Wesman's engine kaput overheated

wesman

wesman

Miata Terrorizer
Hello Gents its been a while. Bad news from my end, I need an engine. My thermostat failed (while i was inside a store and it was idling) and overheated the engine, drove it for a bit to see if it would cool back down, but it went into limp mode and then stalled. Had it towed to my buddy's garage and after much checking its burning coolant (white smoke at the tailpipes and smells sweet). 115,000 miles on it, many on the track, i figure this engine owes me very little.
My buddy was asking about a re& re but i figure its too expensive with an aluminium 4 cammer.
Before i dash off to car-part.com for a used engine ($1500-$2000 quite a few are there) I thought i would post it up in case anyone knows of an intact motor near Toronto.
Wes.
 
Drewstang said:
Better than a lightweight weak rodded paper weight.
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ahh yes N/A marauders are blowing left and right from too much power... :rolleyes:


Anyway, Wes there were a couple on detroit area craigslist back in December, might wanna try there.
 
Why go through the trouble of pulling the engine and reinstalling another engine that has the same fate as the blown one? That makes no sense. The iron block is stronger, the pistons are stronger, and most importantly the rods are stronger. So the compression ratio goes down to 8.5:1, big deal. He can use 87 octane fuel if he chooses to.
 
Drewstang said:
Why go through the trouble of pulling the engine and reinstalling another engine that has the same fate as the blown one? That makes no sense. The iron block is stronger, the pistons are stronger, and most importantly the rods are stronger. So the compression ratio goes down to 8.5:1, big deal. He can use 87 octane fuel if he chooses to.
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what... yeah I'm sure if he had a cobra motor it would of just laughed at overheating :shake:
 
Hey Wes; Sorry to hear about the engine. Sounds like you have a line on a new one already!

jeremy
 
I will never understand why people will spend the money for a iron block Cobra engine that will just run like ass and add about 80lbs to the front end.

Get a stock replacement or build the one you have. How bad was the overheat? Tear the engine down, take some measurements and see what you have. Maybe you just heated it enough to pop a few gaskets and everything else is within spec. Alls you need is a gasket kit, head resurface and you are back on the road.

Mil your head down .030 and get a tad more compression and HP out of it. Make sure you keep an eye on the theromstat from now on. I never leave a car running unattended unless it is in the warming up phase and I have to run in the house for a moment.

My buddie started his racecar one evening and forgot his wallet.... ran in the house and heard a loud pop. He goes back in the garage and there is oil all over the floor and his engine seized. A $3 hose connection popped and all 7 qts of oil was pumped out onto the floor and it seized his $8000 engine. All because he left it run unattended. He would've seen his guages and low oil PSI warning light and saved his engine.

Sucks.
 
CKMustangCobra said:
I will never understand why people will spend the money for a iron block Cobra engine that will just run like a*s and add about 80lbs to the front end.
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I have to agree...Until I see lots of aluminum engine blocks, N/A or S/C, failing due to excess stress.....why put a low compression iron block back in a Marauder?
:dunno:
 
Joe Walsh said:
I have to agree...Until I see lots of aluminum engine blocks, N/A or S/C, failing due to excess stress.....why put a low compression iron block back in a Marauder?
:dunno:
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The first pre-production design of the 03 Cobra with the blower added did use an aluminum block but the extreme heat caused by the blower was causing the heads to warp and develop fine cracks in the cylinder walls. So they had to go with the cast iron block to eliminate this problem since they did not have enough time to address the heat problems given their projected production date.


This iron vs aluminum argument will never end. I have a good friend who is a software engineer for Ford (designs EEC software) He told me the conversations that went on inside of Ford about this subject were very heated at times. Ford WANTED to go aluminum for the weight factor (hence CAFE) But they felt there might be a durability issue because they knew these engines would be subjected to modification and more boost when used in sanctioned racing. They felt to build an aluminum block that would hold up to their standards would require new tooling...and THAT is expensive. Using an existing or previous production block was not considered as they felt it wouldn't stand up. So the comments about holding 1200 hp are not supported by Ford engineers. Remember, they are thinking about longevity issues more than anything else. A block that would hold up to race only environments would also have to hold up to many, many miles of street use too. Ford has VERY strict guidelines as to what any new engine must perform to when it comes to these issues. If it won't perform to these, they have no choice but to look elsewhere. The 4.6 aluminum didn't pass these tests.

PS: Nascar uses iron blocks also. I think all the teams use iron blocks. The other side of the coin that most people don't talk about us reusability.
 
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merc said:
The first pre-production design of the 03 Cobra with the blower added did use an aluminum block but the extreme heat caused by the blower was causing the heads to warp and develop fine cracks in the cylinder walls. So they had to go with the cast iron block to eliminate this problem since they did not have enough time to address the heat problems given their projected production date.


This iron vs aluminum argument will never end. I have a good friend who is a software engineer for Ford (designs EEC software) He told me the conversations that went on inside of Ford about this subject were very heated at times. Ford WANTED to go aluminum for the weight factor (hence CAFE) But they felt there might be a durability issue because they knew these engines would be subjected to modification and more boost when used in sanctioned racing. They felt to build an aluminum block that would hold up to their standards would require new tooling...and THAT is expensive. Using an existing or previous production block was not considered as they felt it wouldn't stand up. So the comments about holding 1200 hp are not supported by Ford engineers. Remember, they are thinking about longevity issues more than anything else. A block that would hold up to race only environments would also have to hold up to many, many miles of street use too. Ford has VERY strict guidelines as to what any new engine must perform to when it comes to these issues. If it won't perform to these, they have no choice but to look elsewhere. The 4.6 aluminum didn't pass these tests.

PS: Nascar uses iron blocks also. I think all the teams use iron blocks. The other side of the coin that most people don't talk about us reusability.
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I can't disagree with that information. I was always curious as to why Ford didn't use TEKSID blocks for the Cobras.
I think that the foundry in Italy no longer had the contract to do the castings for the aluminum blocks.
A majority of Cobra's are subjected to way more boost than the OEM set-up.
I was framing my response in regards to Wes staying N/A.
 
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Joe Walsh said:
I can't disagree with that information. I was always curious as to why Ford didn't use TEKSID blocks for the Cobras.
I think that the foundry in Italy no longer had the contract to do the castings for the aluminum blocks.
A majority of Cobra's are subjected to more boost than the OEM set-up.
I was framing my response in regards to Wes staying N/A.
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N/A is another can of worms. You can compensate the weight factor with boost, but in N/A trim it's all about the pounds. Lighter is better.
 
merc said:
N/A is another can of worms. You can compensate the weight factor with boost, but in N/A trim it's all about the pounds. Lighter is better.
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not only the weight but the drop in compression will lower your power a bit, and increase fuel consumption... I dunno if I would want to be able to use 89 fuel that badly.
 
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