5.4 ?????

josh0092002 · Dec 14, 2007

oh my i think i finally asked the right question, lol. iam so digging the responce from everyone, an all the questions are just great, all this info is killing me, wish i had lots of money,lol but anyway, iam going the 2v way, an well iam having some bad luck finding, a decent engine for a decent price, i guess its just my location, but can any one tell me what the going rate on a 00-04 5.4 2v is, just so i would have something to base on. iam looking to get the motor an wait till the LT's are out an do it all at once, cause well i dont really want to or would have to time or money to pull the motor again, lol. plus anyone tell me if this upgrade would smoke a 98 LS1 with a top end kit. looking to hurt one of my friends feeling with the good ole stang.

Jrgunn5150 · Dec 14, 2007

If you're hitting the salvage yards, you're gonna hear 2500-3k. If you hit craigslist and the crappier dirtier yards, 1k-1500. The 500 and 70 dollar deals are really really screaming deals.

1500 is a fair price though.

r3dn3ck · Dec 14, 2007

josh0092002 said:
oh my i think i finally asked the right question, lol. iam so digging the responce from everyone, an all the questions are just great, all this info is killing me, wish i had lots of money,lol but anyway, iam going the 2v way, an well iam having some bad luck finding, a decent engine for a decent price, i guess its just my location, but can any one tell me what the going rate on a 00-04 5.4 2v is, just so i would have something to base on. iam looking to get the motor an wait till the LT's are out an do it all at once, cause well i dont really want to or would have to time or money to pull the motor again, lol. plus anyone tell me if this upgrade would smoke a 98 LS1 with a top end kit. looking to hurt one of my friends feeling with the good ole stang.

A decently modded 98 can be a hard target but unless he's done a pretty hot build up on his mullet machine, he's toast with a well done 5.4 2v under your hood. If I can chew up a WS6 on my build, you can eat up a 98 LS1 on a similar build. Finding a block is easy: www.car-part.com. I have a front cover w/ tensioner and spare pullies for sale if you're interested. Also have 1 stage-1 ported PI head that needs cleaned but is good otherwise. LMK if you're interested.

At this point I have got to direct you swappers to check in at my mustangboards.com thread. You'll really want to be in there... there's lots of people in there that can help with info and parts and one of the guys is selling a forged rotating kit on the cheap.

Jrgunn5150 said:
If you're hitting the salvage yards, you're gonna hear 2500-3k. If you hit craigslist and the crappier dirtier yards, 1k-1500. The 500 and 70 dollar deals are really really screaming deals.

1500 is a fair price though.

ditto that. I got my motor for 550 for one and 80 for the other. Both took patience and needed rebuilding. Decide your needs early and stick with it. You can usually buy a base motor for 1500 bucks if you hit ebay. Make sure the motors are as low mile as you can get and not from a vehicle fire.

Jrgunn5150 · Dec 14, 2007

Remember this, as a rule, the less effort it requires on your part the more $$$.

r3dn3ck · Dec 15, 2007

Jrgunn5150 said:
Remember this, as a rule, the less effort it requires on your part the more $$$.

wiser words were never typed. I spent years gathering parts, making plans, finding deals. Nothing came quickly or easily. My cash outlay was really low but the produce is just as satisfying.

jfor441 · Dec 15, 2007

I was just gonna say what red did. Go to Mustangboards.com. The link is earlier in this thread. You will find ALL the info you need for a 5.4 build and swap as well as info from people who have done the swap.

www.car-part.com you will find 5.4 2V's for good prices.

phil_the_thrill · Dec 15, 2007

that is one sick ass torque curve. keep us up to date on everything with the swap and your research. i cant wait to see the graph when your finished with it

voidfinger · Dec 15, 2007

so does any of the 3v truck intakes flow any good? just wondering since the plates would be hurten it.

r3dn3ck · Dec 16, 2007

there's an aussie intake you can find on the aussie ebay once in a while but they're hard to find and expensive.

After HPS finishes with the 2v launch, I'm going to work with them to get a 3v version out. We have a really great base design so expanding the runners and making the TB come out of the right place is the only real challenge. I'd figure less than a year before that launches.

voidfinger · Dec 16, 2007

what do you think about this car red? just wondering. Also do you think that intake would fit under my HO fibertrends Cobra R hood?

r3dn3ck · Dec 17, 2007

can't speculate on the car you speak of as I don't know which one it is you're referencing. If you're talking about a 98 GT with a 5.4 3v swap, that's badass. One of the first 5.4 swappers was a guy with a 98 Saleen vert that did the 2v swap.

To get under your hood... with a 3v ... custom intake. It's not as hard as you think... can you TIG weld? If not you'll want to start buying the parts of your new fabricated intake soon. I have a link to a place that sells intake parts. If you can't weld then you'll need to find a TIG welder in your area.

phil_the_thrill · Dec 17, 2007

if i were to do the swap and put on some ported heads with some aftermarket cams, would it be completely necessary to replace the rods if i wasnt planning on forced induction anytime soon? or is it a good idea to do rods just so i can spin it past 5000 rpm? also, ive been reading a lot but still dont understand if i need new pistons or not. i couldnt just use the pistons out of my 4.6?

phil_the_thrill · Dec 17, 2007

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005...017QQitemZ270196251856QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

damn who wants it?

voidfinger · Dec 17, 2007

r3dn3ck said:
can't speculate on the car you speak of as I don't know which one it is you're referencing. If you're talking about a 98 GT with a 5.4 3v swap, that's badass. One of the first 5.4 swappers was a guy with a 98 Saleen vert that did the 2v swap.

To get under your hood... with a 3v ... custom intake. It's not as hard as you think... can you TIG weld? If not you'll want to start buying the parts of your new fabricated intake soon. I have a link to a place that sells intake parts. If you can't weld then you'll need to find a TIG welder in your area.

I'm sorry i ment to add the link in there :

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...ng&start=36&gbv=2&ndsp=18&svnum=10&hl=en&sa=N

r3dn3ck · Dec 18, 2007

phil_the_thrill said:
if i were to do the swap and put on some ported heads with some aftermarket cams, would it be completely necessary to replace the rods if i wasnt planning on forced induction anytime soon? or is it a good idea to do rods just so i can spin it past 5000 rpm? also, ive been reading a lot but still dont understand if i need new pistons or not. i couldnt just use the pistons out of my 4.6?

If you're going to tear down the motor far enough to put new rods in, then just pop the 2-600 bones for new slugs. If you plan to stay NA then you can use stock or stock replacement pistons but I'd still go forged while you're in there. It's kinda like heart surgery.. if they could do a single bypass and then another and then another, or just one triple which would you like. It's only a couple hundred bucks in the overall package if you're replacing the rods already to do the pistons. If you get a lightning motor, use the slugs it comes with.

I'd replace the rods in a 5.4 if you plan on starting it but I'm a pessimist. You could get away with a 6k redline and no boost on stock rods... they're not super weak but they are the most commonly broken part after rod bearings on 5.4's. I went H-beam for durability. bearings are an equally important choice. Use H-series if you like Clevite or CH series if you like FM. You could just use the pistons from your 4.6 if you want but you need to have the motor balanced if you replace any part of the rotating kit.

phil_the_thrill · Dec 18, 2007

yeah thats what i figured. the only way i would do the swap right now is if i found a complete, running motor for under a grand that i could swap in. otherwise i was just going to wait til i get out of college to do a real build up. im sure ill be happier by waiting and building the way i want it anyway.

voidfinger · Dec 18, 2007

lol i found a good deal on one a while back for like 300 plus shipping but i didn't jump on it... wonder if its still there... just had some headgasket weaping going on.

r3dn3ck · Dec 19, 2007

my motor was a 550 dollar pullout originally. It had a spun rod bearing. I was going to install it with that simple fix but I figured another year of waiting would only make the payoff better.

You know what? I was right. My motor is built like a rock and will eat 600hp if that's what I want to do to it. Waiting and building properly is good. Power now is nice but power forever is better.

Do what is responsible for you.

josh0092002 · Dec 19, 2007

ive been reading the thread over an over gathering info, on all this, cause well iam really wanting to do this swap on my own, an just would love the challange, lol. so i really need to know alot, cause well i dont want to screw this up, lol. 1) are the heads on the 5.4 the same as the heads on the 4.6l (pi)????. 2) what can be reused from the 4.6 on the 5.4? 3) is the intake an the headers really the only big problem?(cause i really want LTs). so what iam thinking is find a 99-04 5.4L 2v, get hotter cams, maybe a light port job on the heads, an most def LTs when its being put in. right now cash is limited so i want my little 96 to make me just go wow thats fun to drive, but i want to have the motor set up for,(at least topend wise) for a real monster in about a year or 2. if there are any tips an tricks u all know or any advice i would love to hear it. so far this swap an everyone on here replying has had nothing less than awsome questions/ answers for everything about this swap. thank you all for the great info! :xmassign:

voidfinger · Dec 20, 2007

Well i know i know less than Red b/c he was the one who turned me onto the 5.4 swap. But i'll try.

1) The heads are exactly the same exept they have a knock sensor in them, but when used with the gt wiring harness the knock sensor isn't used, also I think all the truck heads are windsor heads?

2) Computer/wiring harness... i think the harness might require a couple exstended wires. You could use the pi intake if you have it.

3) Pretty much the only problem is the intake and headers. I know that someone on that site red talks about is selling headers but they are like 700 dollars i think. 300/400 for the addapters or wait till the hard baller intake comes out for them... i'm guessing around 600/800 dollars. I would get custom cams made for the thing with probably around .600" lift in it with some other stuff the 5.4 would like. If you doing anything inside the motor i would sudjest the h beam rods from TMD. Cheap and effective.

If your looking for a killer but cheap set up i would sudjest the 5.4 2v with slight porting/gasket match/ and bigger valves , forged rods, Hardballer intake, Custom long tubes, Custom Cams, Tune, and about 150 wet shot! That would be killer. Plus the aluminum construction of the hardballer would take a little back fire if it happened unlike the plastic one.

Just my .02