Howdy Guys, here's another long post to the forum that will hopefully help someone else.
I pulled the top of my engine apart and did a number of things, most notably, the EGR Cooler delete. I didn't have any prior problems, just satisfying a little PMS that built up over the winter. :hehe: I used this resource extensively since I'm not a mechanic: https://www.motorcraftservice.com/pubs/content/~WS5O/~MUS~LEN/20/S5OMAIN.HTM
List of modifications for this project: 1) EGR Cooler Delete, 2) HPOP 1-piece fitting, 3) Turbo Reconditioning, 4) Wrapped exhaust manifolds & uppipes, 5) Turbo insulating wrap and downpipe, and 6) Replaced Engine Coolant. All these done at 41.5k miles.
1) EGR Cooler Delete : I've been running EGR-free pretty much the entire life of the engine. I just finally decided to take the cooler off I wasn't using. I researched a lot before this one. There are kits out there for outrageous prices :bang, but I could do it myself of hundreds less. Some folks chop up their cooler to weld new fittings, but I chose to keep my stock unit intact. I did have to pay a guy $100 to weld the intake manifold (cast aluminum isn't easy to weld), cut the passenger uppipe EGR cooler input and weld a plate over it, and for the fitting you see pictured. To re-route the engine coolant, I also purchased a 1990 - 2001 Acura Integra Gates Radiator Hose Price: $6.74 Qty: 1 Part #: 18701. I had to cut a little length out, but otherwise a perfect fit (see the picture). BTW, the hose runs from the new fitting on the intake manifold to the oil cooler.
2) HPOP 1-piece fitting : while you have the turbo off, it was highly recommended to install a bracket kit to hold the 2005+ HPOP 2-piece SCT quick connect fitting together (see http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-10.php). However, while shopping for this kit, my ford dealer told me that's been discontinued. The updated part number is 4C3Z-9B246-C which doesn't have a bracket anymore, but a new 1-piece fitting (see http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-07-08.php). BTW, the ford dealer was $60; the local International dealer had the equivalent kit for $70.
3) Turbo reconditioning : Again from the good guys at Ford Doctors, http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-05.php. I couldn't find any 3M surface reconditioning kit, but Lowes had a little kit that was similar.
4) Wrapped headers : While I had everything apart, I decided to wrap my exhaust manifolds and uppipes. The concept is hotter exhaust = faster gases = turbo spinning faster. It also 'should' be more efficient because less thermal/BTU loses between the engine and the turbo. The parts I got were: 2x Thermo Tec Gen 2 Copper Exhaust Wrap, 50 ft by 1 inch, 2x Thermo Tec Copper 11oz. Coating, Thermo Tec Snap Straps 12 pack 9 inch, and DEI Thermal Tuning Products Stainless Steel Locking Ties 8" (8 per pack). I had enough ties, but I liked the Thermo Tec style much better. The DEI ones didn't seem to hold as tight.
5) Turbo Insulating Wrap and Downpipe: DEI 10113 DEI Exhaust Wraps - Turbo Insulation Kit (Universal). I followed instructions, worked great. See pictures. The kit has plenty for the turbo and the downpipe wrap.
6) Since I drained half the coolant for the other jobs, I decided to replace my coolant. I chose the Chevron Delo or Texaco ECL (the red stuff, nitrate free?). But I didn't want to mix the Motorcraft generic Gold with the good stuff, so I had to try and drain all the motorcraft gold I could. I drained from the radiator, the large hose on the bottom, block plugs (the passenger side required removal of the starter), and my air compressor. It was hard to tell how much I got out because so much spilled on the floor, but I thought I got around 7 gallons out of the 7.5 capacity. However, when I filled back up, I could only get 5.75 gallons back in.
Oh, well. Also, I decided not to flush the coolant system since I've been running a coolant bypass filter since 10k miles.
Before doing this, you'll need some gasket / o-ring kits. Ford dealers overcharges for these, so check ebay. I did intake gasket kit (3C3Z-9433-BE) (also had turbo oil fitting replacement gaskets), the fuel bowl kit (3C3Z-9C165-AA), and the oil filter bottom o-ring (3C3Z-6A831-AA). Actually the bottom oil filter o-ring didn't fit very well (a little big). I stuffed it in there, no leaks yet, but I'll keep an eye on it. Recall that the top o-ring comes with a new filter.
I also replaced my oil (I run Mobil-1 Full Syn 5W/40...very, very nice), oil bypass filter, oil filter, coolant bypass filter, stock tranny bypass filter, and cleaned my air filter..pretty much everything I could think of (except fuel filters which I did a few thousands miles ago).
Results:
Wow, took a number of cranks to get the HPOP primed enough to fire the injectors. But once it started, no issues since. It's running quieter, smoother than before. I didn't expect this, but I'll take it. :rockwoot:
EGTs are same as before, even with the wrapped headers. But it does take a lot longer to cool down the EGTs before I shut off. I was also hoping for reduced turbo lag since I wrapped the headers, but I don't notice any difference.
I was hoping for some mileage gains, and so far, I'm impressed. I pickup up around 1.5-2 mpg during my commute. 60 mph, 24 miles, 8 stop lights....22 mpg (rainy, slight headwind). Mileage changes a lot with the weather, so I'll keep an eye on this. So far, very, very happy.
Some of you might know that I've had the 1800-2000 rpm turbo droan. I was really hoping this list of modifications would kill that. Well, it didn't kill it, but it is significantly reduced. So that's better than nothing.
It was a lot of work for an amateur hobbyist, but well worth it. I'm glad I did it! It took me two weekends and a few evenings after work. BTW, if someone could afford it (I couldn't). You should definitely do a return regulated fuel system while you're into the engine that far.
I pulled the top of my engine apart and did a number of things, most notably, the EGR Cooler delete. I didn't have any prior problems, just satisfying a little PMS that built up over the winter. :hehe: I used this resource extensively since I'm not a mechanic: https://www.motorcraftservice.com/pubs/content/~WS5O/~MUS~LEN/20/S5OMAIN.HTM
List of modifications for this project: 1) EGR Cooler Delete, 2) HPOP 1-piece fitting, 3) Turbo Reconditioning, 4) Wrapped exhaust manifolds & uppipes, 5) Turbo insulating wrap and downpipe, and 6) Replaced Engine Coolant. All these done at 41.5k miles.
1) EGR Cooler Delete : I've been running EGR-free pretty much the entire life of the engine. I just finally decided to take the cooler off I wasn't using. I researched a lot before this one. There are kits out there for outrageous prices :bang, but I could do it myself of hundreds less. Some folks chop up their cooler to weld new fittings, but I chose to keep my stock unit intact. I did have to pay a guy $100 to weld the intake manifold (cast aluminum isn't easy to weld), cut the passenger uppipe EGR cooler input and weld a plate over it, and for the fitting you see pictured. To re-route the engine coolant, I also purchased a 1990 - 2001 Acura Integra Gates Radiator Hose Price: $6.74 Qty: 1 Part #: 18701. I had to cut a little length out, but otherwise a perfect fit (see the picture). BTW, the hose runs from the new fitting on the intake manifold to the oil cooler.
2) HPOP 1-piece fitting : while you have the turbo off, it was highly recommended to install a bracket kit to hold the 2005+ HPOP 2-piece SCT quick connect fitting together (see http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-10.php). However, while shopping for this kit, my ford dealer told me that's been discontinued. The updated part number is 4C3Z-9B246-C which doesn't have a bracket anymore, but a new 1-piece fitting (see http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-07-08.php). BTW, the ford dealer was $60; the local International dealer had the equivalent kit for $70.
3) Turbo reconditioning : Again from the good guys at Ford Doctors, http://www.forddoctorsdts.com/articles/article-06-05.php. I couldn't find any 3M surface reconditioning kit, but Lowes had a little kit that was similar.
4) Wrapped headers : While I had everything apart, I decided to wrap my exhaust manifolds and uppipes. The concept is hotter exhaust = faster gases = turbo spinning faster. It also 'should' be more efficient because less thermal/BTU loses between the engine and the turbo. The parts I got were: 2x Thermo Tec Gen 2 Copper Exhaust Wrap, 50 ft by 1 inch, 2x Thermo Tec Copper 11oz. Coating, Thermo Tec Snap Straps 12 pack 9 inch, and DEI Thermal Tuning Products Stainless Steel Locking Ties 8" (8 per pack). I had enough ties, but I liked the Thermo Tec style much better. The DEI ones didn't seem to hold as tight.
5) Turbo Insulating Wrap and Downpipe: DEI 10113 DEI Exhaust Wraps - Turbo Insulation Kit (Universal). I followed instructions, worked great. See pictures. The kit has plenty for the turbo and the downpipe wrap.
6) Since I drained half the coolant for the other jobs, I decided to replace my coolant. I chose the Chevron Delo or Texaco ECL (the red stuff, nitrate free?). But I didn't want to mix the Motorcraft generic Gold with the good stuff, so I had to try and drain all the motorcraft gold I could. I drained from the radiator, the large hose on the bottom, block plugs (the passenger side required removal of the starter), and my air compressor. It was hard to tell how much I got out because so much spilled on the floor, but I thought I got around 7 gallons out of the 7.5 capacity. However, when I filled back up, I could only get 5.75 gallons back in.
Oh, well. Also, I decided not to flush the coolant system since I've been running a coolant bypass filter since 10k miles.Before doing this, you'll need some gasket / o-ring kits. Ford dealers overcharges for these, so check ebay. I did intake gasket kit (3C3Z-9433-BE) (also had turbo oil fitting replacement gaskets), the fuel bowl kit (3C3Z-9C165-AA), and the oil filter bottom o-ring (3C3Z-6A831-AA). Actually the bottom oil filter o-ring didn't fit very well (a little big). I stuffed it in there, no leaks yet, but I'll keep an eye on it. Recall that the top o-ring comes with a new filter.
I also replaced my oil (I run Mobil-1 Full Syn 5W/40...very, very nice), oil bypass filter, oil filter, coolant bypass filter, stock tranny bypass filter, and cleaned my air filter..pretty much everything I could think of (except fuel filters which I did a few thousands miles ago).
Results:
Wow, took a number of cranks to get the HPOP primed enough to fire the injectors. But once it started, no issues since. It's running quieter, smoother than before. I didn't expect this, but I'll take it. :rockwoot:
EGTs are same as before, even with the wrapped headers. But it does take a lot longer to cool down the EGTs before I shut off. I was also hoping for reduced turbo lag since I wrapped the headers, but I don't notice any difference.
I was hoping for some mileage gains, and so far, I'm impressed. I pickup up around 1.5-2 mpg during my commute. 60 mph, 24 miles, 8 stop lights....22 mpg (rainy, slight headwind). Mileage changes a lot with the weather, so I'll keep an eye on this. So far, very, very happy.
Some of you might know that I've had the 1800-2000 rpm turbo droan. I was really hoping this list of modifications would kill that. Well, it didn't kill it, but it is significantly reduced. So that's better than nothing.
It was a lot of work for an amateur hobbyist, but well worth it. I'm glad I did it! It took me two weekends and a few evenings after work. BTW, if someone could afford it (I couldn't
). You should definitely do a return regulated fuel system while you're into the engine that far.
