I like that idea, the top plate have the plenum built in while useing the cobra t/b or a single oval t/b would be killer with a t trim with 16 + psi

 

exactly.

what do 7-9psi non intercooler vortech 4.6l's put out? low to mid 300rwhp?

if done right, they wont know its a lightning intercooled lower.

you can even play off the fab'ed plenum by talking up how you got such a sweet deal on the newest greatest thing to happen to the 4.6l (insert ridiculously high made up price). sure, you'll kind of look like a douche at first 'tactical ploy' but it wont be them laughing after the race.

 

also, with the fab'ed upper you would have to have the appropriate vacuum lines on the upper plenum. that would also make it easy to hide nitrous lines with the 'vacuum' lines. the layout the plenum and intercooler guide plate would have would make it so that it wouldn't matter where nitrous is introduced into the upper plenum.

sorry about the smilies.

 

sounds good but without some artwork I can't be sure. You have to remember to avoid a completely flat area inside the common plenum for NA but for boost, a big box is fine. Since you're fixing to use a centri blower I'd hang the intercooler plans for inside the manifold and use a simple front mounted air-to-air cooler. Packaging is much simpler that way and there's no coolant lines to dik with.

As for directing the air to the manifold... I'd use as close to a stock 2v plenum as you can.. probably a C&L unit as they flow better but basically just that, or a Spider EFI elbow could be modified to support EGR and the assorted things that mount to the stock plenum.

 

with a proper tune... closer to 365rwhp and similar tq. 9psi intercooled has made as much as 425rwhp on cars I've been able to see up close and personal at the dyno. That's on a reasonably safe tune for California 91 octane gas.

For a 5.4L with 8lbs intercooled you should expect over 380rwhp and over 400rwtq as long as the blower isn't undersized.

 

yeah, the last sketch was just to show a thought process.

for the fab'ed upper i have autocad and can computer design and alter the design as needed.

when i get a bit of freetime i can draw up an exact rendering of what i have in mind.

the upper wouldn't be a box, but more of a 'house-top' plenum. with the sides most likely being angled inward at about the half way point up.

you'll get a better understanding for it once its drawn up.

its the entry into the intercooler that i have yet to get a distinct idea for. i don't see how it can't be made to work.

the intercooler is concealed within the manifold, i don't see how packaging could get any better. the coolant lines wont be as much a hastle as I/C piping.

 

it would only see 8 lbs during the initial fire up and tuning. after that

 

I was thinking of just using the L lower and fabbing up a curvedup plate with my c&l plenum bolted to it like a pi intake but the plate would have to be centered and in the bottom of the lower i would need to put a W that wold force the incoming air to curve either to the left or right coming up the sides into the runners or swirl around into the other side...

 

my gt is bone stock.

clean slate. don't have a ton of bolt-ons to be concerned with carrying over to a new engine.

instead of doing the typical engine bolt-ons. i'll concentrate all of my modifications towards the chassis, suspension, and brakes. no need to buy stuff that i'm going to have to get rid of later.

 

exactly to both.

the W bottom plate with smooth curves will flow like a m-er f-er.

for the IC.. I just hate plumbing coolant lines around the inside of my intake... I'm bitchy taht way. Packaging the pump and IC and heat exchanger (still need a front mount HE even with the manifold contained IC... heat has to be exchanged to the air somewhere) Still... I think I've got a good idea of what tooslow is saying and taht has interesting potential. CAD that bad boy up... lemme see. I'll see if I can do some airflow experiments in smaller scale and clear plastic to see how it works.

 

about the HE i was thinking of picking up all the hardware from a junkyard lightning and using an aftermarket fluidyne cobra HE. putting the battery in the trunk and using that space up front for the coolant tank.

the coolant lines inside the intake shouldn't pose that big an issue. they sit far back to the rear, and if i turn them straight back and out the plenum it should cause little to no ill effects on airflow.


do you by chance have the demensions of the opening on the L lower. i could just wind it, but with hard numbers i can make all the calculations and measurents extreemly precise.

 

the CAD program i have is a student licensed product, not a professionall version. so i can't and wont use it to create anything for profit or to be published.

so, the drawing can only be used as a conceptual idea.

 

no publish... no profit. I'm not enforcing any of my copyrights or patenting anything. But... if you make just a jpg out of the drawing then I can get enough detail to do all your airflow modeling. Shape is more critical than size for most things.

I don't recall the measurements of the opening off hand but I seem to recall it was something like 15.5" long by 11" wide the main box is like 6"ish deep. Those are terribly inexact but should be ballpark useful.

 

the discplaimer was just to say if you build and test it, you didn't get it from me. lol

thanks, i'll look for more exact numbers. its the simi arc on the rear i'm concerned with. i want to get those angle right. exact lengths aren't important, but the angles are.

 

yep, i'm a car guy.

huge test tomorrow and i'm worried about an intake manifold.

 

lol I'm working on my ASE certification so when I have a huge test I really am worrying about intake manifolds...lol.

 

mech engineering here. i'm kind of doing myself a good dead.

my autocad professor would be pround to see me doing something, but my math professor? not so much.

 

and my english teacher hated me... i really need to use spellcheck.

 

just researching a little stuff on lightnings i've found something strange.

most the sheetmetal lids for turbo swaps are just boxes with a place to mount the lightning TB and upper.

thats nothing special.

most 03/04 cobra lids for centri or turbo are similer.


i'm not trying to be a

i just keep thinking.

 

My CAD techer hated me, especially when I emailed him complaining about how we had to use NX instead of AutoCAD. Hell, I'd be lucky if I even SAW my CAD professor. The guy was so lazy that he made us view online videos in which he didn't even APPEAR in it.

 

lol, i really like the intercooler in maniforld... Wonder how it flows compaired to a front mount a/a or an aftercooler "vortec"... That should be really nice. O well, don't bother me none, i'm working on the 5.4 DOHC Just need someone to create some b head adapter plates that take the place of the imrc's... lol same hight

 

i wish i could find a junkyard lightning. i searched the net and i can get a new lower from karcraft but no used ones. i just was thinking on m idea was that could use it for N/A then adding a hair dryer it would flow better...

 

my latest round or brain stormin has lead to something a bit crazy. an evolution of the design i had just discribed.

when i get the drawings layd out i'll post and do a walk through of my concept.

i think it will be a mind blower. still revolves around the a/w intercooled lower. but takes steath to a whole new level.

if it works of course. i think red will approve highly with this plenum design.

 

its almost imposible isn't it?

i can get the lower an intercooler through karkraft like you said, but not all the hardware.

 

you can get a gt500 lower manifold from karkraft. the option is still open to you.

what? that isn't me poking you.

 

well i'm right now working on prepping the hood and bumper for primer and paint. then i can get her to the dyno to get tuned. she idles about 900-1000rpm ok now. but you can smell the unburnt gas coming out of the exhaust. still have to bleed the master cyl and brakes and check the alt( it might be acting up).

then i'll look at getting a L lower and working on the design i have floating in mah head...

 

Yea, i'm doing a b headed motor, not the c heads. Unless the gt500 is a b headed car ???

Everyone i've talked to said that the b heads flow more than the c and that i would need that extra flow on a 5.4L and the only c head worth it on a 5.4 is the navi but i would have to spend big bucks on the intake... so why go that way when i can use the already to large 96-98 cobra intake, and use the already to large 96-98 cobra heads... i think it will be a beast. Pretty much stock with a 9:1 Cr... so that way i can strap on a centri and a front mount intercooler and go to town A friend of mine has a 97 cobra with a vortec and after cooler running 14 pounds and it made right at 600 rwhp... so with a 5.4L i'm thinking at least 700 Might be wrong though.

 

power estimates may be off a bit.. you'll need higher compression in all probability to see 700 from a supercharger (turbo... may just make it). The B heads have huge port volume whcih makes them suck for 4.6 but the 5.4 will love it. Add boost and maybe a port and polish job and you'll see nasty things on the dyno chart.

When you guys are on your searches for L parts, make sure to really scour craigslist. Check the L.A. and S.F. areas. I know the lightning is way more popular here than much of the country just because californians are a bunch of keeping-up-with-the-jones' copycat asswipes and that was the most expensive pickup you could get for a while.

I keep my eyes out on the local scene for all of you.

BTW... there's a B-headed cobra motor complete on SF Bay area craigslist right now in the auto parts section. Enjoy.

 

btw... in case you missed in the MMR thread, My motor ships tomorrow if schedule holds well. Intake is pretty well done and I just got the replacement license FOB for my SCT software so I can start setting up the fire-up tune.

 

i was only joking.

P.S.

i done the CAD for the upper. posting in a second