Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Several points from the conversation with Scotty:

Exhaust: Definitely run headers.  L&L's are good.  Use at least a single 3", if not a 3 1/2", w/a Magnaflow muffler.  That'll give more torque than dual 2 1/2" pipes.

Power: No one has complained about the power from these engines, and he's sold many of them.

Porting: The F3 heads flow well, and porting them or the plenums, or going to a larger throttle body isn't necessary and will only increase the HP but not the torque.

Quench: He normally drops the piston .005 to .010", but on mine and for my use he may reduce that a bit to increase the quench.

Inlet Air: Run the factory air inlet system, but delete the silencers.  And put a K&N filter in the factory box.  DO NOT PULL IN HOT UNDERHOOD AIR!  Every 10 degrees loses 1% of power.

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - I'll check it out when the time comes.  I don't know what I'm going to do with the rear suspension.  I hope it isn't a big problem.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Yeah, he has it down to a recipe by now.

"How spicy do you want it?"
"How long does it need to last?"
"What are you using for fuel?"
........

I really like someone who is business and not BS.
He doesn't have a big ego or a need to prove himself.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I think you may if you want more compliant suspension.
What tire are you running, 35's?

[Gary Lewis]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Yeah, he has it down to a recipe by now.

"How spicy do you want it?"
"How long does it need to last?"
"What are you using for fuel?"
........

I really like someone who is business and not BS.
He doesn't have a big ego or a need to prove himself.

That describes Scott quite well from what I can tell.

He apparently gets a lot of people trying to get info from him, so he's somewhat reserved with the info until the down payment.  At that point he kept asking "What other questions do you have?"  Until I finally said "Scott, you have other things to do.  I don't have any more questions now, but we'll be talking."  To which he said "Just shoot me an email."

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, of course he has "trade secrets".... and clients that pay for a heavily built motor that meets class rules.

You can share what the family's up to, but you don't usually put intimate details on the table at Christmas dinner.

[ArdWrknTrk]

One other observation about Scott. (And I don't know him personally)

He seems to have a real passion for what he does.
Like, he would be out there building engines even if it wasn't what pays his bills.

If you have a job you love, you have it made.  

[85lebaront2]

One thing I will warn you, running a K&N filter, the oil from it can and will contaminate the MAF sensor wire. Just keep a can of CRC MAF cleaner handy. It usually manifests as a lean idle condition, and just opening the air filter lid and spraying it off solves it.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, Jim, he does seem to have a passion for engines.  And you are right, having a paying job that is also your passion must be wonderful - although I wouldn't know.  But the time he's spent on forums helping people shows his passion.  

Bill - I agree.  Which is why I've not run a K&N filter on EFI.  But Scott recommended it so I'm going to try it.  I do have a can of cleaner, so maybe it'll go on trips with me.

[grumpin]

Gary Lewis wrote

Dane - I hope the view is worth the climb.  Don't give up on your rough ride just yet.  By the way, do you have sway bars?  If so, have you disconnected them?  That helped Big Blue's ride.  It went from brutal to very rough.

I have not disconnected the sway bars, may try that someday. Been too busy working on my sons Jeep Liberty. Getting it ironed out I think.

[85lebaront2]

Just pretend you're in a USMC 6X6

[Gary Lewis]

It isn't difficult.  On the rear I took out a bolt.  On the front I took out one end link.  Big difference.

[Steve83]

Gary Lewis wrote

I don't know what I'm going to do with the rear suspension.

Common chassis grease between the leaves will make the ride smoother than you'd expect.  I built an anti-wrap bar for my Bronco, but I didn't use heavy enough material, so the 4.9L going thru the granny NP435 to the high gears & 32s under 3 tons of Bronco wrapped the bar.





But with the disk axle swap, I went to anti-wrap spring perches on the axle.

[grumpin]

85lebaront2 wrote

Just pretend you're in a USMC 6X6

Ha! That’ll work!

[Gary Lewis]

Steve - Thanks, I think.  I say that because I'm hoping to not have to do anything like that.  But, I'm not sure I found the right pic to show how the bar attaches to the rear axle.  I see the plate to the right of the diff, but not where the bar attaches.

What am I missing?

[Steve83]

The bar is welded to to the plate that's bolted to the diff housing.  The bar's other end (with the ball) slides onto the pin that pivots on the new (2.6) crossmember (which also holds the aux.batt. & supports the skidplate), and that pivot nearly aligns with the fronts of the leaf packs.  So the bar doesn't restrict the axle from articulating or traveling; only from wrapping.  And as the diff travels, the bar maintains the driveshaft alignment to the t-case (because it has a DC joint, so its alignment is different from a pickup's).

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, thanks.  Now I understand.

[Gary Lewis]

As you know, I've been cleaning up the shop.  Still a loooooooooooong way to go, but made some progress today, including getting the floor swept.  This is what I got from the cutting, grinding, and drilling.  (The pencil is just to show the scale.)

[Steve83]

Uuhh...  This is supposed to be a family-friendly website.   Please stop posting dirty pictures.

[Gary Lewis]

So sorry!  I'll go take a pic of a clean floor.