'04 mustang gt retirement project/obsession

[Kmax]

Hello from the great white north. As the title says, i have an '04 mustang that i'm attempting to make into the ultimate vehicle, according to my spouse. I was pointed to this forum by "mogs01gt" in response to a question about a cooling modification to a Teksid block i'm currently working on. There's an excellent article here on a Teksid 2v PI combination, which is my goal. I'd be very pleased to hear from anyone who's done this build, and will share my experiences with anybody who wants to read about it (minus the bad language).
I have a Teksid block, bored .030 over, including the forged crank, oil pickup and pan from a '99 Cobra. I have it at a local shop to have it align honed, cylinders honed and decks cleaned up. I've ordered ARP studs for the mains, and forged Scat rods. I'm not going with a power adder, so i'd like to put the compression as high as possible for 91 octane and mild cams. I'm leaning toward hypereutectic pistons with about a 15cc dish, and conservatively ported PI heads. This is my 3-season DD, and my priorities are reliability, power and fuel economy. Hey, all i want is everything...
Anybody followed this path? I'm gonna get reading. km

 

[Bill]

Hi, and welcome to the party. Although it has been a number (okay two numbers) since I built one, I wrote the tech article year ago. I used to own Atlantic Coast Mustang, back in a different decade. The cooling mod is probably the easiest part to explain. Simply buy a cheap head gasket and look at the water jacket in the top front corner of the driver's side head. Match the location on the block's deck surface and mark where the hole will be. The hole is a 9/16", but I recommend a small pilot hole. The head gasket will show you exactly where to put the hole. Be sure to debur the hole with a piece of sand paper or something, so you don't get stress cracks. I would have to go back to my notes about piston combinations, as there are many.

 

[Kmax]

Hi Bill, thanks for the note. I'm going to do exactly as you suggest. I have to admit, I'm a bit paranoid about drilling a hole in the deck, but your explanation is flawless. Actually, I'm paranoid about all kinds of things on this build. It's been more than a couple years since I dove in this deep, and I'm a bit of a Type A anyway... I only want to do this once! So much to learn, so small a budget! I've already upgraded the throttle body and plenum, added LT headers and a tune. My current engine is getting a bit long in the tooth, and since I'm planning to do the timing chains anyway, I thought I might as well take some more weight off the front end with a Teksid (I've already done a full MM front end), add some mild cams and bump the compression. That's about as wild as I am : p If you recall any hard-learned knowledge from way back, I'd be happy to learn the easy way!
Photos coming in the next while... ...regards, kevin