You guys might like my new truck engine

[ericjon262]

good looking truck. my threads also fell victim to photobucket. I think they realized the $400 a year was ridiculous after they lost 90% of their customers.

[Xnke]

Been a long while since I updated this thread.

Truck has been running stone-cold reliable ever since. I drive 100 miles a day to go to work, and it never misses a beat. After a little tuning, I get 30.5 MPG on the highway, and put down 310HP on a Dyno Dynamics dynomometer at 9.3lbs of boost.

The truck hasn't made a full pass at the strip yet. Broke two T5's, twisted up a driveshaft, and broke the 7.625" 10-bolt rear axle, but never made a good run.

These days, the rear end has a shortened 8.8 Ford, 11" rear disk brakes, and rides on 225/75/15 Yokohama's. I have almost finished the paint, I need to repaint the hood. The supercharger was hitting the underside of the hood, even after cutting in a 2.5" rise, and knocked off a lot of the paint through flexing the hood. I haven't had time off work to repaint that yet. I have adapted in an Aisin AX15 transmission from a Chevy Colorado truck, the adaptations include moving the shifter forward 6" on the case, swapping the bellhousing out for a Dodge Dakota 2.5L bell, and swapping the front case cover for a XJ Jeep Cherokee front case cover.



Here's a shot of what it looks like today, except I have installed the gas filler doors...whoops!

[1QUICKHATCH]

Good to hear that it is running good! How did it do at the track?

[sharkey]

im quite aware of what the t5 can and cant do, im a licenced transmission builder (although now i build custom cars). part of the problem with the t5 is the wide ratio gear sets are weak, they tend to put a lot of extra strain on the case and mainshaft, especially in 2nd and 3rd. a tall final drive ratio is another killer of the t5, the taller the final drive the more strain put on the transmission. there is a reason that a world class in a v8 camaro can die behind a stock engine, yet a fox body mustang making 400hp can last on the street and strip. i do agree, the t5 isnt the best option, far from it. the aisin warners are a great option. i just rebuilt a pair of them, using a kit from drift motion they are known to handle 800hp.

im still debating on what trans to put in my future race car build. its going to be a high strung 176ci n/a engine in something to run at bonneville. unsure what its going in yet. im sure power wise a ford wc t5 would do the job. for a minute i did consider a nash 4+3 as being able to split gears would be handy.

[Xnke]

T5 won't handle it well. That's what is in this S10, and the second T5 I've run behind this engine is now *very* unhappy. 4 months of driving it regularly, and I don't take it out for burnouts or drag launches every week either. Every time you toe in more than about 40% throttle you can feel every tooth engagement in 2nd gear, and at full throttle the grinding of bearings being loaded too heavy is very loud. It's whining pretty badly at road speeds lately, and the endplay in the case is enough that it decides to jump out of gear while running down the road fairly often. This trans has 78K miles on it, has been behind this engine for 4 months, been to the drag strip once, and mostly just gets driven around town.

The T5 will start to break regularly at the 275HP level...those "500HP T5" ads and cars you hear about...that's a world class case with 2000$ worth of aftermarket gearset and shafts in them. World-class and Non-world class T5's are only rated for 265ft-lbs input torque, even the V8 models. Been there, done that, have the shrapnel scars from a 2nd gear failure in my leg.

It's a shame that GM never put a stout longitudinal manual behind these engines, the T5 is a wonderful box to drive but they just can't take much power. These engines could be a real weapon in a chevette, turbo 3400/3500/3900 and a good transmission, would take a lot of the v6-class sportsman races. So far, the Aisin MA5/R15x/AX15 has been the least modified option I've found so far. Six-Shooter is running a Nissan FS5R30A trans in his car though-which is good for a LOT of power no problems. So there's another option as well.

[sharkey]

first time ive seen this thread, pretty cool build. im helping a friend out doing a 3400 supercharged swap in his 89 mazda b2200. we are using a t-bird m90, and using a t5. im half expecting it to kill the t5, but a t5 can be built to take some power with the right gear set.

[Xnke]

So, got this all installed and running about a year ago. Dropped off this forum mostly because of time issues and photofuket screwing up the images, but the thing runs. I drove it down to florida for vacation, and over a 1560 mile round trip, I averaged 30.5MPG. The 94/95 OBD1.5 computer now does the 2Bar map sensor and wideband O2 sensor logging if you're up for installing a few electronicals inside the computer-no need to install anything in the box for the 2Bar MAP sensor, but the wideband O2 sensor input does need you to split the case.

On 5.5PSI, the t-5 trans blew 2nd gear and split the case. Still on 87 octane, too...this cylinder head design is amazingly knock resistant!

The Colorado/Canyon/H3 hummer MA5 transmission is a derivative of the Toyota Supra R154, and I am swapping that in later this week. I used the Dakota 2.5L bellhousing and Jeep Cherokee throwout bearing sleeve, throwout bearing, and clutch fork. The clutch is a 2.2L S10 clutch disk, and you could use the pressure plate as well but I drilled the flywheel to use a stiffer Nissan pressure plate.

The transmission is a little longer from the end of the bellhousing to the front of the shifter box-I am not sure yet if that will be an issue. Might have to trim the floor a smidge, and I'll definitely need to adjsut the driveshaft length a bit. Also, the input shaft pilot is dead flush with the front of the bellhousing-this may require me to make an extended pilot bushing. Not sure yet-but if I do NOT have to make an extended pilot bushing, then the 2.2L pilot bushing will fit.

After the new trans is installed, time to up the boost. I'm on a 3.8" pulley now, I have 3.6, 3.4, 3.3, 3.2, and 3.0" pulleys made up and waiting.

[bob442]

Wow some real decent fab skills, tag me when you get more progress!

[Xnke]

It cranks, but I'm short one 180* bend of finishing the driver's side header, so it hasn't been run more than long enough to get oil pressure. Once the header tube is fitted I'll run it in and get it out to the dyno. It's sitting at the combustion lab right now.



And with the hood on:

[34blazer]

Cool. Hows the engine side coming along?

[LeftVentricle]

That's hot. I've always liked the blue-on-gray two tone ever since my old Celebrity wagon had it. I'm seriously considering having my current Century wagon done up in that scheme.

[Xnke]

So this happened...

There are some bugs to sand out. One bug in particular jumped onto the panel RIGHT as we were spraying the first coat of clear and I didn't catch him until we were done...he is perfectly preserved for eternity. The rest of them will sand out, as they're standing on top the clear.

Now THIS is what primer should look like off the gun, alright alright!



Sanded out to 600 grit wet, that spot of sanded-through-to-filler will bite me in the ass later:



Totally spaced on getting any shots of the sealer...it makes the whole thing feel like a grey plastic milk jug, and you totally doubt it'll look any good at all in that stage. Oh well. Also spaced out on getting photos of the minor color-because I'm a doof. I do have shots of masking over the gunmetal getting ready to spray today, though!



Taping over raw basecoat is not exactly recommended, but it works for me. I'll have to get a photo of WHY it's not recommended as I had an issue in one of the fenders, but it's way too late to fix it at the point I discovered it...I used the wrong type of masking paper and shot blue clean through it. One of the fenders has a tiny bit of blue overspray on top of the gunmetal, and since the metallic basecoat can't be sanded, nor wiped with reducer, and can only just be nibbed without fucking with it...I'll have to live with it and learn from it.



All taped up and ready to shoot the major color!



Blue is on, still taped up there. No clear on that yet...not too shabby for painting it on the loading dock!

Final clear on, letting it flash off here-the bugs don't show in the photos, but they're still there.



Drug the cab out into the sun to try and get some heat into it, and so we could see both colors together for the first time:



And the fenders under "streetlamp" type lighting, the sun was too bright to get a glare-free enough photo.



The cowl:



Pretty fuckin' stoked, guys. Pretty fuckin' stoked.

[Xnke]

Not much going on with this lately, lots of parts stacking up getting ready to paint the truck.

Basically when I pull the old engine out, I'm going to strip and prep the firewall, I have to fix some rust on the firewall anyway. Then I'll shoot it in the proper color, (which is black, like the inner fenders, because easy) and re-assemble it with the new engine. Hoping to cut down on scrapes and dings in the new paint and also to only have to take it apart the one time. Once the firewall is painted, the rest of the cab can be shot in color while still on the frame-no big deal. This is the handiest way for me to do it. Also the easiest and cheapest, rather than shooting the firewall in 2-stage like the rest of the truck.

[Xnke]

Soooo, I'm gonna paint this thing I think, prior to the run-in.

[Xnke]

PCM harness tested out good, no problems anywhere. I'm still trying to work out the behavior of the clutch anticipate switch, the air conditioning, and some of the dash gauge feeds, but there are only 8 wires left to go. Most of those have to wait until the engine is in the truck, though.

The exhaust headers need to be finished, then the oil cooler parts need to be mounted and lines run. The intercooler lines need to be run and the parts permanantly mounted. I need to get off my lazy butt and relocate the battery, so I can mount the air filter housing. Then, after run-in, the whole thing comes apart for paint.