My '02 GT Coyote Swap

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weendoggy

weendoggy

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Personally I don’t like the engine cover BUT if you have the hood clearance you should space the bar up. Don’t cut a relief hole in the plastic or it’ll look like an afterthought.
I could go either way with the cover, but I don't want to relieve it as well. I'd rather have it on complete. I did make a hole for the fuel gauge and end where the 3/4" hose comes out but that looks nice. I'll see what happens later after the hood gets replaced. Bad side of the cover is I'd have to remove the brace to get it off.
 
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weendoggy

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Man, that ps bracket came out perfect and the placement looks stock. Good job. It makes me happy to hear it run.
Thanks. Took about 2 days to do so I didn't have to do it twice.

Finally got my degas tank back with just enough time to install and test run. Turned out nice and fits good. Then made a custom vent tube to air intake. Yes it does run, took it down the road a bit to see (open headers) and this thing is wicked fast! Going to chassis shop Mon. then off to exhaust shop to connect 6" of space between headers and X pipe.

degastank.JPG
Tank was cut to clear the intake which goes to passenger side and put an extra tube in for the radiator.

coyote_engine.JPG
Final engine bay with EVERYTHING installed! Made a new vapor vent line and bracket to support the air intake.
 
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weendoggy

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I can officially say I'm ready for the track! What a job and what an ordeal, and I did it in almost two months to the day, sans the Coyote engine prep! However, there was still that last minute "gotcha" that bit me in the butt. The lead in goes like this:

I only drove the car about 4mi. total to check things out and bead in my brakes. Then it was off to the chassis shop for alignment and inspection. Got a call the next day and was told it was ready but give them a call. Never a good sign. Called and they said the belt broke and they can't road test and pushed it back in the shop. They did send me a picture and it was the alternator belt so I said you can drive it, just pull the belt off. Well, they couldn't. All night I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. Did I not tighten the pulley bolt? etc.

Arriving the next morning it took me 30sec to spot the problem. Alternator pulley wedged to timing cover. Pushed the car into the lot and in less than a minute I had the belt off and started the car, all good. I needed to get it to the exhaust shop that day. Loaded on the trailer and off I went. Note: it has two belts and the p/s and water pump were intact.

Longer story short, while exhaust work was getting done I ordered all the parts I thought I'd need. The alternator/pulley were replaced (Red Label) along with both new belts. I may not have taken enough material off the timing cover area for clearance, but I sure checked it. I also used my pneumatic impact (like I always do) on the pulley bolt when it was installed. Funny thing was, the nut and lock washer were still on the alternator when I removed it, but it shredded the pulley.

Exhaust turned out fantastic! I took everything I had and then some. Suggested to take the "ball/bell" end off the rear of the "X" pipe and use the sleeve there because there was already a "ball/bell" end at the headers. Lupe liked that and proceeded to do his thing. Cut, snip, grind, shrink, enlarge; the guy's and artist and he did it in less than three hours. Car actually sounds better to me than the 4.6 did. I told him this was the smoothest part of the build and his response was, "that's because you're not doing it".:p

Got the car home and in the garage and the next morning I spent three hours getting all the prep work done, including using a pick tool in EVERY groove of EVERY pulley to insure no rubber was left behind. I made sure I had clearance and fitted it once and then took it off and took more off. Got my parts and had the car running that afternoon.

I spent today just putting some miles on and double checking everything at every errand stop I made. I will say, "this thing is wicked fast now". Feels like my Cobra! Charged the AC and now can go in comfort.

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Wedged pulley between alternator and timing cover. My worry was a cracked cover.

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Damage done to cover by pulley.

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Now it looks like this with more material removed. I could do more if needed.

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Mocking up placement of "X" pipe and stuff. I'm looking for a SEC 3" clamp for the ball at the headers.

exh_xpipe2.jpg
Lupe at work. I'll post a finished pic when I get it back on the rack.
 

cobrajeff96

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Be careful about the alternator with the PBH setup if that's what you're using, really if it's the Coyote Boss style alternator. A longer pulley is needed, not sure if that's your setup but luckily for me the problem showed immediately just by cranking the engine with no fuel in order to circulate oil through the oil holes as I pressurized the engine externally with an oil prelube tank. I was unaware that a longer pulley was needed and on the dry starts the alt belt jumped off track due to the misalignment and rubbed itself against the back side of the water pump pulley.
 
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weendoggy

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Be careful about the alternator with the PBH setup if that's what you're using, really if it's the Coyote Boss style alternator. A longer pulley is needed, not sure if that's your setup but luckily for me the problem showed immediately just by cranking the engine with no fuel in order to circulate oil through the oil holes as I pressurized the engine externally with an oil prelube tank. I was unaware that a longer pulley was needed and on the dry starts the alt belt jumped off track due to the misalignment and rubbed itself against the back side of the water pump pulley.
I am using the PBH setup, but with the recommended GT alternator, which isn't the issue. Alignment was checked by me when I initially installed it and all was good. I believe it was an error on my part of just not taking enough of the ribs off the timing cover. At first I thought the nut came loose but after removing the carnage, I found it was the face of the pulley that was leaving it's mark. I ordered an AT alternator due to it having a solid pulley, but opted to put the PBH one I re-ordered on due to the OD of the pulley and not wanting to take a chance on belt length. I've since put about 30mi. on the setup and all good. Going out today for a longer run.
 

cobrajeff96

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You might also want to ask around about reverse spin. The way our alternators are mounted with PBH bracketry, the alternator spins in reverse. This means two things:

A likelihood that the pulley nut can back off and loosen it

The internal fan not being able to properly vent heat out

Just to be on the safe side I had J2Fabrication custom make me an alternator just for this. I was taking zero chances.
 
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weendoggy

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You might also want to ask around about reverse spin. The way our alternators are mounted with PBH bracketry, the alternator spins in reverse. This means two things:

A likelihood that the pulley nut can back off and loosen it

The internal fan not being able to properly vent heat out

Just to be on the safe side I had J2Fabrication custom make me an alternator just for this. I was taking zero chances.
I'll keep a watch on that. I have a buddy with a 4.6 and KB that runs his alternator backwards without issues. I've also contacted PBH and they say no issues (figure they would say this) so I'll just monitor. I did use locktite and my trusty CP pneumatic gun (again) to lock the nut. Running next weekend track event so will be sure to monitor. If doubts, I'll contact J2Fabrication and see what they'll do for me as well. Thanks.

btw: took it on a good 60mi run today and all looks good so far. Water temp stays between 185 and 190, even with AC on. The only obvious issue is the tach not liking 1400-2000 rpm very well. Likes to bounce in that area but when it hits 2k and on, it's rock solid. I'll be looking into a fix for that if possible, otherwise I'll live with it. Not planning or have desire to plop a DD in there for that.
 

lwarrior1016

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I'll keep a watch on that. I have a buddy with a 4.6 and KB that runs his alternator backwards without issues. I've also contacted PBH and they say no issues (figure they would say this) so I'll just monitor. I did use locktite and my trusty CP pneumatic gun (again) to lock the nut. Running next weekend track event so will be sure to monitor. If doubts, I'll contact J2Fabrication and see what they'll do for me as well. Thanks.

btw: took it on a good 60mi run today and all looks good so far. Water temp stays between 185 and 190, even with AC on. The only obvious issue is the tach not liking 1400-2000 rpm very well. Likes to bounce in that area but when it hits 2k and on, it's rock solid. I'll be looking into a fix for that if possible, otherwise I'll live with it. Not planning or have desire to plop a DD in there for that.
The Dakota digital is the beez kneez though!
 

cobrajeff96

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+1 for DD, they make some amazing stuff. I'm running their SGI1000BT for speedo gauge and the bluetooth interface makes it too damn easy.

The lock tite on the alternator should protect against loosening when it comes to shock loading which is really the thing that'll potentially break the nut loose. You might be ok. Let's just hope the regulator has a normal (ish) lifespan with the fan blades of the alternator not spinning in the normal direction.
 
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weendoggy

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+1 for DD, they make some amazing stuff. I'm running their SGI1000BT for speedo gauge and the bluetooth interface makes it too damn easy.
Not knocking the DD setup, just can't justify spending $$ for a lot of extra non-needed work. All my gauges look and work perfectly except the tach not liking the 1400-2000 range with accuracy. Having to pull the chassis ECM and disable PATS just to get that working isn't in the cosmos. Also, I like my white face gauge overlay I did several years ago. True, it doesn't have the numbers per say, but I've checked needle position with a scanner to know what's what. However, I did drop DD a line to ask if the SGI1000BT can be integrated to get the tach signal correct. If that can be done, it's a done deal and I'll install that, otherwise, I'll keep searching for a remedy. As I said before, I don't give up.
 

cobrajeff96

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Not knocking the DD setup, just can't justify spending $$ for a lot of extra non-needed work. All my gauges look and work perfectly except the tach not liking the 1400-2000 range with accuracy. Having to pull the chassis ECM and disable PATS just to get that working isn't in the cosmos. Also, I like my white face gauge overlay I did several years ago. True, it doesn't have the numbers per say, but I've checked needle position with a scanner to know what's what. However, I did drop DD a line to ask if the SGI1000BT can be integrated to get the tach signal correct. If that can be done, it's a done deal and I'll install that, otherwise, I'll keep searching for a remedy. As I said before, I don't give up.
I kinda had to do the DD box because of this...
 

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weendoggy

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Pardon my ignorance, but I don't see that as a DD option. I do like that overlay, so are you saying you can open the DD and overlay that? If they had an option for a white background I'd give it a hard look. I definitely don't like the silver and numbers.

Info on my tach: I was able to get it to work as I mentioned. The key was to only connect the +CPK wire to the Coyote harness, leave the shielded ground/wrap on but don't connect to the Coyote and DO NOT connect the -CPK wire to the Coyote. Engine started and tach works as mentioned until the 1400 when it does the watusi on/off until 2k. Doesn't effect the engine running at all.

I got a response back from DD and the SGI1000BT can't be integrated to make it work. I also have some info on the Ground Loop Noise Indicator and may try that later on. One caveat to that is you choose to have the tach read accurate at low end or high. Something to do with accuracy at the top end showing higher than actual reading.
 

cobrajeff96

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Not using the DD for tach, only for speedo. My speedo scale has completely changed because its max is now 200mph instead of the OEM 160mph. The attachment is a CAD render from Black Cat Customs so the color of the number units may not be accurate in this attachment (the final cut of the overlay does not have silver anywhere). Was also able to get custom indicators embossed into the black center section at the bottom of the overlay.

The great thing about the DD is the bluetooth interface. When I first toyed with it, I used my phone's DD app to calibrate the speedo needle in real time as I was driving (low speed with no one else around of course) and it's dead on accurate. It was the easiest / fastest way to recalibrate to the new scale of the speedo range on that new gauge overlay.

For tach I use the AutoMeter 9117 box using VPWR4 as the activation trigger. You might look into this as well because the 9117 probably does interpolating operations behind the scenes and might smooth out your tach ripples for you. Not 100% on this assumption because I have yet to do the first test fire. But we'll see soon enough.
 
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weendoggy

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I saw the Black Cat Customs overlays when I did mine. I opted for the one from New Vintage USA (NVU). I only meant silver because that's what DD sells as an option on their setup.

I don't think the AutoMeter 9117 box will work either. The 2000> used the CanBus to obtain the tach and speed which then goes to the dash. I already have a dedicated analog tach wire with the Coyote harness and that works my Raptor Shift Light and I do have an extra lead if needed for an analog tach. My goal was/is to use the stock dash and retain all the PATS etc. so I didn't have to take more crap apart to have it all work. My speedo runs fine because I use my SCT to change the gear ratio in the rear and it's spot on. If I find a fix for the tach I'll be sure to post it here.
 

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