Basically another junkyard bomb. You can definitely build a respectable 5.0 engine on the cheap, but this isn't IMO how to do it. First, I would NEVER, and I mean NEVER bolt go fast parts on a used engine no matter how good it looks. At this point those engines are 20 years old. 20 years of Lord knows what in terms of use and maintenance. You can't build a house on a bad foundation. Building an engine is no different. At 120k, what you have is a well seasoned core. Blow it apart, bore it 0.030" over and load it with good pistons, rings, and bearings. Ring seal is the most important thing in an engine. All the go fast parts on Earth won't save your build if the rings leak. Then put some ARP bolts in the stock rods if you aren't going to zing it to the moon and the big ends are round, otherwise just get a cheapie set of aftermarket rods. Get it balanced for 50oz imbalance flywheel and balancer. If you think the mileage is accurate you could probably reuse the lifters and just stab a cam in it. The E cam is decent, but its 40 year old technology. For close to the same money you can get a better cam from Crane, etc. by talking to their tech department.
The GT40Ps are a great iron head. They do accurately describe the work you'll need to do to them. They probably aren't worth porting though. By the time you are that deep into them you can buy entry level aluminum head that flows better out of the box and already has better valves and springs. Edelbrock would be my go to for something like this.
If you want to run nitrous like this, that's fine, but without forged pistons this thing will die an unhappy death once you start pushing it. Mustang 5.0s in certain years had factory forged pistons. I've seen guys throw a 200 shot on them repeatedly without failure. That won't happen with hypereutectics, not for very long. Cast pistons you'd have to really like playing Russian roulette with a semi-auto. The ring end gaps start to get sketchy at that kind of shot too.
To that end, great as studs and MLS gaskets are you will eventually pop a gasket if you don't o-ring the heads. Naturally aspirated it would live forever like that, but the instantaneous cylinder pressure spike you get from nitrous or a blower you are just asking fro trouble.
My thoughts on magazine builds is they are done to prove a point, make a great cover shot to sell the rag, or as a shill to show how good free parts they got from advertisers are. My thought on any engine I build is that it must make x power for a realistic budget of y. Power is important, but longevity much more so as I do so hate doing things twice. I'd rather spend another $700-$1,000 and not have to worry about it.
Last edited by TKOPerformance (2/20/2023 4:47 PM)
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Quicksilver wrote:
