5.4l Dohc Swap

Would you do a 5.4 DOHC swap?


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I got my swap on the road and running. It actually runs pretty decent. Needs a tune bad, so I haven't put more than 150 miles on it. Running slightly lean below 2500 and stupid rich above. Like 10-1 rich! Everything in the car works. I'm actually pretty pleased with how it turned out. With the purchase of the car, I probably have $2500 in the whole deal, and will have a 360-370hp car. Next year, cams!!!
 
Sorry for going incommunicado there. I'll provide just a bit of an update:

The car is currently in the garage. I dropped the engine out, k member bottom out style to do a little work. (I highly recommend installing and removing the engine via this method. SOOOO much easier than top in/out!) I have the valve covers off and am installing some intake cams. I have read that 99 and newer Lincoln Continentals have a better duration. I might try and source some 96-98 Cobra cams. I am also spacing the K Member at this time. The driver’s side valve cover rubbed like crazy on my brake booster.

I will also be installing 05+ 5.4 fuel rails commonly found on F150s and Expeditions. These will take some custom fab to get them to work. The rails will feed some Bosch 0280155831 30lb injectors that I sourced off a Volvo. I also have a 355lph e85 certified fuel pump that will be going in the tank. I found that the engine runs much better on corn. I used the DeltaForce Sniper Tuning software to program the change to e85.

I sourced an all aluminum dual core radiator and I hope this will help with pressure that I am seeing on the top side radiator hose. With the stock radiator, the hose blew off during a session at Hallett due to the pressure the 5.4 water pump creates 5k rpm and up.

With regard to the weight bias question during autocross. The 5.4 is only 40lbs heavier than the 4.6.

http://www.sullivanperformance.com/yvs450/tech/tech1.htm

I have gotten more comments about this engine being "heavy iron" and the like. Sitting on the hood causes more suspension flex than putting a 5.4 in between the fenders. The added 40lbs shifts the weight bias by like 1%. Not noticeable in my opinion. The extra torque from the 5.4 really helps coming out of corners and makes it so fun to drive. A buddy of mine with a 14' GT Track Pack Mustang drove it and commented on how much he liked the torque.

I have been running 4.10s and to be honest this is prolly a bit overkill. 1st gear is useless and I start out in 2nd. I will most likely swap these out for a 3.73 set that I have, but I'm not sure yet. I have been using the 3650 Tremec and it seems to be holding up just fine. My eBay clutch however can't really handle the extra torque and will prolly need to be replaced after this season.

I encourage this swap to anyone interested. I really like the feel, sound and reactions I get. You can do this swap so much easier than I did, but I am a stickler for making junk yard parts work. :)

Feel free to check out my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc_muXlGrvhilqJEXY8xGvg
I have a few videos up currently and will be uploading some more soon!
 
Update: I found a set of 99 Cobra Intake Cams and installed them back in March. Seems to have a bit more power. I haven't had the time to install the new fuel pump, injectors or fuel rail. I did have some fab work done on the fuel rail though. I also sourced and installed a Saleen 4.6 3V water pump underdrive pulley. This reduced the amount of pressure produced in the coolant system during higher RPM pulls. Coupled with the aluminum radiator, I haven't had any issues with overheating. Ran well at the last autocross this past weekend 5/22/16. I also sourced a set of GT4 rims with Nitto NT555 rubber. Here are a few picts and a video of the autocross.
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfjyOs9rvV0
 
Hey all,
Thought I would write a bit about a project that I have somewhat completed recently(are they ever really complete?). Apologies for the novel!

After driving home for lunch one day, I parked my 01' GT in the driveway. I went in, had a sandwich and came back out to go back to work. My beloved Mustang of 12 years decided at that time that sputtering, knocking and finally dying was a better alternative than driving back to work. I was late for work, so I jumped in the F250 and left my pony there...broken.

Fearing the worst, I started talking a bit with my buddy at work about rebuild options and possible engine swaps. He owns an 82 LX 4 cyl that he did a 302 conversion on. No replacement for displacement was the motto apparently and he convinced me to take on a 5.4L DOHC swap into my GT (a little more discussion and he might have convinced me to try a 6.8L V10 swap!). I did extensive research on the swap, including reading through several forums from years ago that went into the pitfalls of such a swap. Not one to turn down a challenge, I forged ahead full steam. After some extensive begging and pleading with the wife, I was allowed to sink a bit of our hard earned money into the project. I set a budget of roughly $1500 and went to work sourcing the engine.

As you well know there are only a handful of vehicles that Ford has put this engine in. The 2000 Cobra R, Ford GT, 2007-2012 GT500s, a few Australian models and the 1999-2004 Lincoln Navigator. With such a meager budget I'm sure you can guess my candidate! I found a 1999 Navigator that had just come into a salvage yard within 40 miles of the house. The Lincoln was running strong, but needed a new transmission. The asking price was $1200 for the complete engine which included shipping to my door. I took the plunge. A few days later on a rainy day in April, a flat bed wrecker backed into my driveway and I had my engine.

I thoroughly cleaned the engine and inspected it for wear. Everything looked really good, but I decided to put new rod bearings in it just to be safe. I pulled the 4.6L and began the process of interchanging everything that I would need from it to the 5.4. I swapped the motor mounts, oil pan and pick up, flywheel (sourced from an 03 Cobra), trans plate, and some of the accessory drive pulleys as I decided to go with the 6 rib as opposed to the 8 rib.

The next decision that I had to make was that of the intake. I could try and find one of the Boss 260/290 intakes out there and pay over $1000, maybe I could find the unicorn Cobra R unit, or perhaps a supercharged setup from a Ford GT or GT500, I could even run a sheet metal unit!

There was/is a great article out there on one of the other forums that talked about using the 2012 Coyote intake as the ports match almost exactly. I was skeptical, but also adventurous. I went out on eBay and found the intake for 60 bucks. Turns out a lot of the coyote guys like to run the Boss 302 intake on their 5.0s! I could have gone that route as well, but again with budget in mind I decided $60 versus $600 was the way to go. The next step was drilling and tapping the cylinder heads...I don't recommend this as it is quite nerve racking. I decided to fabricate some 1/4" hold down plates for the middle sections of the intake where the heads have no material. Other forums have pictures where member's have welded aluminum plates in the void on the cylinder head. In retrospect, I might have spared myself the hassle and went with MMR adapters. These units are pretty slick, but also pricey. At the end of the day I got the job done with hand tools, swearing and maybe a tear or two.

Wire harness modification was next. I retained the factory 4.6L harness and ECM. This required that I slice the coil wires and plugs out from the injector harness sections. I also had to extend these wires to compensate for the length to run the plugs to the coils in the middle of the cylinder heads. I soldered in and additional 6" on each bank and to be honest I could have used a little more to make things fit even better. I also extended the wires for the TPS, coolant temp sensor, IAC valve and soldered in a connector for the 95-98 MAFs.

I used 24lb injectors from a 96-98 Cobra and a MAF from the same. These were held down to the coyote manifold with custom fabricated fuel rail hardware and the fuel rails from the 01 GT. In order to clearance the heads, I had to use fuel injector hat spacers on the base of the injectors to raise them up high enough for the injector connectors. I believe they were 1/2 spacers.

With the fuel system sorted out, I turned to fabrication on the air intake system. I decided for now to run the throttle body from the 01 GT on the coyote intake. This required that I fabricate an adapter plate for the throttle body to intake. I used 1" 6061 aluminum plate for the adapter. I used Lokar for a longer throttle cable. I pieced together the air intake pieces from a CAI that I had previously and ordered a 90 degree silicon boot to mate the system to the throttle body. The IAC was mounted to the intake with a fabricated bracket. I used threaded hose fittings and a hose to plumb the IAC to the intake.

The coolant system was another item that I saved a ton of money on with a little ingenuity. I fabricated and "pressed" into the cylinder heads some barbed pipe fittings that I sourced from the local hardware store. I then welded some hold downs to the fittings and bolted them to the block. I ran a couple 90 degree hoses up to a T that joined the two sides together. Many trips to the parts store and I finally found the upper radiator hoses needed to circumvent the air intake system. I used an inline coolant temp sensor adapter as well as a Meizere inline thermostat housing (after a few coolant issues I opted not to run a thermostat). MMR also has a kit for the coolant system that utilizes AN style fittings.

The accessory drive was last on my list. Everything was the same as stock with the exception being the alternator. For this I fabricated a reverse mount bracket system and mounted the alternator right behind the coolant reservoir tank. Again, this could have been done differently with a bit more money, but I was determined to save as much as I could. The best method for this that I have seen is to use the Cobra lower coolant casting and a kit from MMR to mount a powerstroke alternator below the power steering pump. You could also retain the stock mounting location by utilizing a sheet metal intake with the navigator lower, or one of the Boss 260/290/302 intakes.

For the exhaust you can use the passenger side Navigator manifold, however to clear the steering linkage you must use a 99-01 Cobra manifold on the driver's side. I removed all EGR components on this swap as the intake has no accommodation for them whatsoever. I had a muffler shop fabricate the down pipes that feed Magnaflow Hi-Flow Cats, an H-Pipe, Summit Racing Street/Strip Mufflers and Pace Setter resonator tips. All O2 sensor locations remained the same.

Tuning was accomplished using a Delta Force Sniper Special Forces Gas unit.

The car is daily driven and runs very good. I don't have any dyno numbers as there isn't a shop around here that offers the service, but I can tell you that the car has more power and a lot more torque than the 4.6L. I am currently running 3.55 gears and have a set of 4.10s on the shelf, however for the sake of the tires I am not sure that I will swap them in.

I referenced several websites and forums during this swap. One great quick reference site is http://www.sullivanperformance.com/yvs450/tech/tech1.htm.

Many have reservations about this swap, but I am very happy with it. All said and done I had a great time with the swap and am proud of the work that I accomplished. I will say though....$1500 bucks because of a $150 fuel pump failure didn't make the misses too happy. :)

5.4 Swap.jpg
Could you post some pics of the alternator bracket you fabbed up and what the finished product was.
 
medumdum3 days ago - From YouTube
Found your post on stangnet and was wondering if you were still active. My 02 GT spun a bearing so I wanted to get some extra power since I need to replace the engine anyways. I found a 03 navigator local to me with 120k miles, bad fuel pump and no title for $650 so it's the perfect candidate for a swap. I know you had to fab quite a bit and I was wondering what you wouldn't have had to fab if you had a whole navigator instead of just the engine? I'm assuming I could just use the stock Navi intake manifold and throttle body. Main question was about the computer, would the Navi computer just work or would I still need a standalone? If you're still active let me know, I'd love to have some guidance on the swap!
 
medumdum3 days ago - From YouTube
Found your post on stangnet and was wondering if you were still active. My 02 GT spun a bearing so I wanted to get some extra power since I need to replace the engine anyways. I found a 03 navigator local to me with 120k miles, bad fuel pump and no title for $650 so it's the perfect candidate for a swap. I know you had to fab quite a bit and I was wondering what you wouldn't have had to fab if you had a whole navigator instead of just the engine? I'm assuming I could just use the stock Navi intake manifold and throttle body. Main question was about the computer, would the Navi computer just work or would I still need a standalone? If you're still active let me know, I'd love to have some guidance on the swap!

Hey medumdum! I live on YouTube, just not the upload side of things. I'll bump the thread on stangnet and you can ask away! The biggest hurdle is the intake. If you can swing the cost of a Boss 302 intake then the swap is super straight forward as you'll be able to mount the alternator in the stock location. You will have to run a cowl hood to clear the throttle body. You can use the Navi intake if you don't mind driving around without a hood! The 5.0 Coyote intake is what I use and ModularMotorsportsRacing now makes intake runner adapters that simplify the process. A manual linkage throttle body will have to be sourced or an adapter plate for your current TB. You will also have to relocate your alternator and for me this wasn't a problem as I deleted the A/C and put the alternator there with a custom bracket that I hacked together (pictures have been requested and I'll try and get them for you).

Depending on if your car is an auto or a stick, you'll have to get the flywheel and clutch from the 03/04 Cobra. Exhaust manifolds from the 03/04 Cobra are also needed and a good muffler shop to fab the collector pipes. PCM from your car will work as long as you tune it. I used DeltaForce Tuning's Special Forces Gas Ford tuner for this. PCM from the Navi will not work unless you disable PATS. The 5.4 DOHC is best installed from the bottom up as I show in a picture above.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Good Luck!
 
2021 Update and the much requested Alternator Bracket:

Here are a few pictures I was able to take of the setup. I have a mig welder and that made the process easier, but you could get creative I suppose with another method. I used the alternator off of a early 2000s Ford Taurus 3.0. It is a basic alternator and can be found in abundance at any pick n'pull or similar junk yard. Looks like OReily has them for $150. The stock 4.6 alternator is a 105 amp unit, the Taurus is a 110 amp. I can't remember if I needed to splice the pigtail in or if I had to extend the cables.

alt bracket 5.4.jpg

The bracket is a piece of mild steal, 1/8" thick I believe. I used the A/C block bosses for the two bolts. I used the same steel sandwiched for the uprights. Note that you have to make a clearance cut for the crank signal sensor. I used various spacers on the alternator through bolt to get the belt alignment right.

alt bracket 5.4 support.jpg

Here is a picture of the support stay that I used. I once again used the mild steel plate for the bolt ends and welded them to a piece of tube. The upper mounts to the timing cover bolt. I used a stud and nut.

5.4 belt routing.jpg

Here is the belt routing that I used. If you are using a standard water pump pulley, your clearance will be better than mine. The belt is shorter if I remember correctly. I used the cut an old belt, route and measure method an then brought back a few belts from the part store until I found the one that fit just right. You will also likely need to swap out one smooth idler pulley for another grooved one. I used the same grooved idler part # on both sides.

It isn't pretty...it is downright backyard mechanic, but it works. I have been running this setup for over 5 race seasons now, with at least one track day per year. I've never thrown a belt, nor have I experienced any charging issues.

P.S. Sorry for the cobwebs and dust. I haven't taken the car out to an event all year. It'll be getting some love during winter rebuild.
 
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