My 5.4L 3v Adrenalin engine swap | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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My 5.4L 3v Adrenalin engine swap

stylin99

Well-Known Member
Joined
June 4, 2008
Messages
188
Reaction score
2
City, State
Gastonia, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
'08 5.0 Coyote Adrenalin
THREAD UPDATES- 4-6-10
-- new 5.4 3v engine and Whipple are installed and purring like a kitten.



enginefinished5.jpg


enginefinished6.jpg


towingmustang.jpg
 



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Nice!

Sounds like a sweet swap. The 4.6 is a good motor buy pretty anemic.

Have you thought about a 32V Navigator motor?
 












Deffinetly interested in this! Let us know how it goes!

C&L makes a nice Intake for the 2005+ Mustnag that might work for ya! The Runner length on our STA's are taller than the mustang so if you are talking about a shorter intake manifold then the mustang one should work!
 






Deffinetly interested in this! Let us know how it goes!

C&L makes a nice Intake for the 2005+ Mustnag that might work for ya! The Runner length on our STA's are taller than the mustang so if you are talking about a shorter intake manifold then the mustang one should work!

delete.
 












This sounds like a great idea. Hope it turns out for you.
 












Thanks. That's a bit high. I'm sure I can find one for cheaper than that if I wait it out.
 






I was talking about this to someone yesterday, but I was actually thinking Ford should have used the 5.4 3V in the Adrenalin from the start. Sounds like a good idea but I'm not willing to give the warranty away.

The mustang looks good by the way.
 






5.4

i dont think the 6 speed transmission will not live long with that much torque. it will be difficult and costly to swap tranmissions as the 6 speed is internally controled the other is computor controled.
 






I was talking about this to someone yesterday, but I was actually thinking Ford should have used the 5.4 3V in the Adrenalin from the start. Sounds like a good idea but I'm not willing to give the warranty away.

The mustang looks good by the way.

They were going to put the supercharged 4.6L (Mustang) Terminator engine in the Adrenalin, which if you recall made 390HP/ 390 Ft-lbs.
 












nice adrenalin and stang u got there
 






It would probably easier to supercharge the exisiting engine and upgrade to a lower gear ratio. Hell...even upgrading to a lower grear ratio alone would give you more torque.

The Supercharger is like $6200 and it's about $1500 to swap the gears out on a 2wd. You will gain a hell of a lot more power here than just swapping out for a 5.4L.

Unless they build a vehicle similar to the STA with a 3.5L EcoBoost dual turbo V6, I'll be supercharging mine eventually. I'm just a littlse hesitant right now because $6200 supercharger + $3000 gearing is $9,000 of upgrades. I don't owe much more than that on the damn thing lol.
 






i dont think the 6 speed transmission will not live long with that much torque. it will be difficult and costly to swap tranmissions as the 6 speed is internally controled the other is computor controled.

I don't agree that it can't handle the power.

I hate it though. I much prefer the 5 speed that I had in my 05 F150 5.4L
 






Thanks, I'll definitely be updating the throttle body/MAF/intake tubing.

The problem with the 5.4 is that the deck height is taller which separates the intake ports further apart than a 4.6. I can either get the adapter plates to match a 4.6 intake or I'll have to use a truck 5.4 intake. I'm not sure how much higher a 5.4 stock intake is over the existing explorer intake. It can't be that much taller... this thing on the explorer is huge!

Anyway, for awhile I contemplated trying to use a Mustang supercharger and modifying it to work on the stock 4.6 (there are no kits for one), but I'd have to spend over $5000 in parts alone, plus any custom stuff because of the different engine bay design.

So I just decided to find me a 5.4 from a wreck, and then sell off the nearly new 4.6 (only 9000 miles) to recoup some costs. It gives me a better base to start with.

Stock 4.6 explorer: 292 hp / 315 tq
Stock 5.4 F150: 300 hp/ 365 tq

If I throw in some mild 3v cams, and get better airflow going to the intake, with a nice tune, the truck should be a nice little torque monster and still be daily-driver friendly.

That's the plan anyway! If anybody knows of a 5.4L 3v on the east coast, let me know, I'm looking to purchase one asap.

Actually BBR makes a kit specifically for the gen2 ST Adrenalin

http://www.blowbyracing.com/20ad400hpsus.html
 












Anything moving on this swap? It is very interesting.
 



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I'm wondering if you could swap out an eaton m112 from the 03-04 cobras should bolt right up. If this is possible I would go that route just not sure if it works on our 4.6. On all the cobra forums they are selling used blowers injectors pumps heat exchangers since we usually upgrade. A used eaton goes for 300 bucks pretty cheap. I would bet you could swap a cobras system for less than 5000. The biggest PITA would be the intercooler you have to run all the piping and I'm sure there would be some custom fabrication. I would at least check into it can't hurt.

You could also by a wrecked cobras 4.6 they are about 5000.00 thats complete with supercharger and trans.
 






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