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Turbo LSX Focus

310K views 1K replies 149 participants last post by  BoostedLM7 
#1 · (Edited)
ok im making a post of my plans. i was going to wait till i was finished to post this but i figured you guys would really like to see the progress more than just the results.

the plan: To build a turbo v8 focus with upwards of 800hp for less than or equal to the price it cost me to build the 4cyl to make 400hp. this is all of course based on the fact that i am doing it my self and not paying someone to do it. i done the same with the focus build and i plan to do this one as well.

Info on the Build:

Motor: 5.3L Vortec out of a 2002 Chevy 1500 truck from a salvage yard for 500 including wiring, ecu, manifolds, etc. i am not some one that looks at things by brand names, the only thing i care about is the power, reliability, cost, and sensibility of it. i am using a chevy motor because of how universal all of their parts are, how compact they are, the power they can make, how little they cost, and they are very reliable. the 5.3 was very easy to find, i have a ls1 IM for it, and plan to get a corvette zo6 cam. after the project is finished and rolling i will save up and build this motor and push the t76 to the limits.

a modular cobra or navigator motor are both very large, very expensive, and very complicated motors. the 5.0's are junk when it comes to making a lot of power.













Tranny:
TH400 transmission. very inexpensive and very strong. i do not plan to buy a tranny controller so i need a mechanically operating trans. the plan is to either swap to a 4l80e trans and convert it to full mechanical/and manual valve body and build it or to build the turbo 400. this will depend on funds when the time comes. i have this ordered from a local salvage yard for 350.

Rear end and suspension:
the same salvage yard will be supplying me with what ever i need out of a wrecked mustang with a 4 link 8.8. this will include the linkages, shocks, springs, brakes, and wheels. i believe their price is 350-400.

the 8.8 will be what i use till the motor and tranny are finished. then i will be switching to a cobra independent. i will not be tubbing and building a drag car. i will do my best to make this thing handle as good as it does now.

the front subframe will need to be modified, but i will be using the stock focus suspension. my plan is to cut out the section where the tranny will go through the subframe and reconstruct it to fit under. the rack and pinion will need to be in front of the motor so i will be getting a rack out of something that will fit. the stock spindle will work fine. i just swapped the driver and passengers sides to move the tierod hook up to the front side.


Engine managment:
megasquirt will be used because this is a budget project. i am very happy with the reviews i have seen and for the price i dont think i could get much better. it may not be able to do as much as many of the ems's available but it will be able to make a very reliable driver and work great for the power.

gauges:
just going with all autometer gauges.

fuel:
i already have a return fuel system, i just need to buy 4 more injectors and new fuel rails.

pics of the tear down:





what the engine with turbo will look like:


i will be posting every time i buy some thing and telling what i paid. in the end will post a full list of every part i purchased and a list of every part i sold and what they sold for along with what i paid.

hope you guys enjoy

Tim
 
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#743 ·
true every one has a price. but i would charge way more than a focus is worth and it would take a long long time. so im not even considering it. i have been considering a turbo kit for the zetec and duratec. it would be nothing but the kit itself and nothing else and would not be a cheap kit, and wouldnt be built unless some one wanted it. just need to find some friends near by for test/donor cars. but either way that will be a while i need to concentrate on my car till i run out of money. lol
 
#744 ·
you must not do alot of welding than, i have 2 80cubic feet bottles, one ultra mix and one argon- its nice to have both because i can switch out wands and guides and i can mig some aluminum and if im feeling froggy i can stitch myself up some stainless---- nice welder none the less--- i rock a 135 plus lincoln
 
#745 ·
is that lincoln the one with the digital dealios on it? I know there's one at the school but I couldn't figure out how to work it. LOL

Miller Millermatic for me (well for mig welding... lol)
 
#746 ·
they make a digital one. this one is analog. tapped voltage. i thought about getting the power mig. but decided to get the cheaper mig and spend a little more on a tig later on. we use to use a millermatic at my last job. it could have been a good welder at one time. it was junk though so i cant make a good comparison. the gun and lead was duct tapped together.

i dont do a lot of welding. i weld on my car and that is all. so what ever you see welded on this v8 project is all i do. if i had a shop and used it for every thing i do then spending 200 on a big cylinder would be worth it. but this $50 tank is fine for what i do.
 
#747 ·
an update... not a good one but an update none the less...







ok... no i didnt blow it up. the car has never done any thing but idle... so here is the story.

trying to get the engine to idle good. but it didnt want to idle low very well and it smoked a lot when you revved it.

thought maybe it was the turbo. so i bought a cheap oil restrictor. still smoked.

so i removed the turbo and run open manifolds to check and see if it was the engine. yep still smoked.

pulled the plugs. 1 was oily, 6 were fine, 8th looked brand new.

compression check. cyl with new looking plug was dead, 6 were fine, cyl with oil was low.

put oil in cyl. dead one stayed dead, low one came up. dead one was either valves, hg, or melted piston. low one was rings.

done a leak down on the dead one. all the air came out the valve cover. so the prob was the piston itself.

pulled the heads. dead one had a hole melted dead center. low one looks as if the material from the dead one made its way through the IM into this cyl.

pulled dead and low pistons. the low one has been beaten to the point that the ringlands were compressed onto the rings and the rings couldnt come out. the head was beat up a little, but the iron block and steal valves werent hurt.

i will replace both pistons with used stock pistons, put new rings all through the motor along with a good hone, stock head gaskets, and some new head bolts. throw it back together and see how it works. as well as smooth out the damage that the chunk of alum did to the head.

tim
 
#749 ·
oh its already to much of a pain, lmao... it will just be down a lot longer than i thought now. since im using my money i was going to use to finish the car getting the engine running as well as the new welder it is going to be a while

i could have sworn there was another post in there about added weight??? hmm that is weird. oh well.
 
#751 ·
5.0's are crap for making power?

From my sig,
90 Mustang LX 5.0L, Project/race car 403 RWHP, 412 RWTQ
Thats stock motor (Heads and bottom end 100% stock) with 130,000 miles on it... with 12 psi on it......

[scratch][scratch][scratch][scratch]
 
#752 ·
5.0's are crap for making power?

From my sig,


Thats stock motor (Heads and bottom end 100% stock) with 130,000 miles on it... with 12 psi on it......

[scratch][scratch][scratch][scratch]
Thanks for the info. NEXT
 
#758 ·
i know i bought it that way. from the looks of it i think it was sprayed.

5.0 isnt crap for making power if 400 is what your looking for but if i wanted 400hp i would have kept the 4cyl. srry but it is proven over and over the ls's will make 700's on stock motor. and over 1200 built. i like the ls engine, its strength, its size, its aftermarket, its interchangeability, and its price.

good thing is i can get a set of 8 stock pistons and rods for 50 bucks.
 
#761 ·
i know i bought it that way. from the looks of it i think it was sprayed.

5.0 isnt crap for making power if 400 is what your looking for but if i wanted 400hp i would have kept the 4cyl. srry but it is proven over and over the ls's will make 700's on stock motor. and over 1200 built. i like the ls engine, its strength, its size, its aftermarket, its interchangeability, and its price.

good thing is i can get a set of 8 stock pistons and rods for 50 bucks.
I can vouch for that. A friend has an ls1 swapped into His 67 Stingray, and He's well over 1200 right now...


Killer build thread, I can't believe I haven't peeked in here sooner. Oh, and I would mount that popped piston on a wall somewhere, too lol.

Lincoln>Miller any day(comes from decades of experience), and good call on not buying from HD, the internals on those are crap.
 
#759 ·
$50? Niiice. Still sad to see that this is going to set back completion time a fair amount. Maybe I'll have my turbo on around the same time you get this done!
 
#760 ·
yeah it cost 65 shipped for all 8 with rods. gonna try to sell the left over ones for that when i get them. now i need to find some decent head bolts. apparently these have different head bolts than the ls1.. sucks!
 
#763 ·
^^its ok, bro. i want to make a screamer 302 someday...i enjoy the 302, but i bleed blue oval.

but back to the build.

Sorry to see this tim....hope this doesn't set you have too long. can't wait to see this finished product.

side question? why only one piston with a hole in it? last time i saw a piston with that size hole from being sprayed, there were 8 of them from a 200shot on a 4.6 that hit fuel shutoff. Thats when i stopped going to Steeda in Pompano LOLOL
 
#764 ·
some times it just happens like that. for some reason that cyl got the hottest first. could have been a number of things to cause it. just like the zetec, it is most likely to burn number 3 first.
 
#765 ·
got my "new" pistons in. gotta order rings, headgaskets, and headbolts. and it will be running again... hopefully much better this time with a lot less smoke and blowby (or blow through haha)
 
#766 ·
Hey there's a hole in that piston there........ [rofl]

wow.

I've only used the millermatic thus far... the school just got a pair of Lincoln 140's so I get to mess with those [:)]
 
#767 ·
i love your build, lsx FTW, however i do recommend you upgrade your headgaskets from stock ones- i know that they can hold alot of power stock but its cheap insurance knowing you put something a little better up top--- good luck getting her back together---
 
#768 ·
cheap? the cometic gaskets are 100 a peace and i dont think they would do much especially still using stock head bolts. if i switch to arp headbolts then i would but they are 150 and the gm replacements are 22. that alone would be the price of the entire engine. stock ones are 40 bucks. i dont want to invest any more money in this engine than i have to because i want to do a build later and will be switching to a 6.0 any way.
 
#770 ·
Plus if you look at it one way having a cheaper head gasket is creating that weak link that is easy and cheap to fix rather then putting something in there that will make another more expensive part the weak link. Although I have cometic in my Mustang...
 
#771 ·
I have had holy pistons before too..they suck!

Minor setback!
 
#774 ·
it is a lsx block. as in any of the ls series. not the LSX that is made by gm performance. every one on calls them that... so i can to. technically it is a lm7 but if i say that who is going to know wtf im talking about.

any way.

i got the new pistons in, new rings on, block is honed, heads are back on and i installed some comp 918 springs on it bc i got them for so cheap i couldnt turn them down.

shouldnt be long before i have it running again.

i also decided to redo the front cross member and go with conventional motor mounts on the sides with rear plates instead of plates on the front. and i am probably going to get rid of the mustang rack and use a manual rack for a miata.

gonna redo it like the monster miata kit

http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/...ct/redesignedk-member5Custom.jpg?t=1274844681
 
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