The dry post (with lots of pictures)

I have been working out in the garage quite a bit lately, but I've fallen behind in my blogging. Today I attempt to catch up, and as a result this post is pretty dry. Apologies.

In my last post I connected the headers to the old exhaust system from the previous engine setup. With that completed, I could pull the engine out to prepare the engine bay for final engine install. I had tacked the motor mount brackets in place but they needed to be fully welded. Out came the engine, and I filled the garage with noxious welding smoke.

Back out for the last time in a long time, I hope

Fully welded motor mount brackets

When I installed the front suspension, I used the blue wrench to uninstall the shock towers. This left a gaping hole in each fender. While this has been useful for accessing the engine occasionally, I felt the time had come to patch the holes. My suspension kit came with bolt in patch panels, but I wanted it to be more permanent.

The gaping fender hole

Patch panel bolted in as intended by the suspension manufacturer

 I temporarily bolted the panels in place and marked the backside of the panel with a sharpie, I then traced that line with about a 3/8" offset and cut it to size. After a little fine tuning with a flap wheel, I welded them in place.

Scribing the backside

offset from the scribed line

Cut to size

Welded in

Both sides patched

While I was in the sheet metal patching groove, I took care of the hole I had cut for the turbo inlet pipe.

Patch scribed to size

Tacked in place

With my previous engine setup, I had used D581 ignition coils from a Chevy pickup. I liked them a lot so I decided to buy 4 more and use them on this engine. In the OEM cofiguration and on the old 2.3 Turbo, these are mounted on the valve covers. With the new V8 setup, I wanted a little cleaner installation. While the OEM coil brackets are effective, I found an aftermarket coil bracket kit that would provide more compact and attractive mounting. The newly installed fender aprons provided a good mounting location for the coils.

GM factory coil assemblies

Coil bracket kit

Coils mounted on bracket

Coils, flex fuel sensor, and fuel pressure regulator mounted to patch panel

Engine bay ready for the engine

With the engine bay all cleaned up and a crappy coat of spraypaint on the fender aprons, it was time to get the engine ready to go back in.

Took the engine off the stand and hung it on the hoist,

Made some transmission dowels  out of half inch rod.

New cast iron flywheel from Ford Performance

New rear main seal

Put a screw in the old rear main seal and pulled out

Blue loc-tite for these flywheel bolts

Because my old engine setup used a V8 clutch, I was able to re-use my old clutch. I don't think it was even broken in. I love when I have good parts to re-use.

King Cobra clutch kit.

Aligning clutch disc

Engine in it's newly furnished home

The engine went back in without much trouble. While fitting the engine, I noticed the tight clearance between the motor mount nut and steering joint, as well as the power steering lines and the bolt head. I was able to find some bolts with a smaller head and thinner all-metal lock nuts.

Original bolt (no locknut installed). Note the tight clearance to the steering joint.

New bolt and nut, much more clearance for steering joint

With the engine in, and the motor mount hardeware sorted, I turned my attention to fitting the intake. In order to install a heater hose port, I had to take one of the throttle bodies off. When I took it off, I noticed that while the throttle body had an o-ring to seal to the adapter below it, the adapter had no gasket to seal it to the intake manifold below it, so they all came off, and I sealed it up with the Toyota technician's secret weapon, Form In Place Gasket aka Fippage.

My small helper

Throttle bodies removed

Adapters removed.

O-ring on underside of throttle body.

I reassembled the intake and throttle bodies, did a test run, and tried to install it. What I didn't realize was that there wasn't enough clearance around the center manifold nuts. Again I fond myself grinding and hacking (this time with a dire grinder and wood chisel) away on this fine chinesium intake to make it fit. I guess that's expected when you pay a quarter of what it costs for a reputable ITB intake system. I then found that just because the nuts fit on the studs, that was no guarantee that a tool would fit on the nuts. Out came the angle grinder and a sacrificial Harbor Freight wrench became a specialty tool for the four center nuts on my intake

Gaskets and studs

FIPG at work again

High quality specialty tools by me. Thin, reduced-diameter closed end 1/2" wrench

If fits!

The engine is in, and basically all the mechanical pieces of the puzzle are there. Up next, I will tackle the plumbing and wiring. 

The money shot.

Why-Pipe?

In last week's episode, I had made engine and transmission mounts to set the engine in place. This week I did exhaust work, and nothing but exhaust work. I actually really enjoy it even if I'm not that great at it. I wanted to retain as much of the existing exhaust system as I could, as I really liked it and it had proven itself at 350 WHP, which is probably more than this engine setup will make. 

With that as the goal, all I had to do was connect the headers to the 3" pipe just rearward of the transmission crossmember. To do this I needed to make a simple Y-pipe.

Starting point: collectors of unknown diameter, probably about 2.75"

V-band Flange welded on

All welds on the V-band flanges were done on the interior

Other Side

If you've followed my work before, you may know that I have a small obsession with V-band flanges, though it wasn't until today that I learned they were invented by Zeppo Marx, the second least funny of the Marx Brothers (in a close second to the absolute stick in the mud, Karl). Struggling with a few stuck exhaust nuts in my formative years as a wrench turner made me wholeheartedly embrace V-bands as the ultimate exhaust coupler.

I then began forming the Y-pipe with pre-bent elbows. The tricky part would be the merge point. This is where I would have to bring two curving 2.5" pipes together into a single 3" pipe.

driver's side bank pipe was pretty easy

First attempt at a merge wasn't turning out as good as I wanted.

Merge attempt #2 was a little better

Cut and check

Cut and check again

And again

And it's merged!

 Eventually after a strange combination of measuring, eyeballing, iterations and black magic, I got the 2.5" pipes merged. I then had to merge them into the 3" pipe. This took a little persuasion with a hammer.

merge before forming

Merge during forming

Some gaps

Some smaller gaps

But gaps can be filled

Final Y-pipe

The mid-pipe (which attaches to the Y-pipe) needed some minor modification to mate up smoothly. I was able to re-use some parts from the previous exhaust configuration and fairly quickly get it all joined up. Somehow in the course of the mid-pipe modification I managed to hit myself in the face with the flex coupling so hard I nearly cried. My wife thinks I'm klutzy for some reason.

 

finished

installed

This also seemed like an ideal time to improve the muffler section. Previously there was only a hanger at the rear of the muffler. This hanger carried a lot of weight and also was positioned in a way that allowed the muffler to rotate slightly, leaving the tips sitting out of level. This should let it sit level and well-supported during spirited driving.

That's all for now but soon I'll pull the engine and get the engine bay ready for a final install.

It's been a while since I've left you with one of these, so you're welcome: