 7400 rpm that the Fuel Pressure Regulator was able to flow enough fuel to keep the fuel pressure at its setpoint. DI injections were at 4.4ms and PI injections at 3.7ms on full E85. Unlikely the 3rd pump will be needed for 1000 rwhp. It's a nice feeling to have plenty of fueling left!

 

[jpjr501]

I just rabbit holed this entire build. Fantastic!

I'm so curious about this 24 intake with the dual TB's. Forced induction currently available (Whipple) is removing the dual TB's. Probably don't want to deal with potential headaches.

 

[AcceptableNebula]

I just rabbit holed this entire build. Fantastic!

I'm so curious about this 24 intake with the dual TB's. Forced induction currently available (Whipple) is removing the dual TB's. Probably don't want to deal with potential headaches.

I doubt there is any benefit with forced induction, I just want to do it for looks.

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Well after a few nights of testing the Cortex boost controller, I could not get it to function properly. The only feature that actually worked was the ethanol content. With more dyno time coming up on Tuesday, and it being Saturday afternoon, I had to made a choice. I checked Amazon and I could get the Innovate Boost Controller with wideband safety delivered today. So that arrived at 4pm so it was time to get to work. I removed the Cortex from the vent register and made up a new holder out 6061 Aluminum. I know they make them out of plastic but ironically I couldn't get one delivered next day Sunday. By removing all unnecessary material, there is no weight penalty for using Aluminum. I put (6) 1/8" 40 degree slots for air flow. While the airflow is greatly reduced, it still flows enough to notice it.

I made up a short harness to I can still plug in the Cortex in the back seat area to check the ethanol content of the fuel in the tank.

I am starting to gather more parts for the 2024 Intake project. In order to make more room for dual charge pipes (and it's something I want to do anyway), switching to a Pierburg Electric Water Pump will happen at the same time. I started drawing up a water pump plate to replace the mechanical pump, but after seeing the cost of 6" round stock 6061 material, I checked to see the options. Most of them were AN style, and many just being flat plates with fittings threaded into them. However, I did stumble upon Accufab and they had exactly what I was going to make for $140. It shipped the same day and they sent it 2nd Day Air. Very nice product and comes in at a very slim 11 oz.

 

[AcceptableNebula]

Well dyno trip number 2 was overall successful. The boost controller worked right away so that was a relief. The integrated wideband is matching the car read out very closely, so that is also a nice feature. It will cut the additional boost if I go lean. Car will also cut timing if I over boost into a 2.3ish power ratio. So overall things are feeling safe. I also made a quick manifold to put 2 hobbs switches on. This shares the same boost line as my boost controller so I will know quickly if my pumps are off as my boost controller will read 0. One switch comes on at 5psi, the other at 12 psi.

Unfortunately the boost controller worked better than I had planned. The rule of thumb is a 3 port will double your boost. Well the fine print didn't say "unless your turbos are good sized and you have minimal exhaust pressure after the turbo. I had 7 psi springs in, and with my fingers and toes, figured my max boost would be 14 psi. So I put in inner 3 psi springs to bring my wastegate to 10 psi. Well with only 6% duty cycle, the car made 16 psi by 5,000 rpm. Didn't leave us a whole lot resolution for control. So I removed the inner 3 psi springs that I installed in 15 minutes the night before. Turns out a super hot motor and exhaust makes that process way harder. It took an hour, some burns and cuts, but 7 psi spring pressure was back in our future.

We did a baseline pull again at 7 psi. With the anticipation of a higher number, we decided to safeguard the transmission by doing all future pulls in 6th gear. A ratio of 1.27:1. At 7 psi, it made 700.7rwhp in 7th, but it 6th it made 657 rwhp. A reduction of dyno calculated 43 hp. At 10 psi it made 797 rwhp. At 14psi it made 895rwhp. At 16 psi it made 903 rwhp at 5700rpm but both transmission and exhaust valve springs were not overly enthusiastic about it. It sounds like the valves started to float and we aborted that pull. 903 in 6th is near or over 1000rwhp in a 1:1 pull. Something I was not willing to test on 7th for a dyno number, as the 7th gear pack would slip with 100% certainty. All of this at 16-17 degrees of timing on E69 (giggity giggity). While there is more timing on the table, I decided the car was at its limits in it's current form and left it at 14 psi and 17 degrees. Also the 3 Walbro 525 fuel pumps were rocking. Even making somewhere in the ballpark of 1200 flywheel HP on E69, the pumps were overcoming the FRP. FRP is set at 65 psi, car commanded 59 psi, and the fuel pressure was at 80psi.

However, the day would not go completely perfect. While unstrapping the car from the Mustang Dyno, I noticed some grease on the exhaust. It appears the high amount of pulls that day overheated a CV joint. The only place I can see grease on the outside of the axle boot is at the large diameter clamp area. Perhaps the joint was overfilled. Perhaps the design sucks. Both are highly probably. The clamp is more like a metal zip tie and not a cinch clamp like normal. I cannot articulate my wrist/arm to access all the grease so I will likely disassemble soon and investigate further.

Also the titanium replacement bolts for the Accufab water pump plate arrived. While I do like swapping out bolts for titanium, the main reason were the bolts provided were hex and I can't stand them. So the titanium replacements have Torx heads which work better IMO. The 4 bolts offer a weight savings of 16g vs the stainless ones.

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