Advice to Supercharged Dark Horses

[TexVol]

Hi All,

Just passing along some advice for those of you that have upped the Horse Power on your favorite Dark Horse….Change out the stock half shafts as soon as you can.

I had read other comments around half shafts breaking when putting the pedal down to the floor and should have taken heed. I got a chance to experience my own half shaft failure yesterday at the track on a beautiful sunny low DA day that was surely going to let me put down some of my best times ever.

Alas, one burnout in and first run of the day commenced with great anticipation only to feel and hear the ugliest noise any driver never wants to hear. One huge pop bang snap crackle and my beautiful day of racing was done.

So, if you have a chance to change out your half shafts early on, do it. Had I listened to others who had been through the same experience already, I might have been able to finish the day with some of my own personal best times and not missed out on the great smell of burning rubber and spent race fuel!!

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[Q6543]

Literally put in gt350 driver side half’s half last weekend.
Is that the side that broke?

also this is why I’m HUGE on using bias plys… radials need everything right to work, chassis, pressure, prep etc… and will still break stuff

I know it’s a pain, but they’re so much easier on parts given the ability to absorb shock.

 

[TexVol]

Literally put in gt350 driver side half’s half last weekend.
Is that the side that broke?

also this is why I’m HUGE on using bias plys… radials need everything right to work, chassis, pressure, prep etc… and will still break stuff

I know it’s a pain, but they’re so much easier on parts given the ability to absorb shock.

Yes sir, driver side half popped. Track was prepped awesomely. Everything was sticking tight. It broke on shift between gears. Wish I would’ve already replaced before hand….but alas

 

[TexVol]

Yes sir, driver side half popped. Track was prepped awesomely. Everything was sticking tight. It broke on shift between gears. Wish I would’ve already replaced before hand….but alas

PS, going with G Force Outlaws now and replacing the drive shaft while we’re there just for preventative maintenance.

 

[robvas]

Are they the same as the GT halfshafts?

 

[broncoboy22]

Stang mode went for the Ford performance half shafts and a carbon fiber one piece drive shaft on his 1,000 whp DH with a whipple

 

[broncoboy22]

I think it’s also generally recommended to change the oil crank gear to a forged one as well when super charging

 

[TexVol]

I think it’s also generally recommended to change the oil crank gear to a forged one as well when super charging

We changed the OPG’s when we installed the whipple. Just good preventative maintenance while you’re that far down.

 

[TexVol]

We changed the OPG’s when we installed the whipple. Just good preventative maintenance while you’re that far down.

Sorry, we changed the crank gear as well.

 

[roket]

We changed the OPG’s when we installed the whipple. Just good preventative maintenance while you’re that far down.

forgive me for not knowing, but what is the point of doing the oil pump gears? Ford has used cast ones even in the 2020-22 GT500, and i always personally found that "drop test" 100% useless, because at what point is your OPG being dropped while in the engine?

 

[kagemusha2662]

forgive me for not knowing, but what is the point of doing the oil pump gears? Ford has used cast ones even in the 2020-22 GT500, and i always personally found that "drop test" 100% useless, because at what point is your OPG being dropped while in the engine?

The drop is not to simulate what happens in the engine, but to show the strength of it. Pushing that much power with the high compression rate of an NA engine puts a lot of pressure on that part specifically. The gen 1 and 2 coyote were notorious for this being the specific weak point, hence people always recommending to replace it when adding boost. Gen 3 seems to have gotten stronger and able to live around the 700-800 whp range. Gen 4 presumably has the same one gen 3 had, but there’s a YouTube video of someone testing the gen 4 OPGs and still showing it as pretty weak. It’s a relatively inexpensive part compared to the whole supercharger kit, so it’s easy to replace it while installing the kit anyways, which is why most people recommend to do it

 

[robvas]

forgive me for not knowing, but what is the point of doing the oil pump gears? Ford has used cast ones even in the 2020-22 GT500, and i always personally found that "drop test" 100% useless, because at what point is your OPG being dropped while in the engine?

It's like a catch can, you "have" to do it!

 

[TexVol]

To everyone’s point, not saying you have to replace them, just thought it was prudent while the engine was that far down. Guess no reason not to, even if not really necessary. I didn’t want to look back and be that ‘one’ guy that actually had a problem…..lol. Cheap insurance might be a better way to look at it.

 

[Ace 500]

To everyone’s point, not saying you have to replace them, just thought it was prudent while the engine was that far down. Guess no reason not to, even if not really necessary. I didn’t want to look back and be that ‘one’ guy that actually had a problem…..lol. Cheap insurance might be a better way to look at it.

Hey OP sorry to hear about your half shafts. A couple of questions looking at the Stage one Whipple from Ford Performance:
1) I am assuming you are not stage one?
2) What WHP are you at?
3) Would you still recommend for stage one changing the half shafts and the oil crank gear?

We most likely will 1/2 mile race our DH so not as hard on things.
Thanks and good luck with getting your best time

 

[TexVol]

Hi Ace,

Correct, I’m a stage 2 whipple set up. I haven’t dyno’d since first putting the whipple on…at that time with no other mods we were about 730 RWHP. Since then have added long tube headers, gone down 3 pulley sizes from 3.750 to 3.375, added a boost-a-pump to ensure fuel delivery for smaller pulley size and filled the tank half full of MS109. We also changed both the OPG’s and lower crank gear at time of whipple instal.

The stock half shafts seemed to do ok on the stage 2 until we went down on the pulley which we added headers and 109 at the same time for Fridays runs. I’m assuming we are probably closer to anywhere from 780 to 800 RWHP at this point.

If you are planning on staying stock with the whipple stage 1 only then you may be good to go, especially if not drag racing on a well prepared sticky track. As for the crank gear, my opinion, cheap insurance to just replace while putting on the whipple. May not be necessary but definitely won’t hurt I’m thinking. Same with OPG’s, not expensive considering whipple cost so peace of mind replacing at the same time even if not necessarily mandatory.

JMHO

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