It's badass how stock that looks!
sooo... the throttle has felt weird ever since the swap. It sticks open sometimes, feel like it doesn't want to open other times, and generally sends an unusual amount of vibration through the gas peddle.
I checked the cables. They seem to move freely.
I checked the throttlebody. nothing unusual there.
I checked the peddle assembly. all fine.
Then I noticed while driving around, that there was a little upward dent in my hood which seemed to grow when I accelerate aggressively. The linkage was rubbing on the bottom of my hood and getting stuck.
After fixing that problem with some channel-lock pliers, I went back to the same stretch of road I'd previously tested my car's 1/4 mile performance. Same G-tech meter as before. Other than a couple kid seats and a full tank of gas, no other major changes. Maybe 15 degrees hotter temp.
Anyhow. Previous best was a 15.3. Now, a 14.9.
I'm not sure the mail order tune I bought is right. I hit redline in each gear and ride it a moment before the shift. I adjusted the shift point as far down as possible, but there's still a little time wasted. Not to mention, a 5.4 doesn't make peak power at redline anyway.
Not to mention, a 5.4 doesn't make peak power at redline anyway.
buh dum dum chhhh...never woulda guessed!
Post vids sometime
Update:
Took it on a 1500 mile trip. Family of four, a weeks' worth of junk in the trunk, averaging 70mph with a/c on = 21mpg.
We drove across one side of missouri to the other on I-70. There are a lot of long, if not particularly steep hills. But the sort that by the time you reach the top you're going 5 mph slower, and the average 18 wheeler's got it's turbo spooled, rolling smoke out the pipes. What I never got tired of doing was rolling onto the throttle once I was halfway up the hill. The car would accelerate without so much as a change in engine note, much less gears. Torque is sweet.
video tomorrow. promise.
needs 2 things - moar third pedal, more build pics.
Aside from that, this thing sounds like a steaming friggin wad of backyard badassery!!!
Here's a super crappy youtube video I took with my cell phone.
I tried to show where the wiper tray had to be cut in order to fit around the fuel rail and egr tube. I also showed where I had to cut the heater box. Maybe "had to" isn't right. It woulda fit, but I'd have had no access to the valve cover bolt in that corner. Still need to clean that up a bit one way or another.
Awesome project dude. Does your car have the bench seat in front or did you do something else there? I thrashed a Crown Vic recently and liked it, but every time I went around a corner I did this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mugl1izF3XY
Go to 6:20
i just dynoed my 5.4.
It made 222hp@ 4300rpm and 303 lb/ft @ 3300rpm It may actually make more torque than that because the peak was at the beginning of the graph, but I couldn't start any lower in the rpm range or it would downshift to 2nd.
In case anybody cares, the dynoshop owner DD's a '94 Impala SS that is nearly stock besides some exhaust. I had him overlay his own dyno chart on top of mine, and at no point did the LT1 make more power or torque than the triton. The ford did drop off more as the revs go up, and from 5400rpm they are about the same, but it was still never less. In fact at 3600 rpm I had around 35lb/ft more.
so that happened.
Update. A few months ago I found a used Accufab intake elbow and 75mm throttle body. I painted them black and installed. Result was a little better top end performance. G-tech thinks I'm running a 14.7 now. Managing wheelspin off the line takes some concentration. Never bothered to get another dyno chart.
Sooooo, my plastic intake manifold broke. In the back passenger side corner, the heater hose nipple snapped off.
I bought an aluminum intake manifold off ebay. Before I put it on I spent a few minutes cleaning up the casting with my dremel. While I was putting it on, I also installed a set of brand new Ford Racing 24lb injectors that I scored really cheap ($60). I got Blue Oval Chips to send me a new tune that accounts for the larger injectors.
I would dyno it again, but ever since my old manifold broke, I've had a code P0443 that won't go away. Once I get that cleared up, I'll see if it's making any more power. I did line up with a friend of mine who has a stock '04 GTO with a 6sp. By the quarter mile mark he was only two, not more than three cars ahead of me.
There's been plenty of people who skipped to the 5.4 Supercharged out of the Ford Lightining Pick-ups. Seems like a good way to fry tires faster. :)
belteshazzar wrote: Update. A few months ago I found a used Accufab intake elbow and 75mm throttle body. I painted them black and installed. Result was a little better top end performance. G-tech thinks I'm running a 14.7 now. Managing wheelspin off the line takes some concentration. Never bothered to get another dyno chart. Sooooo, my plastic intake manifold broke. In the back passenger side corner, the heater hose nipple snapped off. I bought an aluminum intake manifold off ebay. Before I put it on I spent a few minutes cleaning up the casting with my dremel. While I was putting it on, I also installed a set of brand new Ford Racing 24lb injectors that I scored really cheap ($60). I got Blue Oval Chips to send me a new tune that accounts for the larger injectors. I would dyno it again, but ever since my old manifold broke, I've had a code P0443 that won't go away. Once I get that cleared up, I'll see if it's making any more power. I did line up with a friend of mine who has a stock '04 GTO with a 6sp. By the quarter mile mark he was only two, not more than three cars ahead of me.
24lb injectors are bigger than stock? my 94 Caprice LT1 and 84 Regal T Type have 28lb injectors stock.. i think even the 5.0's of the late 80's had 28's, but i'm not sure about that.
in one of the first posts, you said you used a Windsor flexplate out of a 99 or 00 car... the Windsor was last put in the big cars in 92 or so, in the Mustangs in 95, and in trucks in 96..
Nova, There were 2 different 4.6l plants, Romeo and Windsor I believe. I think they had different cranks. One mates right up to the 5.4l transmissions and one didn't. This Windsor is not a 351, but probably came out of the same plant.
in one of the first posts, you said you used a Windsor flexplate out of a 99 or 00 car... the Windsor was last put in the big cars in 92 or so, in the Mustangs in 95, and in trucks in 96..
Yes but.... 2000 Cobra R.
Thanks for the vids and info OP!
yes, both windsor & romeo plants supplied 4.6's for the mustang. The windsor 4.6 came with an eight bolt flexplate that fits both the 5.4 crank, & the smaller pattern torque converter that P71's have.
the stock 5.4 flexplate has a wide pattern for the torque converter, & the stock romeo 4.6 flexplate only has six bolts to the crank.
belteshazzar wrote: yes, both windsor & romeo plants supplied 4.6's for the mustang. The windsor 4.6 came with an eight bolt flexplate that fits both the 5.4 crank, & the smaller pattern torque converter that P71's have. the stock 5.4 flexplate has a wide pattern for the torque converter, & the stock romeo 4.6 flexplate only has six bolts to the crank.
why did Ford like to do stuff like that? it makes working on them a nightmare sometimes..
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