Build/Help - 2004 Competition Orange

[Nate14120]

Yesterday I finally found the balls to start the build I've been planning for over the last 1.5 years. It has been a slow yet cost effective route in that I have acquired nearly all the parts secondhand. Some are used and others were new-in-box from forum members. A few came from darker places of the internet.

My goal for the car is simply to enjoy the build and then reliably enjoy the car without much worry. The car will likely not see the track in the next few years and maybe never. I plan to use the thread to document my (slow) progress. Cliff notes: Port port, e85, full return.

Here's a picture from 2009 which was about a year after I bought the car.

On to the fun stuff that has been piling up in the corner of my garage. First up is the Posi ported blower with a port-matched Dragon. I'm told this was the last "for sale" port he did at number 399. One of my plenum studs is buggered up. I'll be running a 2.76" upper and stock lower.

I don't see many people running these but for my build it should be great. The Aeromotive A1000 Stealth pump. This was new-in-box from some dude on Ebay. You will see a bit more of the Aeromotive name. I think they make good parts and they are common enough to create secondhand availability.

80lb FRPP injectors. E85...I live in Iowa bros. A used Aeromotive #13129 fuel regulator. I'm going return to make remote tuning as simple as possible. I'm in Iowa, remember? And some fresh super-strong intercooler bolts from a member.
https://flic.kr/p/WsJYzC

One of the few things I bought new. I upgraded to the NTK production grade sensor. Ballenger's AFR500v2. I'm not looking forward to pulling the mid-pipe to take it in for a bung hole and welding.
https://flic.kr/p/WsJXKG

Another member purchase here. BA2400 MAF. These are very cheap because they don't fit the twin screw crowd well. I would have gone Mafia but didn't find one at a decent price.
https://flic.kr/p/WsJXew

https://flic.kr/p/VhLcUM
The head cooling mod. Who knows...it can't hurt and how hard can it be with everything removed? Pray for my freeze plug.
https://flic.kr/p/VhLcUM

https://flic.kr/p/WsJWo3
I found this on Ebay from a pawn shop somewhere. It was cheap and was made for the A1000.
https://flic.kr/p/WsJWo3

https://flic.kr/p/Wgnyxy
You're probably seeing the trend by now. I may ditch these rails for a set of Fore so I don't have to mess up with adapter for the FRPS. Fore makes a swivel -8 AN FRPS adapter I might try.
https://flic.kr/p/Wgnyxy

Another member purchase here.
https://flic.kr/p/WgnyfE

https://flic.kr/p/WgnxYC

The things I plan to buy as they are needed in the build:
-PTFE -8 out and back with fittings
-04sleeper tune for e85 and 91
-73.5" belt
-Fore FRPS swivel adapter or Fore rails
-Reisch 170 t-stat

Some things I'm thinking about for after the car is up and running:
-Tires, Toyo R888 or MT ET Streets S/S
-FTBR or MM IRS stuff

 

[Nate14120]

This was my first night's progress. It wasn't much but it was the time I had. I don't have a ton of tools, space, nor have I done any of this before. Slow and casual here.

Pulled the battery plus tray and removed the supercharger belt. I spent some time pondering the alternator and the group buy going on right now for a Justin Wheeler unit plus wire upgrade. I wonder if the A1000 will put too much load on this OEM unit.

Got the intake removed from MAF to the Eaton. The lower rear plenum nut was the only thing to give me trouble. Looks like the bolts for the IAC motor are different on the dragon that OEM. I don't have those bolts so I'll have to do a little research or trial/error it.

This is how far my tensioner is out of alignment. The brace I added might have made it worse - I'm not positive. Any ideas on this? I didn't have much belt squeak as stock. Just a little on a cold start.

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Nice build. Why a port instead of a TVS? Just budget? Are you sure it just was not your belt causing the squeak? I had a gates Non-HD that chirped on cold starts after a few hundred miles. How many miles are on you CO? Very nice man good luck.

 

[NateDogg]

Awesome man!!

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[Nate14120]

Nice build. Why a port instead of a TVS? Just budget? Are you sure it just was not your belt causing the squeak? I had a gates Non-HD that chirped on cold starts after a few hundred miles. How many miles are on you CO? Very nice man good luck.

Mostly budget on sticking with the Posi port. Maybe the 2.6 will come out and the market will be full of used 2.3 units when I'm ready.

We'll see on the squeak since it will get a new belt. I just thought it was odd the tensioner was so far back from the rest of the pulleys.

There are 35k miles on the car. I think it had 31k when I bought it in 2008.

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

Mostly budget on sticking with the Posi port. Maybe the 2.6 will come out and the market will be full of used 2.3 units when I'm ready.

We'll see on the squeak since it will get a new belt. I just thought it was odd the tensioner was so far back from the rest of the pulleys.

There are 35k miles on the car. I think it has 31k when I bought it in 2008.

Nice man kee the build updated. You have will power man if I had owned that car since 08 it would probably have at least 9k miles on it.


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[c6zhombre]

Very nice. Sub'n for results

 

[Four Door SVT]

Good luck, be sure to check idler pulleys carefully for bad bearings and trueness

 

[03 Indy Cobra]

Nice CO Terminator. Good luck with the build.

 

[Nate14120]

Another couple bits pulled off. EGR, bracket, and some odds/ends. I'm pretty sure I'm going to order an EGR delete. Slow going trying to label everything to line up with install guide I'm following. Some of the nuts/bolts on here are hard mode without a ratcheting wrench set. I almost don't want to say it but I haven't broke a single vacuum line yet.

I got mad my jack this weekend because it can't reach shit under my low cobra. Ordered a low profile, long reach, floor jack from Harbor Freight (this one).

 

[BlksvtCobra01]

You will love that jack. It's the one I bought.


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[Nate14120]

Thanks man. All done until the jack shows up later this week. The car is still on the ground and I want to drain the intercooler before the next steps.

Injectors and rails are out. I tried a 5/8" tool to separate the fuel line but it was way too small (I swear that hasn't happened to me before). I saw another member on here mention they didn't need a tool. They made their own out of a Solo plastic cup. So I cut one up and wrapped it with a little tape to give it some thickness. It worked awesome!

 

[Stangsalot]

Way to improvise. Good luck!


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[Nate14120]

Got the intercooler drained, hoses pulled, and lower intake unbolted. I'm trying to decide if I want to beast mode the whole blower/intercooler/lower or pull the coolant manifold. Either way, I'm waiting on the buddy system for that step.

This came in the mail today. It is waaaaaay too long. No banana for scale, sorry.

 

[Nate14120]

Beast mode engaged. Blower removed. Ruined the intercooler manifold gasket and dropped a bolt down next to a headlight. I've always needed a retractable magnet to reach things like that.

I need help trying to figure out what is holding the lower intake valley in place. I got the harness pulled up off the valley but it won't come out. Is there something else to unhook to get it out? I really wanted to clean out the area around the gaskets. I read there is some sort of tube back there but I just don't see it. If anybody has a picture of it from a removed lower that'd be sweet.

 

[Nate14120]

I wonder if it is this which is hidden by a small pool of oil? Does it just pull off from below?

 

[Bdubbs]

I'm interested how the fuel mods you choose works out. Also, fuel rails are not necessary. I'll be watching your progress!

 

[Nate14120]

Yeah, I probably should consider just getting the adapter for the stock rails. I already have the Aeromotive rails and I think the Fore FRPS adapter will work perfectly on the front of the rail. On the other hand, it would save a few dollars on fittings and a y-block.

Well I wrestled with the lower intake for quite a while. Figuring out the wire loom that was snapped in helped but I still struggled to get the intake out when it should have been 100% free. The final trick for me was to push that fat wire loom towards the firewall and lift straight up before lifting the front of the intake up more than the rear. I'm thrilled to be able to clean out the area around the gaskets.

I felt like I mashed the gaskets pretty good during all this so I'm going to get new ones. The supercharger gasket has some of the black coating flaking off so I should probably get one of those too.

 

[Nate14120]

My stock h-pipe and EGR tube have been removed! A couple exciting things with those. Apparently my h-pipe has been off before because one of the nuts was 17mm instead of 15mm. My pipe-over-wrench style made easy work of all of them. I stupidly tried to remove one of the rear O2 sensors, I can't remember why now. Half the threads from the sensor are still in my h-pipe...woooo!!!!!

I guess the exhaust shop might need to give me two bung holes instead of just one. You can see the square of white tape marking where I plan to put the wideband sensor. It is just a couple inches back from the factory sensor in the same orientation. Now I have to fight the urge to pick up a nice catted x-pipe.

Lastly, my new meats showed up today. They are Falken Azenis RT615K tires. Tire Rack had them for $125 each this week and I couldn't pass that up. My current tires are dated from 2002 and 2006. I'm sticking with the 9" rear wheels.

 

[Nate14120]

Popped the freeze plug for my head cooling mod. It actually went smoothly. Hitting it on the front of the plug towards the front of the car is what I did. After taking my wheels off to get the new tires, I noticed a logo on my front rotors. Looked it up to confirm, I have Brembo front rotors!

Drained the engine coolant intro an empty 7 quart pan. I skipped the petcock and went for the thermostat housing. That was much cleaner than the petcock would have been. Funny thing, when I started to pry the thermostat out to replace with a Reisch, I realized there was a lot of coolant left behind the t-stat and my pan was full. So I scrambled to squeeze shut the housing and bolt it together again with a full pan beneath. Oh well, I'll finish that up tomorrow and work more on the HCM.