My friend put a Mod cop car motor in a '56 'Bird. Does that count? Heh, I own a 1999 Lightning. the motor would be Boss in a rod. Just get the harness and sensors with the engine in the deal. It is basically a 5.4L, so an auto or manual trans can be used. No special problems I can thiunk of as long as ur up on late Ford systems. I have a 1989 Taurus SHO motor in a '32. As you might guess, I'm a FORD guy. I worked with Ford Engineering for 6 years and have collected a few itms of knowledge. PST me if you get stuck. MIZ
Buddy of mine did an installation for another guy, although not a shoebox (late-40s Merc). The electronics were not quite trivial, but I think more support is available now than when he did it (3 or 4 years ago). He ended up troubleshooting it with help from the local dealer. The 5.4 Lightning motor is pretty wide, and the transmission in those trucks is huge, but the motor would make a shoebox scoot. Hell, if a hemi will fit.....
I got the whole truck that a guy totaled out it only had 18,000 miles. A gentlemen at Jamco told me to post this question here ti get info.
Do you like to torture yourself? You can make just as much power (or way more) for the same amount of money with a motor that wont be a pain in the backside to install. As an added bonus that Lightning motor will have tons of electronic crap attached to it and it wont be anywhere close to being traditional........but hey you are running a hood right?
What year Lightining? It sounds like it will have a PATs antitheft system, you know with the chip in the key? That might cause some problems, but I'm sure it can worked around if you want to reuse the stock computer. If your good with electronics, you could build a Megasquirt to run it. That's what I did and it's much simpler than trying to reuse the existing electronics. Makes for a much cleaner installation too. If you use the auto transmission, it will need a computer to run it too. If you don't use the stock computer for the engine/trans, you'll need an aftermarket computer for the transmission.
It's a 2002. Beings I got the whole truck I will reuse everything I can. I'm just lookig for advice on how to do it and not make huge mistakes.
Kingjj, we have motor mounts and a trans crossmember for installing a 4.6L SOHC Mod Motor into the '49-'51 shoeboxes. We also have log-style stainless steel headers to fit the 4.6 with the stock steering box. Everything fits well but the biggest issue is the cross-steer link behind the crossmember. Our kits work with the stock steering but require the engine to be mounted a little higher than a typical SBC or SBF, also requiring some cutting to the trans tunnel. Still plenty of room for the motor under the stock hood. I believe there is room under the hood for the Lightning blower and T-body with our kits on the stock steering. If you have a MII suspension then there's plenty of room since the motor can be mounted lower. We haven't tried this kit on a 5.4 SOHC but if you want more details, please check out our Products page and feel free to pm me or call the shop ph number. http://www.hanksvillehotrods.com/gui/content.asp?w=pages&r=177&pid=201 Hank
The key to the installation is to make the computer think it is still in the truck. Seems simple until you try to do it, but it is certainly not impossible.
The 5.4 SOHC with blower on top and the throttlebody on top of that is TALL. Do some measurements and make sure it will fit vertically. You may need ot do some reconfiguration of things or it may not fit even under a hood. Muscle Mustang & Fast Fords (a magazine) put one in an 86 Mustang and it stuck at least a full 12"+ out of the 2.5" cowl induction hood. So the engien was at least 16ish inches taller than a OEM EFI 302/5.0 in the same car. THe 5.4 SOHC is really tall.
tjm, the non-blown 5.4s aren't overly tall, but you're right, with the M112 and top-mounted t-body the Lightning and Harley 5.4s make for a really tall package. With the stock crossmember and steering linkage, there is about 11" from the 5.4's manifold mounting surface on the heads up to the hood on a shoebox, assuming the hood isn't pancaked. Using the MII suspension will give about 3" more clearance, more if you give the crossmember a serious drop. Off-topic a little, try shoehorning the 5.4 DOHC motor in there...the height isn't so much of a problem as the width. BTW Mizlplix, I'd like to talk with ya. I'm always looking for additional knowledge on these motors. I'll pm ya. Hank
I can't speak to the difficulty of the install, but as the owner of a Lightning AND a shoebox, it would sure be a bitchin' combination! I'd sure use the Lightning trans if it's feasible; it just works great behind that engine.
After dealing with pretty much rebuilding one from the shortblock up, I'd say hell no. Worked for a good friend who has an auto repair shop this summer, and a lady came in with a 5.4 that was missing. $1300 later she was out the door. The drivers side head ate the threads outta 3 of the 4 sparkplug holes, and the passenger side had 2 holes going bad. This on a 2003 F-150, stock, all factory/dealer work done before the warranty expired. It is possible that the dealer stripped the heads when they put in the plugs, but they let go after 40k miles, I doubt that it woulda lasted that long. I hate those damn motors. Took all flippin day to get timing set up right, we'd get one side right and the other side'd be 1 tooth off, then vice versa.
those 5.4 have a habbit of blowing the plugs out. You have to check them often because as stated the heads cost mucho dollars. As for the wiring of that motor the guy to talk to is Rich at SUPERIOR CUSTOM IN FA. 727 6972951. He's doing a dohc 4.6 for me and has done tons of these Ford motors. I had tried to put a lightning motor in a 60 ford wagon and it was so tall it would have needed a 6 in hood scoop. Had to switch to a cobra 4.6 dohc .
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