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GT350 Engine Refresh - Part 2

honeybadger

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Hi all!

The time has come to tear down the race motor. For the lucky few who didn't read through the 35+ pages of the original thread, last winter I opened up my original motor to find out that I had some valve springs chip and send pieces of metal through the oil pump. After much discussion and lost sleep, I decided to build the motor for race use.

The heads went to Rich at RGR for port/polish and valvetrain upgrades while the Shortblock went to the wizard called Tim at MPR Racing Engines. The motor was assembled to race specifications with many beefed up parts to minimize rotating mass, friction, and handle high heat. As such, the life of an engine like that is ~40 hours (per Ford's service recommendations).

We're at 42.5 hours on the clock of heavy race-environment use, so time to tear into it and see how things are looking and what needs to be freshed. I'll for sure be putting in fresh timing chains, guides, tensioners and valve seals (it's burning some oil on startup). Other than that, hopefully it'll be in good shape and we won't need to worry.

UPDATE: Added teardown video. Keep reading on if you prefer pics.



So valve covers off - the cams look like they did when I put it back together. No new wear that I'm able to see on the lobes.

IMG_6405.jpg


Front engine cover off. Nothing out of the ordinary at first sight. Chains look good. Tensioners are holding tight, etc.
IMG_6403.jpg


Cam phasers look great
IMG_6404.jpg


Chains off. The ends of the cams look good. This bottom black bracket/guide of the secondary tensioner has been a worry for me. Replacing with the upgraded GT4-spec guide upon reassembly
.
IMG_6411.jpg


Secondary chain tensioner showing some wear. Definitely time for replacement
IMG_6412.jpg


MMR Guides showing some indentation from the billet tensioners push on the guides

. Looks like I'm going to pass on these. Don't need these bits of AL floating around in the oil
IMG_6407.jpg


The guides are showing some extraneous wear on the ends. Evidence of some play in the chains.
IMG_6409.jpg


Pulled off the oil pan to find that my FP350S Oil pickup tube had a broken mount. That's not good. That was a ticking time bomb. Mount half was freely spinning - pickup tube only held in by 1 bolt. Seal to pump was ripping. Ooof. Going to have to reach out to Watson/Ford Performance about this one. This easily could have been a $15,000 accident.
IMG_6413.jpg


On the bright side, I popped the main caps. Bearings looked good. Will measure later this week
IMG_6418.jpg


Popped a couple of rod caps. Bearings look great here too.
20191220_195209.jpg


Opened the oil pump and looks pretty normal from other pumps I've seen. Finger nail doesn't catch
IMG_6421-4.jpg
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honeybadger

honeybadger

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I'll grab some detailed photos of the heads, valves, and cylinders tomorrow. Cylinders look great. Some wear, but nothing I'm worried about given the abuse. Stay tuned.
 

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Great thread; a holiday gift from the Badger to Mustang6G :thumbsup:

Regarding the black bracket guide for the secondary tensioner you are worried about, is it the original?
 
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Love your engine posts, these are awesome. Any chance when you do the reassembly you can do a step by step video showing how to do the timing chain install? I have seen step by step timing chain installation videos for the coyote but none on the voodoo.
 

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Pulled off the oil pan to find that my FP350S Oil pickup tube had a broken mount. That's not good. That was a ticking time bomb. Mount half was freely spinning - pickup tube only held in by 1 bolt. Seal to pump was ripping. Ooof. Going to have to reach out to Watson/Ford Performance about this one. This easily could have been a $15,000 accident....
You have to wonder if having the oil pickup molded into the factory Voodoo oil pan wasn't actually a sensible and well-engineered response to the Voodoo vibration. From the looks of it, the vibration killed the race pickup bracket, which was designed for a CPC engine. After all, what else is there down there to damage it?

It's possible that vibration could be a problem if someone puts a new GT500 oil pan kit on a Voodoo without converting it to a CPC at the same time.
 
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honeybadger

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Love your engine posts, these are awesome. Any chance when you do the reassembly you can do a step by step video showing how to do the timing chain install? I have seen step by step timing chain installation videos for the coyote but none on the voodoo.
Sure thing. It'll be a bit different than the usual one since the sequence is a bit different when taking the chains off, but leaving the heads on vs. complete reassembly. But I'll point out that I can.

You have to wonder if having the oil pickup molded into the factory Voodoo oil pan wasn't actually a sensible and well-engineered response to the Voodoo vibration. From the looks of it, the vibration killed the race pickup bracket, which was designed for a CPC engine. After all, what else is there down there to damage it?

It's possible that vibration could be a problem if someone puts a new GT500 oil pan kit on a Voodoo without converting it to a CPC at the same time.
You echo my thoughts exactly. Ford Performance claims this is safe for the FPC, but it might be introducing harmonics/vibrations that stress the part enough to justify some design changes. Not entirely sure what path going forward yet, but will know more when I talk to Ford on Monday. Will either work with a local machinist to modify this one or have Ford replace it (second choice is preferred).
 

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Is that a crack in your block ?
IMG_6413a.jpg
 
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honeybadger

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Is that a crack in your block ?
IMG_6413a.jpg
Yeah. It’s been there since I took the engine out the first time last year. It’s non-structural and regarded a nice to fix, but not critical.

Next time the block is stripped, I’ll have it welded. Until then, send it
 

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Nice videos man. I just watched them in the other thread.

Those MMR tensioners are concerning too. Glad you are ditching them.

Do you think there is a way to bush the pick up tube support bolt with a grommet to aid in vibration? Or is it pointless?
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