Project 4V-GT-HD

[harley#356]

I know some of you DelValLO/Gen 1 guys don't get onto LR....

Here's my build thread going on for the next phase of my truck...

http://www.lightningrodder.com/foru...d***-harley-356-goes-off-deep-end-2017-a.html


Long story short, fall of '14 and spring of '15 my truck was running like a top, bunch of passes without changing a thing, then suddenly bam major lean issue taking out #2. No smoking clue. Injectors cleaned & flowed and tested good, harness pinned out and tested good, still put in new & bigger injectors, and put on a new top end harness, fixed the hurt head, took 15 months getting the truck back together since I went nuts with shaving/painting the engine bay, doing a power rack, hydroboost, aerospace brakes, painted CF front clip, etc. etc. etc. Got the refreshed combo dyno'ed, all safe and sound, went out, 1st pass broke up on the top end and had some detonation. 2nd pass trans wouldn't shift. Motor hurt. Trans hurt. FML. 1.5 years to get 1.5 passes and it all had to come back out.

Trans is getting gone through, it's not even 400 miles on it.

Other head was hurt but I've got 1 last 8 thread spare, it's getting replaced, shortblock was fine, and the engine will be back to 100%

Still stumped on why it detonated, a/f was even reading fine on the gauge, it was only 15* and 20 lbs, but I wasn't able to watch fuel pressure on the pass. My Weldon is 8 years old so going to send it out for a refresh, and look into a RacePak data logger so I can get this crap logged and stop guessing.

Now onto the fun part.....I sold my entire 2v drivetrain from air filter to exhaust tips and everything in between lol. I'm going 4v!

Believe it or not, I had right around $27k in funds back in my pocket after I parted out my engine, blower, exhaust, intake, pullies, lower intake, etc. etc. etc. Way more than I thought I had to unload, but I had the nicest 2v stuff you could get, and it adds up fast! Everything sold in no-time too, all I've got left is like a set of new plugs, a lower pulley ring, and barely used exhaust gaskets.

All those funds are going out the door as quick as they come in though. I've already scored a crazy deal on a unicorn brand new GT supercar aluminum block already darton wet sleeved 3.7 bore big bore and wet sumped, a great deal on a set of GT supercar 4v heads fully worked by Mihovetz of accufab with all manley valves. Scored another incredible deal on a polished 4.7 KB with mammoth plenum, 168mm tb, 5" intake, four 10 rib belts, 4 pullies, and a thump racing billet tensioner, all with only 200 miles on it.

Also snagged a bunch of the little items, GT500 valve covers, GT500 timing cover, Cobra Jet lower intake manifold. Then used the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to the max, got all my OEM gaskets from Tasca Ford at 10% off, got all the billet pullies and idlers and valve cover billet hardware/inserts from BPS at 20% off, got Fore fuel rails from Beefcake at 20% off, and got GT500 timing gear set at 10% off from MMR with billet crank gear, billet trigger wheel, billet pivot guides, and billet secondary tensioner upgrades to the timing set at 20-30% off each item.

Next up is getting JLP to put me a rotating assembly together into the short block, and spec out some cams and put it all together as a long block for me, then I'll pop it in the truck, and start picking away at the little details like accessories (alt/ps), wiring, fuel lines, etc.

Coming along way faster than I originally planned, but deals too good to pass up on unicorn parts fell in my lap and I couldn't pass them up!

It was a little sad seeing some of my badazz 2v parts go away, but i's pretty nice doing a build that 80-90% is paid for by selling my old parts! I can pretty much have the entire thing done and together short of a full exhaust and maybe a couple small accessory items before I even need to reach into my pocket. Not used to that! lol


Long post, but ah this section has cobwebs everywhere anyway. Depending how things go, I may have a chance of having this thing running by spring time which would be phenomenal! But worst case I think I should be ready to go by Spookfest next year!

Checkout the LR thread for pics. Not dealing with NLOC's crappy setup for uploading.

 

[rudder9]

Sounds like it's going to be bad***. Good luck with it Josh. I'm not a modular expert, but seeing what block your starting out with I guess your anticipating a bunch more power given what they can handle.

 

[IVSVS]

Josh, I love reading your builds, even though I'm a Gen-1 pushrod guy. Your engineering is a no BS approach as to how to modify and go fast the right way. Keep up the good work and I can't wait to see the results at the Cecil JLP rental or Spookfest. Either way, I'll capture the moment with my camera.

 

[harley#356]

Yeah I've always wanted to do an aluminum block, but I wasn't about to shell out that kind of money when my iron block 2v setups worked just fine. $5k+ for just a bare block before any machining was even done was a lot of coin to just shed 100 lbs and make the same power on my old combo, without going big bore and spending several grand more.

Well I scored my GT block already machined and darton wet sleeved big bore for 5500, so it was a deal I could not pass up.

And with getting tired of the 2v's weak sides with the plug bosses that get damaged when things go sour, and with only being able to flow so much, and with the blowers sticking out further adding more crank stress, I was getting tired of chasing that next tenth or two on a nearly maxed out 2v combo. And even fully optimized/maxed out 2v, mod for mod I'd still always be at minimum 200-300 lbs heavier than any gen 2 L given that I'm lugging around 2 more doors and 2 more feet of frame/cab. I had to step it up to offset that extra doors handicap lol. I have 2 extra doors so I get 2 extra cams

Guys have spent north of 6k on 2v Trick Flow heads just to correct the plug geometry and eliminate the plug boss, but to not perform any better. I spent 4500 for fully worked accufab 4V GT supercar heads that 2v head flow can't even hold a candle to lol. No brainer at this point!

Now I'll have heads and a top end that can capitalize on the badazz big bore bottom end!



It's funny too, I've always had a soft spot for GT500's, and in the back of my head occasionally would think about how I could manage to swing getting one for just a fun car. While they look awesome, it's the power plant that really had me drooling over them. Well now that I'll have an even more badazz 4v power plant in my truck than what I'd even have getting a GT500, that helps with the bug on wanting to get one lol. So right there saves me like 40k+ if you think about it that way haha! Yeah it's not quite the same as rowing gears in a car, but I'm getting the core reason of why I wanted one, that 4v aluminum powerplant, but even better being GT block, big bore, and fully worked/built.