94 Mustang GT: Daily Driver Motor: MCRP BUILT!

It had been a while since I did anything to that daily driver motor.  It seemed to me like the parts were just sitting there collecting dust.  A friend of mine who is a hard core bracket racer was having his motor 'freshened' by Mike Curcio, who is the owner of MCRP in Easton Pa.  I had the opportunity to talk to Mike when we both stopped in to drop off some parts.

Mike Curcio has done some serious racing engines.  A quick look around his shop and you can just smell all of the horsepower.  I told him my story about collecting all the parts, and not having any time to put it together.  I finally asked him - would you be interested in assembling my 'little' 306 daily driver motor?  He said absolutely!  I asked his advice and we came up with a list of things that would be done.

First thing was to drop off my pile of parts.  I got together an inventory of all the parts / part numbers and dropped off the pile at his shop.  I still needed pushrods, but he could get them once he knew the correct length.  The rotating assembly would be balanced, everything would be assembled and then run on the dyno to break it in / seat the rings / check for leaks and measure the output.

It turns out that I ordered the wrong size piston rings.  Luckily Mike needed that size so he just swapped them for the correct size which he had on hand.

Some time passed and I got a text message from Mike showing a picture of my engine in the dyno room.  He said that if everything goes well, it will be run tomorrow.  I was really excited.  The next day I didn't hear anything.  The following day I was in his area so I stopped in to see what was up.  It was not good news.

It turns out that on the first dyno pull, there was a problem.  He said "on the first pull, the window on the dyno room started to shake. That always indicates a valvetrain issue because it messes with the air in the room.  We shut it down immediately".  They did some investigation using an IR temp gauge to see which cylinder had the problem and pulled that cylinder head off.  As they put it on the bench, the head of a valve fell off onto the bench.  It was a close call!  If that valve would have come apart while the motor was running, it would have ben catastrophic.  Disaster avoided!  Now, if I would have put the motor together and put it in the car and started it up to break it in, I would have NEVER caught the issue in time.  I was really grateful!

Mike gave me the rundown on the cylinder heads.  It turns out that the machine shop that did the freshening / rebuild of the heads used really junk / cheap valves.  They also didn't check the tolerances for the guides.  That shop reamed out the guides and installed valves with an oversized stem.  Basically, they did a crappy job and used sub-standard parts.  I asked Mike what he wanted to do.  He said he would put some thought to it and catch up with me in a day or two.

When I got the call from Mike, he gave me a few options:  Edelbrock performer heads, GT 40x aluminum heads, rebuild the current heads or procure / rebuild another set of GT 40 iron heads.  Mike preferred that we go with a different set of GT 40 Iron heads and rebuild them to his specs.  I told him to go for it!  This was a tough decision for me.  On one had I wanted to go with better heads / more power.  On the other hand the GT 40 iron heads were what the FTI cam was designed for, and they also had the 'set it and forget it' aspect for a daily driver.

A few days later I got the call from Mike that the first pull on the dyno went well.  Later in the day he sent me a readout of the dyno sheet.  He had made about 10 pulls and it was very consistent.  It liked about 32* of timing.  It was pretty impressive!  from 4500 to 6k RPM it averaged 290 Ft-Lbs and 288 HP.  Peaks were 320 Ft-Lbs at 4200rpm and 303HP at 5300RPM.  These numbers were with a carb and carb intake.  I'm going to assume that with the Cobra EFI intake the numbers would be different.

A few days later I went to pick up the motor.  we used some 'legs' that bolt to the motor mounts, and then lifted the engine (three of us) into the back of my Expedition.  When we took it out, we used an engine crane and put the motor on my engine stand.  That is where it sits now.

Next step is to get some valve covers sorted out - (the stock ones do not fit over the rockers), and get the proper water pump bolts (I supplied a foxbody kit, which does not work for 94/95 water pump).  Stay tuned!

94 Mustang GT: New Wheels!

It has been a while since I posted because things got a little busy.  There was our wedding, then a crazy winter.  Now that things are calming down, it seems like a good time to give another update!

Currently it has mach1 wheels on it with Kuhmo Ecsta LX Platinum tires size 235/50 17.  I bought those wheels to replace the stock wheels and I told myself that they would be temporary.  That was 4 years ago!  So much for temporary.  Fast forward to November 2014 when I finally caved in and bought the GT500 wheels for my 1994.

Here is a link to them on American Muscle:  http://www.americanmuscle.com/machined-gt500-18x9-9498.html

I saw a picture online of these wheels on a black SN95 similar to mine and I really fell in love with the wheels.  The tires arrived yesterday, April 15 2015 and the valve stems should be here today.  Tomorrow night they should be mounted / balanced and ready to go on the car.  The tires are Kuhmo Ecsta LX Platinums 255/45 18.  The wheels are 18x9.

I do have a concern with how the car is going to sit with the bigger wheels and tires, but I can always adjust the stance of the car via the suspension in the future.  I'll be sure to update with some pictures once they are on the car!