Hi all, just got home from work a little while ago and there was an message on my voice mail from a friend telling me that there is a Blue L at Richmond Ford that launched a rod through the side of the block. This story is second or third hand, but allegedly the owner denied any mods (don't know if they were removed or not), but Ford supposedly flew an inspector out to see the truck and voided the guy's powertrain warranty on the spot.

I can tell you one thing for sure, my new truck won't be getting any modifications. not worth the risk.

later,
chris

 

Chris, what mods did you have to run the times in your sig?? and how'd you get that awesome 60 on the F1s? lotsa practice? JW thanx man

 

I had a #6 lower, a 1.5 upper. a JL chip, an open filter, a powercooler, a FT valve body and thats it I think.

oh, bassani cat back, but I'm fairly certain it didn't help anything HP wise, just sounded sweet.

also, I had a Hotchkis lowering kit (springs front and rear) I don't know if this had any effect, but it sure didn't seem to hurt my 60ft's like alot of people claim. 1.78 on F1s

there were a few people getting slightly better 60s on F1s than me.

mostly, your burnout and launch technique are the key, and lots of practice!!! get to the track early and that way you can get lots of back to back runs before the crowds get there and you can experiment with what works and what doesn't.

maybe even more importantly is track prep. if a track just doesn't hook well, there really isn't much you can do.

BTW, those 60fts were at 32psi.

later,
chris

 

i'm glad they didn't catch on that i modded mine when it blew

 

I feel bad for the guy, but I still say if Ford had put propper rods in this would not be a problem.

I know big brother is reading this, so come one give us real connecting rods, or cover the blown motors. There are far to many blowing up to be caused by improperlly tuned chips. Also cover the damn blown spark plugs, like the rods you know there is a problem with the plug threads.

I run as much boost and a agressive chip as anyone. With my Manley rods I know I won't throw a rod, but I might throw a plug.

 

Hmmm, I wonder who that is... I only know of one True Blue in our area and it would come to your shop Chris, not Richmond Ford. I wonder who has a modded True Blue and holding back on us....

 

So, to be safe, should someone modding their truck do a preemptive strike and change the rods? Or is it overkill? I don't know jack about engines but want to go fast. I'd be one hurtin puppy if my engine blew.

 

To be honest Richard, I'm not sure myself, right off the top of my head the only True Blue L that I know the owner in Richmond is Pete W, but he just traded that truck in last week, it is on our lot so I know that is not the same one?

later,
chris

P.S.

Expensive?, yes. Overkill?, No. Depending on the extent of your mods, though some may have blown motors with very little mods, I'd only put them in if you plan on going for lots of boost and rpm. just my .02 though

 

rods fix the ventilation problem - what fixes the plug problem?

 

good question. maybe nothing. alot of people here say only helicoiling will fix that problem, but according to ford you should absolutely never do this. If you look at the heads, the amount of material that would need to be removed in order to drill out, tap and install a heli-coil would leave a very thin layer of aluminum around the end of the plug/heli-coil in the combustion chamber, this would theoretically be more susceptible to cracking or otherwise failing. There are machine shops in my area that specifically refuse to helicoil a set of these heads for this particular reason, NOT ENOUGH METAL to do it properly/safely.

HOWEVER... I believe there are some people here who have (real world experience) installed heli-coils successfully without further problems. some folks have even done so with the head still installed on the engine (which to me is completely INSANE), but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do .

the question isn't if heli-coiling is strong enough, but if whats left of the head after the installation process is strong enough to last a lifetime of abuse?

anyway, I have been wondering this same thing, as I am contemplating getting some heads ported and thought I'd just have all of the plug holes heli-coiled while they were accessable, but I don't want to ruin a perfectly good set of ported heads by H-Coiling them if it could pose another potential problem down the road. i'd rather just keep the plugs tight. know what I mean?

sorry for the long post.

later,
chris

 

I fear blowning a plug more then the engine.. Sounds crazy but I do.. I Really don't get into boost that often unless im at the track......

 

I remember hearing many things about Fords new modular motor when they first arrived in the mustangs in 96'. I heard that the motor overall was good for the mustang application, but if you put a supercharger on it, it was bound to throw a rod because of the weak bottom ends. That was one of my original concerns when I was looking at a lightning. I like the way they looked but was concerned that FORD didn't build the bottom ends any stronger for their lightning application. It seems that I was correct in my ***-umption.
I have always heard, if you intend on running a stout supercharger on the modular motor, you better build the block before hand.

Make sure you read carefully guys, I said this is what I "heard" and "***-umed".

 

I called my brother-in-law, who works at Richmond Ford, regarding this truck that blew its motor. It turns out that it is a Red Lightning, not True Blue, and the owner is a complete idiot!!!
It has a biga$$ lightning bolt sticker on the back window too.

He apparently brought the truck in last week sometime complaining about the brakes, and they found that he had torn through the brake pads down to the metal in 27k miles. Since he paid cash for the truck and has bought from the dealer before, they replaced the parts under warranty (over $400 worth of work). At that time, the tech noted on the work order that the truck had a number of mods on it.

This week, the guy drops off the truck, and he starts throwing a fit over it. He told them that Ford's were crap and that he will never buy one again blah..blah..blah. So they pull the truck in, and they find the PCM cover in the truck, along with a cover with "superchips" written on it. There is also a Superchips sticker on the truck. So they pull the PCM out, and they said it looks like the guy took a screwdriver and gouged out the contacts.

Rumor is that the guy calls Ford bitching about his truck, so Ford decides to send someone out there. The inspector gets there, and admits that they cannot do anything about the mods unless there is concrete evidence that the truck had them on there. He really didn't look for them until he read that is was noted to have come in for service the previous week with stuff on it.

Now that he is out to prove it, they pull the valve cover to check the condition (see if oil changes were done, etc. ) It is BLACK underneath, but the owner swears he changed it 10 times already. So they ask for reciepts, and he forges some reciepts with his handwriting from his contruction company and brings them in. They tell him those won't count, and that it is obvious he didn't do it. So he gets more pissed off at them!!

To top it all off, there are clumps of mud all underneath the back of the truck as if the thing was taken out doing doughnuts in the mud.

If the moron had shut his mouth, they wouldn't have done anything. They also wouldn't have done anything if he had gone to a dealer he didn't normally visit, or had taken off his mods for his normal service at that dealer.

So for those out there that are worried about warranty coverage, just play it safe and don't show up with crap on your truck. At least cover up the contacts on the PCM, and don't leave the chip covers in the truck!!!

 

We have a winner of this week's Assclown award!

 

How much would a Manley rod install cost?