4.9 MS EFI Turbo in an 83 F100 2wd stepside

fletcher0780

New member
I'm helping a friend with his turbo project. He got a 93 F150 for free and he's going to use the cab for a plow truck and the engine in his very clean 83 F100. I managed to find a MS2 computer and EECIV adapter harness used for $225, plus another $150 for the wideband O2. The first step was swapping a couple pins on the mustang EEC adapter to work with the 4.9 harness. It took us a few hours to get the truck to run on MS, so that was a victory :). Next we started accumulating parts for the swap, including a 9 inch rear and C6 trans. We also have two Audi KKK K24 turbos and some 34lb injectors. We're going to use an eBay FMIC and fabricate the turbo up/down pipes as many have done before. Looking for 350HP in this first round and we'll see what lets go on this first engine so we know where to improve on the next. This engine seems to run well, but has high miles and was really only sourced for the EFI components. Where are people getting forged pistons? Any luck with any of the custom piston makers? how about cam selection, o-ringing heads, etc? The plan is to start with 8-10 PSI and see where that gets us, then gradually increase boost and add meth to combat detonation. I'd post some pics, but can't scale them all down right now. Why the strict image size?

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for the cam, I've heard the less overlap the better, so something around 114* lobe centers or more the better. and the degree, IDK.

sounds like a promising project!! (y)
 
We've had pretty good success with JE Pistons.

If you're running 8-10lbs of boost then I'd leave the stock style head gasket in there. At least until you push it out. Then upgrade.
Mike at Classic Inlines has some 300 copper head gaskets. If he doesn't then http://www.headgaskets.com does.
You will have to O-ring the properly run them.

Have fun!
Will
 
Thanks for the feedback, I sent Ross an email asking for a quote on some 8:1 forged 300 pistons. How much timing have you pulled to combat detonation at 11-12psi? Do you guys share or post your ign and ve maps? I just EFI'd my 97 Porsche 930 last summer with VEMs and found the tuning aspect really interesting.
 
Got a reply from Ross, they can provide 8:1, forged, lube skirt coating and thermal top coating for $46 ea. Not too bad, those along with o-ringing the head should provide for decent pressure capacity. How much will the bottom end take? Where is the weak spot, crank, rods, or hardware?
 
fletcher0780":1gp0yaih said:
How much timing have you pulled to combat detonation at 11-12psi?.

Its appears to be pre-ignition not overly advanced ignition. I haven't been able to solve it with ignition retard.

That said, TFI is limited to +10 degrees minimum advance. So you either need some monkey business with your distributor and a rescale of your spark table, or a different ignition system.
 
Not sure where your at, but if you can get E85 at the pump. I would use it. I was getting some knocking at 11-12psi on 91, when I started using E85 I ran 20lbs without any knocking. BTW cool build!
 
JonL":3c17810i said:
Not sure where your at, but if you can get E85 at the pump. I would use it. I was getting some knocking at 11-12psi on 91, when I started using E85 I ran 20lbs without any knocking. BTW cool build!

I'm in CT, no E85 around here unfortunately, meth injection will have to do. 20psi, that's quite an accomplishment. What are you running for engine internals and a turbo? Going to pull the engine apart over the next week or two and see what we're dealing with. Looks like we'll be ordering the pistons after that along with some other goodies.
 
I'm running a Masterpower T-70, and was just using a stock engine :). I have picked up a used carbed 300 out of a ~85 van for $100. I plan to rebuild it this winter. I am have been searching for pistons, rods, and Cam as well. Keep us posted on what you find out on internals. Good luck with the build :beer:
 
Slow progress. The engine is out, the C6 has been built, and the 9 inch is ready to go. Looks like the engine will be bored and cleaned up at the machine shop, then we'll order the forged pistons, ARP rod bolts & head studs, MLS head gasket, and other goodies. We'll port match the head and polish the combustion chambers as good as we can. The plan now is to run twin k03 turbos from an audi s4. The turbos have funky flanges, but are robust, plentiful, and have an internal waste gate. The spring opens the waste gate at around 5psi, so we'll likely use a n75 valve controlled by megasquirt to control boost. 350HP and 450 lbft is theoretically possible running no more than 12psi of boost. Here are some calculations we did on the turbos at this displacement:

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The C6 and 9 inch 2.75 gears along with 31" tall tires should provide nice long gears to compliment the flat torque curve. 60mph will be possible at 4500rpm in 1st gear, 100mph in 2nd, and we'll still be under 2200rpm at 70mph in 3rd.

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Hope to make more progress soon, this thing should be interesting...
 
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