Hey Mike! I have an 02 Lightning and a friend of mine has an 04. From a roll to about 60 he can pull me almost a truck length. His truck is bone stock and mine is stock except for an air intake and oil separator.

I have read several threads where guys with 03 and up trucks have higher dyno numbers. Did Ford change the programming of the ECU's on the 03 and up model years? I know the 03's have updated cylinder heads but I thought that was to cure the plug launching problem.

Also, I have heard guys say that 15 MPH kickdowns are bad for these motors but I thought the ECU wouldn't let you do anything to hurt the motor. I would hate to think I can't do that anymore because it sure is a lot of fun.

Are you guys going to be in Bristol this year? I'd like to drive up and get some dyno time from you.

Thanks for any info Mike.

Randall

 

Hi Randall,

Some stock Lightnings will run 14.0's when it's 85 degrees outside (just for example), and some will run 13.5's in those same conditions - that's just the way it is. It's not differences in the stock tuning, as the 2001-2004 L's are tuned almost identically. We see variances of as much as 30+ HP between seemingly "identical" bone-stock Lightnings, as well as significant variances in clutch fill times in the transmissions and their shift firmness levels stock, etc. Heck, the variances in clutch fill times of the transmissions alone can make more difference in performance than what you're seeing between those two trucks.

It's a myth that the PCM "won't let you do anything to hurt the motor." You can easily hurt *any* computer-controlled vehicle by pounding on it. The PCM will allow a 2-1 downshift at speeds as high as 21.5 mph in the 2001-2004 Lightning on the stock program, but that doesn't mean it's a safe thing to do frequently - and it's not. Sure, it's fun - until the motor breaks. It might take that abuse 4000 times, or it might take it 130 times, you just never know with the stock rods. The weak link in those Lightning motors are the connecting rods - the 5.4 2V SOHC modular motors have the longest connecting rods of virtually any American V8 engine ever made, which results in a less than optimal rod/stroke ratio - so it doesn't like to turn too many rpms, and it doesn't like frequent 2-1 WOT punches. Just one 2-1 WOT punch is as hard on the motor as a dozen (or more) passes down the drag strip.

I doubt we'll go back to Bristol unless I decide to compete in series points this year - and I just don't have the time for that without degrading our customer service. Though I like the facility itself, last year's Bristol event was not well run for vendors or serious competitors, and track conditions were a real problem between them spreading water across the entire lane in the burnout areas most of the time and the 1/4" of DOT rubber buildup on the track. I love "Thunder Valley," but until they can consistently get back to properly preparing & maintaining the track during the entire event for all classes, it's just not worth going to for us - now it was fine if you had say, a pretty much stock Lightning or maybe a 14-second or slower vehicle. I think about the only time they did any real work on the track to speak of was when the 6-second cars ran - almost everyone else had terrible traction.

With regard to tuning, we don't need your vehicle on a dyno to properly tune it or get the most out of it - and the typical inertia dyno (like say, a Dynojet, which is mostly what you see) does not provide real world load conditions for the motor. For the typical mid-11 second or slower Lightning, unless there is a really trick configuration being used we don't need to see them to tune them. And even for the monsters, with our datalogging instructions we still don't need to see them, we can tune them long-distance with them being run on a dyno that is local to the customer, and we just email the changes very quickly. Give us a call to go over this in some more detail, OK?

Good luck!

 

There seems to be a big difference in our trucks. I thought I had a strong stock truck because I have "walked" 2 other stock L's, but his is unreal. Mine was built on a Tuesday after New Years so that might have something to do with it.

Thanks for the advice on the kickdowns. I am new to this high performance truck market and I am still learning what and what not to do.

I haven't made it to Bristol the past 2 years due to work but I'm going to try againa this year. I was looking forward to seeing your truck make a few runs.