Winter mods/repairs begin

[brkntrxn]

So much larger, that I had to do the following to get everything to fit back into place:

- cut the hose from the coolant overflow tank to the thermostat housing to get it away from the crank pulley
- reclock the blower face to angle the down tube to keep from hitting the back of the fan
- reroute the piping from the blower to the intercooler under the lower radiator hose versus above it in the past
- change the angle of the elbow going into the intercooler to meet the lower piping. To change the angle, I had to loosen up the intercooler to get enough play to rotate the elbow.
- this caused the threaded rod bracket from the blower piping to the back of the overflow tank to be too short, therefore I had to buy coupler nuts and extend the threaded rod to meet the tank
- cut the corner upper-passenger side corner of the fan shroud to clear my intake pipe
- bend the flange of the radiator slightly to clear the intake pipe
- cut the upper radiator hose on both ends to get it away from the front of the blower (still touches it) and to keep it angled upward towards the crossover pipe
- cut an angled 1/4" slice out of my intake pipe at the blower end to get it to better meet the blower intake

Here's a pic of the corner of the fan shroud and the radiator flange. Different intake pipes may not make this necessary, but it was an issue on mine.

 

[brkntrxn]

Next up was to reinstall my filters and fuel pumps. The mounting method from when I purchased the car was lacking, so I took the time to redo it to my liking. The pumps are now fully secured (w/o zip ties) and the 100 micron pre-filter and 10 micron post-filter are both securely mounted as well.

I was able to use bolts through the spare tire well for the driver's side filter and y-block and fuel pump bracket, but I had to make an "L" bracket for the passenger side filter and y-block. It is secured by the gas tank strap bolt on that side.

Before and after:

 

[99COBRA2881]

I dunno that before setup is pretty sweet.

I would say you had a fight with LFP because they dont build 'their" radiators in house, notice the serial number and company name partially gound off the top. Thats how mine was, great peice though but I was left scratching my head when I saw this.

All those guys do is spray paint LFP on it and send it on down the road.

 

[brkntrxn]

Now, here is where my latest headache has occurred. When we built this engine back in the Spring, I had a minor coolant leak from the oil cooler. When we put everything together, we were in a major time crunch over the weekend to get to the MM&FF Shootout, so I was unable to buy new gaskets. By the time I got around to ordering new gaskets, the coolant leak stopped (it would make a small puddle over a couple of days). So, I never installed the block gasket and o-rings until now.

When I started pouring in water (distilled and water wetter no doubt), I noticed water steadily dripping from around the oil cooler. With about 2.5 gallons in the setup, I had to drain it right back out (yeah, getting pissed now). I pulled the oil cooler and adapter plate back off figuring I had cut an o-ring or did something else equally stupid. Nothing was wrong with any of them. I also looked at the oil cooler and adapter for cracks - nothing.

So back on goes the block gasket, adapter plate, o-rings, and oil cooler. Again, I start pouring in a couple of gallons and once again the oil cooler starts leaking. What the hell?!?!?! And this is with zero pressure in the system. I have yet to even attempt to crank the car. I called it quits on that note.

I spent today searching the internet again and calling around to see if anyone had heard of this. The only answers I could find is that maybe I have a hairline crack that opens when I torque down the bolts.

So tonight I go back out to the garage, drain a couple of gallons of water out of it again and pull the oil cooler, adapter plate and gaskets off once again. This time I started looked at it a lot closer. Still no cracks to be found. However, I noticed that the block gasket does not match up to the block very well at all. In fact, the top of the gasket just barely covers the top of the upper coolant opening. It is so close, that the orange gasket ring is actually below the opening and only the hard plastic of the gasket is above it. This must be the source of the leak.

So I find my old gasket and check the part numbers thinking I have a bad one. Nope, they both have the same number and it perfectly matches the adapter plate (last pic) and everything else. It just does not match the upper opening very well at all.

So as a last resort since I am not going to pull the block, I broke out the high-temp RTV and put a bead of RTV around the openings and reinstalled the adapter plate. I'll let it sit overnight, refill it with fluid and see if it holds.

This is a 2007 FRPP Aluminum 4.6 block. Has anyone ever seen or heard of this? It is almost as if it was cast incorrectly. Does anyone have a block sitting around that can look at how well a gasket matches up to it?

Here are the pics:

 

[brkntrxn]

I dunno that before setup is pretty sweet.

I would say you had a fight with LFP because they dont build 'their" radiators in house, notice the serial number and company name partially gound off the top. Thats how mine was, great peice though but I was left scratching my head when I saw this.

All those guys do is spray paint LFP on it and send it on down the road.

That figures.

Don't mind the insulation cut away on the pumps in the before pics. I did that at the last track event in an attempt to help cool the fuel pump that was overheating. LOL, you gotta do whatcha gotta do in order to have fun, right???

 

[MachME]

nice work, but question....how the hell did you get your car that high?

You have a really nice garage.

 

[brkntrxn]

LOL, it is a real goat-screw to jack up this car because . I start with a small jack to raise it up enough to get my 3-ton jack under the subframes. Then I can raise it up and put jack stands all the way around.

Thanks for the compliment on the garage.

 

[brkntrxn]

Ok, I found out the cause of the coolant leak.

The block I purchased back in the Spring is a 2007 FRPP aluminum block and slightly different than the original 99 and 01 blocks. One of the differences happens to be a larger upper coolant passage for the oil cooler, supposedly in the manner as the Terminator iron blocks. This requires a different adapter plate gasket with a different opening.

I installed the new one tonight. The orange/red one is for the 99/01 blocks and the blue one is for the new block.

 

[brkntrxn]

I took the car for a spin tonight after getting everything back together and made a few notes using the digital Celsius readout on the dash:

Temps
outside air temps: 59-60F
at idle at a red light: 94C/201F (after driving it hard up to the light)
then temps came down to 90C/194F
In 5th at 70mph: 89-91C/192-196F

Fuel pressure is now right around 39-40psi at idle. With the new fuel filters and pump, I need to back it down a bit. It still hits 52psi at 6200rpm (the shift pill I currently have in the car).

 

[Quadcammer]

few thoughts
1. That fuel pump mounting and setup is pretty hokey. The previous owner did some interesting stuff there. (oh, and will you scrub that IRS lettering off the gas tank cover, lol)

2. I would not have a prayer of getting that radiator in my car with the huge paxton scroll and the 8 rib stuff (not to mention the routing of the paxton IC tubes.

3. From that I can tell, those temps are about what I see with the stock radiator. Did you change the thermostat to a 180? That might be a good idea.

4. Good work on identifying the gasket issues. I have the mildest of weeps from the oil cooler (I mean like just some wetness in the area), so I haven't pursued it further.

good work sir.

 

[99riocobra]

glad you got her running! i'm hoping to get a LFP radiator in soon, i just hope i don't have any issues puttin it in. haven't heard of anything on the 03/04's. so is the blue gasket that you had to use the same on the 03/04 cobra iron block too? just curious...

 

[99COBRADROPTOP]

Is it straight to jack from the sub frames so i can put the stands under the jacking points?? i've always wondered about this

 

[brkntrxn]

Thanks, quad. The temps are on par with where they should be, I was just gathering a little bit of data for future reference. I put a stock thermostat back in the car and drilled an 1/8" hole at the 12 o'clock position to help with air bubbles. The heating issue I was battling was only at the track on hard runs and on the freeway in 95F air temps while running the A/C the temps would climb until I either backed off at the track or turned off the A/C. So, I will not be able to truely test the extent of the new radiator until later on in 2008 when the temps warm up. The other thing I was looking for was the fact that one of the Walbro pumps was going bad and was hot to the touch at idle. I think this was also contributing to my overall temperature health of the car.

99rio - From what my parts connection at Ford said, yes. The 2007 aluminum block I bought has the same larger passage opening as the 03 Terminator iron blocks. I would assume (and that may be an incorrect assumption) that he is saying the 03s would use the blue gasket as well.

Droptop - Yeah, use the subframes as your lifting and jack stand points. The are the most solid thing on the underside of your car. Since my car is lowered, I drive the front wheels up onto pieces of wood in order to get enough room to get the clearance to slide the jack under to the subframes.