lightning sc ?

thnkso

Registered User
been kicking around the idea of a transplant, do you or do you know of any body that tried to put a supercharged lightning motor in a sc, if so i doubt that the stock 5spd and rear would handle it, what do you think? is there any cons to doing a project like this?
 
I think you'd need about a 5' cowl hood to fit it in there. I know some guys on tccoa have put 5.4's into their cars so the engine will fit. I think the supercharger/intercooler package is just too tall to fit under a reasonable hood height.
 
So far the only way to fit a 5.4 into the mn12 is to use the intake manifold from a van. The normal truck intake manifold won't fit so I'm pretty sure the lighting one won't either. There are lots of threads about this at tccoa.com.

I looked into making my 97 lx into a new supercoupe once. The cheapest way seems to put a blower at 6 psi on a normal 4.6 or if you need another motor a pi 4.6 from an 02 Explorer will give more power.
 
You would have to have at LEAST a 6" cowl. The 5.4 Lightning motor MM&FF put in a fox body (project Frightning) had a 6" cowl and they had to cut it for the upper intake. It would be a MAJOR PITA but with enough $$, anything can happen. As far as the tranny, yours won't work. If you want a manual, get a T56 from a Y2K Cobra R as it is the only manual I know of that will fit the 5.4 motor. An 8.8 will hold up, but I doubt the IRS 8.8 in the mn12 will. You'd probably want to go to a stick axle w/ 31+ spline axles and a GOOD trac-lock. If you decide to try it, I've got a Lightning lower intake manifold w/ intercooler I'll sell ya:D

Jason
 
any 4.6 tranny will bolt up to the 5.4..The lightning motor itself is way to tall..WAYYYYYYYYYYYY to tall as everyone has stated. I would personally go 03/04 cobra motor and call it a day or you can get a 5.4 with adapter plates to run the 03/04 cobra blower setup. youd probably need a cowl hood but it should clear with that
 
lightning sc

wow, sounds like a lot more work than i am ready for. i would just like to have a v8/5spd or maybe a 6spd. i just don't know if i want to settle for your run of the mill mustang powered sc, don't get me wrong i like mustangs, hell i had 2-67's, 1- 75/with a built 351-480hp, a 1980 and a 89-5.0. i just don't feel like another mustang, the sc's need to show mustangs that they are super fords too.i already kicked around building the v6 but you are to limited on after market supply's and go fast goodies,not to mention cost to build a six popper. cost more to build it than a v8 and still cant get the power as one can with the v-8. i think i am pissing into the wind!
 
DamonSlowpokeBaumann said:
any 4.6 tranny will bolt up to the 5.4..The lightning motor itself is way to tall..WAYYYYYYYYYYYY to tall as everyone has stated. I would personally go 03/04 cobra motor and call it a day or you can get a 5.4 with adapter plates to run the 03/04 cobra blower setup. youd probably need a cowl hood but it should clear with that


Any 4.6 tranny absolutely WILL NOT bolt up to a 5.4. I've researched this as I was kicking the idea around of putting a T56 in my Lightning. Found a truck that had a T56 from a Cobra R in it. The bolt pattern on a 5.4 bellhousing is a good bit larger than the 4.6 physically. Trust me, I work in an almost all Ford perfromance shop with a friend. You can't even put all 4 of the arms from our big block engine stand on a 5.4. This same stand will easily hold a 4.6 and a 460 for that matter.

I agree as far as the 03/04 Cobra motor goes. You can make ALOT more power safely with a 03/04 Cobra motor than you can a Lightning motor. The Cobra motor has all forged internals from SVT. The Lightning's connecting rods are only good to 450-500 rwhp. I know of a guy that just got engine and tranny from a wrecked 03 w/ 11k on it. Motor was complete from intake to oil pan. Came with everything and I think he got it for around 6k. The deals are out there, just gotta find 'em.
 
Jason,

There are many people including myself that have done this swap already. I cant see why it would be any different for you. Seriously. Teh lightning tranny is different..But that has nothing to do with the bolt pattern being different

Here is someone posting hisi luck with the swap.

http://www.modularfords.com/forums/modular-conversions/
5.4 Mustang
Newbie

Posts: 12
Joined: 8/17/2005
Status: offline Bell housing fits fine no problem. Computer is from my car. Didnt want 4v heads, could of had them but think about this. What would you rather have. A 5.4 4v all motor, or a 5.4 2v supercharged. By keeping these heads w/ the cams I have. I can bolt on a lighting supercharger for under 2000 bucks. It would be hella more expensive to get a custom intake for the 4v. All about bang for the buck.

Exhaust manifolds fit but I had to beat the off road h in a few spots to make it not hit the body. getting a custom made catted h to fit.

Remember guys the 4.6 and 5.4 are modular motors. That means almost everything is interchangable. The only things that are different on these motors are the intake manifolds. So if you get the adapters to make the 4.6 manifold fit. You are going to have like no problems with anything. Just the exhaust thing I mentioned and the 5.4 serpentine belt because it uses one less idler so its shorter.
 
i just don't know if i want to settle for your run of the mill mustang powered sc,

Hardly run of the mill......I'm only aware of seven or eight SCs with v8 conversions and I've only seen two or three that look something like this under the hood.

David
 

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lightning sc

ok, i worded it wrong, the mustangs have a ~~~~ load of after market goodies and if i were to drop in a stang engine and went to the drags or shows and pop the hood how many people do you think would say to them selves why not just keep the stang, the reason i went with a t-bird is every body has stangs but how many birds do you see at a all event show? a lot of people already said, lyle you always had cool mustangs why in the hell did you buy a over weight under power chicken. dare to be different. my response is just wait... i have to do something to back this bird up, but keep it affordable. i also am a dodge boy and even had a vision of say (hemi) power. but again i need to keep it affordable, see i love my wife and would prefer to keep her, i am sure somebody understands. for you people that built the 3.8sc how much power was attained and how small did your bank account get? i would love to get atleast 380-425hp is this possible? and if so is it going to be reliable to drive/ race, i don't want a trailer queen.
 
thnkso said:
ok, i worded it wrong, the mustangs have a ~~~~ load of after market goodies and if i were to drop in a stang engine and went to the drags or shows and pop the hood how many people do you think would say to them selves why not just keep the stang, the reason i went with a t-bird is every body has stangs but how many birds do you see at a all event show? a lot of people already said, lyle you always had cool mustangs why in the hell did you buy a over weight under power chicken. dare to be different. my response is just wait... i have to do something to back this bird up, but keep it affordable. i also am a dodge boy and even had a vision of say (hemi) power. but again i need to keep it affordable, see i love my wife and would prefer to keep her, i am sure somebody understands. for you people that built the 3.8sc how much power was attained and how small did your bank account get? i would love to get atleast 380-425hp is this possible? and if so is it going to be reliable to drive/ race, i don't want a trailer queen.

When talking about fast SCs, affordable and reliable are not words you will see used very often. For the power level your after it could be done and still be reliable (assuming your talking about HP at the crank not the wheels). Look at the cars running high to mid 12s (300-340 rwhp) to see what mods they have done. These days you can dramatically shortcut the usual mod path by installing an AR along with some fuel and exhaust upgrades to get to 300 rwhp. Anyway you go, your going to have to spend some money to get a fast SC.

David
 
A standard tranny should bolt up from a 4.6. You might have to get an aftermarket scattershield but that is always a good thing. Not to mention if your gonna drag it some tracks require it for cars under a certain time. All I have to say is there was a stick in the 2000 cobra R and those came with a 5.4 . :) :D
 
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