Progress Thread Seriously? Another Boosted Coyote Swap Build? - Still Slowly Moving Forward

Hoytster

I don't dare do that to my Knob
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Dec 30, 2002
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Cornwall, PA
Well, I figure it's about time I actually do one of these build threads considering this will be my third fox-chassis build that I've done, though this one will be the most intensive yet. I've never documented one like this, figure this is a good way to keep track of the progress and to keep a fire lit under my ass to get it done as timely as possible. I expect the initial part of this build to take a solid year or two and then keep progressing from there. So for those that care.......

Here is the 1000 foot view so far:
-Car is a 1989 foxbody hatch with 60K original miles. I originally bought it 5 years ago with all the early 90's GT40 bolt ons and Paxton Ball-Drive blower goodness that it offered.
-Full chassis build with through the floor subframes and 8 point cage
-Repaint car with a possible Maier Racing wide body kit
-Turbo charged coyote motor swap
-Suspension setup for road racing and street

And for all those that like to stare at photos and videos, in addition to what I post in this build thread, I will be posting ALL my progress media here: http://www.coyotemuscle.com/images/personal/

Let the fun begin!
 
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I had picked up this F150 coyote motor from a guy upstate for $500 bucks. It had 60K miles on it and what the guy described as a knock. This engine has been sitting in my garage for the last year and I finally got to tear it down to see what the issue was.

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The internals are looking good. The engine had brand new timing chains, guides, cams, and adjusters on the left side. Obviously someone has to been trying to get rid of the issues this motor supposedly had.

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I didn't find anything wrong on the top end. Everything looked clean and in good working order for 60K miles. Time to tear apart the bottom end.

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Well there is the issue! The rod bearing on cylinder number 8 is toast. That would definitely explain the knock.

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And after a couple hours of using sodium hydroxide jelly, here is the journal all cleaned up. Hopefully this is repairable. It passes the crude fingernail test with flying colors and measures exactly to spec. Time to take the motor and crank to the machine shop and see what they say.

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So just to be sure I am undstanding, the car itself is a stock bodied GT40 wearing car at this point, right? Or have you started any of the work on it chassis wise?

Well, it was a stock bodied GT40 wearing car. I have the original short block and all GT40 accessories removed and torn down already. I haven't touched the interior yet, that's next so I can start prepping for the subframes and cage.
 
Sweet. Most of us are too lazy to follow the link to another page for pics, so if you get time, please add pics like you did of the engine progress. Hope that coyote rebuild goes smooth and doesnt run up the bill too much!
 
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Sweet. Most of us are too lazy to follow the link to another page for pics, so if you get time, please add pics like you did of the engine progress. Hope that coyote rebuild goes smooth and doesnt run up the bill too much!

Sorry, I should have written it to say that those pics will be in addition to what I post here. I plan to keep this thread well updated as I progress through the build. We will see what the rebuild costs, but there isn't much on a coyote that is cheap!

Damn. $500 for a yote is a steal, even if it has issues.

I agree! I was VERY happy when I found it and even happier when I found just the damage that I did. I already planned on rebuilding it with forged rods and pistons, so as long as the crank is repairable I'm not out anything more than I planned. And even if it isn't economically repairable, a new crank is only $315.
 
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Sounds like you are tearing the car down to nothing, did you consider just buying a decent donor car instead of using a clean 60k mile car?

Pretty much am. Honestly, I hate rust and didn't want to deal with any of those gremlins if I didn't have too. Plus, I got this car off family and I couldn't have bought a decent roller for the price I got this whole running car. Between the cost of the car and the amount of money I'm making off selling the GT40 and original parts, I'm getting close to getting this car for free. I'm keeping the original tubular GT40 intake and cover though...
 
What's the average cost to do a swap. Obviously you got a great deal on the motor. But I've been contemplating this swap vs fixing up my 302, heads, injectors, blower blah blah blah. I've seen coyotes for ehh about 5-7k, only seen a couple that have transmission included. I know you need some extra stuff for wiring etc I'm sure, k- member swap but I think I've seen something somewhere where you can do it another way and don't anymore. What is one looking at though to buy a said motor, plus whatever it takes to do the swap and pay a person who can do it legitimately, bc I have no idea how to do something like this?
 
What's the average cost to do a swap. Obviously you got a great deal on the motor. But I've been contemplating this swap vs fixing up my 302, heads, injectors, blower blah blah blah. I've seen coyotes for ehh about 5-7k, only seen a couple that have transmission included. I know you need some extra stuff for wiring etc I'm sure, k- member swap but I think I've seen something somewhere where you can do it another way and don't anymore. What is one looking at though to buy a said motor, plus whatever it takes to do the swap and pay a person who can do it legitimately, bc I have no idea how to do something like this?

I'm not sure about the labor, but just for the coyote swap portion of this build I have budgeted between 10-12K. That's NOT including the turbo system and supporting pieces. This would just be the engine rebuild, strengthening, transmission, ecu, k-member, transmission crossmember, and other supporting pieces just to get it running.
 
nice build thread..not to sound like an ass but i would never, ever lay a crank down on it's side.

You referring to the old thought that laying a crank on it's side will distort the crank? I've heard both sides, and my experience has been it's false. I've had many cranks that have sat for years on their side that have measured out perfectly. Steel does not creep, otherwise there would be problems storing it in any position or with every steel fastener ever used.
 
And here's the car after tonight. Getting the fenders and bumper off to start cleaning up the engine bay. I want to tuck all the wiring I will need to keep and smooth out the engine bay.

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