Siggestions on how to proceed

Vadis89

New member
I have a '89 EFI 300 in a project truck I mistakenly rebuilt far too soon in the time line of the truck build (also had some set backs, both positive and negative ones) and I'm unsure if I should modify what I have or get another engine and start from scratch.
I rebuilt the engine basically stock in Oct 2013 and have yet to break it in. I turn it over every so often and it feels fine like the assembly lube is still there and working.
I hadn't learned of this forum until well after the rebuild which would've helped me a lot when building it too.
AND It also doesn't help I've decided to changed direction slightly with said build. :banghead:




The end goal of this engine is to turbocharge it but it will be my daily driver and work horse. It will see highway and city driving but mostly city. It will be empty more often then not but I don't want to hesitate to hook up a car trailer or haul a load of dirt/rock/whatever and use it for what it's meant for.

After researching a lot on this forum and the odd other place I've devised the following.
Pull the head as the engine currently sits with no coolant or oil in it (besides assembly lube) and swap in a Fel Pro 1024 head gasket and ARP head studs. I had talk to a speed shop in town and was quoted roughly $400 for porting and polishing but I'm unsure of the gains that that would give me in a boosted situation out weigh the cost. I work in a auto/industrial machine shop myself but we don't deal with performance things besides "bolt on" stuff. With that said, I wouldn't be opposed to doing some basic stuff like gasket matching or smoothing/polishing say exhaust ports myself but as for porting for the first time on this head doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Either I would pick up a second head to get done professionally down to road, practice myself on the 2nd head or skip it entirely if it offers little gains boosted.

I have been trying to find info about if the cam I have will work fine boosted or if I should be looking at swapping different one in. Comp Cams are readily available but the more exotic ones and custom grinds are quite pricey on the northern side of the 49th parallel.

The pistons I put in are your standard D-shape pistons. I hadn't planned to push the boost over 15 psi. I shouldn't need anything more then your typical hypereutectic aluminum piston, right?

The fuel and ignition will be stock to start with for break in and then later turned over to a DIYPNP Megasquirt system that will be built and tuned before I look at boosting it.

As far as the bottom end goes, is it fine without ARP main studs and connecting rod studs? If it isn't I suppose at this point it would be wiser to rebuild another engine.

Apologies if this is scattered or lacking in info. I've had 3 years to think, rethink and rethink again this build and have finally realized I should just ask the pros for some guidance. If any additional information is needed or something clarified please ask. Thank you for any help.
 
Hopefully I can help with what I've learned.

Head studs are a great idea, along with the felpro 1024. I put in main studs, but I've seen other people have success with bolts. If you studded the mains, everything will have to come apart to get the block line-honed.

I never bothered with port and polish, I'm not sure how much it would really help with forced induction.

I had a custom grind cam made for mine from compcams, it didn't cost any more than a regular one.
Valve lift: .452/.452
Duration at .050: 212/212
Lobe separation: 114.0

I specified smooth idle and mid-range torque. My only complaint is that the valvetrain ticks at idle, but that's not really an issue.

I stuck with Hypereutectic pistons on mine, at the time I didn't know other v8 forged pistons could be used. I'm not sure which v8 pistons work though, might need to see if someone can add that info. I'm conservative with my timing, run meth/water injection, and plan on installing an intercooler before summer next year.
It's worth noting I'm just running 10psi right now.

Piston ring gap needs to be wider for a turbo engine because of more heat. Also, I'm not sure how other people feel about it but machine shops told me to run wider main bearing gaps. I set my piston ring gaps to .032 and mains to .003-.004.

On the head, put in propane valves. I think the brand I used is Stellite. Some sort of high temp valves that won't get soft.

Do you know the static compression ratio?
 
Thanks for the info. After talking to a few people and finding some more info, I ordered the head gasket (1024) and the head studs and I'm going to pull my head and install those. I'm also reining back my plans of 15 PSI to a more conservative 10 PSI for engine longevity sake.

Based on your cam numbers it seems like I might have a little more overlap which probably isn't that big of deal? You definitely have more lift but I suppose a set of Chevy 1.7 ratio roller rockers can give me a bit more and help things breath a bit better.

I'm definitely planning on intercooling with a turbo. eBay kits are so cheap it's almost a crime not to.

The only thing I'm worried about is the ring gap. I know it was suitable for a 4" bore but I can not recall what it was exactly. I may pull the pistons before I turbo and file them just to be on the safe side.

As far as static compression ratio goes, I haven't a clue. I know I rebuild to stock specs and decked the head and block to true them up.
 
Stock the 4.9 EFI engines (1988 to 96) have 8.8 to 1 Compression Ratio. Good luck :nod:
 
Vadis89":xwhd49q2 said:
Based on your cam numbers it seems like I might have a little more overlap which probably isn't that big of deal? You definitely have more lift but I suppose a set of Chevy 1.7 ratio roller rockers can give me a bit more and help things breath a bit better.

I'm definitely planning on intercooling with a turbo. eBay kits are so cheap it's almost a crime not to.

I'm not sure on the cam, I'm no cam guy and I know it's kind of a science so I'd feel bad saying anything on it. I didn't say before, but I'm running the stock 1.6 rockers on mine.
I have no experience running the higher ratio rockers.

Speaking of rockers, like yours, mine had the pedestal mount rockers. I converted mine to stud mount using this crane kit that FrenchtownFlyer had posted the numbers on. Once converted over, then the stock valve cover won't fit on right. Going to an aftermarket valve cover, then the upper intake doesn't have enough room because that dip in the middle is gone.

I have my reservations about the ebay turbos, back when I was planning my build I heard a lot of bad experiences from them. Are they better quality now?
 
bubba22349":1x6m3je6 said:
Stock the 4.9 EFI engines (1988 to 96) have 8.8 to 1 Compression Ratio. Good luck :nod:

Thanks! I know I shaved a bit off the head and block but I'm doubting it raised it much.

AlphaZ":1x6m3je6 said:
I'm not sure on the cam, I'm no cam guy and I know it's kind of a science so I'd feel bad saying anything on it. I didn't say before, but I'm running the stock 1.6 rockers on mine.
I have no experience running the higher ratio rockers.

Speaking of rockers, like yours, mine had the pedestal mount rockers. I converted mine to stud mount using this crane kit that FrenchtownFlyer had posted the numbers on. Once converted over, then the stock valve cover won't fit on right. Going to an aftermarket valve cover, then the upper intake doesn't have enough room because that dip in the middle is gone.

I have my reservations about the ebay turbos, back when I was planning my build I heard a lot of bad experiences from them. Are they better quality now?

That's good to know about the valve cover!
I'm not sure about the eBay turbos as well. I know a couple people that run them and they're holding up. I was just meaning the intercooler and piping kits are cheap.
 
So I just want to update this and get some opinions on the way I'm going with this project.
I swapped in a set of ARP head studs and the 1024 head gasket earlier this year and also broke the engine in just before winter started. I do have a coolant leak somewhere so I'll have to pressure test and see where exactly before I go too much further but will have to wait for warmer weather.

I had some good luck parts acquiring and got myself a '96 F-150 parts truck that turned out to be a 300/5 speed OBD-2 truck so that's swaying me to swap all over and perhaps run MS3 instead of the DIYPNP kit. I'm thinking that going and staying sequential injection might be in my better interest and I'm also toying with the idea of edis6 coil over plugs set up for the sake of reliable and consistency spark.

I've also bought some flanges off ebay based on the split manifold of these EFI engines and want to attempt to make my own turbo manifold. I realize it's a rather ambitious undertaking but I like the idea of being able to place the turbo perhaps a little down and closer to the block and under-ish the intake plenum. Or at least in a nicer location to run the down pipe in roughly the stock current y-pipe location.
I've already gathered parts to relocate the battery to driver's side of the truck while still retaining the coolant overflow and bug wash containers using era correct diesel parts. The end goal is possibly modifying and building an air box for the passenger side instead of running the large cone air filters people refer to "cold air intakes". That idea I'm still on the fence about. I can't see sucking, now extra heated, engine bay heat helping my cause.

I also picked up a used Holset HX35W turbo for the build and will attempt to rebuild that or at least reseal and rebearing.

With that said I've nailed down my goals for this truck and will be aiming for no higher then 10 psi as I don't want to push the rings too much and from my understanding even that will be quite the jump in power. It will be inter cooled and I hope to get away without additional cooling from a meth/water injection system or too high octane gas. If I could get away with 89 great but realistically I'm sure it will be 91.

I may assemble a way more turbo friendly engine in the future but the end goal with this truck is a solid reliable daily driver to at least keep up with modern day trucks on the highway which is 50% of my daily driving.
Anyways, open to ideas, suggestions and steering if I'm going down a wrong rabbit hole :rolflmao:
 
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