Roush Raptor Spun a Rod

[Jross993]

Hey guys, just wanted to share my story on here and see if you guys had any advice for how to move forward. I just bought this truck in December 2020 from the original owner - 43k miles with a Roush stage 2 supercharger installed in 2015 around 20k miles. Only other mod on the truck is a borla catback, super clean truck.

I was playing around in the snow on an unplowed road a few weeks ago, took a buddy for a spin and did a couple 1/2 - 3/4 throttle pulls. Nothing too crazy because the roads were a mess. The truck started making a horrible knock, the worst I’ve ever heard. I shut it down immediately and had it towed to a local ford performance shop - Speidell Supercars. They’re a well-regarded shop in my area, anyone with a fast ford takes their stuff there. They take a look and as I suspected the truck spun a rod bearing. Their opinion was tuning that was too aggressive and melting the cats, and maybe a crappy tank of gas to take it over the edge. The Roush kit was installed and tuned by Evolution Motorsports in PA.

I got a couple options from Speidell -

option 1: stock reman ford block installed with long tube headers and billet oil pump gears for $13k

Option 2: he tears down the motor and rebuilds with new crank, forged rods, new pistons, some head work (cams etc) eliminate piston oil squirters, billet oil pump gears, long tube headers and a couple other things I’m forgetting for $21k

option 3: Livernois long block installed for $24k

Sounds like Livernois is gonna be the longest wait, at least 6 months. As far as my goals for the truck I want it to have good driveability, I want my wife and kids to be comfy in it. Anyone with a livernois motor or similar build that can talk about the street manners?

I’m always thinking about resale value. I bought this truck planning to keep it a long time and not put many miles on it, it’s just a weekend vehicle. Probably 2-3k miles per year max. Obviously wasn’t planning on having this happen and everything I read about Roush raptors is that they are reliable trucks. Which option is the best value and won’t screw me when/if I ever sell the truck? I might have to keep it a long time....not that that’s a bad thing, I love the truck and was super happy with it before this happened. Anyways let me know what you guys think!

 

[CoronaRaptor]

I suggest option #1, usually these motors hold up well supercharged from what I have read over the years.

 

[Jross993]

Yeah I couldn’t find a single other case of this happening when I searched. I also asked JDM about it and they said they’ve only replaced 2 long blocks in 10+ years. But the engine builder says it’s not the first one he’s seen and says they’re a little soft on the bottom end.

 

[John813]

Unless you want to really crank up the boost just go with option 1 IMO.

Go option 1 and get a better tune. Get that truck dyno'd after the new reman.

IIRC the most common rare issue is the oil pump gears with a SC. I haven't read too many horror stories about rods/bearings in my 6+ years of being on forums

Having a Livernois engine is great, but I doubt you'll get that much more money back if you sell it cause there's a livernois engine in it. If it was a "forever" truck I would say go that route.

 

[Jross993]

What sucks is I had a JDM 700 hp kit with a new tune ordered a few weeks before this happened but the pulley was back ordered. It showed up a week after I spun the rod.

I want the truck to be reliable, that’s my biggest concern right now, I don’t want to have to deal with this again. So my only hesitation with doing the stock long block is having that thought in the back of my head that this could happen again, probably more likely too if I have the JDM 700 hp kit and headers on the truck, pushing the stock block past the 590 hp Roush tune.

 

[MTF]

Do option one!!!

New Ford remanufactured long block.
Billet Oil pump gears.

Now if the cats were damaged.
Make sure you use OEM Ford Cats or Kooks Green Cats.
None of those cheap high flow cats, they are garbage, they do nothing for power gains anyway.
And do the rear O2 spacers so you can have all the safety features enabled.

Now, I don't know what the condition of the existing oil pump gears are but you should find out.

The Roush kit doesn't max the HP potential of the OEM block.
Having said that, that doesn't mean you can beat on all it day without consequences.

The problem is hard banging gears and wheel hop!
So if you felt sharp and hard hitting shifts and you allowed a lot of wheel hop then traction bars and the JDM shifting strategy is the answer.

 

[B E N]

Find a different shop, compare quotes. That seems real high. You can still get the OE shortblock from ford.

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-short-block-al3z6009a

 

[Jross993]

Do option one!!!

New Ford remanufactured long block.
Billet Oil pump gears.

Now if the cats were damaged.
Make sure you use OEM Ford Cats or Kooks Green Cats.
None of those cheap high flow cats, they are garbage, they do nothing for power gains anyway.
And do the rear O2 spacers so you can have all the safety features enabled.

Now, I don't know what the condition of the existing oil pump gears are but you should find out.

The Roush kit doesn't max the HP potential of the OEM block.
Having said that, that doesn't mean you can beat on all it day without consequences.

The problem is hard banging gears and wheel hop!
So if you felt sharp and hard hitting shifts and you allowed a lot of wheel hop then traction bars and the JDM shifting strategy is the answer.

No wheel hop or anything, I’ve been really conscious of that cuz I knew that was an issue. I’m planning on deaver springs plus shocks rebuilt with the flutter stack mod or whatever it is to eliminate wheel hop.

I’m definitely gonna use the Kooks high flow cats.

Pretty unanimous so far from you guys to just do the ford reman, it’s just not necessary at 700hp to have a built motor? This builder is definitely leaning towards rebuilding my block for longevity. He has an in-house dyno, tunes high hp mustangs and race cars and has built a bunch of raptors.

 

[Jross993]

Find a different shop, compare quotes. That seems real high. You can still get the OE shortblock from ford.

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-short-block-al3z6009a

Thanks, I’m getting another quote from a Ford dealer right now. That price includes billet oil pump gears installed and long tube headers

 

[CoronaRaptor]

No wheel hop or anything, I’ve been really conscious of that cuz I knew that was an issue. I’m planning on deaver springs plus shocks rebuilt with the flutter stack mod or whatever it is to eliminate wheel hop.

I’m definitely gonna use the Kooks high flow cats.

Pretty unanimous so far from you guys to just do the ford reman, it’s just not necessary at 700hp to have a built motor? This builder is definitely leaning towards rebuilding my block for longevity. He has an in-house dyno, tunes high hp mustangs and race cars and has built a bunch of raptors.

He makes more money if he can rebuild your engine, but I don't see why you would want to. The stock motor is healthy enough for what you are intending the use for, unless you plan on drag racing every time you turn the key. If you drive like a normal human and just get on the gas once in awhile, should be good to go.