Supercharged Ls V8

You'd mentioned possibly getting an 8.8 torsion unit into your diff housing as I recall? How sure are you this will fit; I don't have the spare housing and various parts to try this experiment. I did get ahold of DTS (drive train specialists) and asked them about limited slips diffs... they said they couldn't even find anything that matched up to it close enough to make it work. Of course they went by spec sheets... I think... I'd definatly interested in this one so keep me posted
 
Its on the way....

Ok so I made my 190 dollars for the m90 eaton and sent the check and put the money in the bank so im ready to start saving more to get more if u know what I mean. I had a bad day the other night with it in the rain and spun out on 520. I saved it by throwing it in reverse and getting away from the wall before almost slid into it. But anyways if I only had my traction control working it would have been different. But then again I think the wind was more to it than the traction. But anyways with this rear end you have are u still with the ls tranny too? I hate the 1 tire action in the back but I would still like to have my traction control for the wet days. Does your tc work right now with the sc? I know snow is bad with no traction control and with a sc on top of that its like comparing a brand new corvette with tc to a camaro without tc its alot different. So have u opened it up yet on the road or are u still easy on it? I want to know if it screeches on dry freeway gear changes. I just hope if I get into the sc action her that I dont blow my motor. Oh by the way I noticed you did the valve cover gaskets. It happens or will happen if not already to all the earlier ls owners. Cost me 600 when I just got the bastard from the dealership. It starts off with a missfire then you need new coil packs because they are drowned in oil and the fresh smell of burning oil and smoke coming from under the hood when your sitting at the taco bell drive thru. I feel your pain lol and mine still burns oil for some reason. Oh well I change my oil when nessicary and it stays up for a while and I just have to change it by the time it gets low. I miss my maxima with the whole 5 gallons gives u almost a full tank :q:q:q:q. I bought a motor for it and am in the process of installing it. Just got to mount the motor to the mounts tighten a few bolts and its done. But anyways just thought I could check up and see how it is going. Thanks Mike
 
StinkinLinkinLS01 said:
At least I got a solid update from ya! hahaha. Sounds like a lot of work! Hope it's all paying off...being able to drive a supercharged LS to work everyday must be great! ;0)

I love smartass people.
 
Quik LS: Excellent post here!

I am new to the LS and have been installing SC and turbos on many other cars for years and it's nice to see someone documenting what's happening. In short, I'm glad I'm not the only one having troubles when I install SCs.

Anyway, it will be nice to see the actual numbers when you’re completely done. But, if you're a true car enthusiast, it will never be done. :)

I was a little concerned when you talked about driving the car after you installed the SC without a tune on it. Sadly, I have seen more blown motors because anxious installers were ready to “see what it can do”. If anyone is looking to do this soon, get a tune! If you car is not properly tuned and you’re applying boost, good luck. You can also cause major damage to your internals without even knowing it.

Anyway, this post is a nice read. Someone should make a new sticky post and remove all the BS here that is not relevant. Thanks again for the post.


Jes
 
don't get me wrong - the car has had a 'fat' tune on it since day one. we datalogged several times - parked, running through the WOT, tuned, then again.

We then started on little 10mins drvies (no WOT), then more and more.

I've now done several WOT runs, logged retuned.

We had a MAJOR break through this weekend - working with SCT - we were able to get the right combination of strategy code and version of LiveLink to be able to select and record MAF_AD_COUNTS - a key tuning parameter that we have been missing for a long while.

The tuning has been the longest part of this so far.....

Now I just need the weather to cooperate..... it's 26 degrees and snowing here... (it could be the end of the world).
 
I'm sure you've realized this, but a way overaggressive fueling is just as bad for an engine as running lean can be. Too much fuel will take the oil off the cyl walls and you end up burning a piston (I've run into this on 3 occations at work). The other downside is even if everything stays ok, you end up with a ton of ring wear, just as you do if you have an engine that doesn't run hot enough...

I'm stoked about the blown LS, can't wait to see it in a mag.
 
I've been watching this from the start... *very* interesting thread.

Not to push, but after this long project do you still see yourself packaging up a couple of these kits - with tune - to sell?

-Jeff
www.DrivingEnthusiast.net
 
that is the 'plan'. the thoughts are kit up the custom pieces - with and without the t-bird stuff (M90, inlet, outlet, ....). That way people can use / get there own piece if they want (or not).

The challenge is to get mine done - tune and dyno numbers - then do a second one from scratch and make sure all the 1000 little things I did are documented well.....

If I can do it, anyone can do it, but I do not want to make it seems falsely simple and have people get into trouble half-way in.

As the weather is starting to warm up here - I'll start tuning again and try to pass my emissions.... Austin been too cold for my thermostat-less car to be on the streets...
 
Uh-uh, this is not something anyone can do. You're doing a great job. Keep it up... we'll look forward with great patience to your results.
2nd one might be something to try on the later engine, too.
Or, kill two birds with one stone and do it on a late 2004/5 T-Bird. There's a nice classic yellow one off of 183...
Ford's own concept supercharged T-Bird below. The supercharged engine was discussed w/the media for both the LS and T-Bird, then never delivered. Understanding is that Jac Nasser has(had) one for personal use. Roush also developed a T-56 conversion for the car.
SCTbirdConcept15_HR.jpg
 
yep - Geoff Knight (the guy who did the fab work for me behind the scenes) did a Jag S-type R conversion for a V8 T-bird for Pimp-My-Ride....

He was contacted shortly thereafter to build them as a one-off custom order for a Beverly Hills Ford Dealer.....
 
Quik LS said:
He was contacted shortly thereafter to build them as a one-off custom order for a Beverly Hills Ford Dealer.....

Well, Pimp my Ride is not exactly my scene... but now I wished I had seen this episode.

Do you have a website describing these special 'birds that were reworked for the dealer? I'd like to learn more on that topic.

Shame about the DEW98 platform...such wasted potential over here. Only Jag made the best of it.. and got the funds to take it to the next step of evolution next year. This could have been Ford's equivalent of the Nissan/Infiniti FM platform is anybody in Dearbord had followed through.
 
I too wonder what all was done to the Thunderbird concept to get the 390 hp/ft.lbs of torque rating. It appears from the writing below that the headers were the only thing added to the engine. This leads me to believe that the stock 3.9L internals should be pretty strong!

FORD THUNDERBIRD SC CONCEPT:

With 390 horsepower on tap, the Ford Thunderbird 3.9-liter supercharged V-8 engine transforms the vehicle's character from a grand touring car into a performance-minded sports roadster. The supercharger setup offers peak horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 390 foot pounds of peak torque at 3,500 rpm, giving the Thunderbird concept car impressive power and acceleration capabilities.

Ford's powertrain engineers began the supercharged concept's transformation with a stock 3.9-liter DOHC modular V-8 engine from the standard Thunderbird. Then, all-new aluminum headers were fitted along with a Roots type supercharger to provide the necessary thrust.

"Achieving 390 horsepower from a relatively modest 3.9 liters is a testament to this engine's efficient use of technology," says Dave Szczupak, Ford Motor Company vice president, Powertrain Operations. "The raw power of this most powerful Thunderbird ever is intoxicating to sample, but our designers have made the Supercharged Ford Thunderbird just as exciting visually as it is to drive."
 
In the end, there was one built for show, and alledgedly one built for Nasser to drive. That's all we know for sure. The show engine didn't even necessarily run... and Nasser's engine didn't necessarily have to be built to the usual longevity standards.

Presumably, there was one mocked up or built much earlier, when it was discussed in the press for the Lincoln LS (just after it's launch in 2000). But sometime in the year 2000 the decision was made not to use the DEW98 platform as the platform for the new Mustang... and within 2 years the DEW98 platform itself was dead-ended for the North American audience. Note that there were at least two show LSs built with superchargers, but not with Ford parts or intended for production (1 of them is on my site, along with the S' T-Bird and several other things).

So it's all moot from them...

Now we have Quik LS to build one for us!
 
Quick,
I would love to see that old video of your s/c car that was posted on roughly the 5th page of this. The link is no good anymore.

And thank you for keeping the dream of supercharging alive!
 
Aluminum Headers?

Ford's powertrain engineers began the supercharged concept's transformation with a stock 3.9-liter DOHC modular V-8 engine from the standard Thunderbird. Then, all-new aluminum headers were fitted along with a Roots type supercharger to provide the necessary thrust.


Has anybody heard of Aluminum Headers? I have looked at a TON of headers over the years and I don't think Aluminum would be a very good header material??
.
.
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That is bizarre... but most likely the marketing wonks messed up. Perhaps "aluminum-ized"...? Is that a word?
 
Justin00LS said:
Quick,
I would love to see that old video of your s/c car that was posted on roughly the 5th page of this. The link is no good anymore.

And thank you for keeping the dream of supercharging alive!

Good luck! Careful...you might get roasted for being too impatient. Lol. JUST KIDDING!!!! That video is pretty tight, I'd like to hear how the thing sounds though!
 
Justin00LS said:
Quick,
I would love to see that old video of your s/c car that was posted on roughly the 5th page of this. The link is no good anymore.

And thank you for keeping the dream of supercharging alive!

No worries - I did not know it timed out.

I'll shoot another this weekend - as it looks like I'll be pinned to working in the garage with Austin's high of 30 degrees..... my thermostat-less car will not be going anywhere...
 
sorry - never got back to texas this weekend... stuck in PA for another week.
 
Quik, when (if) you do a 3.0, will you be using the Kenne Bell for the Escape 3.0? Or are your plans to do that as closely to the 3.9 as possible? Also, I've read on Cougar boards that pre-03 3.0s have forged cranks, have you heard that?
 
my wife tells me it's 70-ish in Austin now.... so I should be on the road again next week.

It's windy cold where I am right now -Yardley, PA
 
:rolleyes: I knew someone agreed with me. Quik, I know this is going to sound like a dumb question but, why can't you install a thermostat on your LS?
 
sure - remember back a bunch of page - I was overheating - bad.

So one of the steps in troubleshooting was to pull the t-stat - which fixed the issue. Turns out I had it installed correctly - but the aftermarket t-stats are much smaller than the stock LS. So I just left it out - which usually in Texas - is not an issue...

I will have to go back and address the issue - and likely redesign the current t-stat housing I am using to accept the stock LS t-stat - problem solved...

I am sick of pull the SC off the car, draining the coolant, blah blah blah - and since I'm travelling - leaving the car in one piece in the garage for an extra week isn't a big deal to me.
 
PEople have to understand that we are working with a pretty restrictive engine and ECU. It's not like a Honda, you cant just bolt :q:q:q:q onto it.
 

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