i have a vert , but i don't have a brace though.

 

we'll be here. I have too many thousands of dollars in this project to back out and myillwillinc I don't see going anywhere. besides... this is where we're all gonna decide on where to meet for our national get-together (yes...everyone with a 5.4 swap meets up in state-x and we party and pimp it).

500 at the wheels with a manual would be on the sunny side of 650bhp. That's a full 150hp more than the GT 500 is rated at out of the box. WOW.

you can remove the STB... it's not helping your car much. You need to make sure that you have subframe braces welded on. your car probably came with bolt on subframes and those are just as useless as **** on a nun.

3.55's would be as high as I'd go. The torque is going to peak very early and you'll just blow the tires off with more gear. Besides... part of the reason for more tq is so you can do things like get better mileage with longer gears (lower numbers) and not sacrifice a bunch of off the line gitty-up.

The strut tower brace was stock on 1 or 2 years of the 96-98 gt's.

I put a STB on my 03 which will of course not fit with a 5.4L under the bonnet. I've planned on taking some tubular steel and custom bending/welding a new brace once the motor is in.

I was working with MM for a while on parts but we had a hard time isolating a market for most of them and trying to figure out specs for some of them since there are sooooo many different intake and hood combinations.

My advice would be have a local race shop fab you up a brace after your new motor is in. Then you'll make sure to have hood clearance and it won't cost that much... all it is is 3 pieces of tube steel bent a little and welded up.

 

to whoever that was asking bout N2O...an MSD digital window switch is like $100-$120 shipped. and well worth it.

i just talked to my engine builder tonight, so its ON!!!!!
i am gonna be bouncin' back and forth between his shop and another shop to fab my L/T headers. what he told me, it should make nearly 550hp/550tq @ 12-14#'s of boost nearly 5500rpm's. it would take a 4.6 winding to 6500 to get there on the same boost. the lesson here is, same power, at lower boost pressure = less stress on heads and block. so let the I hope to be done by June or July....

 

Super nice man, what all do you have done to the car other than boost? just wondering. I would love to see that kinda power.

Redneck, i'm glad mine didn't come with the brace. i had one that i put on there and i hated it. Plus i got KB subframes with the t for the seats. and the kmember brace that came stock. So i think i'm good to go. I got my pi intake, and pi windsor heads. so now i just got to find a good shortblock to build up into something usable. man i saw a set of 5.4 rods the other night and i have to tell you, i think they could pass as baseball bats, those things are rediculously long.

I think i'm going to keep my 3.27 gears when i do the swap. That should be a good gear for it right? with a t45? Also, i think i'm going to run a 150 or 200 shot of nitros after i get my motor built. should be interesting. If i get 200 hp out a 200 shot how much torque will i get like 300/350??

 

If my car has the bolt on sub frame braces, should i get new ones or just weld the one i have?? and would it be smart to save up for some subframe connectors? and what kinda of difrence will i get if i upgrade to a manuel instead of beffing up my auto??

 

sub frames are cheap so i would go and get some new ones, the better ones look like a t, where they bolt to the bottom of your seat. but get them welded up and its alot better.

Not sure about the tranny, its really what you want. I got the 4r70w right now and i found a complete steeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaalllllllllllll on a t45 swap so i'm doing it b/c i like the feel of shifting my own gears. plus i'm leaving in the 3.27 gears so it should be fairly nice on the highway.

 

definitely replace the stock subframes. I woudn't use those as crutches much less a frame support. I like Steeda, MM, Griggs, UPR subframes the best. Hans Performance makes a set that's good too but they're expensive more than they need to be. Always have subframes welded on. No weld, no point in bothering. You can get subs + install for 200 bucks or less most places. Shop around but don't sacrifice quality and don't bother with Kenny Brown's crap. The seat braces are nice to have but not necessary. i dont use them. They become more important as the car gets more radical but street use means it's not that radical.

Chip... you make me happy man. I was hoping you'd slide back into the mix. Congrats dude! Can't wait to see some dyno video.


3.27's will be plenty of gear with a 5.4. hte tq will make up for the longish gear and you'll really like the extra mileage on the highway. With 200hp worth of nitrous you should expect 180-200rwhp gain and 250+rwtq gains... 300 is a bit much to expect. With a t45 the 3.27 and 3.55 ratios are great. With an auto... maybe 3.55's or 3.73's but I'd still be happy with 3.27's.

 

yea, i hope it won't get to bad of gas milage.

 

when i had the nitrous on the 4.6, on motor i made 305hp/315tq and on a 125 shot i made 420hp/530tq....

should be about the same on a 5.4

r3dn3k, thanx...i hated it when i posted all my crap 4 sale, but when no one took it, i was kinda happy.

on the blower now it makes 430hp/405tq w/a pegged MAF at 5600rpm's making 12#'s

 

Soo i have recently put in my two weeks notice, and found another job at a body/performance shop. *happy dance* I won't be making as much but be around cars alot more. and soo i will not really have to wory about having to get someplace to install parts if my shop knows how to.. And one of my friends that has a mustang says i should force inject my 4.6 instead of going 5.4 it will make more power. what do ya'll think??

 

Let's put it this way. The 03/04 Cobras were putting out 390 w/ a blower. The 00 Cobra R was putting out more N/A. Provided the Cobra R had better heads, it also was very mild. A 2V version should have no problem getting 350 at the crank N/A. Remember, there's no replacement for displacement.

 

Ok. i know that the insides arn't strong enough to hold up very well in the stock 5.4 engine. i'm on a big budget and want some advise about what i should use to help withstand more power with out having to worry

 

replace the rods, rod bearings, main bearings. The stock pistons won't take much detonation so your tune has to be solid but they will take a fair amount of power. The stock rods are the weak link. Replace them with H or I beam forged 4340 steel rods and beef up the bearings with hard main and rod bearings. Federal Mogul and Speed Pro make good ones. Call up summit and ask for hard bearings and they'll hook you up.

And on blown 4.6's... Look. The reason you use a blower/turbo to force air in is to REPLACE cubic inches. You do that at the cost of added stress on the motor and a grip of extra moving parts. You can make the power of a blown 4.6 from a 2v 5.4 NA with just a decent intake/heads/cam package. Nothing exotic even. If you decide that it's not enough for you, then you can supercharge the 5.4 and find out what the end of the world feels like. If you want to do the 5.4 for the right reasons then a 4.6 isn't even an option for you.

I WANT a 5.4 in my car. I don't care if someone else has a 4.6 with a blower that's faster... there will always be a faster car. What there won't be is people going all ga-ga over his car cuz we've all seen a million blower cars. There will be peeps ogling my shizzle and asking questions and being truly interested cuz there's not many cars floating 330 inch motors. Will a blower get you there fast.. yeah. It's just nothing special and it takes a lot more to maintain a blower motor. I'll take my NA 333cid any day. It'll even sound better.

 

right on r3d, thats the main reason i want to do the swap. lol people call me stupid for wanting to do that, but ill prove to them that a n/a 4.6 will not touch my n/a 5.4 , unless they have a lot more money in the thing. Its going to be funny when they do beat me and say yea that was 15 G's well spent. I'm gonna laugh and go yea , that was a good 4 G's for me too. I think with a good Head/Cam/Intake and Nitros plus the motor and t45 i'm not going to have that much in it at all. super yip.

O and i've done desided that i'm dropping the vortec thing. I'm going to build the shortblock with TMD H beams, 98 cobra -3cc if i don't have to bore it out "or flat tops if i do" , and i'm leaving in the stock crank "please let me get one with the factory forged crank", and then just slap some pi heads, cams, and intake on it and go. Then the H/C/I as money and time comes along. I'm thinking ported heads with bigger valves and 5 angle job, Trickflow's intake, and some custom ground cams. That should do the trick.

O, one more time, which 5.4's have the factory forged crank?

 

Soo i have found a 5.4 for cheap, to almost free, one of my friends wrecked his truck and will pretty much give me his engine. the only thing i'm still confused on it the intake, i know that you need an adapter kit, where can i find one of those?? and how much do they cost??

 

question,
where are most of you guys getting your parts from...i checked online through jegs..didn't see much..and looked at CHP...JDM...saw a little at teamjdm...are you going straight to the manufact..and ordering it...please let me know so i can start to price out these parts...thanks for taking the time to read this...

 

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ar/eb40340.htm

^^^ that link will tell you what years and part #'s to look for on the crank.

 

thanks...but i was wondering where i can get the forged parts from...from what i understand these parts can't handle that much hp...so i would like to build it right and build it strong...thanks for taking the time to read this...

 

super sweat man, that means your about 315 dollars from getting it done. A+

Go to Reichard Racing and call and order the plates. Good luck man.

 

well i guess to get the one with the steel crank i'm going to have to get a npi 5.4 lol. anyway, thats cool cuz i got the 5.4 windsor heads. thanks for the link

 

running into some problems. i went to google and typed in Reichard Racing and the frist web site same as the second and third all say that the site has been suspended. and would i have to upgrade the inside right now or should the engine be able to handle it till i get the money to finish upgrading the insides. adn are there any cheaper ways to do the intake? i'm on a very tight budget right now and the engine is going to go pretty fast if i don't get it here withing the week

 

well i got the clutch and aluminum flywheel in so tomarrow i got to go get some grade 8 bolts from lowes to put the t45 in.

 

wrong pics....

 

just get the motor. If you have trouble getting a set of adapter plates, I have 2 sets and I can sell one to you. They cost 375 for the adapters and all the bolts and gaskets. Getting a forged crank is nice but not mandatory. I've never ever seen a crank let got on a 4.6 or a 5.4.... it just doesn't happen at any reasonable power level or most unreasonable levels.

The stock 5.4 will be able to provide you with lots of fun until you can upgrade the internals. Just remember, no forged rods means no nitrous, no blower and no high rpm (>5500 is not recommended). Other than that, use your stock intake and when you can buy the HPS intake. The sooner you put a set of stage 2 cams in it the sooner you're feeling the high side of 325rwhp.

Ready.... GO!

as for getting in touch with Reichard... try searching for their phone number. They're an east coast operation.

 

Would it be ok if i just keep my stock govener on the car. because even under wot, my car never gets over 5,800 thats with an auto. would it be ok just to keep it as is, or should i get a new chip and lower my rev??

and hopfully once i find the cherry picker i can get the engine in this weekend *happy dance*

would it make my car louder or will my flows sound the same

 

Fot parts, try out karkraft.com. They have pretty good deals on heads and crankshafts. Also, Reichard's site is reichardracing.com.

 

So r3d, what your saying is that with a set of stage 2 cams you will be making 325 rwhp out these 5.4's? Just wondering since they are rated at 260 flywheel hp? right? Just wondering how to get that out of it??????

 

To get more power out of these engines, you need to make it breath and exhale easier. So, a set of the max flowing heads (avoid race heads), agressive cam (remember, cams are designed for the 4.6, so operating range on a 5.4 will be lower than what the company advertises), good intake manifold, 75mm throttle body, and if you have the cash to modify them, headers.

 

"if you have the cash to modify them, headers."
That's the whole thing for me....Who is modifying headers? I want to do this swap. The only thing holding me back is the header issue. Do you know of anyone making L/T or mid legnth headers? If so, how much are they going for? Thanks for any help you can provide....

 

well you figure you can 280hp clean and easy with stage 2 cams and a good exhaust and tune, 300 with a better intake and that's on a 4.6. We know that the intake is a minor restriction on 5.4's but the cams are a major cap. You've got a longer stroke on the same cams as a 4.6. Cylinder filling just ain't gunna be there but if you keep the intake valve open longer then the 5.4's super long stroke makes extra good use of it and you can see 325 with just cams and a decent intake (intake may be optional but I consider it important for making big hp numbers on a 5.4. tq is another matter).