Tuning has been fun. I've finally got a reasonably stable streetable tune on it but it's starting to pull some codes for stuff I was not expecting. I got a FPDM failure code on my last tune and the damn thing is still driving. PITA m-er f-er. grrr. It's entirely my fault of course... my tune my bad. At least I've got it idling reasonably well.

This morning on the way to carpool this Elanor hooded 05+ gt pulled up next to me. You could see him dismiss it as another big-wing special but then he caught the lope of the cam and the extra loud bwap bwap bwap and kinda zoned out staring at my back wheel.

The thing is a little harder to drive with the lightweight flywheel and kevlar clutch. It just grabs all of a sudden like. Been having adjustment issues to boot so it engages at the very end of the pedal travel... like a rock but totally at the last couple inches.

I want to watch it break in... my first built modular motor and I want to see how they break in. I know what to expect from chebbie tree-fiddy's and those I'm happy to beat on those after a quick warm up and oil change but this motor cost me a lot of thousands to get in the car and I don't want to have to fix it any time soon.

 

Front timing covers are "not" the same for DOHC & SOHC. You will need a DOHC cover for the DOHC heads.
No 5.4l ever came with "B" series heads. And I do beleive that someone on Modular Depo custom made a "B" series Cobra intake by cutting it down the middle(looking at it as if it were on the car) and adding material to make it wider. They did this to the upper cover and lower intake. Not sure if the intake was ever used though.
When I was pondering my build, going with 2V or 4V, I was scratching the surface of the "B" series heads. I actually CNC'd a set of adapters for the port mismatch for a Sullivan carb intake to be used. But I dumped the idea for funding reasons.

As for the heads on the MRK 8 and Lincoln's, they are the same even the cams.
The Cobra's are not. The castings I do believe are the same, but the cams, springs, and valve guides are not.
The springs were a better design for upper RPM's, the cams were a little more wild(I'm thinking just the exhaust was diffrent) and the valve guides are a bigger O.D. then Lincoln's.

I would think the "B" heads would be the ticket for a nasty N/A rev happy engine.

 

Al Papito is your guy for 4v 5.4 happiness. He's running in the 9's with his IIRC.

 

Allrite, time to find a 4v timing cover. Anyone have any clue what a bolton na 5.4 4v with 01 cobra heads should make? Intake may be custom or a cut cobra, not sure yet. Might make a set of adapter plates for a 03-04 stock cobra blower.

 

4v 5.4's can make 400rwhp pretty readily. It's all in the intake and cams there.

 

Wonder what a true bolton 01 cobra headed 5.4 will make? The stock navi engine makes 300@5000, I am hoping with a decent intake it will move to 5500rpms or so, with the stock cams on the cobra heads and a good intake might even be slightly higher I am hoping. Damn I got a lot of 5.4 SOHC swap parts to sell now LOL

OFFTOPIC RANT, after our search for a large suv and driving about everything out there on the market the SOHC 5.4 felt MUCH more peppy than the DOHC navi's we drove did. I know on paper it shows the DOHC making roughly the same tq but at a lower RPM. Funny because it shouldnt work out like that, but the *** dyno said the expo was much peppier.

Couple questions

oilpan/pickup tube the same on th e4.6 and 5.4?

 

Considering the Cobra R made 376 rwhp and 385 rwtq w/ the Cobra R heads, regular Cobra heads will probably bring the power output to around the advertised 385 crankhp and 385 cranktq. Subtract more for things that will constrict the airflow.

 

I can deal with that!

 

We had a little fun with the pickup tube thanks to my ARP main studs. You'll need to use the pan from a 4.6L mustang and whack on the baffles a tad to lower them, then take the 4.6L pickup tube and bolt that on. you may have to do a little customization but nothing bad. The 5.4L truck pans won't fit.

With a good set of stage 1 cams and a short runner intake I see no reason why you can't hit 400rwhp.

 

Is an aftermarket k member a must or can I use a stock one and just space it down some?

 

Sure can, in theory. Understand that I've never done that. See below.

I'd just get a nice rigid MM and stick some spacers on it. Chuck Schwynoch and I had an ongoing conversation about the idea of spacers as a git-around to having to jig up a whole new k-member. The spacers don't necessarily solve all demons but they should help a great deal. He mentioned the tranny x-member spacer so I'd pay attention to that and shim it up properly for the right tilt. Other than that I don't suppose it would matter if you use a stock or aftermarket K-member. I'd avoid stock if you can and if you plan on any kind of turbo don't even bother without a MM or Griggs k-member (griggs is easier, mm is stronger)

 

Damn you guys make this stuff sound just SO easy. LOL I have been lurking on this thread ever since I seen it. I have been tossing this idea of the 5.4 around in my head for a while now. Even if I decided that I wanted to do it, I would have to wait till I get another DD.

Anyway... I got a question on fitment issues. I have read where the intake sits too high in a mustang body and you guys have wroked that out and stuff with a new intake and things. But I was kinda wondering what it would take to another one off type appearance thing working the 5.4 into it. I was thinking it would look pretty cool to have a '00 Cobra R hood with a "shaker" set up worked into it.

Would a shaker type air intake even fit under the hood (like air box and things). Would a 5.4 with the 5.4 intake sit WAY to high for this? It seems the hole in the hood would allow it to fit then I know the scoop is ajustable so one could sit the scoop as low as it could. Those are just some ideas floating aroundin my head.

 

Redneck, the car this is going into is a 99 gt saleen clone with all the road race inspired suspension so adding any more power to the engine will be kinda useless. The bolton, geared and possilby cammed DOHC 5.4 will make light work of the 18 tires. The exhaust and geared 4.6 would easily spin the tires so a turbo or anything else is pretty much outa the question right now.

Getting the pinion angle back correct will not be much of an issue as I went through a lot worse when I installed the th400(gm 3 speed auto) into my 94 supra. Kinda ironic Ill have a roll race/dyno queen mustang and a dig running supra LOL.

Parts are arriving quickly now(heads, etc...) which is allways good. My biggest issue right now is the place to do it. I sold my house last monday and my shop was sold with it. Until my new shop(36X50 respectfully) and home are built I might be stuck borrowing room from a buddy in his shop. Hope he will let me LOL

 

use one of those storage places. i had to do that once for a month or two.

 

Might have to give them a call and see what they say about that. The one I used to store my house crap said no go on keeping a car but not sure what they would say about building/installing an engine LOL

 

For when I get cash for my build (after things stop going wrong for me), I eventually want a shaker as well. My thought on the best way to do this is to use a widened Edelbrock intake and using a throtle body mouted directly to the manifold, will allow you to bolt up an original 69-70 Shaker set-up and then all you have to do is cut a hole in the hood. The shakers from the big blocks would probably be the best since it's made to be on top of taller deck engines. However, this is all my theory, which I don't think anyone has tested yet since I don't even think the Edelbrock intake is even out yet.

 

single good plan... there's enough there. Figure out your intake path and be prepared to do interesting things. I got fine clearance except for just a 1/2" around the upper plenum. The 4v engines are kinda tall so try and limit the intake height or plan on a pretty tall cowl.

02silver.. no good even contemplating a truck intake unless you're prepared to significantly alter (read remanufacture to something completely different) it to resemble a more performance oriented unit. Torque peaking at 2900rpm is no good... you've still got 90% of it at bloody idle even if it doesn't peak until 4K. Let em breathe a bit. Those long runner jobs are great for towing crap out of the mud but ideally you'll never find a mustang in that position in the first place.

Now, if you wanted to get goofy and use a truck intake, you'll need either a 5" cowl (ish) or a rather sizeable hole. A shaker is cool on a mach1 hood but a R hood kinda looks a little busy for having another distraction cut into it. I'm thinking about a mach1 hood with a boss429 style scoop but that's a ways off.

 

Terry Johnson used a Cobra R 2-1/2" hood and a Mach 1 shaker

 

Which heads should I run. 01 cobra heads or the 4v navigator heads? Assuming staying with just a bolton engine.

 

Navigator heads have bigger ports so they'll restrict flow less at high rpm but probably at the cost of a little low end and a need to really wind it out to see the big numbers. What kind of redline do you plan on building into it? What shift point as it were? That will kinda dictate which head is best for the application.

 

I am not even sure Im going to add cams at the moment. I dont really care to wind it over 6K unless ness. The car is more for fun and show than to be a terror on wheels.

 

With the 4v you're looking at an easy 6500rpm useful limit and you'll want every inch of it (you can go to 8K easy but since that's not for you... 6500 is fine). That's a good stopping point anyway. Piston speeds get kinda high on the 5.4 after 6500. FWIW, 7500rpm on a 4.6 produces the same piston speed as a 6500rpm 5.4. With those free flowing heads you're looking at nice returns without having to spin crazy rpm because you have crazy long stroke.

You'll want a non-stock cam grind no matter what to make proper use of the cubes. A set of 4v cams is a grand retail. Add another grand for springs and locks, seals, etc... A set of FR500 cams would be about killer for OEM stuff and can usually be found used.

 

Break-in miles are done and tuning has progressed. I started putting my foot into the loud pedal a little further. It's faster at <1/2 throttle than the old engine was at WOT. Tried to do a 4th gear WOT run from 55mph but aborted after 3500 when the AF stayed too lean. I've got a new tune (this makes #6, 5 by me and 1 by someone else ->) with some help from a professional so I'll try that one tonight and see if it does any better.

Up to this point I've been running my reduced timing 87 octane tune (still have to use 91octane gas). The new tune is the full monty 91 octane tune with more timing and better all around setup for being whipped on.

Tuning help is being provided by Amazon Racing. Their prices are sick cheap... if you need some check em out. Mail order with free re-tunes for new mods. I know of some reputable folks that farm out their tuning to Amazon... seems they have a rep for solid work and good first try hits.

 

Hey guys just checking in..

Nothing new with the build just yet - working on moving out of my townhouse (got I hate it) back to a less urban part of town with a dedicated garage just for the car goodies...

I'll get back into it after new years most likly..

 

Well... inspired by myillwillinc's project page, mine is finished. I'll be adding more content and links later. For now it's what I got.

http://www.squarerootofone.com

 

Hell yea redn3ck, page and car looks great. Need to hurry and strap that bastard on the dyno!
BTW, got my 01 cobra heads here today(still undecided on those or the navi's) and OMG are they large!

 

here are the hard numbers for 5.4 3v maxxed out with stock heads. 467hp @ 7200. flywheel.

heads flow ~239@.600. in.

 

a moderate 4v 5.4 makes 450 flywheel with ported heads. an all out 5.4 4v makes 500-600 rwhp @ 7200 - 7600. all motor.

i am tossing around the idea of pulling the motor and putting my 4.6 3v in it. the B heads i have would then go onto the 5.4. 'b' heads would require a fabbed intake, but with aluminum intakes out there it sure makes it easier to use the lower section as a base. like al did with his first navi - to -race intake.

 

So it would seem the navi heads with the cobra cams are going to be the route I need to take. The cobra cams have 10deg more duration, that coupled with an intake by me(navi lower based) should net me near a 6K shift point. If I can hit 300whp Ill be happy. Or even slightly less want hurt my feelings any.
I still have the 5.4 bottom end I am building so when it gets time to get serious.

 

i'm sure you guys already the cost involved with modifying/custom building and intake, but i'd just like to throw a reminder that when Al done his navi based intake, the design and fabrication totaled around $3k just to get a functional intake.