Since this project is mainly a packaging puzzle, I thought it would be advantageous to knock out one of the smaller pieces now, allowing a few other larger ones to fall into place. Ford 4.6 engines have this big honkus of an oil filter mount which is in a separate casting bolted to the block that integrates the coolant return port from the lower radiator hose. The oil pressure sender screws in here, and it's also a convenient place to tap into pressurized oil for turbo oil supply.
This area is awkward and the big oil/coolant chonkus is right in the way of where I want to put my power steering pump. I can't have a PS pump in the stock location up higher on the driver's side, because that will block the route my exhaust manifold wants to take - straight forward from the exhaust ports and a little bit up and to the left to the turbine inlet. And I don't want to use a Ford PS pump, because they are loud and annoying. And I want to use an E36 M3 steering rack anyway, so it only makes sense to make a custom bracket to mount a matching E36 M3 PS pump as well. If I'm already making a custom bracket then it's not hard to move the pump location downward...as long as that other annoying stuff gets moved out of the way.
Better view of the chonkus with the filter removed:
Back when I was working on the Mustang twin turbo kit mentioned in the first post, we came up with a gizmo we called "the UFO" which was a bespoke machined adapter that allows for tapping into the oil supply for the turbos, retaining the stock oil pressure sender, sandwiching in between the oil/coolant housing and the sender. I don't remember exactly but I think I designed this part. It has 1/4" NPT male threads which go into the engine, and 1/4" NPT female threads to accept the sender, which just moves outward a bit. The inbetween bit is the clever part - which wasn't my idea - but at least I was charged with executing it. The UFO has 6 radially drilled holes around the outer diameter that branch out from the center passage, all tapped with 1/8" NPT fittings. They all came with plugs installed. The idea was for the kit installer to remove the oil pressure sender, screw in the UFO until it was tight, install the sender again, then remove whichever two NPT plugs were facing mostly outwards. Those become the turbo oil feed ports and the others remain blocked and unused. Because there was no way to guarantee clocking of this adapter fitting since it has to just be threaded in until tight to seal at the pipe threads, we had to allow for any random orientation of the turbo oil feed ports. Hence the redundant port pattern and the UFO name. This was just one dinky part of the kit, which wasn't sexy, didn't improve performance at all, but we had to design it from scratch for the application and work out all of the little details. Multiply this by dozens of parts and make everything integrate seamlessly in an OEM+++like way. Fun stuff.
Anyway...major sidetrack! Let's get back on topic.
I like Improved Racing a lot - they make a ton of useful little parts mainly for domestic V8s, with a focus on function and quality. Most of their parts are black anodized, not flashy, but very well thought out and manufactured. They make this oil filter relocation adapter for the 4.6 and 5.4 engines that should make enough space for my PS pump mounting with ports for a remote filter housing / thermostat, and also 3 more oil outlet ports. I'll use the filtered outlet ports for turbo oil supply and the non-filtered one for the pressure sender. A more elegant and comprehensive but definitely more expensive solution vs. the UFO that we just looked at. So this little guy should accomplish everything that the stock chonkus + UFO offered, in a much tidier package, with any luck leaving enough space for an E36 M3 pump down low on the driver's side. It will be tight but maybe possible. Either way it's a nice improvement.
https://www.improvedracing.com/remote-oil-filter-&-cooler-adapter-ford-modular-v8.html
Stock vs. Improved Racing EFR-100:
This EFR is a nice little effer. Oil and coolant adapter fittings can be swapped out for different sizes if desired. And there are well made molded o-ring seals in grooves on the back side that I forgot to take a photo of, replacing the bulky stock gasket.
Bare block looks like this on the driver's side:
Improved Racing EFR-100 installed:
So much more room for activities.
Next I need to get my hands on an E36 M3 PS pump and start mocking up a bracket and maybe custom pulley if I need to fudge the ratio. Good news is the pump looks pretty small and compact. It's a ZF and uses a remote reservoir and has a little hard line cooler in the stock application. Should be easy enough to fit everything I think. Belt wrap and routing shouldn't be a problem at all with the serpentine setup on this 4.6 - I think I'll be able to get more belt wrap than it had on the BMW engine.
The 4-bolt bracket comes off, so I'll make my own to fit the "E36 M3 pump on a 2005 Mustang GT engine in Volvo 240" application which should be a huge seller.