GT350 Engine Refresh Time!

[honeybadger]

Hi all -

Starting a separate thread for folks to contribute to as similar things happen. Hoping to keep this separate from the blown engine thread. Would like to see this more focused on discussion and feedback from engine mods/refreshing.

With the "legal stuff" out of the way - let's get to it!

In case you haven't been in my thread, I was installing a billet OPG while I had the engine out of the car and discovered a chip in the housing and on the gears. So I dug around some and started doing some investigation on engine wear and tear.

After 12k track miles (20k total), the crank and cylinder walls look great. The main and rod bearings have a good amount of wear, but nothing to be concerned of. I think this engine could have a good bit longer, but while it's apart and now that I have proof some metal went through it, I plan to refresh it before the 2019 track season.

Given the excellent wear on the crank, the mileage so far, my thinking is I would be pragmatic to beef up the valve train a bit and replace all the crank/rod bearings + cam bearings. Also adding better oil cooling and hopefully a bigger oil pan. Between these, I am hoping I'll be addressing the Voodoo's weak points (outside of converting to CPC).

Thoughts?

Pics of wear below:

Cap bearing

Crank

Rod bearings

cylinder walls

oil pump damage

Found in oil pan

Looks like it's from an exhaust valve

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[honeybadger]

My goal for this refresh isn't to gain HP, but to make it more robust. A built motor will hopefully be in my future, but not right now. For now, am trying focus on getting the beast ready for the new year with some careful upgrades to improve on track reliability.

So current parts list (not including all the little bits like TTY bolts):

• Replacement cap/rod bearings
• billet OPG/crank sprocket
• Replacement cam bearings
• Replacement piston rings

For the valve springs - I am trying to figure out whether to go with Ferrea's offering and do a full Ti valve train or with something more pragmatic like PAC Racing. Appreciate thoughts/feedback

 

[sublime1996525]

In!

 

[Offboost]

Sorry to read about your situation.

I know your chance of getting the engine covered under warranty is pretty slim but I think you should at least talk to dealership and have them contact Ford first before proceeding.

If you choose to keep going then I would first have the crank polished and balanced by a very reputable performance machine shop. I would also look into a better harmonic balancer not sure if anyone has one yet for the 5.2 FPC. The valvetrain is the only thing you should concentrate your money on since it does appear the stock beehive spring is what probably created all of the issues.

The bearing wear etc all looks to be from small metal swarf, for what your after in reliability I think your best course will be to freshen everything up and just improve the valve springs and maybe put in lighter valves and retainers. I think the rest of engine would have been fine for a very long time except for the swarf it was exposed too.

I would keep it as simple as possible and add a set of headers and a tune and maybe raise the rev limit another couple hundred rpms if the valvetrain is upgraded. You could also bump the compression slightly I Believe Mahle makes a set of pistons with little higher compression ratio stock bore size.

Remember there really are no available cams and the porting on the stock heads is really good.

Best of luck and looking forward to your results.

 

[EF300]

U got some balls sir. Looking forward to watching this.

 

[honeybadger]

Think I have a plan in place. Spoke with a few trusted folks that have been kind enough to answer a billion questions and help me walk through the thought process. Looks like we're going to go with JPC/RGR's recommendation.

Going to take the heads off and send them to RGR for some head machining (porting, polishing, etc.) and a beefed up valve train using Ferrea super alloy exhaust valves and Ti retainers, PAC Racing valve springs, and custom bronze guides. These add a bit of weight to valve train, so RGR pulls some weight out of the head to compensate. They spin their development engine up 10K rpm using this build.

According to what I've learned, Ford lightened the valve train to handle the high RPM. However this creates a bit of weak spot when compared to the rest of the engine. JPC told me all of the engines they've rebuilt/refreshed saw the problems in the valve train, not the bottom end (outside of OPG failures, of course).

End result should be between 30-50 hp gain and a near-bulletrpoof valve train. Between this and the oil cooling upgrades I am doing, I am hoping to have covered all of the Voodoo weak points within a reasonable budget spend.

All head work and parts from JPC/RGR will cost $3,900. This does not include the parts I've bought for the bottom end, OPG, etc. I'll tally those up after I'm done.

 

[Tomster]

Think I have a plan in place. Spoke with a few trusted folks that have been kind enough to answer a billion questions and help me walk through the thought process. Looks like we're going to go with JPC/RGR's recommendation.

Going to take the heads off and send them to RGR for some head machining (porting, polishing, etc.) and a beefed up valve train using Ferrea super alloy exhaust valves and Ti retainers, PAC Racing valve springs, and custom bronze guides. These add a bit of weight to valve train, so RGR pulls some weight out of the head to compensate. They spin their development engine up 10K rpm using this build.

According to what I've learned, Ford lightened the valve train to handle the high RPM. However this creates a bit of weak spot when compared to the rest of the engine. JPC told me all of the engines they've rebuilt/refreshed saw the problems in the valve train, not the bottom end (outside of OPG failures, of course).

End result should be between 30-50 hp gain and a near-bulletrpoof valve train. Between this and the oil cooling upgrades I am doing, I am hoping to have covered all of the Voodoo weak points within a reasonable budget spend.

All head work and parts from JPC/RGR will cost $3,900. This does not include the parts I've bought for the bottom end, OPG, etc. I'll tally those up after I'm done.

Inquire about a group buy engine refresh

Oh, let me know what dates you are going to be in town for the Rolex 24

 

[EF300]

This is a fantastic thread, really excited to see it play out.

 

[The Chairman]

The crank journals appear fine from the pictures.
The one pix of a Rod bearing is actually the back of the bearing (goes against the cap). What does the side touching the journal look like?

 

[Bladex10]

I've been waiting for someone to tear into one of these motors

 

[honeybadger]

Inquire about a group buy engine refresh

Oh, let me know what dates you are going to be in town for the Rolex 24

Haha, I'll ask on Wed.

And we'll be in town the 21st through the end of the weekend!

This is a fantastic thread, really excited to see it play out.

Going to get rowdy for sure!

The crank journals appear fine from the pictures.
The one pix of a Rod bearing is actually the back of the bearing (goes against the cap). What does the side touching the journal look like?

Journal side looks identical to the mains. I'll pics next time I have it apart (currently wrapped up until I remove the heads).

I've been waiting for someone to tear into one of these motors

Let me know what pics you want and you shall receive!

 

[honeybadger]

Also added long tubes. Went with ARH's long system. Going to get real rowdy up in here.

 

[Competition Orange]

Do any of your frequented tracks have decibel limits?

 

[honeybadger]

Do any of your frequented tracks have decibel limits?

Fortunately not. But I'll still have the OEM mufflers on and can put it into quiet mode if needed.

 

[blueghost]

After 12k track miles (20k total), the crank and cylinder walls look great

I thought the bottom end looked really good especially considering the 12k track miles on an 8,000 rpm engine.

Thanks for the post.

Grace and Peace,

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