Crate vs. Custom Rebuild.

[DR3W]

Wana get everyones thoughts. New crate motor, or custom rebuild keeping block and most parts.

What do u have or want to do.. (Mention superchargers and tranny's too)

 

[tallsville]

http://www.mhpengines.com/

 

[02expi]

Have u thought about a low mileage used motor? I found a 39k motor 4 $1400 and decided that would be the most economical.

 

[sgtowing]

If your looking for stock hp, I would do whatever is cheaper.

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[DR3W]

No, im planning on doing this either when it blows or when i wana rebuild most of the car.

Just a strong reliable rebuild. Nothing crazy, at least 300hp and alot of torque.

(doubtful but maybe a supercharger or turbo.. who knows)


But this is WAYYY down the road when i have an extra lump of cash that i wana drop in the truck. I plan on keeping this truck til i die! haha

 

[sgtowing]

I would say custom so you can put in high quality parts that will hold up.

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[toms89]

No, im planning on doing this either when it blows or when i wana rebuild most of the car.

Just a strong reliable rebuild. Nothing crazy, at least 300hp and alot of torque.

(doubtful but maybe a supercharger or turbo.. who knows)


But this is WAYYY down the road when i have an extra lump of cash that i wana drop in the truck. I plan on keeping this truck til i die! haha

Stock rebuild will hold 300 hp easily so you need to decide if you plan to add some sort of boost or not.

If your considering boost you will want to at a minimum install forged rods and pistons. This or limit your boost and tune. Stock powdered metal rods like to exit the block at higher power levels. This would pretty much ruin your day...lol.

I went with a MHP long block so I can add some serious boost when the funds allow.

 

[DR3W]

Okay thanks guys, just wana get this idea ball rolling

 

[LameSuburbanDad]

I'm going through this scenario,

my 5.4 is bad and will be rebuilt, the shop will over-bore the cylinders by .20 or .30, at that point for about $700 I can buy flat top pistons but I'm undecided.

I am going to get different camshafts installed something that increases hp tq and mileage but doesn't require a custom computer tune.

the transmission was just rebuilt a few hundred miles ago and had a mild shift kit installed, a small but noticeable change.

while the engine is gutted there isn't much else you can do to it, you can port and polish the heads, but that's expensive, you could do some research and see if the p.i. heads will fit your engine. (that stands for the improved performance heads ford came out with on some vehicles)

and the crank could be balanced, on the out side one could improve a smidgen more with the gott's mod, intake, MAF, exhaust, under drive pulleys, and elec. fans, and E-3 plugs.

with the over-bore, camshafts, and "outside" stuff listed above, and If you ran high octane pump gas and full syn. oil, you MIGHT get close to 400 hp at the flywheel.

with pistons add maybe 10-15 hp, crank balance adds 1-3 more if any, and port/polish adds another 10-15.

total cost for what I'm having done, $4700 and I get another 200,000+ miles of driving. with 350 horses at my mercy

 

[toms89]

I'm going this scenario,

my 5.4 is bad and will be rebuilt, the shop will over-bore the cylinders by .20 or .30, at that point for about $700 I can buy flat top pistons but I'm undecided.

I am going to get different camshafts installed something that increases hp tq and mileage but doesn't require a custom computer tune.

the transmission was just rebuilt a few hundred miles ago and had a mild shift kit installed, a small but noticeable change.

while the engine is gutted there isn't much else you can do to it, you can port and polish the heads, but that's expensive, you could do some research and see if the p.i. heads will fit your engine. (that stands for the improved performance heads ford came out with on some vehicles)

and the crank could be balanced, on the out side one could improve a smidgen more with the gott's mod, intake, MAF, exhaust, under drive pulleys, and elec. fans, and E-3 plugs.

with the over-bore, camshafts, and "outside" stuff listed above, and If you ran high octane pump gas and full syn. oil, you MIGHT get close to 400 hp at the flywheel.

with pistons add maybe 10-15 hp, crank balance adds 1-3 more if any, and port/polish adds another 10-15.

total cost for what I'm having done, $4700 and I get another 200,000+ miles of driving. with 350 horses at my mercy

If you overbore the block you have to replace the pistons and stock PI headed pistons have 18cc dish. 10cc dish piston will raise compression near 10.5 to 1. Flat tops would increase compression further unless you get pistons that sit lower on the rod. Depending on cam choice flycutting the pistons may be necessary.

PI (performance improved) heads came on all expy 5.4's from 1999 on till they introduced the 3 valve heads.

Properly porting the heads can provide the most significant gains in overall power. This is where I would put my $$ with a naturally aspirated combo.

 

[Stoned06]

If you overbore the block you have to replace the pistons and stock PI headed pistons have 18cc dish. 10cc dish piston will raise compression near 10.5 to 1. Flat tops would increase compression further unless you get pistons that sit lower on the rod. Depending on cam choice flycutting the pistons may be necessary.

PI (performance improved) heads came on all expy 5.4's from 1999 on till they introduced the 3 valve heads.

Properly porting the heads can provide the most significant gains in overall power. This is where I would put my $$ with a naturally aspirated combo.

Ditto. I will also add that if you start changing the cams, pistons, and heads, you WILL need a custom tune to get the full benefit of the mods.

 

[LameSuburbanDad]

It is most likely that I will just have them bore it, and add mild upgrade cams.
it would be nice to boast 10.1 compression but at $700 for a set of flat-top pistons I just don't know that I can afford it on top of the $4,700 rebuild, but on the other hand since the engine will already be gutted I don't know that I can afford NOT to get the most out of the engine as I can. But then where does one draw the line?