Mustang V6 Autocrosser named Mistress

That is alot of fuel pressure, who is recommending that?  I'd run pressure somewhere in the 40-60 range with a boost referenced rising rate fuel pressure regulator.  

I can't wait to see the new garage!  That procharger is gonna be sweet too.

Good to see you posting again.  I have a basically stock 3.8 does that mean I have more choices for a supercharger kit?  Also what do I do about the 20 year old cats?  Will removing them hurt my low end torque?  I always heard you need exhaust back pressure to maintain good torque.

In reply to Patientzero :

When you are right - you are right. And you are right - Thank you. The pressure should be more like what you suggest. I talked to Tom at Supersix this morning and he mirrored your advice. He also added that I should have a conversation with my tuner (VMP) before buying anything beyond the Procharger kit.  Since they have tuned this engine with these mods many times before they will have history with specific injectors and they will already have worked out the final tunes (or something very close) with the flow curves for those units. I did not know that, but it makes perfect sense. It will save time and iterations on the tune. 

He also mirrored your comment on the fuel regulator with the boost reference. I asked why that was needed with the new set up verses the original.  His answer it is already there but all the components are know entities. They use the fuel pressure sender on the fuel rail to have the computer alter the speed of the fuel pump. This will give a constant, or at least known, pressure to the injectors. But the OEM knows the pump curve. They know the injector curves. As a result, have complete control of the fuel delivery.

But now we have changed everything.  Different pump with different curve (Voltage verses Pump RPM verses Flow verses Pressure are not known). A similar discussion applies to the injectors. Furthermore everything is "overclocked" and closer to spraying parts than the conservative OEM design.  

So the next call is to VMP and then to put in an order for the tune.  Kit should get ordered tomorrow.

In reply to V6Buicks :

Thanks.  I have had some cabinets from the Habitat For Humanity Re-Store out there for two months. Time to hang them soon. This garage has a third bay but it is shorter than the main bay and not very wide. Still working out how to lay it out.

In reply to Mustang50 :

Yes and no.  You can go for a standard Procharger kit which will include everything needed.  I would also add some instruments like wide band gauges to monitor things are working OK. Find a distributor near you, or, give Supersix a call. Tom will talk you through what you need and don't need.  

Back pressure. Back pressure gets the credit but scavenging pulses is what is happening.  With a more open exhaust your car will make more power at higher RPMs. A more open exhaust slows down the velocity of the exhaust gasses.

That velocity, that inertia, creates a slight low pressure area in the exhaust port when the valve snaps closed. Think of it like a water hammer. That momentary low pressure zone in the exhaust port helps pull exhaust gasses out of the cylinder when the valve snaps open again (IF it is still there, timing is everything). This is effective at lower RPMs through a certain range. At higher RPMs the timing is off and/or the effect is overwhelmed by restrictions to all that flow.

Will removing the CATS affect low end torque? I am not sure, I did it all at once with the long tubes. It will definitely help high end power. But that is not the weakest link with these 3.8 engines.  The weakest link is no grunt at the low end. 

I do know this - When I put on long tubes with 1.5" diameter runners with high flow cats the midrange and high end was very noticeably better. The low end was noticeably worse.  

Removing cats with no other changes? Not sure. More research advised...

In reply to KentF :

Wow!  I knew I asked the right person.  Looks like I have some decisions to make.  Thanks for the help

Stay safe!

Large Packages and Lawyers

I was alerted to the presence of a Fedex delivery by the dog barking. Excusing myself from an ongoing Teams meeting I went to sign the receipt for a five foot long box standing outside the door. The supercharger has arrived!

First impression after dragging it inside: How can anything this heavy make my car go faster? The shipping weight on the box was 100 pounds. Rounded up I would expect but, 100 pounds on the front of the car is significant. Egad! What have I done?

This gets back to earlier discussions of things that only theoretically make your car faster. More power is great, but there is a penalty. Part of the price is more weight on the front tires. Time will tell…

The box was nicely packed and everything fits in the used cabinets that I finally hung in the garage. It is roughly sorted in order of installation. We had a couple of rainy days so I set about getting the garage more organized for some serious project work. A lot of work to go yet but it could now be considered a viable workspace.

So, this is the “Tuner” package from Procharger for this car – fuel systems mods not included. I could also call it the “Lawyer” package. Because the car is modified well beyond stock Procharger does not have control of the engineering, particularly around the fuel system. If your engine overruns its fuel system it will run lean. Lean is hot. Lean is detonation. Lean melts piston tops.

Procharger does not want to hear someone blaming them for burning down an engine so, with the stock package, they also provide modifications to the fuel pump and new injectors. Even if some of these changes might be unnecessary, or if there are simpler ways to do it; this gives them back that control of the engineering (specifically the fuel delivery in this case). With a modified car they still would not have control with their new fuel pump and injectors because they can’t predict how much fuel the modified engine might need. So, they very specifically do not include the fuel mods. It does not solve the problem of the lean engine. But it keeps them from having to talk to lawyers.

My garden tractor has a special position on the key switch with pictograms of backing over small children. To reverse the machine with the blades spinning you must move the key to that position, press a button with a warning symbol on it, and then a red light comes on. It will not, in any way, keep something horrific from happening. But it gives the manufacturer a defense in court; “We told you not to do that.” That is a lawyer switch.

Why am I writing about this? My engine is highly modified and yet the OEM fuel pump will remain intact. As per consultation with my tuner, VMP, all it needs is a voltage booster and new injectors.

I will not be dropping the fuel tank and monkeying around with the pump. In this HP range of 350 to 400 (depending on who is talking) the OEM pump, with the stock non-return set up and OEM sensors will work just fine with a boost to 18.5 volts. I hope they are right; they have done this before with very similar strokers from Supersix.  The dual widebands I am installing will tell the story. We will see…

The advice from Patient Zero was spot on that I should look closer at the fuel system and how it is controlled. It just turns out the method for Mistress is different. That is not surprising since this car is quite different than that grey beast he is running. Everyone’s situation is different.

The advice I got from Tom at Supersix was also spot on: Contact the tuner and see what they want you to do for the fuel system. What injectors do they have curves for? Turns out they have curves for Siemens DEKKA 60LB Injectors. The voltage booster is a VMP product. These parts will arrive this week.

Soon, very soon, Mistress will become a little more beastly.

KentF said:

Large Packages and Lawyers

 

My garden tractor has a special position on the key switch with pictograms of backing over small children. To reverse the machine with the blades spinning you must move the key to that position, press a button with a warning symbol on it, and then a red light comes on. It will not, in any way, keep something horrific from happening. But it gives the manufacturer a defense in court; “We told you not to do that.” That is a lawyer switch.

I just found out last week I can mow in reverse if I manually hold the blade switch up while in reverse. This took over ten years of use to find out.

Very interested in this installation, please keep us posted.  Unfortunately NEOhio region does not have an autocross site yet, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with my Mustang.

In reply to Mustang50 :

Did NE Ohio lose Toledo Express?  That was a nice site.  My region lost K.I. Sawyer this year. There is some sort of big development going on there now. The good news is that my other region is keeping Wirtsmith at Oscoda.  

Toledo Express was used by NWOhio region.  The lot used by NEOhio region was recently repaved and marked.  No news on the status of this one or any others.

In reply to Mustang50 :

Ahh... East, west issues on my part. One of the biggest problems in this sport is finding and keeping venues. 

In reply to Mustang50 :

Ahh... East, west issues on my part. One of the biggest problems in this sport is finding and keeping venues. 

Catching up a little. Again. 

Summer has run its course. The supercharger is installed and working very well. Everything took longer than expected, especially the tuning. But what a rush! Thinking about wider rear tires next year if that gives a hint. 

I am tempted to cut to the chase and just show the results but looking at earlier posts it seems I promised a step by step review of the install.   So be it... But I have to give some info:

The results are mixed. After a dyno run there is not as much power as anticipated but, after some analysis, I know why. The good news is that if more power is desired -  it is a fairly easy fix.  

In the end I only got two events in this season. Both at old stomping grounds here in Michigan.  

The first event was WMR at Grattan Raceway north of Grand Rapids. I had not driven this since 2012. Mistress is a different girl now. On that two-mile, hill covered course, still more power could easily be justified. And a hammer shifter.  Two of my grandkids are now old enough to ride along.  I thanked their mother several times to for trusting me with her offspring in a non-caged race car on an open track at speed. We had a blast. 

Second and last event for the season was with SVR at Barstow Airport in Midland, MI. I have run this course a great many times but the last time was 2015. It was great to see everyone again and a lot of new faces.  Most of the course is on an 80-foot-wide runway with a full U turn at one end.  The car has ample power for this smaller course, especially on last years rubber.  

So, not much autocrossing this season. Just enough to know everything works and start to plan the next set of mods. 

The last year and a half have been incredibly difficult but we have prevailed.  I am getting a new knee in November so I will be fairly tied down for a few weeks. Time to start writing again! 

Barstow Season Ender - 2022

I am curious to see the results.

Good to hear from you again.  Sorry to hear about your knee, it's no fun getting old.

NE Ohio Region was able the get a large site at the local IX Center/ex tank plant for 3 events.  I spectated at one and saw some of the old crew.    With the economy the way it is budget is still an issue.  Hopefully I can get some upgrades done over the winter.

Keep us posted.

AFRs, Leaks and Delays 

The super charger had arrived in mid-May. But due my own reluctance to spend even more money in tight times I had delayed ordering the injectors or fuel pump booster needed to complete the package and had to wait for them to arrive.  But there were other “but first” tasks to be done anyway.  

And it was in the new gardens. And the new studio for my wife. And the garage was not ready for a serious project... New houses are a lot of work. Finally in June I started work on the car again. First thing – Get the AFR and boost gauges installed. 

The gauge wiring job I did in 2021 summer while living in the camper is not my proudest work. On the grass in the shade with about 10% of my tools - It is basically a rat's nest. So is the wiring for the vacuum pump I installed (that is on the list for some winter time re-work). At least I had labeled the wires (with masking tape - Egad!). I spent an afternoon cleaning things up but it is still pretty ratty in there. 

I finally worked out the best spot for the boost gauge was where I had put the clock. So, the clock went out, and the boost gauge went in.  

In retrospect – I think this was a mistake. This was one of the last, useful, prominent positions on the dashboard. The clock has not been reinstalled because there is not a very good spot for it.  You glance at the clock often during a trip (I stopped wearing a watch when cell phones came out.) The clock needs to be prominent.  

However, you only look at a boost gauge when your right foot is on the floor AND you are troubleshooting something. Most of the time when your right foot is on the floor you are looking out the windshield because all hell is breaking loose as well as the back tires. Who has time to look at that little gauge? I am thinking I will put the clock back this winter and move the boost gauge down lower somewhere. You still need to see it, but not often. 

The AFR gauges are mounted prominently in the center air vents. This is somewhat of the same discussion. After tuning is done you really do not need to see much of these things unless you think something is wrong.  They might tell you which side just lost a spark plug or injector. But if everything is working ok, they are just fluttering numbers. And, of course, during an autocross run no one is looking at any gauges regardless of where they are.  

That said – The AFR gauges will stay at their prominent location because they look damn cool. And if something does go wrong , I may just have a moment or two to note which side of the engine it was on... perhaps... 

The AFRs mounted in previously purchased 3D printed mounts in the vents. They look good. Work good. The vents still work although you can’t direct air flow. Small price to pay. I think I got them on Ebay last year. 

I had to make some big cuts in the duct to get all the wires through. It took some fitting and fussing. 

I am pleased with the final result. Other than the missing clock. 

Now to raise the car and install the probes.

Now is when the trouble starts...  

I have had this car up and down on this lift countless times. But this was the first time since Wisconsin.  The plan was to raise the car and put it on the stands so I could then lower the lift and get at the exhaust:   

The car is four feet in the air, I have just placed the tall jack stands under the back axle, my wife is calling for dinner, it is hotter than blazes, and I realize the front of the car is sinking... quickly. 

Oil is leaking from the seals on both cylinders. And the emergency catch does not seem to be engaging. This lift has been sitting in storage for over a year. The seals have dried out. Apparently, the safety catch has been screwed up during the move (and I had not checked it – shame on me).  

With Mistress tipping forward like Titanic on her way to a nose plant I frantically raised the lift hoping to get the front stands under the wheels. Oil spraying everywhere on my new concrete floor.  And the car. And the wall.  Running back and forth between the "raise" button and the front of the car I managed to get the stands under the tires just as it ran out of oil. Then I went to dinner covered in sweat and oil. I did not come back out for two days. 

Newly christened garage floor: 

It sat up there for over three weeks until I could get the cylinders fixed. 

Sensors & Cylinders 

When I returned to the garage I found over a gallon of oil on the floor under the lift. Gonna need lots of oil dry. I could not do a good job of clean up right away because the jack stands under the back of the car prevented me from removing the 900-pound lift.  It just had to sit in a bath of oil dry for a while.  

I removed the cylinders and put them in the vice on my work bench.  They are pinned at the top but the bottoms just sit in a pocket. They are not physically attached at the bottom.

You need a special spanner to remove the top cap. I did not have one so, of course I made one.

It was not strong enough to withstand some serious hammering. After several attempts at grinding, preheating and re-welding I busted the tip off of the Torx bit I was using as the tip. Damn we are off to a good start on this project! Time to find a professional. 

Luckily for me we now live in serious farm country. Farm equipment often uses a lot of hydraulics. I found a hydraulic repair shop 2.5 miles away. It took him five minutes to get the cylinders apart. A week to find the weird Chinese seals and two more weeks for them to arrive. I was starting to scheme on how to get the car down without hydraulics... 

In the mean time I installed the AFR probes. With cables run under the carpet I drilled a ¾" hole in each wheel well just in front of the main framing under the seats. 

I used a plastic gromet with a hole punched through it to allow the cable to pass through. The bungs were welded on per AEM instructions tipped down a little so condensate can drip off. All in all not a hard job.  

It was at this time I discovered one of the probes was bad. I had bought them a year go so there was no returning them. $80 and a few days later I had a new probe installed and both AFRs up and running.  On the left is the AFR probe. on the right is the stock probe after the Cat.

No test drive though. The car was still four feet in the air. 

PVC and ABS Mods 

Still more preparation and “but first” work...  

If you look back through this blog on pages 9 & 11 you will find some extensive discussions on Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) and the installation of a mini blower. PCV is important because without it combustion gasses blowing past the piston rings pressurizes the crankcase causing oil leaks (or making existing ones worse). It also contaminates the oil and dramatically reduces its life.   

High lift cams reduce manifold vacuum that powers the PCV system. Stroker mods extend the piston stroke providing more opportunity for leakage. Somewhere along the way I realized that under load the crankcase was getting pressurized. I did a bunch of tests and built a rig to measure blowby flow. Then I built a little blower assembly to increase flow.   

It is definitely not in the “simplify and add lightness” mode of thought. That said, it has worked quite well keeping the crank case under a very small vacuum and sweeping fresh air through it. At WOT and high RPM it loses the battle but that is just for a few moments.  

However, manifold vacuum is still the primary motive force. The little pump only augments it. The battle will truly be lost with the manifold under pressure from the supercharger.  

Most “fixes” for this problem involve simply disconnecting from the manifold and putting catch cans and breathers on both rocker covers. This just lets the blowby gasses out. However, this means the gasses are ever present in the crankcase contaminating the oil. Also, the crankcase is always running under slight pressure (although very small). On the other hand, these vent systems are simple and they are light.  

We are generally not talking about cars that see 20 thousand miles per year either. More like 1000 or so might be typical mitigating the loss of pollution control ...  This all applies to Mistress. I should probably just have just done the catch can/breather system. But I have a certain form of madness and I can't leave well enough alone. I added the blower.

The modification needed to my PVC system was to utterly disconnect it from the intake manifold. It would now be just like the simple double breather systems except my little blower is always pulling a bit of fresh air through the passenger side breather.  Part of this work was done from a small step ladder to reach the engine compartment... 

Breather & Catch can on on passenger side:

The port on the manifold now connects to the boost bypass valve and the boost gauge.  This was all fairly simple because it was already  “part of the plan” for when the supercharger finally got installed.  

Another modification was to remove the “guts” from the actual PCV valve. With a normal car pulling a normal -18 to -20 inches of Hg vacuum the PCV valve does two things. First - It modulates against a spring in an attempt to keep flow in a reasonable range as vacuum goes up and down.  

Too much flow at high vacuum (idle) and you would pull oil mist into your intake manifold. Too little flow at low vacuum (when you are on the gas) and the crankcase is pressurized. But on my system, I am going to have a relatively low but constant flow through the crankcase pulled by my little pump. No intake manifold vacuum jumping around from –14 in Hg to roughly –zero. The valve is not needed anymore  and presents a restriction to flow (even if it is open). The pump is not very big.  

So, I cut the bottom off the valve and re-installed it. It is now just a fitting. 

The second thing a PCV valve does is prevent a flame front due to an engine backfire from moving through the tubing and getting into the crankcase. Fuel vapor gets into the crankcase under some conditions by blowing past the pistons on compression stroke (poof/bang). It is basically a little check valve. Since my crankcase is no longer connected to the intake manifold this is no longer an issue. 

The pump outlet now just goes to vent.  I am looking into connecting it into the supercharger inlet (TBD).

ABS 

Finally, to start on the supercharger install per the Procharger directions! And the first thing they have you do is make a modification to the car to make room. It is an ugly modification. It is a modification that I will have to re-work properly this winter because what you are left with is really horrible (and also out of sight). 

You have to relocate the Antilock Brake System module (ABS) about 6” down and flush with the bottom of the frame on the passenger side. This is done without disconnecting the steel tubing brake lines that connect to it.  

The directions have comments such as “gently adjust the brake lines”. There are five steel tubes connected to this thing which is the size of a large coffee mug.  The lines come from all directions. Some have to be straightened while others have to double back on themselves. There is no way to do this just "gently". It requires gentle brute force.

After you have disconnected the ABS from its mount and it is hanging from the tubes this becomes a “OK - Here goes nothing!” scenario. They do have a nice bracket that fits up well to support it. You can see in the photo the tangled mess of steel brake lines above the unit. Nothing kinked. Nothing leaking. But... Egad! 

There was some more brake line work to be done later on the driver side of the car but it was not as bad.  

To do this right, the lines should be cut. New tubing than should be bent, installed, and properly supported. Then the unit will have to be purged of air and that is the problem. Purging this ABS requires it to be activated (pulsing brakes) while they are being bled. This requires special expensive tools. Or, my son pointed out you can bleed the brakes normally, then take the car out on an icy driveway, chatter the brakes, go back and bleed them again. Repeat until all the air is out. Hmmm... Still researching... Definitely looks like a winter project here on the tundra. 

Procharger also included a nice stainless steel bash plate which I have not installed yet. Another winter project. The brake module is now low enough that it could be in harm's way from a curb or a pylon. A smart addition from Procharger but I might not need it if I install a splitter.

Ah but there is more! It gets better! The wiring harness on the ABS module is too short to reach its new location! The Procharger instructions have you unwrapping the loom of wires, pulling it out from behind the radiator and stretching it down to the ABS module.  

That probably works, I have no doubt it does. But I was not about to stretch and pull and shortcut such an important bunch of electrical ganglia.  

I pulled apart enough to get it up to a little make shift work table (piece of wafer board) on top of the engine and then soldered in 8 inch splices to each wire. All nicely sealed with heat shrink tubing. 

By the way, I have had that Craftsman soldering gun since college. It is over forty years old. Had to replace the tip a few times. They wear out.

Then I wrapped it all up in a nice bundle again, tucked it in to the cable guides & plugged it in. It looks great and should not have any haywire shorts from pulling and stretching.  

After all, this car is twenty years old last March. No need to abuse the wires. Next we finally start installing the supercharger kit. 

These are the most amazing posts I have ever seen on any website.   Where did you get the background engineering to solve these issues?  And how do you get the time to complete these tasks?  If I spent that much time in the garage it would make my wife so happy.

In reply to Mustang50 :

Kent's very happy wife here. First, he is a very clever engineer, educated with a BS in mechanical, but born to it really. He's been tinkering and problem solving all of his life. Second, he makes sure that I also have space for my hobbies as well. We are both happy in our creative spaces. We are enablers if the very best sort. 

In reply to Mustang50 :  

Thank you for your kind note. Classical engineering is taking science and applying it to build stuff. Engineers, in my thinking, are Applied Scientists. I have been doing it all my life. When I was a young teenager my favorite magazine was the Edmund Scientific Catalog (it ws a little book of lab equipment and measuring instruments that came out every quarter or so). My favorite toys were rocket engines and gasoline (use your imagination, I did). Today I work from home for a very large engineering firm mentoring younger engineers and helping clients build the things they need. 

My wife is correct that we enable each other in just about everything we do. She kept the family solvent and put the kids through college with her hobby turned business writing quilting books, traveling, and teaching. I learned to write from her. We are both "makers" and both teachers. Today her business is her hobby again and she has branched out into other crafts. Our home is two hobby centers with a little house in the middle.

Much of this did not start until we became empty nesters. I have a story here somewhere about a neighbor who built stunning custom cars but was on hiatus for most of the time I knew him. He finished two mothballed cars after his kids were grown (there is life after kids - Really!).

These GRM articles start with the photos. I constantly take pictures of each step. It is a quick way to record the proceedings although many are not used. When I want to make the updates I download a block of photos from the web and than use them to tell the story whether it is a success or not. We learn from the failures too. I write offline, edit a few times, upload to GRM and edit some more. I read through the article after posting and often re-edit several more times. You always see something from the readers point of view looking at the posted article.

As for time spent in the garage - We don't watch a lot of TV I guess. What does an old engineer do on dark winter evenings in the north country? Remember, my work on Mistress is spread out over about 10 or 11 years now. And it is still not done. The list of things to do is just as long as it ever was. But then again, it is basically some sort of a race car now (no radio). Those things are never complete.  

But again - Thanks!

Hanging the Supercharger 

Ok enough falderal – Back to the task at hand!

The Procharger instructions cover V6 Mustangs from 1995 to 2003. Ford did a lot of little changes during those years. The instructions are a blend of different model years with some items being applicable and others not. The main variant is whether the car has antilock brakes or not. 

The document was obviously written in the 1990s. It almost looks like the photos were photocopied in on printed sheets (final assembly in the photocopier).  As a result, the photos often have too much contrast and sometimes are hard to figure out (what am I looking at here?). Overall, my main complaint is there are simply not enough photos. 

I started with sorting parts out on a table in in the cabinets in roughly the order of build. Procharger did a very nice job of packaging parts that belong together into little assembly kits. 

I also sat and read the instructions all the way through. Twice. The old joke that engineers don’t read instructions is simply not true. Sometimes, perhaps, they don’t need to. But if the process is complex enough and/or important enough the instructions are going to be read. 

The air intake system, the serpentine belt, and idler pulley were all removed to make way for the supercharger mounting plate. This heavy aluminum plate is mounted on several spacers bolted into the front of the engine.  It is just to the left of the crankshaft in the photo below.

From this surface the Procharger was mounted on several more spacers. It is a good solid mount.  

At this point I discovered, almost by chance, that the mounting plate was interfering with my MM front sway bar.  

This was the first of several interferences. And it was a tricky one because with the wheels hanging down from the lift there is daylight between that sway bar and the mounting plate. It looked fine. But if I had set the car back on the ground the bar would pivot and cause a heck of a bind. It might have bent something.  

The lesson is to take your time and actively look for trouble at every step. Then look again. It is not Prochargers fault this did not fit. The car is not stock. And the kit covers about eight model years. Something is not going to fit somewhere. It is like an Easter egg hunt. 

My 12-year-old granddaughter was helping me with this portion of the project. This issue presented an opportunity for a little metal fabrication as we had to create some ¼" spacers to drop the sway bar down and clear the mounting plate. She loves working on cars. 

Once we mounted the supercharger we discovered a new issue. It was not “clocked” correctly at the factory. The discharge nozzle is supposed to be horizontal. This photo is looking toward the front of the car. There is another view of the glorious brake line work on the right. 

The mounting assembly is fairly well “poka-yoked” (error proofed) so there is no other way to install it. After a quick call to the factory in Kansas I was assured that removing the housing was easy and would not void the warranty.  

This afforded the opportunity to see inside. Note that the impeller vanes are straight radial and not swept. This is what you would find on a high-speed pressure blower.  

A view inside the casing. The Allen wrench is pointing at a small set screw that had to be moved.

It was indeed an easy fix.  

The next step was to install the new tensioner assembly and belt. The belt was too short. No way that is going on there. Another call to Kansas and I was assured that was not a normal problem. In fact, the person on the help line had never encountered if before. I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what is different in my belt geometry from stock. As near as I can tell, it should fit. 

Procharger tech support is pretty darn good. They were quickly able to get me a brand name & part number for the next size longer belt. This one arrived from my local parts store a day or two later. Still a bit short. Just barely going on there with almost no slack...Hmmm... 

In the meantime, all this “jacking around” with the tensioner had caused the pulley mount bolt hole to be stripped. You use a socket and breaker bar on this bolt move the tensioner against the spring to get the belt on. 

Another call to Kansas. Procharger would not send a new one since I had stripped the hole (even though it was their stuff that did not fit causing several iterations of attempted installs). However, to their credit, they did give me the Gates part number should I want to order a new one. I opted to use a Helicoil to repair the threaded hole (hold that thought – we will come back to it later). 

At this point the supercharger is installed onto the engine. Next is the intercooler and tubing. Then the fuel mods. Still a lot of work to do. 

Intercoolers, Tiny Soccer Balls, and Physics 

The intercooler is a critical component of this system. Air coming out of the blower is much hotter than when it went in. It does not matter the nature of the blower (centrifugal, roots, screw).  

Some of this heat came from the friction of high-speed metal parts rubbing on air. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that anytime energy is changed from one form to another some of it is “lost”.  It isn’t really lost; we know where it is.  It just has not gone where we intended it to. In the blower we want to take kinetic energy (high speed impeller) and convert it to potential energy (compressed air). But some of that energy is converted to heat instead of pressure. It is a thing. You can’t get past it.  

However, in this case there is a much bigger thing called the Ideal Gas Law and it applies to any normal gas (air in this case): IF heat transfer during a process is blocked - The pressure, temperature, and volume are all related. They are intertwined. You mess with one of them you will also mess with one or more of the other two. It is a thing. You can’t get past it.  

So, let's look at a deflated soccer ball (still round but the air inside is same pressure as the room.) This ball has air at about 15 psi above absolute vacuum inside and out. Then we squeeze the ball and the air inside it to about 50 percent normal size. It will now want to return to its original size with a force of 7.5 pounds per square inch (psi) of soccer ball internal surface. The volume inside decreased by 50% so the pressure inside increased by 50% (15/2 = 7.5). We now have a ½ size soccer ball with 7.5 psi inside. That is Ideal Gas Law at work. 

But there is more – It gets better! 

If we did all this squeezing quickly and did not allow any heat transfer during the squeeze: The air molecules inside the ball are now crowded together and rapidly banging on each other. The temperature of our ball has risen by about 60 degrees F. This temperature rise is due only to the intertwined relationship between volume/pressure/temperature. If you change one, the other two must change to compensate.

Friction during the squeeze process will increase the temperature even more so, in the real world:  Both the Second Law and Ideal Gas Law will be in play making for a tiny hot soccer ball. 

If your eyes have not glazed over by now here is the key: The relationships work both ways. If we NOW cool our small hard hot soccer ball the air inside will get even smaller. The pressure will go down a little also. 

Basically – We have taken regular air – 21% of which is oxygen – and converted it to small air – Then cooled it and made it smaller still. It is the same air with 21% oxygen but now it is new improved concentrated air! This small air will now flow easily through the intake passages, past the valves, and force its way under pressure into our cylinders.  

And, of course, more air allows more fuel and then life gets more exciting. 

The intercooler is a second stage in the creation of concentrated air for our engines. It increases the concentration by cooling the air and making it even smaller. An additional feature is that the cooler incoming air is now less likely to cause secondary issues such as detonation. 

The Procharger instructions are fairly straightforward for hanging the intercooler. It fits in nicely behind the bumper.  

I found it much easier to just take apart the entire front of the car to get access. The fascia, headlight support, everything comes out so you are not standing on your head to see what you are doing. This will become especially important when you start trying to fit the tubing through everything.

I used my tall jack stands to support the intercooler and keep it right where I wanted it until I could support it off the car. 

The intercooler is supported on top by a nice straight aluminum bracket (center of the photo below). You have to bend it to make it fit up as shown in the instructions. 

In the end it worked very well (note - I had not taken the headlight support frame out yet when this photo was taken).

The bottom mounting of the intercooler did not go smoothly at first. After attempting to follow the instructions my only comment is: “You gotta be $%&# kidding me”. 

Two tabs on the bottom of the intercooler are intended to be bolted through the bottom of the radiator core support frame. They line up with the holes quite nicely. 

But you cannot get the nuts on the bolts inside the frame. Even if you managed this (duct tape nut on a stick?) you could not get a socket in there to hold the nut. The access slot in the frame is too narrow and was never intended for such activities. This is something just south of impossible. 

What was intended is the use of speed nuts. Ford already has square holes punched in the frame next to the round bolt holes (you can see one next to the bolt in the photo above). A quick trip to the auto parts store and this was complete in five minutes. 

With the intercooler now securely supported at three points this job was nearly complete. It is a tight fit and I had to add some white foam gasket material held in with RTV in between the intercooler and the bumper to make sure things did not rattle. 

The bumper fits fairly tightly to the intercooler and is partly blocking some of the air. I am considering putting in an aftermarket racing bumper (basically a chrome-moly tube) which would allow better circulation.