Hey guys, I thought I'd give you all an update. First and foremost: I got an email from Charles at Tork Tech that my TVS 2300 is shipping out tomorrow (Monday)! He said that they're revamping their web site, and that they intend to offer the TVS 2300 as their top-of-the-line product, so others will be able to duplicate what I'm doing if they're so inclined.
Last week, I attempted to weld the Trick Flow crank sprockets together so I could time the engine and button it up. Alas, my skills with a stick welder are lacking, and the rod itself was much too large to be able to weld cleanly between the sprockets. To make a long story short, I ruined them beyond repair, so I had to buy a new set from Summit (the originals came free with my heads from MHS). Once I received the new set, I took them to a local welder to get it done right. He tried his best with a thin wire MIG, but he wasn't successful either. Fortunately, he didn't ruin the new sprockets, but I needed to find a better solution. Since MHS and Trickflow both warn that the crank keyway can be sheared off if the sprockets aren't secured to each other, and welding seemed to have failed, I decided to attach them with a roll pin. I was avoiding doing so because I knew that the gears were hardened steel and I assumed it would take forever to drill them out. Alas, I was right. Once I finally got them pinned together, I put the rest of the timing stuff together:
Here's the passenger's side cam sprocket:
And here's the driver's side:
Notice the blue end links. When Nick assembled my heads and cams, he found that the driver's side cam was ground to a 118 centerline, and the passenger's side 114 degrees. Since they were supposed to be on a 110 centerline, I advanced the driver's side 8 degrees and the passenger's side 4 degrees:
Here's the engine fully timed and ready to be finished up:
Next, it was time to put the front cover on. I pressed in the new front seal, and put a dab of RTV on the cracks between the heads and block, and on the top of the heads where the valve covers would sit:
Once the front cover was on, I installed the valve covers:
Next, I installed the rear main cover and seal. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of this step, but it wasn't that interesting anyway. I wirebrushed the mating surfaces of the cover (I reused the factory one), drove in the dowels that locate it in the block, pressed in the new rear main seal, ran a bead of RTV around the rear cover, and attached it to the engine using the old bolts. I had to take the engine off the stand for this step. After I was done, I put the engine back on the stand, flipped it upside down, and installed the MMR windage tray, 4v oil sump tube, and MMR oil pan. I also installed new Ford motor mounts. I reused the heat shields from the old ones after cleaning them up with some brake cleaner and a wire wheel. Also, I installed a real oil pressure sender to be used with my Speedhut gauges.
Here's the completed engine (upside down):
Now, all I'm waiting for is the transmission. Once that's done, I'll drop everything in at once, slap the blower on, do the fuel system, and get it tuned. I'll post back again when I have more updates!
, sooooo forged rebuild is out of the question.
