King's Whipple 3.8 TH400 Build

[King138]

After a long journey of collecting parts. It's about time I get started on my build! Figured I'd share the progress as I go. We haven't come up with a nickname yet but leaning toward Haterade. A_king0138 on Instagram.

The Car:

2016 Competition Orange Performance Pack
9800 miles on the odometer.
Current mods are a Magnum (2.97) transmission, American Racing Headers 1-7/8'', Corsa sport exhaust, 4.09 rear gear, BMR drag springs, BMR vertical end links, GForce Outlaw half shafts and a few other suspension odds and ends.

I figured I'd share the journey that it has been so far. I purchased the car in 2018 with just under 7k miles. Did the exhaust, suspension mods, and Lund tune. I was able to pull off a 11.7 at 118 with the mt82 before blowing up the clutch in several different pieces. Picked up the magnum transmission with the idea of eventually going boosted. November 2022, I ordered a Whipple 3.0 kit with the crank support, ten rib, etc from @beefcake racing. Early 2023, I reach out to a shop to do the build. I drop off the car and a truck load of parts at a shop to do the build. That didn't work out and ended up bringing the car back home untouched. However, the shop was also selling a gen 3 sleeved shortblock from BES, so we brought that home with us too. Shortly after getting the car home, @RoadCone racing reached out to me and told me he was selling his ported Cobra Jet 3.8 Whipple. Now that I had a built shortblock, the wife and I drove down and bought the Whipple from Terry. If any of you have not met Terry, great dude and has been very helpful with answering questions or pointing me in the right direction. I can't thank him enough. Reached out to a few other shops to see if they wanted to do the build but had no luck. I took it as a sign for me to do the work. I completely rebuilt my 2004 Mystichrome Cobra from the ground up several years ago. Only reason I was reaching out to shops for this build, was due to time not being on my side with two young ones at home. On to the build Specs! Along with Terry, @80FoxCoupe has been always willing to answer questions and emotional support lol.


Engine:

Gen 3 sleeved shortblock
Gen 3 stock crank, double keyed
Diamond Pistons 12:1
Manley H-Tuff Rods
O-ringed for MLS Head Gasket
Stock Gen 2 heads with PAC 1234 valve springs
Head Studs
Comp Stage 2 Blower Cams
Boundary Oil Pump and Crank Sprocket
Accufab secondary timing chains
Ford Performance Timing chain kit for the GT4 secondary chain tensioner guides, boss secondary timing chain tensioners, gt350 low leak phasers and hardware.
BPS Secondary tensioner flip bracket
ARP cam cap bolts

Exhaust:
American Racing Headers 2'' primaries
American Racing Catback
With vbands

Blower:
Whipple 3.8, ported by Whipple and with a billet Cobra Jet Lid
10 Rib kit, Crank support, 20% lower, Alternator relocation kit
150mm tb
Cobra Jet Intake and the old Rarefab intake they made years ago. Not sure which one im going to use yet.

Fuel:
ID1700 Injectors
Fore Level 4 triple pump system
Hellcat pumps
-10 feed, -8 return
FC3 Stage controller


Transmission:
Next Gen (JPC) Turbo 400! (Just ordered it a few days ago) More details to follow with that. Matt Riddle at Next Gen was great to work with and I highly recommend anyone going with a 400, to reach out to him.



Not sure what I’m going to do ice tank wise just yet. Probably will hit up @beefcake and see what he suggests.

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[RoadCone]

After a long journey of collecting parts. It's about time I get started on my build! Figured I'd share the progress as I go. We haven't come up with a nickname yet but leaning toward Haterade. A_king0138 on Instagram.

The Car:

2016 Competition Orange Performance Pack
9800 miles on the odometer.
Current mods are a Magnum (2.97) transmission, American Racing Headers 1-7/8'', Corsa sport exhaust, 4.09 rear gear, BMR drag springs, BMR vertical end links, GForce Outlaw half shafts and a few other suspension odds and ends.

I figured I'd share the journey that it has been so far. I purchased the car in 2018 with just under 7k miles. Did the exhaust, suspension mods, and Lund tune. I was able to pull off a 11.7 at 118 with the mt82 before blowing up the clutch in several different pieces. Picked up the magnum transmission with the idea of eventually going boosted. November 2022, I ordered a Whipple 3.0 kit with the crank support, ten rib, etc from @beefcake racing. Early 2023, I reach out to a shop to do the build. I drop off the car and a truck load of parts at a shop to do the build. That didn't work out and ended up bringing the car back home untouched. However, the shop was also selling a gen 3 sleeved shortblock from BES, so we brought that home with us too. Shortly after getting the car home, @RoadCone racing reached out to me and told me he was selling his ported Cobra Jet 3.8 Whipple. Now that I had a built shortblock, the wife and I drove down and bought the Whipple from Terry. If any of you have not met Terry, great dude and has been very helpful with answering questions or pointing me in the right direction. I can't thank him enough. Reached out to a few other shops to see if they wanted to do the build but had no luck. I took it as a sign for me to do the work. I completely rebuilt my 2004 Mystichrome Cobra from the ground up several years ago. Only reason I was reaching out to shops for this build, was due to time not being on my side with two young ones at home. On to the build Specs! Along with Terry, @80FoxCoupe has been always willing to answer questions and emotional support lol.


Engine:

Gen 3 sleeved shortblock
Gen 3 stock crank, double keyed
Diamond Pistons 12:1
Manley H-Tuff Rods
O-ringed for MLS Head Gasket
Stock Gen 2 heads with PAC 1234 valve springs
Head Studs
Comp Stage 2 Blower Cams
Boundary Oil Pump and Crank Sprocket
Accufab secondary timing chains
Ford Performance Timing chain kit for the GT4 secondary chain tensioner guides, boss secondary timing chain tensioners, gt350 low leak phasers and hardware.
BPS Secondary tensioner flip bracket
ARP cam cap bolts

Exhaust:
American Racing Headers 2'' primaries
American Racing Catback
With vbands

Blower:
Whipple 3.8, ported by Whipple and with a billet Cobra Jet Lid
10 Rib kit, Crank support, 20% lower, Alternator relocation kit
150mm tb
Cobra Jet Intake and the old Rarefab intake they made years ago. Not sure which one im going to use yet.

Fuel:
ID1700 Injectors
Fore Level 4 triple pump system
Hellcat pumps
-10 feed, -8 return
FC3 Stage controller


Transmission:
Next Gen (JPC) Turbo 400! (Just ordered it a few days ago) More details to follow with that. Matt Riddle at Next Gen was great to work with and I highly recommend anyone going with a 400, to reach out to him.



Not sure what I’m going to do ice tank wise just yet. Probably will hit up @beefcake and see what he suggests.

Man, it’s a proven combo that will give you 7 second capabilities!!! I can’t wait to see it completed. If you need anything, lmk.
Thanks for the kind words and Good Luck!!

 

[King138]

Already got to work! I was a little iffy on taking the whole front clip off to remove everything, but in the end, I’m glad we did. For whatever reason, it was a pain to separate the transmission from the motor. Would have been hell to try under the car.

Got the powder coated, by Glass City Powder coating, Steeda drag k member installed. That in itself ended up being difficult. I could not get the the k member to chassis bolt holes line up one side. Reached out to Steeda and they indicated it was probably off due to the powder coating oven. They gave me a few options on how to “fix it”, one ratchet strap and drift and got everything lined up.

I have a good set of friends helping me out. Including Two master techs and a wiring guru that does wiring on airplanes! They have some badass cars themselves….D1x S550, single turbo c7 and a 1956 Chevy truck on a Silverado frame with a twin turbo LS, and a 03 Cobra with a 7.3 Godzilla motor with a F1a94 procharger.

I was also able to sell the magnum transmission and stock longblock already!

 

[Epiphany]

Nice work.

 

[King138]

Nice work.

Appreciate it

 

[King138]

Well, always something. Was excited to have a day off and was planning on working on the motor all day and night. The plan was to get the cams/timing gear in. Timing and valve covers on and oil pan on. But ran into an issue that made me stop.

I did not know this was a thing until I did a little bit of research. The ford performance secondary tensioners are about a half inch shorter than stock. I guess it was a revised tensioner ford performance did for improvement. However, I was unable to put the BPS secondary flip bracket on because of this. I thought about moving forward without the flip bracket, but decided to stay the course. Little frustrating to lose the day, but it is what it is.

Check out the photos attached. The second photo is off google and I still have to order oem tensioners.

 

[King138]

Moroso “drag” oil pan installed with their stud kit. Was going to do this last but became impatient. Still waiting for oem style secondary tensioner to come in, so I can use the flip bracket. FYI, if you buy the drag pan, you will need their oil pickup. You’ll also have to move the stud the pickup attaches too and won’t need the oil pedestal. The hanger sits flush on the stud and no way to use the pedestal, however I installed it over the hanger to make sure the hanger doesn’t come off the stud. The clearance from pickup to pan was spot on. You’ll also need to modify the windage tray. Evidentially their standard pan you can use stock pickup, but the drag pan, not so much.

 

[WickedEco]

I love this!! I used to do this stuff about 25 years ago and miss it. Marriage, kids, work, etc., put a stop to that for a while, but I'm slowly building mine. Keep it going mate...

 

[King138]

I love this!! I used to do this stuff about 25 years ago and miss it. Marriage, kids, work, etc., put a stop to that for a while, but I'm slowly building mine. Keep it going mate...

It can be frustrating at times but it’s been a HUGE stress relief for me. After the wife and kids go to bed, I’ll go out in the garage listening to music and getting after it. The disappointing part, is I only can get out there 1, maybe 2 days a week.

 

[King138]

Timing gear in and set! Comp stage 2 blower cams, arp cam cap bolts, BPS secondary flip bracket, gt350r phasers, arp phaser bolts, boss primary tensioners, accufab secondary chains, ford performance primary chains and guides, boundary oil pump and crank sprocket.

first time doing timing on a coyote and ended up doing it three times. I’m a little OCD with it and wanted to be sure it was perfect. Ran into a slight issue but realized it wasn’t a problem and I was over thinking it.

 

[King138]

Timing and cam covers on. Also installed RPG rear main seal cover. Not sure if it’s really needed over stock, but it sure looks nice.

Was also able to get the 2” American racing longtubes on and motor mount brackets. The Longtubes were covered in oil when I got them. Had glasscity powder coating clean them (burning everything off) and cerakote them.

 

[King138]

Measured the hub to crank clearance probably a hundred times. Fell into ATI’s spec of .0011 (they called for .0009-.0012). Not sure if I got lucky or if Whipple already had it honed. Used the mafracing balancer installer tool and worked out great. Still second guessing if it’s seated but everything looks dead on and close to the timing cover. Next is to install the rest of the alternator relocation kit, the FFRE crank stud, and crank support.

 

[King138]

Been a minute since an update. Installed the 10 rib kit, alternator relocation and crank support. Hooked up the wiring harness while it was on the stand and got everything ready the for throwing it in the car.

Was so excited and in the zone, we forgot to get pictures of the th400 outside of the car lol. Anyway, th400 mated to the motor and got everything in the car. It’s a tight fit, but we were able to get everything in the car with no issues.

Finished getting everything hooked up to the harness and got an idea of what we need to cut on the firewall for the blower. Fun fact, I was told by Whipple that this head unit was a prototype for the 3.8 cobra jet style blowers. This blower was designed for race cars, hence why the firewall needs to be cut a little. I believe 1320chick’s car also has one.

 

[King138]

Been a minute since the last update. Button up a majority of the engine bay, including installing the fathouse fab coolant tank. It’s nice, just a little more bulky than I was expecting. Also installed the 150mm throttle body, skreetcar3d gasket and the Rarefab/pbd intake. Super pumped to have that. I also swapped out the brake fluid reservoir from a manual to an auto. I did not trust plugging the nipple for the clutch line with knowing how corrosive brake fluid is.

The ice tank is also installed and lines ran. Just need to wire it in. Plan on running the ice tank pump off a switch.

Anyone ever get rid of the stock fuel line from the tank? Yea, I did and it’s a PITA. I think I created my own combination of cuss words for an hour or two.

Up next is to finish up the trans/shifter/trans cooler install.

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