Project Big Blue

[aggiediesel01]

I posted this in the other request thread but I’ll put it here as well.

Consider the 4r100 as well b/c the internals are all upgrades of the e4od. Just have to back date the converter, solenoid pack, the pump and the lever sensor on the side.

 

[94bluebeast]

Hey guys, we are putting a John Wood trans in the truck. This was already the plan, just accelerated the timeline a little.


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[Thewespaul]

So let me backup a bit and get the thread up to date. After fitting the welded intercooler kit I pulled it back off and midnighted building jigs for the charge piping at the fab shop so we would have plenty of time to fine tune the truck and get some miles on it so I can change the oil before getting it on the dyno. We used his cnc plasma table to build tabs for all the piping so everything fit nice and tight and actually clamped the piping into the jig so it could be assembled and tack welded with one pair of hands.

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After getting the jigs done I was free to do the final assembly and get the truck on the road finally. I wanted to do the first bit of driving with the stock pump maxed out so I could get a feel for the setup and get everything dialed in before stepping up to the 110.

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After getting everything installed I took it out on my test route that takes you through some mixed city driving and highway with some pretty good grades. The truck did great, no leaks of any kind and no issues pulling up grades with power to spare. On the way back from the loop the trans started to act up and quit giving overdrive. I got it back to the shop and went through the process of pulling codes and diagnosing the trans issue. It seemed to have burped some air out of the lines and took a bit more atf, and after playing with the fipl settings some more I had it shifting pretty tight on all four gears again.

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With everything working properly I added some more timing and adjusted the governor to get as much as the stock pump could give, with those adjustments I was seeing 15-18 psi post intercooler, which created enough heat and pressure on the hotside of the turbo to rupture the Spectre tight radius 3" elbow I had been giving a try on this setup, these tight radius elbows make the intercooler install quite a bit easier but dont seem to be able to hold up to a lot of boost. They do work well on the intake side which is not under pressure and being super heated, but I wouldn't recommend them for charge plumbing.

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[Thewespaul]

With good boots back on, the truck was running great. I used my speed app and recorded a decent 0-60 run of 10.8, much improved from the previous run of 15.4 and on par with a 2016 ford ranger diesel or a 2005 f250 with a 6.0 powerstroke.

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Sunday night I ran up to the fuel shop to put together a 110 for the truck, after driving it and getting a feel for where the turbo lights off, and what timing it liked I had a good plan for a recipe that would match the setup very well. This pump like the rest of my new 110s feature a new head and rotor, ceramic sleeved housing, custom governor with an extra half inch of metering valve movement and my high flow return fitting.

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Monday night I was able to get some time to pull the stock pump and install the 110, because of the custom governor and how much further it opens the metering valve the stock throttle cable only reached about 3/4 throttle, so I took apart a new motorcraft throttle cable and modified it for the extra throw and recrimped it with the factory eyelet. Before bolting the pump down I set the fipl voltage where it was easy to access, then got everything installed and buttoned back up.

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Right away on first startup the difference was noticeable with the built pump. Instead of the sowing machine idle it had a beefy chugging idle and very crisp throttle response with no wait in boost lag, power was instantaneous and very impressive. Without much tuning and dialing in, I was seeing 25-28 psi on an external boost gauge robbed from the shop truck since it was burying the 20 lbs gauge. Heres what wide open throttle looks and sounds like with the stock pump fine tuned:

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And the 110 pump on the first outing:

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Unfortunately, a few miles down the road from that clip the trans made a clunk on a 2-3 shift, and no longer had any forward or reverse gears, or park.

 

[94bluebeast]

Thanks Wes. I was initially disappointed as I was excited about picking up the truck this week, but I think this plan works even better.

I was planning on driving the truck over to John in early March anyway for the transmission since I knew it would not hold up to the new power.

Once we get the new transmission in, we can get the most accurate reading on the dyno and see what she is truly capable of and I won’t have to baby it on the way home.


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[cozinsky]

How responsive is this turbo with the stock pump? Did it spool quickly? I'm curious how it will work on mine because I plan to keep the stock pump for now.

 

[Thewespaul]

How responsive is this turbo with the stock pump? Did it spool quickly? I'm curious how it will work on mine because I plan to keep the stock pump for now.

Even with stock fueling this turbo is very responsive, boost starts to build at 1200 rpms post intercooler and it quickly comes up to the 12-15 psi threshold where most guys with stock engines would be running this upgrade, there’s no replacement for a built performance pump, but for most guys this power level is more than enough for their uses.

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[cozinsky]

Awesome, thanks!

 

[saburai]

Looking good! Wes, what provision did you make to adept the intake for the CDR?

 

[Thewespaul]

Thanks, it’s got a -12 bung welded into the 4” intake tube for the cdr recycling. On this kit I used a -12 to push lock 45* swivel fitting to go to the cdr, but the fitting that came in was for 7/8” push lock instead of 1” like the listing advertised so I had to use a 1” to 7/8” barn on the cdr end to adapt it. It works well and there’s no blow by coming from the oil fill at idle, but for the production kits I will probably just weld a 1” push lock barb right onto the intake tube and include a length of 1” push lock hose to go to the stock adapter on the valve cover.

 

[saburai]

Sounds great Wes. Are you getting any closer to having an idea of when the pre order kits will ship?

 

[Thewespaul]

I’ve got one more shipment of tubing I’m waiting on, should start production later this week or next week.

 

[saburai]

I’ve got one more shipment of tubing I’m waiting on, should start production later this week or next week.

That's great, you rock

 

[Thewespaul]

For the inquiring minds, here is the transmission spec going into big blue. I spoke with John the owner operator at length about the specifics of our build and the intended use for the truck and worked out a recipe for a transmission that will perform very well behind this engine at this power level. We are using his heavy duty towmaster package, that includes:

• CNC Machined Front Pump
• Cryo'd and heat treated pump gears that have been micropolished to perfection.
• Machined coast clutch drum for durability and stronger engine breaking.
• Re-engineered center support.
• New OE O/D planetary
• Billet forward drum
• New OE Input and Intermediate Shaft that have been cryo'd and heat treated.
• Exclusive full rollerized Intermediate and Low reverse planetary gear train.
• All clutch packs have increased clutch count to meet the demands of high HP, but still smooth enough to tow without rattling the dash when shifting.
• Converter is a true triple disc converter that includes full roller bearings in addition to a 5 axis machined billet stator to make it the most efficient converter on the market.
• Valve body is tuned to match your truck's specs so perfect operation is obtained.

Out of all the transmission shops I have spoken to, John has been the most familiar with the IDI platform since he started out diesel repair in the ford dealership back in 83. I am looking forward to installing his transmission and seeing how it performs, he has a website for anyone interested. http://jwtt.com/

 

[frankenwrench]

Does he regear/rebuild the idi zf transmission?