S197 Badger - 2011 S197 Gen3 Swap Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

[Badger]

Radiator bracket is angled, welded and back in. Will need a little cleanup and a touch of paint but its working great so far.

One question that is now coming up is if the upper grille should be utilized or closed off.
Due to the lean the top of the radiator is now at about half the height of the upper grille opening. Got some ideas but this will take some testing.

 

[Fabman]

While waiting for parts and welds I started practicing some basic metal fab work.
The ECU brackets seemed to be a perfect test subject. Not the prettiest but certainly functional and very entertaining to make.

Gen3 Control pack in the engine bay. 0.4lbs, 3lbs down from the old one:
View attachment 83615
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Gen1 ECU inside the dash:
View attachment 83612
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Nicely done.

 

[Badger]

Nicely done.

You are my spirit animal!

 

[Fabman]

Radiator bracket is angled, welded and back in. Will need a little cleanup and a touch of paint but its working great so far.

One question that is now coming up is if the upper grille should be utilized or closed off.
Due to the lean the top of the radiator is now at about half the height of the upper grille opening. Got some ideas but this will take some testing.

View attachment 83621
View attachment 83619View attachment 83620

If the ducting is efficient you wont need the upper grill. Close it off.
If its not 100% efficient you will need some upper grill.

 

[Fabman]

You are my spirit animal!

LOL

 

[Badger]

Ecu bracket is painted and mounted. I can move the car holding onto this sturdy little thing.

If the ducting is efficient you wont need the upper grill. Close it off.
If its not 100% efficient you will need some upper grill.

Looks like this is where we are heading! The leaned radiator is low enough to make the upper grille pretty much useless.


I am currently trimming the bumper to make space for the updated ducting. Blocking off the upper grille also adds quite some space right behind it for all sorts of activities.



I am currently looking into a center mounted air filter, but from I have been told this might be a bad idea when using a MAF instead of a MAP sensor. Still investigating though.
K&Ns custom airbox on their AI s197:

 

[Badger]

Wow did this week took a turn.
Story time. Before I moved to the Gen3 I had forum member Andrew Weidemann work on my Gen1. The request was to add cams and springs and refresh the motor for good measures, timing chains and pumps.
After that it never ran properly again, kept throwing p0014 and other codes and could not be tuned. In short, he moved to a different state, effectively leaving the problem on my table to sort and pay and eventually claimed not to be responsible anymore.

Well heck, so I took the covers off this weekend to get an idea what is wrong with it. Keep in mind that this was an original Gen1 long block from 2010 that has never been opened or tampered with, aside from adding a larger oil pan and oil cooler. I never had any issues with it, never left me stranded and ran like a little old champ and to its last day was one of the fastest s197s in SoCal.

Discovery
The p0014 code indicated a possible issue with the timing. But the chains and timing checked out. Rear chains were spot on and the front chain was off by 4, but evenly. Not perfect but no real issue here. Okay good, but why the codes?
I noticed a whole bunch of sticker gunk on the chain guides which led me to check the oil pan and the pick up tube.

Oil Pick-up tube
This is what I found. It looks like a mix of baffle plastic, stickers and paint. Who knows what got sucked down further.
The gunk in the pick-up tube was certainly limiting the oil flow, which explains the p0014 cam timing code as the phasers will receive inconstant oil pressure and not actuate correctly.
For reference and a good watch in general: "Coyote Cam Phasers, how they work"



I see big plastic chunks, small plastic shreds, blue paint and a whole lot of other stuff which appears to be stickers and white paint.



Oil Baffle Debris
The oil baffle was cut by the builder to make swapping the oil pump easier. I know for a fact that debris dropped into the pan that he had to fish out. I was told this would not be an issue, the plastic will be crushed, burned up and I could flush it just in case. I did a lot of flushing but it looks like some bigger pieces did not come out of the baffles pan and ended up blocking the pick-up tube.


Stickers
The real head scratcher are the stickers though. Why anyone would leave them on is beyond me. Low effort, high risk. The residue where the stickers used to be is still clearly visible.

Using a stethoscope camera I found even more stuff behind the chain guides.


For reference, this is how these guides usually come. One can only guess how much sticker material went through the block, oil, phasers and filters.



Paint Chunks
Paint that has been used to mark cam and chains gotten loose, made it to the oil pan as well as the pick-up tube filter.

More plastic debris in the oil pan.



Other Annoyances
Found the balancer like this. It was hammered on with a piece of wood. I was told that is easier and a good way. Did this cause the chips in the balancer? I don't know but it looks plausible.


Scratched head. No idea, could have been Ford.


Radiator fan was not hooked up, leading the car to overheat right away when bleeding the coolant.




What now?
1. Is this state acceptable for a $7500 cam and spring upgrade and oil, water pump and timing refresh?
2. What possible other effects could the gunked up pick-up tube have caused?

 

[TMSBOSS]

That seems to prove that not all butchers work in the meat industry. WTF?

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Wow, what a disaster. Terrible to see this, Hanno.

 

[Mad Hatter]

Good lord... what a horrible site!! I am so glad AED built my motor.

 

[Mad Hatter]

I wonder what those little filters that go into the cams vct gismo are like......

 

[Badger]

I wonder what those little filters that go into the cams vct gismo are like......

Yea, from what I gathered the very least that should be done is to take apart the phasers, the pickup tube and check all the filters. Optimally to check and replace bearings as well.
I have received awesome support from the community. Even core blocks have been offered, which should not be needed. We will get this one back to work in one way or another.

 

[bc95]

Some updates from the last weekends.

Worked a bunch on an Cardboard Assisted Designs to block out the ducting. The oil cooler is separately ducted with a curve blended as as smooth as it fits.
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Added a big Spal fan. 5.4lbs vs the 7.6lbs of the GT500 fan and shroud and should be a lot less restrictive.
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Then I looked into leaning the radiator. Two cuts and two holes and I got close to 10° of lean. Not bad for little effort.
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But after mulling on it for a bit I decided to go for the full 30° lean before doing the final construction on the ducting.
I am getting the lower bracket rewelded in a 30° angle this week.
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Which spal fan did you go with? Thinking of picking one up to replace my busted stock fan. Also how is yours mounted?