By the way, do any of you happen to have an aluminum 5.4 block laying around? I know a fellow member has an iron block available, but I'd prefer one made out of aluminum. Thanks.

 

We aren't talking about corrosion here for shafts, but fatigue strength. After a certain amount of cycles, Aluminum will fail. However, if you apply very high fluctuating loads (high rpm, high load acceleration, which is common to Mustangs), the number of cycles that the Aluminum will survive will decrease. Steel on the other hand can theoretically go on forever since at 1 million cycles of loading, the metal stops getting weaker and levels off. Aluminum on the other hand keeps getting weaker until failure. For example, to determine the design of anything that sees fluctuating loadings and needs to have an infinite life, for steel, you compare the stress in the object you're designing to the fatigue strength of steel (Sf', which is equal to about half of the ultimate strength and is the strength at 1 mil cycles and on). For Aluminum on the other hand, you need to use a set number of cycles since there is no set fatigue strength limit. So, the formula Sn=mlog(N)Sut (where Sn is the fatigue strength at x cycles, m is the slope, N is the number of cycles, and Sut is the ultimate strength of the Aluminum). So, as you can see, the shaft can only be designed for a set number of cycles. And to reach that point can come very quickly w/ high power engines and using them for racing.

As far as the application that Aluminum shafts are used in those mentioned (PI and Cobras), at least for the PI, it's not as big of a deal since though the cars do see a lot of abuse, the engine isn't putting out a lot of juice and it has an auto trans, which helps w/ fatigue since there is no shock loading. As for Cobras, those cars aren't designed to live forever so the life issue isn't as important. However, I'm inclined to believe that the PIs don't have it but I can believe it w/ the Cobras.

 

Don't know if the Aluminum one can be set up for wet-sump oiling, since it was specifically made for the Ford GT.

 

Huh? I thought all 5.4's made before a certain point had alum blocks. BTW, P71's DO have aluminum driveshafts. It's part of the Pursuit package.

 

Hey Audi, Just for you know, if your Vic isn't a real P71 than swaping the Alum driveshaft isn't as easy as just taking out the old steel one and bolting in the new Alum one. The P71's have a longer tailshaft housing than the normal P73's (base Model Crown Vic) and P74's (LX Models) Which means the driveshaft is shorter than the stock steel one. you need to buy the extended tailshaft housing in order to use the Alum drive shaft from a P71.

however if your Vic is a real cop car then you already have an Alum driveshaft.

 

.76 a/r hotside is a bit low endish. use an automatic tranny and brake it. it'll let you use a powermaking 1.0 a/r.

my turbo is .84 hotside a/r. luckily there are different housings for it.


IMO.

 

aluminum 5.4 blocks used go for 2500 bones. and they are setup for wet sump and no starter in the spot yours is in.

 

Ah. My bad. I figured they were commonplace . And yes Bond, I know about the differences between the two cars. The vehicles that I have been looking at are true P71's. Now if I could only manage to sell my current f-ing vehicle, I could pick one up

 

And on the EGR delete, I think you can get rid of the DPFE sensor and the EGR vaccum solenoid too. I left mine unhooked and it hasnt set any codes with the EGR turned off in the tune, so I'd say its safe to leave them off.

But.. its still setting a P0174 code.. so for the mean time I have my idle set about 1000 and its seems ok. When I did have my idle at about 650-700 the wideband would jump from 12-13to1 to 17-18to1 as the rpm jumped from 400-1000. Damn shame I'm broke right now or I'd be all over an intake.

 

drop about 20-40hp from the previous numbers. Tq stays about the same.

in all reality with shorties you'll be looking at a gain from what you have of probably 50hp and almost 100lbs of twist at the tires . If you can make longtubes work there's another 20hp/tq on top of that, add well ported heads for another 20+hp and a modest tq gain.

 

Alright. I appreciate the info r3d

 

Econoline vans and F-150's have had them for years. The 2000 F150 I had several years back had a big aluminum driveshaft. They all got them.

 

My car has had one for almost 5 years. When they go they go really sudden like. I'm not excessively worried. The shock loading is usually pretty low

 

Speaking of shorties r3d.. Will they require the same minor alterations as the stock manifolds, or will they fit as-is?

 

they fit as is.

EDIT: on mustangs. I can only guess that they'll work on a p71.

 

Huh, I don't remember either of my dad's 150's having them. And personally, I would be worried to have one on a vehicle that is designed to always be under load.

 

Hi all. New guy here. My name is Nate, and I currently reside in Germany. Got my 5.4 on the way and looking forward to doing the swap. Question though, and it might or might not have been answered in the past 180 threads....I have access to a 03 cobra's blower, if I read correctly all I would need would be the lower intake from the lightning correct? If so, would I be able to run a little boost (not overkill) to the stock bottom end? Current mods are complete PI swap with custom grind cams from MPH, 5 speed swap, and 31 spline axles with 4.30s

 

no, unfortunatly the cobra upper won't fit. you could cut your hood to fit the lightning blower or look at tork tech about thier 5.4 adapted blower....

 

ok....I thought that because both were the Eaton M112s they were the same except for the fact that the Cobras inlet is from the rear as opposed to the Lightning's which is from the top...

 

if the bolt pattern is the same it might just work.

 

Thanx Redneck....I am hoping by using the cobra's eaton I can keep the stock airfilter location. I cannot see how they would not work....

 

somebody already tried and said it was 1/2" off all the way around. but you might be able to have an adapter made.

 

hmmmm....is there a way to have the intake come from the passenger's side then?

 

Now here is another question....Are the ports the same with the cobra's Eaton as with the PI heads? Would I be able to use Reichard Racing's adapter plates?

 

the blower has little to do with the intake other than sitting on top of it. Reichard plates would only work if you were doing a 4v swap.

My advice, hang the cobra blower idea and if you want boost, drop in a centri. It's easier and cleaner and lighter. You don't need boost right off idle with a 5.4... wait till 3500-3000rpm then let the boost come on. In the short term, grab an HPS intake and 100 shot of nitrous and go rip up them german roads.

BTW... are you anywhere near Bitburg? Wanna find me some Bitburger Pils?

 

I might just do the Lightning blower then and a really tall hood.....



I am about 5 hours from Bitburg. (in Bavaria) Can get you Bitburger though no prob!

 

If I were to stay NA, what could I expect as far as power wise from the plates with PI intake, and the cams (equivelent to VT stage IIs)? Also how would the 4.30s affect it?

 

You think the new Trickflow R heads will be worth the price on a 3.7 bore? Or just go to a 3v?

 

my econoline has an aluminum driveshaft(90). 351w,c4,3.55,towpackage, i pull 7500lbs with it. 145,000 miles. a lot of it very hard driving.

 

you're looking at 250-280rwhp but a mountain of tq... probably 320-360. It'll give a real shove in the small of the back. Runs out of steam at about 5200 rpm unless you do the HPS manifold and LT headers. The stock PI intake's runners are really long. Great for tq bad for top end hp, especially on bigass strokers like the 5.4

4.30's are not the right gear IMHO. I'd go with 3.55's or at most 3.73's. I know a few people in the racing community that would heartily disagree with me but the numerically lower ratios are easier to deal with on the street in all reality.

We'll have to work something out on that Pilsner... I haven't had that in almost 20 years. My stepdad grew up in Bitburg and introduced me to it. Acquired the taste fort it but not the supply chain. Burn.T

so far the simulator hasn't been showing anything really interesting with the as cast flow numbers from the TF heads. Like 20bhp with moderate cam profiles. I'm still trying to find out if I made a boo-boo in the setup of that sim but I don't think I did. Still a valve size issue as near as I can tell. If I mess with the valve sizes the power numbers start moving around a good bit more.

Still, something tells me the ported versions will definitely be worth it.