"Rebuild" time...

[Juiced46]

Just for my own morbid curiosity how common is the cracked cylinder walls? That's the issue I had run into, and it was only as a fluke someone sent me a link to a end of season teardown that had the same issue. Other than that I hadn't heard of any on iron block modulars.


.

I see it about once a year on average, personally, not read on the internet. Its more often than you might think. The ones I have seen and tore down were not making huge power either. Your normal run of the mill twin screw bolt on power in the 600s.

Put it this way. I have seen more Iron block cylinder wall cracks, fried pistons and bad oil coolers than I have seen head gaskets. I have seen ZERO headgasket failures on untouched 03/04 Cobra engines, and I work on these cars alot. The only time I have seen a headgasket failure (not including Boss Block stuff) was due to improper assembly when the engine was apart. Heck I have cars out there on stock longblocks running 25-29psi on twin screws for upwards of 10 years now and have not lifted a head or pushed out a headgasket.

This is the worst one I have seen, which was actually my personal car but have dealt with many more.

It was pushing so much coolant into the cylinder it basically stopped lubricating and caused the engine to lock up and then this happened....

Symptoms were the same. Car would use a slight amount of coolant after boosting. Then it started to get worse and would push coolant out of the cap when boosting. Then one day cruising, it finally said I had enough.....

 

[holiks03cobra]

...

 

[SecondhandSnake]

I see it about once a year on average, personally, not read on the internet. Its more often than you might think. The ones I have seen and tore down were not making huge power either. Your normal run of the mill twin screw bolt on power in the 600s.

Put it this way. I have seen more Iron block cylinder wall cracks, fried pistons and bad oil coolers than I have seen head gaskets. I have seen ZERO headgasket failures on untouched 03/04 Cobra engines, and I work on these cars alot. The only time I have seen a headgasket failure (not including Boss Block stuff) was due to improper assembly when the engine was apart. Heck I have cars out there on stock longblocks running 25-29psi on twin screws for upwards of 10 years now and have not lifted a head or pushed out a headgasket.

This is the worst one I have seen, which was actually my personal car but have dealt with many more.
It was pushing so much coolant into the cylinder it basically stopped lubricating and caused the engine to lock up and then this happened....
Symptoms were the same. Car would use a slight amount of coolant after boosting. Then it started to get worse and would push coolant out of the cap when boosting. Then one day cruising, it finally said I had enough.....

I've seen and heard the oil coolers and pistons, but the iron block cracks are new to me.

Fingers crossed I don't see it on the new Teksid.

 

[holiks03cobra]

Just a little update. I pulled the motor and have it disassembled. There are no cracks in any of the cylinder walls. The pass side head gasket had a bad spot between the first 2 cylinders. 2 of the layers in the hg were cracked, 2nd layer was almost all the way separated. Not sure if that would cause my symptoms or not. If not, then I'm thinking I lifted a head(s). I am pushing 24lbs of boost on stock bolts. When I was taking the head bolts out some turn easier than others. I'm thinking that since I'm down to a bare block I would take it and have it cleaned up. It's a reman from Tousley and I heard that this motors are bored .020 over. Does anyone know if that's true?

 

[Juiced46]

Ahhh, Like I said, you will really only see an issue with the headgaskets if someone has been in there and did not install them properly.

Got any pictures?

 

[holiks03cobra]

Ahhh, Like I said, you will really only see an issue with the headgaskets if someone has been in there and did not install them properly.

Got any pictures?

This motor has never been taken apart. I forgot to mention that I had a overheating issue and the motor got very hot. At one point it hit 272*. I can get some pics.

 

[holiks03cobra]

 

[Juiced46]

You said it was a reman.....

 

[holiks03cobra]

You said it was a reman.....

Yes, I bought it from Tousley some years ago. It has about 55k miles on it now.

 

[c6zhombre]

Yes, I bought it from Tousley some years ago. It has about 55k miles on it now.

Damn! I'd say that reman did pretty darn good!

 

[holiks03cobra]

Damn! I'd say that reman did pretty darn good!

I agree. It's went from a ported eaton to a 2.3 whipple(17-22psi) to a 2.9 whipple(26-24psi) and I am not easy on my car!

 

[Rambro]

I agree. It's went from a ported eaton to a 2.3 whipple(17-22psi) to a 2.9 whipple(26-24psi) and I am not easy on my car!

Troof^^^^ I can vouch for it. Dyno pulls, no telling how many street pulls and it seen the track plenty. Has anyone ever been able to confirm what the remans are bored out at? Isn't .20 over the limit on the stock iron block?

 

[Juiced46]

Not sure if the remans are bored out or not. I am assuming they are. Just measure a bore since it is apart and you can tell.

Also, the remans are not built by Ford, they are sub contracted out just like their FRPP shortblocks. I have pulled a few apart and the quality on these remans is not the greatest. It would not surprise me that this engine was not assembled correctly from the beginning, most likely not torqued properly amongst other things.

 

[holiks03cobra]

What head gaskets should I use? If you know the part # that would be great.

 

[Juiced46]

Fel-Pro 1141R and 1141L.

Are you just slapping headgaskets on or doing a full rebuild?

 

[holiks03cobra]

Fel-Pro 1141R and 1141L.

Are you just slapping headgaskets on or doing a full rebuild?

Thank you! Well as of right now the plan is to use the stock block, crank and rods. Change the pistons to different ones and add compression. I was looking at Gibtec for pistons, pins and rings. I'd like to have the heads ported and add custom cams.
Would you know if ARP part #156-5403 would work with the 3V windage tray?

 

[Juiced46]

Just get an Alum 05-10 block while you are at it. Your block will have to be machined regardless so the extra cost is minimal. That ARP part # will not work with the 3V windage tray I do not think since the tray uses more studs than the 03-04 cobra tray. I have a 3V tray and studs laying around. I will have to take a look

I am also using Gibtecs in an Alum Block for my new build.

 

[holiks03cobra]

The block is going to a machine shop next week, so I'll see what they say before I buy a new or different block.

 

[Juiced46]

If you plan on changing pistons, the block needs to be machined, even if you use the block you have now. For $300 or so you can pick up a 05-10 Aluminum block or a Teksid.

 

[Nightmare302]

If you get the gibtecs don't lower them in the cylinder. Keep them at the stock height. You don't "need" a newer WAP or Teksid. They aren't plug and play and require a little bit of work but they do drop around 80 pounds off teh nose.