Off to a rough start with 2016 GT

[Canuckican]

I don’t know if I read something or not, but how does it currently run? Any miss, ticks, knocks, using oil??? Is is down on power? Smoking?

Feels down on power compared to my other 2016 GT but not like it's really lame. Just missing the sparkle it should have. There is some sporadic ticking that seems like it's coming from more than one location up top but no knocking. No oil that I can see in the coolant, no white smoke but maybe a hint of darker smoke out the pipes especially when the engine is cold. The oil level has not gone down noticeably since I changed it but I have only put about 30 miles on it since then. The only codes it has been creating are the ones for the headers. It does now turn the check engine light on after being driven a bit.

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[Canuckican]

My nephew hooked me up with someone he knows well in Michigan so I now know where this is (hopefully) going to be repaired and should be on its way there in the next week. I'm going to put
my F150 to good use and trailer it the 8 hours there myself. I will be leaving it there for him to work on as time permits. I brought my yellow GT home on a trailer from 11 hours away during winter weather. That was a lot of fun, especially going through Chicago and Milwaukee.

 

[Canuckican]

The longer Steeda jacking rails arrived the other day and have now been installed.

My wife and I also did a little road trip yesterday to pick up an OEM catback exhaust with about 1000 miles on it for next to nothing. It looks to be in great shape. Hopefully not full of rodent nests or otherwise destroyed by hidden damage. I'm going to try it instead of the MBRP one installed now and see how I like it. If I don't, we still had a nice drive, saw some new places and had a great breakfast at a small family restaurant.

My wife said she will help me wrestle the new exhaust into place. This was even after I reminded her that this will require her to lie on the garage floor and slide up under the car with me and most likely get a bit dirty. I have some older lounge chair cushions I use when doing this. Well, I know I have one. Is chivalry still a thing?

I will probably wait to install this after Oliver (my apologies to Richard Hammond, but the Botswana rifle scene clinched the name) returns from Michigan.

 

[Hoofer]

I will probably wait to install this after Oliver (my apologies to Richard Hammond, but the Botswana rifle scene clinched the name) returns from Michigan.

 

[Canuckican]

Just got the go ahead to take Oliver on the road trip to the doctor a week after Thanksgiving. Not sure how long he'll be there, suppose it depends on the diagnosis. Now that I know when I'm doing the road trip, I think I will go ahead and swap out the MBRP catback exhaust with the OEM catback I just picked up.

The best part is that none of this interferes in the least with me helping my youngest daughter move into her first apartment over Thanksgiving. Now her Dad has yet another thing to worry about. But, she's a lot more level-headed and smarter than I was at that age (low-bar reference here).

Going to be a busy end of the month for sure!

 

[cuckoo4watches]

Just got the go ahead to take Oliver on the road trip to the doctor a week after Thanksgiving. Not sure how long he'll be there, suppose it depends on the diagnosis. Now that I know when I'm doing the road trip, I think I will go ahead and swap out the MBRP catback exhaust with the OEM catback I just picked up.

The best part is that none of this interferes in the least with me helping my youngest daughter move into her first apartment over Thanksgiving. Now her Dad has yet another thing to worry about. But, she's a lot more level-headed and smarter than I was at that age (low-bar reference here).

Going to be a busy end of the month for sure!

good luck with the swap over on the exhaust, I hope it goes well

sounds like it is going to be a busy next couple of weeks.

enjoy family time and have a nice Thanksgiving holiday

thanks for keeping us updated on this debacle

 

[Canuckican]

What a long, strange path this center vent is taking on its way from Quick Parts in Massachusetts to me in Wisconsin. It was due to arrive here November 10 but there's no rush. Who doesn't love a good road trip?

 

[Canuckican]

The MBRP catback has now been removed and the original heat shield for the resonator has been installed. I did have to temporarily undo the driveshaft support bracket to get enough room to wiggle the exhaust shield between the driveshaft and floor pan but eventually it fit. I did cheat for the hole in the heat shield where the parking brake cable goes through and just notched the shield and slid the cable in that way instead of disconnecting the parking brake cable and likely setting off another calamity. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

Now to get the ladies in the house to follow through on their promise to help lift the OEM catback one into position. It feels like it's twice the weight of the MBRP catback. Last night the ladies were complaining about the smell in the workshop from (this time) the PB Blaster I sprayed on the nuts and let sit overnight to help things come apart a bit easier.

 

[Canuckican]

The OEM resonator and mufflers went back on without too much trouble other than the normal fun of working on exhaust just using jack stands.

The sound level seems much better for me now with the long tube headers and high flow cats still in place. I know I am giving up a bit of performance by replacing the 3" MBRP catback with the OEM resonator and mufflers but I'm fine with that tradeoff.

 

[ice445]

The OEM resonator and mufflers went back on without too much trouble other than the normal fun of working on exhaust just using jack stands.

The sound level seems much better for me now with the long tube headers and high flow cats still in place. I know I am giving up a bit of performance by replacing the 3" MBRP catback with the OEM resonator and mufflers but I'm fine with that tradeoff.

Honestly there's really no performance loss unless you're boosted. Complete non factor

 

[Canuckican]

Slight change in plans. Oliver has now been delivered to the engine doctor in Michigan's U.P. This timing actually worked out better for me than taking it after Thanksgiving. Not sure when I will have any updates. It'll depend on the other work flowing through his shop. This one is more of a special favor to my nephew for previous builds my nephew did for him and will be worked on in gaps in his schedule. Or something like that. I'll know when I know. Fingers crossed it's not a total train wreck.

 

[jd_cobra]

The OEM resonator and mufflers went back on without too much trouble other than the normal fun of working on exhaust just using jack stands.

The sound level seems much better for me now with the long tube headers and high flow cats still in place. I know I am giving up a bit of performance by replacing the 3" MBRP catback with the OEM resonator and mufflers but I'm fine with that tradeoff.

You could always get one of the “touring” cat-back if you wanted a bit more sound, or even an axle-back.

Glad to see you’re finally headed in the right direction.

 

[Canuckican]

You could always get one of the “touring” cat-back if you wanted a bit more sound, or even an axle-back.

Glad to see you’re finally headed in the right direction.

I think the OEM resonator and mufflers combined with the BBK long tube headers and high-flow cats ended up giving me enough rumble without being too much. I won't know for sure until the Coyote is hitting on all eight but I'm optimistic it's a good setup for me.

 

[Canuckican]

So far it looks like the damage is confined to the cylinder heads and valves in cylinders 2,3,6,7 that are preventing them from opening/closing normally and burning a bit of oil. Two other cylinder's valve stems also have witness marks of being impacted by something but still seem to work okay. I don't know if that CAI nozzle was able to move around between cylinders over time to spread its joy or not but regardless, at least it's going to be fixed.

My nephew has sourced a used set of heads he knows is good, cleaned them up and is sending those to the shop and will be getting the mucked up ones sent to him to see if he can rebuild them and recover a bit of money for me. But knowing him, more than likely they will end up on some type of Frankenstein build. He and my brother installed a 327 in one of their old tractors to take a shot at tractor pulling but I think the more truthful answer was just to spice up plowing their driveway

He also suggested replacing the timing chains, serpentine belts, water pump and maybe a few other things where the parts cost is low but the labor cost is high when being done by itself. All of this stuff is already apart so it costs no more money to install a new water pump than reinstall the 8 year old one. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Anyway, some progress was made but it'll be a little while again before any more can be made.

 

[HKusp]

Definitely change the water pump while you are there. Timing chains and phasers are supposed to be "life of the vehicle", but again, while you are that deep, it probably isn't a bad idea to do.

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