Nice run twin turbo

 

not right now i kinda like the idea of having a na car to drive in the rainy cold weather i have a twinturbo gt a lightningnitrous assisted gt and now a 5.4 na 5 speed also thanks for posting the vid

 

Dont think iv posted any pics of my swap. Heres the progress so far. Got most of my motor parts waiting on a few things. Got the interior back in it today and now im preping the car for paint.





















bent rod!

 

Hi I am glad I found this forum I am planning on doing this swap in a week or 2, I want to buy a 2v 5.4 engine and I have about 2500.00 to invest in this project total (including engine costs) what would you recommend on that type budget for upgrades. Also is their a particular type of engine I should be looking for, or will any 5.4 2v work ? Do I need to get an SOHC, or a DOHC I have seen both engine types for sale online, and classified as a "lightning engine" thank you

 

I happened to see this on the Ford Racing website, nasty stuff for 4v S197 guys, even though I dont think we have any on here.

http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts...KeyField=11226

 

You're on a tight budget so first thing first: do you have an HPS intake manifold yet? If not, get that. it's 700 bucks and makes your life so easy and makes more power by far than adapter plates.

After that, the motor and flywheel are your primary costs. You can install it just like a 4.6. It's not hard to do in the driveway with a cherry picker. Any 5.4 2v will work for the most part but I'd look for a 2000-2003 expedition, lightning or E-150 motor. Lightning engines have forged pistons but that's about all it has over any other 5.4.

the best upgrades you can do are power adders, HPS intake, cams and heads. CAI's and TB's and upper plenums all help but they don't approach the others in dollar:hp ratio.

 

how much hp and tq is the limit for a stock 2000-2003 expedition engine with stock mustang heads, cams and the hps intake?

 

Thanks for the reply so it does not matter if it is DOHC, or SOHC, and will I need a new flywheel ? I have already purchased PI ported heads, a while back for my 96 GT same with all the other pi parts, but their is only so much I can do with the 4.6 this will really help a lot.

 

260-280rwhp 320-350tq on average.


none of those came with a DOHC motor. and yes, unless your existing one is 8 bolt.

 

Not such good pictures taken in pitch black until the flash.
Its been very frigid...no progress =\

 

i meant max hp and tq before i need to go forged rotating assembly, sorry. same as mustang, about 400hp?

 

nice work good luck on the rest of the build,want to see the final results

 

ohh... a bit more than a 4.6 really but yeah. At the same point in the modification path that you'd put forged pistons and better rods and fasteners and bearings and such in a 4.6 you'd want to do it on a 5.4. Anything over 8-10lbs of boost or 125hp shot of nitrous makes me want a stouter bottom end. They can handle actually quite a lot more but then it becomes a matter of time before something bad happens.

As I have preached throughout, the weakest link appears to be the stock rods and rod bearings. They rarely just bend like mr351's up there, they usually just ******' break and window the block (see myillwill's page). In my reasearch prior to even doing the swap years ago I noticed that an unusual number of 5.4's suffered eventual catastrophic failure of connecting rods. It is because of that that I think it's a good idea to put new forged 4340 H or I beam aftermarket rods and ARP main studs in regardless. Even if you hang stock slugs off them. It's a little cost up front for insurance against a shitload of expense later.

 

im with red on that take your time buy the good stuff and dont take any shortcuts,cause we all know how us gearheads are nobody is ever satisfied. the first time a camaro beats you buy half car your gonna wanna up the power blower/nos lol ,so my best advice is try and build something that will not outgrow your power desire,if you only want 400hp still buy the stuff thats rated for way more power,that way if you do decide to switch your setup there are no worries. its way easier to change rods/pistons with the motor out of the car lol,i had to find out the hard way

 

yeah im just budgeting in a forged rotating assembly since i will be building the engine anyway. no point in putting stock stuff back in really. i want to throw a on3performance turbo on it after a while and shoot for about 500hp and 600tq. just keep the stock crank but have everything machined and rebalanced. probably .20 bore with forged everything. little bit more money but like u said, its easier to change everything while the engine is out lol.

EDIT: any suggestions for upgrading a 4r70w tranny with 200,000 miles on it ?

 

was talking with nick at modular head shop and he said he has 5.4 for sale,not sure if anybody posted this yet ? but its a dam good deal for somebody

Sale - low mileage 5.4 2V longblock - block is from a 2007 and had 35,000 miles, was rebuilt with a forged steel crank, new rods, -3cc dish pistons to make 10.5:1 compression. Comes with fresh Stage 2 PI heads and your choice of Bullet cams - $2500 plus freight

 

I have had no luck at all finding a 6 bolt flywheel locally but I think I am not going to have to install an engine before I get the 5.4 built after all. I took the intake off with the thought I would find some evidence of where the water was coming from that kept flooding my spark plug wells. Well as it turned out the spot I had to fix with silicone was holding strong and no other spots had erroded out, on a hunch I tried the bolts holding the aluminum coolant crossover onto the plastice manifold and got 1/4 turn out of all three. Not knowing what else to do I bolted it all back up and installed some newer coils and this thing has been running super ever since. I even disconnected the fan to get the temp/pressure up and no water on the plugs. Been running the poop out of it since TRYING to make it spew fluids but no luck (or good luck I guess). So iguess my heads don't have a porosity issue like I assumed. GREAT, now I have a set of heads I can subtract from the equation for the time being and can save for those Twisted heads from TFS!

So to anybody that might have done the recalled intake swap themselves for whatever reason (Ford would not do mine because it was one month out of the recall deadline, whatever!) check the torque on those bolts before you install it or if you are having coolant leaks. May have been mentioned already somewere else, if so, sorry.

Now on to the 5.4 build with renewed fervor!!!! I still have parts to get rid of and will be getting a web page set up on a site that I am building with BIG pictures of everything so I don't use up too much space here. I am looking for some good used aftermarket rods/forged pistons for a high compression (9.5-10.5:1) for a NA dialy driver. I also need some adaptor plates until I can save for the Hardb'ller intake.

 

Quick question... will the timing cover be ok for the swap?

On a side note.. Is the timing cover from a 98 gt different from the later 4.6's 00 1/2 and up?( I don't remember looking but i think mines romeo). I have an extra timing cover from my 3.8 to 4.6 car swap years back ( different mustang)

 

5.4 and 4.6 timing covers are different. most any 5.4 2v cover should work. It's important to get it with the motor so you have all the right bolts and the correct tensioner. There was some tomfoolery at ford between 8mm and 10mm shanks on the front cover bolts. **** me off.

Got2go: Check out the plates on ebay. There's usually some cast jobs on there for <200 bucks. I'd skip em and save for the HPS but it's all about what you gotta do to make it work for you.

 

Neener, I made progress on my car. Got the alternator connected and wired up, got the bracket for the intercooler pump made (mostly, some fitting required still), put the main accessory belt on. I might just be able to start it this weekend.

 

awesome r3d...... waiting on this local comapny to waterjet my flanges to start my headers....


got hunters motor back from the machine hell shop....
looks like they didn't balance it eventho he paind for it tobe balanced. pics will be up later. but anyone close to bham, i have he complete motor minus the intake and headers/x-pipe for sale as well as turbo goodies and various aftermarket parts..

 

put the upper radiator hose together last night. 2 couplers and a little geometry did the trick. Got the new throttle cable installed, have to work on the bracketry a little more though so it'll give me WOT.

Gunna finish the IC pump install and tapping the TPS signal wire for the methanol kit controller today. Once that's done there's really no reason not to start the car. I'm pretty sure it won't run for **** right now though... 42's instead of 30's and a 90mm MAF instead of an 80mm without a tune update.

The price on the car goes up once it's running and driving.

 

here's some carnage from hunters motor:

http://s613.photobucket.com/albums/t...ter/?start=all

 

I was tring to look around but gave up.. What do i need to do when it comes to using an 8 bolt engine 5.4 onto a 6 bolt 98 automatic..
I ask cause the auto recyclers will hook me up if i need it...but sooner rather then later..

Thanks!

 

did he run it out of oil or something? looks like a lot of heat went into those rods.

 

you need an 8 bolt flexplate. Guys school the lad.

 

a well known builder said it looked lke the crank wasn't balenced and it caused heat to build from the out-of-round balance. the only thing i'm not gonna save is the crank. the rods can be 'trued' and i'll be doing that this week and posting some really awesome internals for great prices.....

 

Got the alternator wired up and installed and that belt back on. Got the upper radiator hose modified and connected (no thermostat for right now... can't find it). Got the TPS wire tapped and connected to the methanol kit, got the relay connected and main power wire for IC pump run. IC pump bracket is almost done. Got the throttle cable installed and nearly finished with the new bracket for it.

I gotta finish those 2 brackets, install a new fuel pump, replace 1 fuel hose fitting with a 90deg, add radiator coolant, IC coolant, fill the methanol/water tank, test all the electrical, check for fuel leaks, start it up.

Here's the engine bay as it sits now



And a quartering view for some perspective.

 

awesome r3d, i bet you'll drive it and keep her...

 

Please post more tech info...
I dig this ****..learning along the way