Why Did Your 4.6 Modular Motor Eat Itself? How Not To Screw Up Your Engine Build!

[@ManuaLiberty]

Solid tips for building a motor. Anyone can build one, not everyone can build one right. 👍🏻

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you very much Yellow Hammer and thanks for watching!

[@bradbyers7505]

No apologies needed! These tips can save an owner thousands of dollars. I'm shopping for a place that will do everything you suggest. I'm a new owner of a 2004 Mustang GT convertible with the 4.6 2V and an automatic transmission. I want to treat it like a new baby. It has 130K miles on it, and runs fine. I'm always preparing for a time that's no longer the case. My dream is to have it "balanced and blueprinted" as the old schoolers used to say. I'm trying to learn everything I can about this engine so that when the day comes I'll make the best decisions. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and tips.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Feel free to reach out to me when the time comes or you need some help with the build. I am always willing to help out. Thanks again for watching!

[@justin.c_svt]

Solid advice. The Mustang lifestyle issue was he put a crown Vic engine in and did not swap the oil pick up tube for the mustang over so the oil pick up was smashed against the oil pan and starved it. Jordain at modular head shop is awesome his videos are great. Nice work Mike

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you very much for watching Justin!

[@2valve4six73]

Shoot I did the same thing on a swap for an 00 gt with a crown vix motor.. the pickups looked the same but pans were different so I only swapped pans. The car is owned by someone else now.. hope it's running ok ..

[@stanfordpittman1654]

One thing overlooked or put off to long is changing the break in oil (first oil) all the surfaces are mating so there will be microscopic metal particles in oil. The oil filter should catch most but the very micro particles will pass and due to heat and pressure they will bond to the ring faces and create hot spots on rings.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Very true!

[@anthonymcclinton7770]

Big Mike, I really appreciate all your video. I own a Mercury grand marquis 06. You answer all of my questions about 4.6 engine . This engine Must be maintained. Your are so Right. Thanks so very much! Tony Mac

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

I really appreciate you listening in Anthony. Let me know if there is any way I can help. Thank you for watching!

[@timwindsor03]

Awesome video brother. Thanks for sharing. Keep the content coming. Hope you have an incredible day. Much love and RESPECT brother

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you very much Tim. I really appreciate you watching and commenting!

[@turbo32coupe]

Also, you can reuse the head bolts on a budget build, but I suggest you just spend the money and upgrade to ARP head studs and main studs. If you boost it and and get detonation, torque to yield bolts will loose all their clamping force, head studs will not.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

I haven't re-used head bolts but they are pretty cheap. I really like ARP studs. The important thing that some people miss is setting the depth of each stud, typically people crank them down instead of screwing it down and backing it off half a turn and then holding the stud while threading the nut on the stud so the stud does not bottom out. Thank you again for watching!

[@4v4life72]

Great information Mike!! 👌

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

As always, thank you for watching Eder!

[@2vburnout680]

Good video Mike.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you 2V and thanks for watching!

[@haroldlemons3266]

Thanks

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thanks for watching Harold

[@Lethal_Venom]

Great tips Mike!

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you Travis and thank you for watching

[@newedgegt305]

Smart man

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you for watching Danny and leaving a comment!

[@turbo32coupe]

Mod motors are the most fool proof engines that I have built. Ford factory tolerances are better than the old sbf and sbc. If you boost it, add a driver's side water return, either from the back of the head, or punch out the rear intake manifold plug on the driver's side and fab a return. Just use a mixture of Lucas and 50 wt. oil when assembling and don't worry about priming the pump, but definitely fill the oil filter with oil.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Thank you for watching and commenting Turbo32coupe. The head cooling mod is well worth doing and I completely agree with mixing Lucas with conventional oil. I mix Lucas with Driven Break-in oil. Just like 50 wt, it has very high zinc and phosphorus content. Thank you again for watching!

[@nicholash8021]

I keep hearing about this head cooling mod and drilling a hole in the block but there is no corresponding hole for anything to flow through that into the head unless I also drill a hole into the head which nobody talks about. Can you be specific and tell me if, with "b" heads, this cooling mod can be done and if, indeed, it requires drilling a hole in both the block and the head?

[@turbo32coupe]

@@nicholash8021 Hi, you don't have to drill into the block. There are 2 access points you can use. One is remove the freeze plug from the back of the driver's side head and put a drain into it, just like the other side. The part is available from Ford. The other is remove the freeze plug from the driver's side rear corner of the intake manifold and fab a drain for that location. I made a plug with "O" rings out of aluminum and welded on a AN fitting. Both solutions attach through a "T" to the passenger side return. The one that goes under the manifold to the front of the block.

[@nicholash8021]

@@turbo32coupe Thank you for the quick response. Actually I purchased the MMR cooling mod kit that uses those plug holes but I was referring to the block drilling that is often recommended for the teksid blocks. There is even a hole in the head gasket for it as if Ford forgot to drill it. In fact the hole is drilled in later blocks so I hear rumors that it was a mistake. Modular head shop even has a video on drilling this hole but again, no discussion on the heads that would work with that mod.

[@jordanwinslow6328]

Yea just my luck this pop up and I just got my engine back from being rebuild 😪😪🤣🤣🤞🏿 wish me luck fellas

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

If I was in your shoes I would do this. Take off a valve cover, take a white lint free cloth with transmission fluid on it and run it across the top of the cylinder head. If it’s dirty make a phone call to the builder.

[@florenbaron7111]

Is that engine the one in my 2008 Ford Econoline E250 V8 4.6 2 valve?

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

4.6 4V

[@drakehazen1110]

I'm going to be building a 2005 Ford mustang GT 4.6 3v v8 with all Manley internationals and finding clearances are one of the things I'm most nervous about. It sounds like you got a lot of experience on these motors so if you can remember or if you have them written down can you PLEASE send me all of the clearances?

[@drakehazen1110]

Also any tips would be super appreciated. This is going to be my first engine build.

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

If the engine is under 600 rwhp .0015 main and .002 rod clearances are good. Over 600hp rwhp .0016 main and .0023 rod clearance is where you want to be. In my engine the mains were .0016 and rods were .0021.

[@drakehazen1110]

@@MikesGarageRoute66 what if I'm running no boost as of now but have intentions of applying it later? Should I run .0016 main and .0023 rod or run with the .0015 main and .002 rod or would I have to open it again. Also how would you change how tight or loose you make the clearances?

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

@@drakehazen1110 What are your horsepower goals?

[@drakehazen1110]

@@MikesGarageRoute66 I'm probably not going to push past 800. I'll be using a mammoth supercharger.

[@Riffs_Garage]

i just bought a 03 mach 1 roller. i found a 97 mark viii engine thats been rebuilt by ford after it was warrantied out for having a stuck injector at 19k miles. The engine has never been ran. I'm looking for set of C heads so i can use my mach 1 intake. Would it be ok to reuse the head bolts since the engine hasnt been heat cycled?

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

It has been done but personally I would not do it. I would get new Torque to Yield bolts. When they are initially installed they are stretched. Re-using them would limit the clamping force and could lead to a blown head gasket over time. Thank you very much for watching!

[@scuevas7]

Can I use brake clean on the camshaft that's still in the engine and that area? Thank you

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

I wouldn’t do that. What are you looking to do to the engine?

[@scuevas7]

@@MikesGarageRoute66 so the plastic valve cover broke in the crash I picked the car up cheap to get the engine out so I'm just wanting to clean that area whatever is under the valve cover thank you

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

@@scuevas7 You could clean it that way but make sure you change the oil to get any dirt out. Then change it again a few hundred miles later. Thank you for watching Jose!

[@scuevas7]

@@MikesGarageRoute66 ok cool! So I can use brake cleaner?

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

@@scuevas7 Yes, it’s not ideal but that will work

[@kingsmen4728]

Don't have a machine shop assemble your motor? What about the people that don't know how to other than taking it to a machine shop to have it done lol

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

It’s best to go to an engine builder who has a lot of experience with mod motors. Machine shops that are dirty and just slap an engine together tend to be short lived. It is very important on mod motors to make sure everything is measured and dead on otherwise the engine quickly eats itself. The old pushrod engines were much more forgiving. Thank you very much for watching.

[@kingsmen4728]

@@MikesGarageRoute66 makes a lot of sense thank you for that info

[@stephenalexander2427]

Eat itself.. 😂😂😂😂

[@MikesGarageRoute66]

Gotta have some humor in like 👍🏻. Thank you for watching!

[@WXSTANG]

Haha... it's funny listening to americans talk about needing the engine "white glove clean". People clearly are unfamiliar with what the rest of the world does.