Another Ford (LOL) Falcon Thread

Because I wanted something cleaner to do, I started ripping apart the new engine.  This involved taking off the rocker assembly and pulling the pushrods, so as to knock the lifters up away from the cam.  I did the trick of sliding some rods in the oil galleries above the cam to hold the lifters in place--worked great.  Doing this once or twice turns cam-swapping an LS into a pretty quick job.  Having it out of the car helps, of course.  Sloppy Mechanics videos also help.

I had planned to do an LS2 timing chain tensioner/guide swap, but I just didn't feel like dropping the oil pan.  This engine will not accumulate miles at all, so I'll try my luck with the factory tensioner.  Plenty of people (including me) have done track days with a stock Gen IV LS tensioner with no problems, so . . .

There is a slight wait for a new valve spring compressor, so once that arrives, the valve springs will be doubled, and the pushrods will be hardened and thickened.  Then, it will be on to the fun of checking bellhousing fit.

Anyone interested in a new/non-used LS3 camshaft with a one-bolt gear?

In reply to rustomatic :

Will it work with an early 5.3? And make more power?

The answer is yes.  Basic numbers are far better than a truck cam (should still work fine with stock injectors):

Duration @ .050 in. (int./exh.) 204°/211 Valve Lift (int./exh. ) 0.551 in./.525 in. Lobe Separation 117°.

The LS9 cam (three bolt) is pretty cheap, too, and it theoretically will add another 20 hp over the LS3.  Both idle and drive like stock.

In reply to rustomatic :

Turns out its a LOT more involved than just cam and springs for the early 5.3.

I appreciate it!

It's time for an update and kind of a rant.  First off, for some completely off-base advice, I would advise anyone considering the TKX to just get a T56, if you do not have space constraints.  I am kind of wishing I did this for a couple of reasons, the first being that I would have possibly been able to use the mount I made for my 6l80 (lazy man's problem).  The T56 costs $500.00 more and weighs another 25 pounds; I thought I was avoiding both of these things, but no.  The fiasco one must submit to when figuring out a hydraulic throwout bearing for the TKX pretty much absorbs the savings, along with the need for a longer driveshaft.  I really didn't need a second overdrive . . .

When I know something material about the transmission, I will report it here.  It was an unexpected pain in the keister to get together, but I did, with included dial-indicating, as per Tremec/Holley's vertically excited requirements (these seem to be pointed more toward steel bellhousings, which must really suck for accuracy in manufacturing).

The Lakewood (aluminum) bellhousing seemed to be pretty nicely in-spec, providing no positive runout at any point that I could detect.  There, it's documented in public, Tremec.

I took a closer-up pic of my cavernous empty car, for those who want a closer look at frame-related stuff you can see from that vantage point.

Far back, you can see what was my trans mount:  a 1x2 bit of steel (and plate bracket) welded to some longitudinal bars.  I had to cut this out lying on my back with an angle grinder to get the new tranny past--got spark burn on my face for that effort.  Further forward, you can see the motorcycle battery (lasts two years every time).

Here's the refill:

Soon, the trans tunnel will be further decimated, as the shifter for the TKX fell exactly where I did not think it would, which means I have to cut out more bracing in addition to the upper sheetmetal.  My primary concern was that the shifter would be too far away from my seating position, but it may not be . . .

Progress!  Loving the build

Okay, so today's pictures are terrible.  I'll start with the new transmission crossmember.  It's basically a square one-inch tube that is 1/8" wall, so pretty sturdy.  Connected to it is kind of a triangular box that the actual rubber insulator mount on the bottom of trans bolts to/through (turbo 400 style).  The box was removed from a 1x2 crossmember that I had to cut out to get the old trans out, but then I cut the box off, then re-welded the bracket to the new mount, which is now removable.

It's hard to see, but the tube (white one) is basically sandwiched between two triangular pedestals welded to some longitudinal tubes (redundant frame members of 1x2) and the floor pan.  It has to be tapped into place with a hammer, then it is bolted through the floor, the tube, and then the pedestals.  If all of this breaks, the 1x2 crossmember I welded back in will still hold the transmission up.  Yes, the trans is independently removable in this position.  I like redundancies with stuff like this.

One of the big annoyances with the 6l80 was ground clearance--it hung too low.  The TKX is now almost perfectly level with the frame rails/rocker bottoms.  This is good.

I also got a new driveshaft made and mounted, sort of.  The old one had to be shortened an inch and have a new yoke installed (Ford C6, if anyone's wondering; the 6l80 used a turbo 400 yoke).  I had new non-greasable u-joints installed and painted it white, because that was what I have in the garage.

I installed the lovely eBay-sourced headers, which fit great.  They are basically the same as the ones I built the frame around, so updating the exhaust should be pretty simple.  Not excited, though . . .

Then there's the new L96-style rectangle port truck intake I also sourced from eBay, with its 50-lb injectors (which hopefully work).

Finally, since the shifter situation has to greatly change, I had to rip up a bunch of sheetmetal and a bit of cross-tube in my trans tunnel.  Great.

Given my seating position (basically back seat location), I may need to devise some sort of remote shifter, unless I think I can tolerate some sort of super-bent vintage-looking thing that would add a ton of unwanted travel to shifting . . .

I made a shifter out of some crud in my garage and toolbox, i.e., 3/4" hollow steering shaft, some 1/4" plate, and a Harbor Freight 3/4" impact socket.

The shifter is awesome, how is the throw?

In reply to Shavarsh :

Thanks.  The objective was to make sure the throw was still very comfortably doable (arm at 90 degrees-ish) while fully strapped in the seat (5 points) without any kind of over-extension or annoyance.  This does that, even though it does elongate the throw created by the actual mechanism in the transmission (which is pretty short).  Ergonomics were my main objective, and this does that pretty well, especially with the lack of a stupid ball that puts the hand in an opposite anatomical position . . .

While cutting, grinding, and welding unforgiving exhaust pipe material today (90+ degrees out this week, yay), I realized, via a sticker on the windshield, that I have not driven this car in four months.  There's kind of an urge.  That's all.

Which shifter position are you using for the TKX? I'm assuming it's the rear most option?

In reply to STM317 :

Yep, rear-most.  It's not enough when you're sitting where the back seat used to be.  The engine's already under the windshield . . .

This week's sweat loss is brought to you by exhaust tubes.  This is actually pretty much a mid-pipe setup.  The reason for the new (extra) muffler is because without a turbo, one Borla is too damn loud; I'm way past tolerating a loud car at this point in life.  All of this junk is replacing what used to just be a section of 3.5" straight pipe.  The v-band behind the single outlet side (3") goes to the rear section, which terminates with a single 3" in/out Borla Pro XS.  The front sections are 2.5" up to the headers.  I don't care if I lose 30 horsepower on this.

All is now tacked up in the car.  If you've done this before, you know how possible it is that after fully welding, re-installation can present considerable difficulty . . .

I hate building exhaust. 

Im never happy with the outcome  especially after the metal moves. 

I get to do the naskart stuff soon....

And i feel you. Muata has been broken since spring. I miss it. Starting to get motivated to work on it, but im broke.

This exhausting pipe junk seems to have gone well.  I finished sticking it together this afternoon, and it bolted right back in place without any quantity of profanity or shoulder dislocation.  Win!

I had to slightly hammer in a couple of spots that were a bit too close to the new transmission crossmember, but no big deal with the heat sprayer.

Clearance from the side is just at the bottom of the transmission and slightly above the engine's oil pan.  It's a considerable improvement over the 6l80's bovine belly hanging out down there.  The white thing in the distance is a box on a shelf, but it oddly recalls the old transmission pan . . .

After many days of super-fun kitchen remodeling-type work (granite, dammit), I thought I'd do some picture pumping here.  The Falcon now has a clutch that seems to function, with pedal, master, and reservoir all securely mounted.

The firewall already had a hole for the master in the pre-drilled 1/4" mounting surface (Speedway part welded into the frame structure), so all I had to do was make a top mount for the pedal (after locating master in front of pedal).  The top mount is just a piece of 1/4" plate cut to fit up to the firewall plate and the existing structure for mounting the brake pedal, then burned into position, along with a bit of a weld connection to the cage A-pillar bar.  The new Wilwood pedals, which conveniently do not match the old one I have for the brake, have a really handy adjustable pedal surface.  I can pretty much only actuate with a driving shoe on, so the footrest bar at the left may need to be removed at some point . . .

There was also another simple bracket (bent piece of 1/8" plate) to mount the reservoir in a crowded space.

I have begun connecting the Holley wiring harness, with the main engine harness now in place.  For the price, I can confidently say that I've found much higher quality (connectors and other elements) in a Chinese harness I bought off of eBay for the BMW swap I did, but I guess that didn't include a computer.  The OEM harness was leagues better.

It is really nice to see the ton of space in the engine compartment again, sans turbo, turbo piping, and giant intercooler.  That's a lot of weight gone.  See the standard-size fire extinguisher for context.

Nice, hopefully not too much longer before you've got it tearing up the track again. So much cooler with a stick imo 

Sometimes, I feel kind of bad about the things I've done to this car.  Fortunately, this feeling does not last.

There's this awful temporary dash that's been in place for like six years; it gets worse every time I decide to rip the car apart and change things (a few times in 12 years).

I've replaced a boost gauge and an A/F ratio gauge with a cool $50.00 GPS speedo and a Holley thingy that came with the car's new brain.  Now I have redundant voltage readings, but more importantly, I now have an active compass . . .

For safety's sake, I replaced all of the original C4 wheel studs with ARP (gold and long) studs, along with pretty gold lug nuts.  It's good to have a small sledgehammer-like thing.

For the last crappy image, I was able to re-use/repurpose the air intake that before residing on a turbo, resided in the same place as it is now, but now with IAT sensor installed (and painted black).  It's kind of heavy, being that I made it out of 4-inch exhaust tubing.  Whatevs--I just took 300 pounds out of this pig.

As it's been awhile since I've had to deal with a bitchin' cam, this thing is currently idling at 900 RPMs.  It's weird, but the new junk is running . . .

Since I can't muster up the motivation to clean this thing (or finish pressure washing my driveway), and I'm not doing squat for street miles, I signed up for a track day in a couple weeks (specifically, the TrackNight on June 23 at Road Atlanta).  It'll probably be the first time I've signed up for a track day in a car that's theoretically for sale . . .

Dang, I wanted to do that track night but will be traveling. We should get together again soon. I live much closer to your part of the world now. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Send me a message, then show up in something weird.  I might give you a beer.  Oh, I am an easy 15-minute fixie ride from/to Reformation . . .

Fortunately, this thing did not sell.  Attending the TrackNight at Road Atlanta last Friday was awesome.  It was a little creepy on the insides, given the drivetrain had about 70 miles on it so far, with the original batch of oil, but I had two good sessions/40 minutes on track (felt too guilty to do the third).  I talked to way too many people . . .

The track is where this car needs to live, so I will attempt to accommodate more in the future.  Hopefully, somebody got some good on-track footage (actually good pics, in other words). 

Some fiddly upgrades will be incoming, mainly in the areas of pedal access, gear shifting, and braking; also, the tires are a bit long in the tooth . . .

Glad to hear its sticking around! This thing is so cool

It's time for another attack on this car.  When the Corvette chassis became one with the Falcon, it was with an automatic transmission in mind (and place).  With that, I only intended to brake with my left foot (see positioning of pedal in earlier posts).  Since the car now has a manual transmission, that don't work.  The last track experience had me pondering downshifting as though it were a foreign concept (as I lugged the sprightly LS3 at mid-3000s at too many hysterical points in third gear).  The reality was that I was still trying to brake with my left foot all the time, even though there was an uncomfortably close clutch pedal . . .

So I did this:  

The adjustable plates on newer Wilwood pedals allow for much better placement in cars with weird pedal boxes.  The clutch can now be actuated with a work boot on (size 12-ish), and I can tag the brake with the right foot in driving shoes without too much forethought.  The thinner hanging part also got along better with the GM throttle plug.  

If anyone wants a cheap, older version that has been slightly grinder'd, let me know.  The pad has been trimmed, and there's a slight bit of grinding on the right side for existing wiring/foot clearance.  All of the moving stuff is new, as I just transferred the new pedal to the old base.  This is a dual master set-up with the balance bar adjuster.  If you can tig (or just live with this as is), I will make you a smokin' deal.