Finally got my 5.4... getting ready to drop it into my 04 Mountaineer

[Styx]

Looking good keep the pictures coming...

 

[coletrain777]

Got parts...! I'm sure it will take a while to get everything done. I am going to do all 8 spark plug inserts so that I know I won't have problems down the road. I also think I am going to pull the trans so that I can check out for flexplate to torque converter tolerances easily. I also am I the midst of repairing an 08 Dodge 3500 that hit a deer, and painting a 1976 CJ5 body... all in my "free time" with a full time job, wife, 2 kids......

 

[zerodevil]

friggin sweet!! I LOVE PARTS!!!.. And whats this shenangians about being "in the process" of fixing a dodge? i thought the repair kit consisted of a cigaret, some matches, and a hand grenade? Anyways, its very cool to see this build happening in real time, and i cant wait to see the finnished product! Are you planning to do anything extra with the build while your in there? I ask because i am desperate to see what a "done right" 5.4l explorer can do. Bunch of cool goodies that would be seemless improvements.

 

[coletrain777]

I know what you're saying about the Dodge... but I would love to have an upgraded Cummins with 405 hp and 1195 ft/lbs of toque AT THE REAR WHEELS. Kind of makes a 5.4 swap seem extremely pointless At the end of the day collision work is extremely easy money that helps provide for my family, so if it's a good paying job I'll take it.

I don't know how long it will take me to get the swap done, if it was the only project I was working on I would say I would have it done in a couple of nights... but as always I have way too much on my plate (man I wish i was retired and could just work on projects). I also am looking forward to getting it done, I hope it all goes together well (I'm sure it will).

As for upgrades, I am not planning any... but what did you have in mind? I wouldn't mind building a small (8psi or so) turbo system for the 5.4, but I'm sure that I won't due to having to build a fairly stout transmission as well (I like the Mountaineer, but it's not something I want to dump a bunch of money into). I mean, really the reason I went with a 5.4 upgrade over the 4.6 is that it was cheaper for me to swap in the 5.4 than it was for me to find a good, low mileage 4.6 (plus I like torque ). I know it won't be anything like my diesel truck, but I bet the 5.4 will tow a lot differently than the 4.6 with an extra 80 ft/lbs of torque at 2500 rpm's.

 

[GRNMACHINE]

Subscribin-very cool

 

[zerodevil]

I was just thinking about maybe some exhaust, cold air intake, pullies and an E-fan. Would probably net you another 20ish rwhp and similar torque numbers.. also might ease some of that already dreadfull fuel econ hahah. And i was just giving you a hard time on the dodge, its hard to find a serious problem with any one of the big threes diesel trucks.

what ever you decide on mods, make sure you get that truck tuned!! you will be underfueling that 5.4L with out a doubt, and will see much larger gain if you tune, i dont know about it running in an overlean condition either? maybe a mechanical safety issue. Give james at hensonperformance.com a shout, if it can be done, he can do it.

BUMP FOR UPDATE!!!

 

[jayton]

I do not see the raised bosses in the valley of the 5.4L block for the knock sensors. Do you have a plan for the knock sensors or will it be tuned out?

 

[MustangP51]

 

[zerodevil]

****bump****

 

[explorinitup]

 

[ibayter]

Got parts...! I'm sure it will take a while to get everything done. I am going to do all 8 spark plug inserts so that I know I won't have problems down the road. I also think I am going to pull the trans so that I can check out for flexplate to torque converter tolerances easily. I also am I the midst of repairing an 08 Dodge 3500 that hit a deer, and painting a 1976 CJ5 body... all in my "free time" with a full time job, wife, 2 kids......

Hey Coletrain I wonder what kind of crankshaft (how many bolts) was on your Mountaineer? I can see you have the same converter as my aviator as per the pic, could you please let us know? keep us posted with more pics!

 

[HiImBrian]

Bump bump bump bump bump bump bump!

 

[coletrain777]

Sorry for the long delay guys... I am back at the swap. I decided to pull the transmission as well so that I can bolt everything together outside of the vehicle and check clearances between the flex plate and convert or. I don't know what (if anything) I will have to do, but you guys can help me figure it out . I will post a few pics this evening.

 

[zerodevil]

I pulled the transmission twice this last summer so i am full of fresh ideas, feel free to PM me with any questions or concerns, its a doable job, but much safer with a few extra hands.

 

[coletrain777]

Ibayter- my Mountaineer was six bolt and the Triton is 8 bolt.

Jayton - the 5.4 has a single knock sensor in the intake valley toward the front of the engine. I don't remember offhand... did my 4.6 have 2 knock sensors? If it did I wonder why I couldn't just splice into the wiring for the single 5.4 KS and run a another set of wires off of it to the second KS plug connection? Seems like the computer wouldn't know the difference...?

Zero - do you remember the specs that I need look for when I mate the engine and trans together? I was thinking there was supposed to be a certain amount of clearance between the flexplate and the TC... ?

 

[coletrain777]

Ok, went out and looked at the 4.6 and it has two knock sensors... So I think my idea to splice in both connectors from the 4.6 harness and connect them to the single knock sensor will work fine. The computer is only looking for knock (or lack of) and it won't know that both ports are only connected to one sensor. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong!

 

[zerodevil]

Rip the knock sensors off of the 4.6L and bolt them to the cylenderheads on the rear of the engine, they will still function w/o problem, worse case it needs to be tuned out. The engine will retard ignition timing if there is a detonation detected, thusly removing all that wonderfull power you just swaped in haha.
The space between the torque converter and flexplate is supposed to be 1/8th to 1/16th, after my mods i was able to get 3/16ths and have not had a problem with more than 2K miles since my rebuild.

 

[coletrain777]

Update... So I am in the process of putting the 5.4 back together and I finally put the 4.6 and 5.4 intake side by side ........ looks like its fabrication time. If you didn't know the 4.6 and 5.4 intakes are different b/c of the slight difference in width between the heads, so my plan was to use the 5.4 intake and the throttle body off of my 4.6 (5.4 tb is cable operated and my 4.6 was "drive by wire") Well, the throttle bodies mount differently so it looks like i will fab an adapter with the 5.4 intake opening and bolt pattern on the bottom, and the 4.6 DBW unit opening and bolt pattern on top. This will actually consist of two plates that fasten together (gasket between them of course) and allow my 4.6 TB to be used. This adapter will be made of two 1/2 steel plates 6"x6". The only thing I don't like is that I will loose some "air opening" area due to the way the adapters have to be constructed to mate with each other. What I mean by this is that each throttle body has a unique opening where it mounts to the intake, they are not similar in design, so in mating the two plates together there will be a few places where I loose some of the original hole circumference. I don't believe this will be an issue as the throttle body only flows so much air (depending on the amount of pedal you are stomping down on). Now if I was drag racing or using full throttle all the time this might be an issue, but I haven't mashed the throttle in one if my vehicles for a "LONG" time. Anyway, I will put some pics up later of my fab work

Just for the record, I don't think this would be an issue if I wasn't swapping from a drive-by-wire engine to a cable operated engine. No biggie though

 

[coletrain777]

For those of you that are looking to do this swap in the future, but not wanting to do any fabrication... They make intake spacer kits that allow you to use your original 4.6 intake on the 5.4 so that it just bolts up. The reason I am not going this route is because I am a cheap skate and the spacer kits are around $250 or so. The steel plate will cost $13 and and about an hour of my time (or so I think).

 

[coletrain777]

I would have loved to make the adapters out if aluminum but the thickest aluminum plate that is stocked in my area is 1/4". I need the plates to be at least 3/8 thick. Aluminum sure would be easier to work with,and MUCH lighter... Guess I will have to drop a few lbs to make up for the added weight