My 5.4L 3V N/A build thread

[spyder7724]

cam issue solved. sorry nol pics of the lockouts. it was after midnight when i finally got them set correctly. a real PITA removing both sets of chains & gears then disassembling them to change the advance then resetting the degree wheel and checking them....at least 4 times but they are damn near perfect. suggested centerline was 110 and they are 110.75 right cam and 111 left cam I'll take that anyday.
tomorrow i'll get the intake manifold port matched and it'll be ready to go in. yee ha

 

[Boss281]

Ron, I just saw this thread is going again and you're doing well. I'll drop by one of these days...I'm moving a few miles north to Union Mills by the way. Long story...

John

 

[don_w]

cam issue solved. sorry nol pics of the lockouts. it was after midnight when i finally got them set correctly. a real PITA removing both sets of chains & gears then disassembling them to change the advance then resetting the degree wheel and checking them....at least 4 times but they are damn near perfect. suggested centerline was 110 and they are 110.75 right cam and 111 left cam I'll take that anyday.
tomorrow i'll get the intake manifold port matched and it'll be ready to go in. yee ha

Can't wait to see the track times!!!

 

[470 GT/CS]

I see low 11's at least when you get this awesome car to the track.

 

[spyder7724]

Ron, I just saw this thread is going again and you're doing well. I'll drop by one of these days...I'm moving a few miles north to Union Mills by the way. Long story...

John

sounds good. I should have this thing installed in a couple weeks. doing the GT500 pumps first just to make sure i don't have any issues then we'll yank the stock motor and stat thrashing.
where the heck is union mills? hampstead area?

 

[Boss281]

sounds good. I should have this thing installed in a couple weeks. doing the GT500 pumps first just to make sure i don't have any issues then we'll yank the stock motor and stat thrashing.
where the heck is union mills? hampstead area?

Actually, it's closer to New Windsor. Got my towns mixed up. Just off 27 a few miles southwest of Westminster.

I'll drop by sometime soon...

 

[Matt D]

not being sarcastic but do you plan to have it done by this summer? or no serious rush?

looks awesome so far

 

[spyder7724]

not being sarcastic but do you plan to have it done by this summer? or no serious rush?

looks awesome so far

man i'm ready now. i've waited long enough. we just finished a bunch of fab work on my brothers drag radial car so now mine can go in and get torn apart.
today i installed the gt500 pump system. it was really easy. a pleasant surprise to say the least.
i wanted to do that before i tear into the car just so i didn't have to worry about any issues with that while trying to work out the bugs with the new engine and stuff.
here's a pic with the moroso valve covers and the JPC intake together.

 

[ZmanM3]

man i'm ready now. i've waited long enough. we just finished a bunch of fab work on my brothers drag radial car so now mine can go in and get torn apart.
today i installed the gt500 pump system. it was really easy. a pleasant surprise to say the least.
i wanted to do that before i tear into the car just so i didn't have to worry about any issues with that while trying to work out the bugs with the new engine and stuff.
here's a pic with the moroso valve covers and the JPC intake together.

Those valve covers and intake manifold look kick ass on your engine.

 

[pacettr]

Those valve covers and intake manifold look kick ass on your engine.

X2

 

[spyder7724]

here's some pics of everything disassembled. yeah i'm not wasting any time now.
had some issues getting my balancer off. the march fluidamper balancer has a wide spread on the bolt holes and i didn't have a tool that would fit. had to go rent one from advanced auto parts....we have over $100k worth of freakin' tools and i couldn't get the stupid balancer off. finally got it switched over today so i'll have the engine set down in tomorrow afternoon and start figuring out where to set the engine mounts and headers. i have the hooker L/T's and i think they will clear with the exception of one tube on the drivers side which will most definitely hit the steering shaft. it barely cleared with the 4.6 so no doubt it'll hit with the 5.4 being wider and taller. the passenger side should be fine. i'm going to have to lower the engine about 1" though. not sure how but the prothane mounts have plenty of meat so i might be able to just machine them down a bit and rethread them.
FYI other stuff : i bought an SFI flexplate that fits a 99-01 4.6 with the 8 bolt crank (windsor plant motors i think) and it did fit but i had to cut the the extra threads off studs on the torque converter which hold the stock 05 adapter plate to the converter. other than that everything seems to be fine.

 

[chad05gt]

Nice... looking forward to track Im sure!

 

[spyder7724]

oh and the 5.4 oil pan wouldn't work due to the difference in the sending unit ( i tried them and they are not interchangeable). it(5.4) was a better pan since it had more capacity as well as having crank scrapers built into the front area of the pan like the old cobra pans had.
it also did not have the clearance hump for the rack unit like the stock pan. not sure if that would have made a difference since i do have an aftermarket k-member but i didn't want to chance rewiring the harness for the 5.4 oil sensor so i just swapped pans. later i may switch to a moroso pan but i think the stock pan will work fine for now.

 

[spyder7724]

Nice... looking forward to track Im sure!

you have no idea. i've been waiting so long to get this thing together. the lack of a decent intake manifold held me up for almost a year now it's just a matter of getting the little stuff switched and heading to the dyno for a really custom tune.

 

[FastOrange]

Your engine and transmission...... I need them!

 

[Blazing Saddles]

Ron. If you can't get enough clearance by cutting the Prothane mounts, Maximum Motorsports makes 1/2" K-member spacers that will lower the K-member for additional clearance. However these are for the SN95 Mustangs. I'm sure you could fabricate something similar.

 

[spyder7724]

Ron. If you can't get enough clearance by cutting the Prothane mounts, Maximum Motorsports makes 1/2" K-member spacers that will lower the K-member for additional clearance. However these are for the SN95 Mustangs. I'm sure you could fabricate something similar.

good idea. we actually just did that on my brothers fox body t-bird drag radial car. i think my issue is going to be mainly with one header tube. since we just made a set of stepped headers for his car so we've got plenty of left over tubing so if it needs to be moved i'll just rework the headers.the jet hot coating is coming off anyway.
i've got a feeling the rk sport hood isn't going to clear but i'll try my best to make it work if i can only because it's a functional ram air hood and when it's sealed to the CAI i do gain a couple mph from it. worst case is i sell it and get a cowl induction hood for clearance.

 

[spyder7724]

Your engine and transmission...... I need them!

don't say that until it's been dyno'd
for all i know this thing may just eat itself up before it gets to the track.
i figure i've done so much custom crap it's either gonna work and make decent power or just blow up on the dyno.

 

[FastOrange]

I have faith, and from this whole thread it seems like you've done your homework. But everyone here knows the best laid plans go to waste after first contact, and that is completely applicable with modifying our cars.

 

[spyder7724]

I have faith, and from this whole thread it seems like you've done your homework. But everyone here knows the best laid plans go to waste after first contact, and that is completely applicable with modifying our cars.

yeah but i'm getting close now so now i'm getting a bit nervous. mostly about small crap like will the stock cam bolts break even though they are new or did i really degree the cams correctly...after all i only spent 30 hours getting them degreed or are the rods strong enough. i've checked and rechecked everything and whenever i had a question on something i called as many people with experience on these as i could but this engine is a bit different than most builds so most of the time they really can't tell me a whole lot.
guess it really doesn't matter cause it's going in tomorrow and hopefully be fired up by the end of the week then we'll find out.