Matt Saunoras

Actually you can get the cam through the pass side wheel well if you lower that side of the subframe down about 6-8 inches. The car is very streetable, it just shakes the hell out of you when it's idling, it's tuned pretty good though and it's never once stalled out on me at a light or anything. The tune in it was written by me. I have a custom programmer and for a while was running a wideband O2 to monitor A/F ratios. It runs at a nice fat 12.0:1 AFR at wot and makes 10psi of boost at 9.4:1 compression. Premium fuel is a must. The cam is 220/230° at .050" .528/.528 112LSA. It's also got a double roller chain and 105# comp valve springs. It has headers and a 3" exhaust too. Lots of time and work went into it but I just have no need for a car anymore. It's getting up there in age too and the underbody is starting to show it. I just recently had to put a rack/ps pump in it and run a new RF brake line that blew out. I need to get rid of it before anything major happens

I figured I'd put this on here just so you guys can see a prime example of the dumb ideas we have when we're younger (or atleast how dumb I was). I took my only car, a 2001 Grand Prix GT with a 3800 naturally aspirated V6, and bolted on the heads, intake and supercharger off a bonneville. Some of you might know that the GTP and some other GM cars of that era came with a 3800 supercharged engine. This supercharged engine came with a much lower compression ratio than the N/A version, so logically you can't run as much boost with the N/A shortblock. So I thought I'd counteract my high compression ratio by running a more efficient cam. But the cam I decided to run was the nastiest sounding cam you could get, it has more overlap than any other one you could get for the car. Actually they had to stop offering this cam because it was way too hard to tune and people where chipping pistons left and right. I found a used one though, threw it in and that's where this vid came from. http://www.streetfire.net/video/another-NIC-cam-idle-vid_155972.htm I've had this car for almost 8 years and I'm supposed to be selling it/ transfering the title tomorrow. It's been parked for the last year and a half but I daily drove this thing for 3 years with that cam in it. Constantly people would be asking me what was wrong with my car. I remember one guy even tried to diagnose it for me by saying I probably needed a fuel filter. The looks I got were priceless though I had no idea this video was still on the net, apparently the company that made this cam has re-released it and they're using my video as advertisement.

that thing was movin. I love the steelies up front

If I recall correctly the new pumps come with an updated hpop connector already bolted on.

The "black onyx" gaskets are MLS gaskets. There are also black composite gaskets out there too. I haven't been able to find out any information about why either gasket should be considered an upgrade over oem. The general consenus is, use OEM gaskets.

Well I read the public message boards a lot because I own one of these things and it's coming out now that those black gaskets are no good. A lot of people have them installed with studs because they are being sold through the performance stores as an upgrade. Very recently there are a lot of repeat headgasket failures turning up on the boards, more than I can count....and all with those gaskets. Mike knows what I'm talking about, he's read all the same stories.

hmmm, that's interesting, I wonder if it's got the "black onyx" gaskets installed

I had an 05 with an 03 engine roll through before, you could see someone extended the ICP wires to the back but that was it. ran fine, especially after we drained the gas out of the tank. You'd want to swap the dummy throttle body over but the benefit of an 04 engine is no crossover in the back of the intake. The pump is still the same swash plate design, IPR is the same design also.

nah it's not just the old work computers either. I'm at home and I wanted to review warranty history for a 6.0 customer and it froze up internet explorer.

I'm really getting aggrevated with PTS, you click on vehicle ID and it's like waiting for a dial up connection.

Well my car is stuck at work. Drove it in today to put a in a new rack and p/s pump. Get that all done, bleed the system, jump in it to move and......the brake pedal goes to the floor. atleast I have my standby, the old reliable 6.0 to get my ass around

yeah that's the way I've been doing it before this. you know the little alignment tabs in the studs holes on the gasket? I ream the ones out on the bottom row since you have to start those studs after the manifold is in. no tabs = no trouble starting the studs.

02 F-450 7.3 with 3 injector codes and a leaking turbo. Also got a nice score today. Free 6.0 intake manifold from the truck shop down the street.

Finished that one this morning. Did it faster and with a lot less hastle than any other one I've done. I'll never fight another one. A T-handle 13mm is very useful for getting the front upper mount bolt out from the block. Other than that no real special tricks to getting the mount out.

You need to be subscibed to ford catalog advantage to be able to look up part numbers through the WSM. I tried to get our service dept to go for it but they won't due to cost.

What's the deal with these damn things? Can anyone make time on these? How is everyone else doing them? I'm doing a right side in a navigator right now under ESP. They actually sent an inspector out to verify "carbon tracks" coming out of the #4 primary. Like this isn't a known concern. The last F-150 5.4 I did absolutely fought me to death. It took me all day and by the end I was so pissed off I was ready to quit. Not to mention I was so sore I could hardly even move. Why? Don't know, maybe it's just me So I tried something a little different this time. I went right into the book under RH engine isolator removal and pulled that fucking engine mount out before I even touched a manifold stud. The engine is comfortably jacked up about 2-3 inches, just enough to wiggle that mount down and out. It took me mere minutes to zap the bottom row out after this. What do you think? Worth the hastle?

I hate to say it because I may regret it later but I think I'd rather fight with an econoline if it meant I didn't have to do half the garbage I do now (possibly why I "volunteered" to tackle this one outside in the winter). When I'm stuck on a diesel that's saves me from getting into any other trouble for a while. That van did have a couple injectors hanging up cold (one was #3). If it wasn't winter I would have tried my luck. Then again it probably won't reproduce the symptom when it's warm out. Double edge sword I guess.

you don't need gaskets, just weld the heads to the block

those black victor reinz gaskets are bad news from what i've heard. tons of repeat failures even with studded trucks

No it hasn't been under the hood for a while, it tells you right on the decal refer to manufacturer specifications. Granted 95% of fords plugs are .052-.056 but every once in a while you'll get an oddball gap. I seem to remember 4.0 sohcs are wider

Explorers are getting worse every year. I just burn the bearing out with a torch now, it takes too much time to try and get it pressed out. Even using the old rotor trick

I want to find a set of 18mm gaskets and a good set of heads for mine to work over. Ebay has a ton of 20mm headgasket kits, not many 18s

If any of you still look up plug gap (I know this is a diesel website) it's under spark plug removal now you will not find it in specifications anywhere

Oh I hate those damn things with a passion. Never done a bearing but I've done a few rear sensing rings, I always try to pass those jobs off. The hub tamer looks pretty cool, actually I've never heard of it before

did you happen to see how many engine hours?