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Where has CaysE's SVT been? Build thread time!

37K views 334 replies 75 participants last post by  Blue5ive 
#1 ·
It's been a while since I've given a good update on the SVT, so here we go. Only two months left until Carlisle, and I'm on an aggressive mission to get two things done: swap on a ported head, and install a JRSC. In two months. [paranoid] OK, so a lot of you probably can do this in your sleep, but this is my first time really diving into serious engine work, so I'm taking my time to do things right.

Step one: get a daily driver. First problem was that I had an old thirdgen Camaro parts car in the garage. So I spent a couple weeks parting it out and getting the space all cleared out, then I bought Disrupter911's '02 SVT replica, and put the SVT in the garage for the winter:



In the meantime, I had picked up a used JRSC for a real nice price locally. It had about 40k miles on it (if I remember correctly) and the front drive was leaking fluid, so that needed to be addressed.



It came with the BBK pulley as you can see, as well as the 42lb injectors, updated MAF, most of the JRSC parts and a CFM tensioner pulley. I was pretty excited. [:D] I mean, it's not a turbo and I'm not going to have 350hp or anything, but until I got into an SVTf, all I've ever driven are shit cars with no boost. So I'm still pretty excited.

Anyway, first order of business was to get the SC into trustworthy condition. I poked around the forums and internet and came across Stiegemeier.com, one of Eaton's authorized rebuilders. They had good references so I gave them a call, they were friendly and helpful, and that was good enough for me. I shipped the whole unit out to them for a complete rebuild and blueprinting, and clean/flow-match the injectors.

Not content to just get back a regular old JRSC, I opted for a porting job as well. Excitement builds. Dreams of actually winning something at Carlisle struck me, and I pushed it one step further. Going all-in, I ordered an exterior show polish. Oh my... what have I got myself into. [screwy]

The blower returns home a few weeks later. [clap] Everything was cleaned, the manifold runners were ported, the supercharger port was port-matched and horned, the plenum was ported, and the TB adapter was port-matched to the CFM 67mm TB. The rotors were stripped and cleaned, blueprinted to the case, and the front drive was rebuilt.









And if this show-polish doesn't grab people's attention at Carlisle, I don't know what will. I must be insane...



In all, I've spent just about the same amount of money that the JRSC would have cost new, so that keeps the buyer's remorse at bay. [goofydrunk]

I didn't stop here though... while I was planning the build, I gave the boys at CFM a call to talk about their ported head options. There has been talk for literally years about them offering a ported SVT head when nobody else would, but apparently the only thing that has held them back was getting somebody to plunk down the cash. So, the deposit went in and I gave them the green light.

What I got back was what looked to me to be a work of art. [:D] The head was cleaned, intake and exhaust were ported, cam caps were decked and re-honed, and the stock valves had a 3-angle valve job. I finished it off with a good thread cleaning for all the manifold studs.







Intake:


Exhaust:


At the moment, I'm sizing the tappets to be fitted into the head. All of the tappets I had from another spare head turned out to be too big, so a friend on FJ sent out a box of spares for me to try. [thumb] What a guy. I'll be checking clearance on them today after work, and hopefully I don't run into problems. If I do, I have a feeling that the cam caps being decked and re-honed might be to blame, which would require some machining of either the tappets or the valve stems. I'll find out soon enough.

For those of you who know how I like to tie things together aesthetically, I couldn't just be throwing a polished supercharger into the engine bay without something to complement it. I enlisted the help of the fine boys at HTPerformance to come up with a polished valve cover solution. Unfortunately, trial and error deemed a straight polish out of the question, as the material would oxidize too easily. As many of you know, Brian and Jason don't cut corners, and they wanted to find a polished look that would last. We eventually decided on a chrome-like powdercoat, and I'm pretty happy with the result:



Here's a shot of the reflectivity of the finish. It's pretty close to chrome, just not as smooth.


And finally, how on earth could I live having a shiny supercharger and a shiny valve cover taken down by the horrific-looking heat shield on the header? [:D] Jet-Hot to the rescue...



I'll have plenty of updating to put up here as I go along. I'm still not sure where I'm going to get tuned, but I have a couple ideas. If anyone wants to come BS and help out on a nice weekend day, I can always use help with disassembly, assembly, cracking jokes, and eating/drinking me out of house and home. [histerical]
 
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#205 ·
lol sorry about that. [?|] this is just confusing me. I've had my head off 3 times now (unfortunately), and the car has started after about 4 cranks EVERY time.

[rant]

leakdown is a very good thing to do next - it'll help you figure out WTF is going on. you should be able to rig up a leakdown tester, I had to make one to troubleshoot my car at one point.

google around if you don't know how to rig one up.

I'm wondering if it is possible that CFM screwed up the valve job... nothing has changed on your block (pistons and rings should be fine), and you said (twice now) that you have the right valve lash. that pretty much leaves the valve-to-seat contact as the weak point, right? I just don't understand how you are getting a consistent 30 psi all across... unless they did the same thing wrong on all cylinders (but I would think a company like CFM would know what they are doing!)

did you use the ARP head studs?
 
#208 ·
yes, do the leakdown. usually the best starting point, once you know timing and compression.

try to have fun at carlisle though. toss back some brews.

there is always FF09!
 
#209 ·
Well, sorry to hear about all your complications... but, from a purely selfish standpoint, I don't feel so bad now about not going (because, unfortunately, I'm not going yet again), because your red beauty won't be there anyway...
 
#215 ·
As soon as the engine gets running, the hood goes on. Right now it's wrapped in a cozy blanket. LOL

someone from a ford dealer told me they had trouble to make a supercharger work on a svt. they had to take off the svt ecu to replace it for a zx3 ecu.

sounds like this is bullshit to me or like they are not familiar with this.

but i had to tell you because i follow how its going with your car. its truly one of the hottest svtf ever.
That sounds like a load of BS to me... a non-SVT ECU wouldn't know what to do with the VCT system and lack of EGR.

hows the engine coming along?

how was carlisle?
I'm starting to wonder again if the valves got bent during assembly before the timing belt was installed. I just don't know for sure yet; I'm trying to retrace all my steps. On the other hand, an over-advanced intake or over-retarded exhaust would cause increased overlap and loss in pressure.

Back to the first hand though, I cranked the motor by hand and got 0psi, which means there must be some kind of air leakage (bent valves). ARGH it's driving me bonkers!

It needs a leakdown done, but I don't have an air compressor and I can't bring the car anywhere.

Carlisle was fun. This is not.
 
#213 ·
someone from a ford dealer told me they had trouble to make a supercharger work on a svt. they had to take off the svt ecu to replace it for a zx3 ecu.

sounds like this is bullshit to me or like they are not familiar with this.

but i had to tell you because i follow how its going with your car. its truly one of the hottest svtf ever.
 
#219 ·
Confirmed: valves are bent. All my clearances are off. Head's gotta come back off and I need to pay more attention during assembly.

Noone to blame but myself.

[edit] Actually I'm still a little confused. How is it possible to bend valves in a way that would make me get less clearance? Under normal circumstances, a bent valve should cause an increase in clearance.
 
#227 ·
I just pulled my gf's dad aside. he has been building show vehicles for a LONG time. he's been the grand champion at bloomsburg and carlisle and has been featured in 4x4 mag and Off Road. needless to say he know's what he's talking about.

he said there's really only a few options. 1 head warped. 2. bad valve job. (ex. one guy did the valve job on your head. so if he had a bad spec or did something wrong...it would be the same thing wrong on all four cyls.) 3. a leaking gasket. or 4 a cracked head and or block.


so that KIND OF narrows it down. to what we already knew LOL. i'd start by having the valve job checked by another company after he said that it makes me wonder if the guy who actually did it had a bad spec.
 
#228 ·
03orangeSVT PMed me saying I may have a cam installed wrong. I don't know how exactly that's possible, but I'm waiting to get more detailed info back from him. The only thing that's keeping me from being convinced I have bent valves is the fact that I have lost tappet clearance.
 
#229 ·
Here are the valve clearance measurements from cylinders 1 to 4, intake cam first.

.003" .003" .003" .003" .004" .004" .004" .003"

.007" .007" .008" .008" .008" .008" .008" .008"

When the head was off the car, just back from the machine shop, all intake valves were at .005" and all exhaust were at .011"

To recap:
~30psi cylinder pressure in all 4 cylinders when cranking with starter.
0psi when cranking by hand.

Here is how the cam lobes are aligned with cylinders 1 and 4 at TDC:
http://cayse.trunetworks.com/focus/my03svt/teardown09/IMG_2404.jpg

Somebody connect the dots for me... bent valves should mean clearances would increase, not decrease. Cams installed wrong? I have no idea how that's possible, either.
 
#232 ·
cayse, have you tried mike at hilbish? he is an svt expert. he owns one and builds them.

if he doesnt know, noone will.

call him. 800-849-0233
 
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