It's 5.3/AW4 swap time for the road racer

[IXNAYXJ]

We've come in 2nd place for the third and final time. We just can't keep up with the lighter or more powerful cars and are tired of getting left alone on the straights. It gets boring:

http://youtu.be/4HO4pRoQxbw

So we're going to embark on a super budget oriented LM7 5.3 swap and retain the AW4. The plan is to use an LSx bellhousing and flex plate and build our own adapter. I'll keep this thread updated as we progress, our goal is to have our parts collected within the next few weeks, start building and be testing by the end of the year for our first race in March of '13. We figure that will give us plenty of time to work out the bugs before our first race.

-Matt

 

[seanyb505]

How do the judges view engine swaps? Can you bribe them that much?

 

[XJLI]

Oh boy. I'm anxious to see how the aw4 holds up.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

How do the judges view engine swaps? Can you bribe them that much?

Well we paid $450 for the 5.3, 4L60 and t-case out of a wrecked '99 Silverado. Sold the tranny and t-case for almost that, therefore it fits within the $500 budget cap. That's the party line, at least, and it really is just a 145k mile iron block truck motor, nothing all that fancy. We predict much of the expense to be time. Also, since it's a race car, we don't care about making it look OEM or making all the gauges work. Should simplify things a great deal.

Oh boy. I'm anxious to see how the aw4 holds up.

Me too. I can't see any reason it won't do fine though. We basically only use 3rd and 4th gears and it only gets shifted a couple times a lap. We have already bypassed the TCU completely, the tranny shifts when we tell it to with our RADesigns R/T Shifter, so that's not a concern either.

Time will only tell if it will hold up, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it does. This won't be the first time we've ignored conventional wisdom on this project (like running a Cherokee in a road race).

-Matt

 

[urban yan]

Sweet. Keep us posted.

 

[bjoehandley]

Isn't the 5.3l LS motor an aluminum block? If so, that should make a considerable improvement in cornering on top of the better power for the straights!

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Isn't the 5.3l LS motor an aluminum block? If so, that should make a considerable improvement in cornering on top of the better power for the straights!

Some (not many) came aluminum block called the L33, but not our basic old LM7 (as you'd expect, there's a price premium). Even with the cast block/alloy heads that ours has it'll be lighter than the 4.0. I expect to see about double the horsepower (though that isn't saying much). Another advantage is the V8 is shorter than an I6, so the weight will be further back in the chassis which will help our very front biased weight distribution.

-Matt

 

[bjoehandley]

Oh, I figured that was all aluminum. With the set back you mentioned and lower deck height should help too, wouldn't be surprised if it was a bunch lighter than the 4.0l either.

 

[streetxj]

The 4.6 32v engine from a lincoln mark VIII has an aluminum block. Usually, when cobra owners build there engines, they use this block since it's a light strong block. The Cobra 4.6 32v engines had a iron block, but the internals were stronger than the lincoln mark VIII engines. So basically, they use the bare lincoln block with the forged internals when they plan to boost it. Lincoln mark VIII's are heavier than the jeep cherokee, even though their engines are pretty light. If they can make a tank of a car haul a$$, even N/A with bolt-ons, a jeep cherokee with this engine would be a rocket. Even though, I'm not sure if you can make it work in a jeep cherokee, unless you get the wiring harness with ECU and make a custom k member. I'm a Ford guy, so I'm a bit biased.


Good luck with the 5.3 swap! Can't wait to see the results.

 

[Vanimal]

The 4.6 32v engine from a lincoln mark VIII has an aluminum block. Usually, when cobra owners build there engines, they use this block since it's a light strong block. The Cobra 4.6 32v engines had a iron block, but the internals were stronger than the lincoln mark VIII engines. So basically, they use the bare lincoln block with the forged internals when they plan to boost it. Lincoln mark VIII's are heavier than the jeep cherokee, even though their engines are pretty light. If they can make a tank of a car haul a$$, even N/A with bolt-ons, a jeep cherokee with this engine would be a rocket. Even though, I'm not sure if you can make it work in a jeep cherokee, unless you get the wiring harness with ECU and make a custom k member. I'm a Ford guy, so I'm a bit biased.


Good luck with the 5.3 swap! Can't wait to see the results.

yea the mark 8's block was made by ferarri, supposed to be pretty bulletproof. yu can get a whole damn car for $500 usually, people give them away when the air suspension gives out.

 

[bjoehandley]

Only problem with the Mark VIII swap is that those motors are a mile wide, you could more easily fit an OHV V-8 and not have clearance issues like thos motors would produce.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

The 4.6 32v engine from a lincoln mark VIII has an aluminum block. Usually, when cobra owners build there engines, they use this block since it's a light strong block. The Cobra 4.6 32v engines had a iron block, but the internals were stronger than the lincoln mark VIII engines. So basically, they use the bare lincoln block with the forged internals when they plan to boost it.

Actually, all '96-'01 32v Cobras are aluminum block twin cam motors too, as are a handful of other cars. The "Terminator" '03-'04 Cobras had an iron block because they were supercharged.

Lincoln mark VIII's are heavier than the jeep cherokee

So is the Chevy Silverado the 5.3 comes out of...by a larger margin than the Lincoln...and the Chevy mill makes 5 more hp out of the box. While the DOHC 4.6 is a good motor, it is very, very wide making it hard to fit. Way to think out of the box, though.

yea the mark 8's block was made by ferarri, supposed to be pretty bulletproof.

Well...not quite. The block was made by Teksid, an Italian company that does aluminum casting for a lot of companies, Ferrari had no hand in it themselves.

-Matt

 

[Vanimal]

Actually, all '96-'01 32v Cobras are aluminum block twin cam motors too, as are a handful of other cars. The "Terminator" '03-'04 Cobras had an iron block because they were supercharged.

So is the Chevy Silverado the 5.3 comes out of...by a larger margin than the Lincoln...and the Chevy mill makes 5 more hp out of the box. While the DOHC 4.6 is a good motor, it is very, very wide making it hard to fit. Way to think out of the box, though.


Well...not quite. The block was made by Teksid, an Italian company that does aluminum casting for a lot of companies, Ferrari had no hand in it themselves.

-Matt

96-98 cobras are teksid, but 99 up are WAP.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

96-98 cobras are teksid, but 99 up are WAP.

Correct...I never said otherwise.

 

[streetxj]

Actually, all '96-'01 32v Cobras are aluminum block twin cam motors too, as are a handful of other cars. The "Terminator" '03-'04 Cobras had an iron block because they were supercharged.



-Matt

oh, okay. I got it a bit mixed up. Thanks for the correction.

 

[streetxj]

So is the Chevy Silverado the 5.3 comes out of...by a larger margin than the Lincoln...and the Chevy mill makes 5 more hp out of the box. While the DOHC 4.6 is a good motor, it is very, very wide making it hard to fit. Way to think out of the box, though.



-Matt

Yeah, I think the ford 5.0L HO or a 351 would fit into the engine bay easier. The 4.6 and other modular engines tend to be on the wide side.

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Yeah, I think the ford 5.0L HO or a 351 would fit into the engine bay easier.

Or...a Gen III GM V8 that makes 100 more hp...like the one sitting in the shop?

 

[streetxj]

:laugh3:


Does your Aw4 have a shift kit?

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Does your Aw4 have a shift kit?

Do you mean internal modifications? No, it's totally stock, 211k miles (~10k race miles) and we've never even changed the fluid. We do have a pretty decent sized cooler on it, seems to have been working.

If you mean shift controller, then yes. We're running a prototype RADesigns R/T Shifter that both mechanically shifts (PRN432) and shifts the solenoids at the same time. The TCU is completely bypassed, no TC lockup, etc. Watch this video to see it in operation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HO4pRoQxbw&list=UUq4NnY-jLWUr5G1OPu7PbWg&index=2&feature=plcp

-Matt

 

[FlexdXJ]

Oh, I figured that was all aluminum. With the set back you mentioned and lower deck height should help too, wouldn't be surprised if it was a bunch lighter than the 4.0l either.

The LM isn't the rest of the LSx series is all aluminum, at least that's my understanding.