masshuu

So last year I got a 2000 3.8 with a blown head gasket(Posted here about it actually and everyone here and IRL was like I would't.) I ended up buying a 3.8 off of someone locally who did a V8 swap and dropped that in last summer. Probably spent $1900 total between the car / engine and all the miscellaneous things you need and another $400 on tools and equipment I didn't have and needed.
Was a very interesting experience but now that I know better I would probably not do it again. Didn't save too much over a running one but I did learn a lot about pulling an engine out and how to rebuild a vehicle. I have also since learned what **** bondo work looks like and will keep an eye out in the future for that.

Anyways now that I have been driving it for a while I want more power. With that I contemplate the sane route of selling the car and finding a 03/04 Shelby or a Mach 1.

Then I have the reason for this thread which is the stupid route which I am guaranteed to loose money on because I will never sell it for what I put into it.
I have the old 3.8 block on a stand. Its primary issues are the main/rod bearings are bad due to the poor maintenance and milkshake the blown head made and the previous owner pulling off 1 row of head bolts letting coolant rust 5 of the 6 cylinders(It took a million gallons of PB and a sledge hammer/block of wood to break the pistons free.) Other than those I can bore it out 15ths and replace the bearings and it would probably run without issues.

My intentions would be 375RWHP with a focus on mid and maybe low end torque, e.g. cursing and accelerating (I'm not even sure if a turbo is appropriate for this goal vs a centrifugal supercharger.)


Find a 4.2 engine/manual transmission as a doner for the crank and transmission/flywheel/other parts needed for the conversion.

Port and polish the heads my self. As far as my research can tell me, this is not actually difficult but just very labor intensive, in the order of 12-15 hours of work. Its also easy to mess up if you don't pay attention. With the doner above if I do mess up I have an extra set of heads to break.

Connecting rods from either would work at this power level? Or should I look at aftermarket. There's massive debate everywhere I look on what stock parts can handle.

Pistons: No idea at all what to get here. If I use the doner block I would not need to bore it out and could just use the whole rotating assembly as is assuming no issues. Otherwise I know I would then need a set to match the bored amount of the block and they need to be for the 4.2 and not the 3.8. I assume I need to stay in the 9.5:1 ratio with the turbo if I intend to run street gas. I have no real experience or knowledge here with when or how knocking starts other than it varies between engine designs and a massive number of factors go into it including how dirty/rough the engine/intake is.

Cam, Don't exactly know what profile is best for this situation. The one below is a 210/226 however supersix lists a 224/224 for a stroker turbo. Perhapse these are't correct either for my HP/Power/Mid range goals?
http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=837&sb=2

Valves/Springs: I really have no idea at this point. I know if I go with the more aggressive cam I need new springs and their site recommends a set. For the Valves, Do I need to replace these with stronger in the above case and if so, I have no idea what. I don't want to do larger valves as that would require milling the holes bigger/cnc shop time.

Rockers/Pushrods: Do I just replace these all with new ones along with the lifters? The CompCams recommends a set of lifters/pushrods with the cam but nothing about rockers.


Twin Turbo?(2 smaller turbos to spin up faster?, ~45mm?) This would also be a cheap as hell build and less guarantee on what I get as I would hit the pull your part yard and try and find 2 identical turbos at $60 a pop. If that's not possible then just the single larger turbo. Assuming they don't go as soon as the cars hit the yard which I assume they probably would so I would need visit frequently.
From there I assume i would very much want to rebuild them to ensure longevity and replace the bearings however I have not done any actual research on turbo rebuilding.


I'm guessing with this I would be at $2000-$3000 assuming I do most of the labor possible?

PNYXPRESS

Supersixmotorsports makes a really nice forged 4.2/4.3 rotating assembly for ~$1700 for the 3.8L blocks. You would just have to get the blocked bored or honed.

Also if you ever find an 03/04 Shelby please let me know I will buy it for pretty much any price.

mustangman02232

You have a realistic goal for a 4.2 with mild boost yes you will never sell for what you put into it but that's part of the hobby your best bet is to talk to super six and see what they recommend for heads and cams

jthorn9

Super six motorsports will be your best bet.

The turbo will generate massive horse power, but will also cost 2 to 4 times as much a super charger. To hit the 375 rwhp mark you will need to run a supercharger boost around 15 PSI. You can do this 1 of three ways.

1.) Mid/High boost Procharger or Vortech with a pulley swap.

2.) M112 Conversion with a pulley swap and better cooling system (intercooler)

3.) M112 conversion plate/kit (just not the charger) and put on a more efficient Kenne Bell or Whipple with the correct PSI pulley.

masshuu

As far as I can tell Turbo is 2-4 times cheaper. Local pick your part places have them at $60 per if you can find one. Ebay has them $200-400 and probably cheaper. I can't find any centrifugal supercharger under $2000 and the cobera superchargers I can find are like $1000 and still require another $800 upper intake braket+hood space.

Unless its going to cost me $1500 for the exhaust work and intercooler.

masshuu

The more I review this the more I kind of want to wait. If the current engine happens to dies I might get the rotating assembly and just do a NA 4.3 but that engine only has like 110,000 miles. Maybe how I drive it though...

Might see better results boosting my truck. I can find the lighting superchargers for fairly cheap. Then again 180,000 is a lot of wear to just go and slap a supercharger on.

jthorn9

Those "things" you're finding on ebay are not real kits nor are they complete turbos. They are the bottom of the bottom of the bottom of the barrel and are just thrown together. A quality turbo unit, just the unit, will run upwards of $1000 used. Then you're gonna have to pay for a tun of custom fabbed pipes, done by the installer BTW, as well as a slew of other parts. A turbo investment generally runs $5000 or more to be done correctly.

jthorn9

The M112 supercharger the lightnings used (same as the Cobra) will not just drop into your truck. You will need a lot of parts from a lightning plus forged internals. If you don't put forged components on that block it's gonna go bye bye after a couple of hard pulls with the S/C.

You already sound like you know this is gonna be an investment, but to be done right, be prepared to dump upwards of $10,000 into your old sixer to get all the parts to work in conjuction with one another without issues and for maximum results.

You have to look at it from the whole, you just don't boost up the motor without beefing up the drive train and suspension. All of those things need to be attacked, and all of those things cost money, and lots of it.

masshuu

I did completely forget about suspension. Needs rear end upgrade too.
I intend to find a cheap TIG unit and get proficient welding/doing tig. In the event I do need to fabricate exhaust then I could hopefully do it my self.

I don't really intend to have a builder or outside person do much work outside what needs to be done like the tuning or any machining/boring of the block. If I really need help with the build I can always drag my brother down here.

In regards to the f150, as far as I am aware the internals are similar if not the same between the lightning and non lightning. The main issue and difference is the cast pistons but I can find people saying 9-11lb of boost being ok with a proper tune.

jthorn9

The cast pistons are good for no more than 9PSI and that's pushing it, it's the same problem a lot of 99/01 Cobra owners run into.