Mike, questions for you....
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Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Michigan
Mike, questions for you....
I tried calling you yesterday, but you were unavailable. I purchased an X cal 2 from you about 4 months ago, we spoke on the phone once afterward, because I was having some difficulties with the buttons... Anyway, last week I blew a head gasket on my truck, so rather than replace it, I opted to put a new motor in. What I have is a 2004 4.6 that I will be putting in and switching over all of the mods from my old 4.6. My questions for you are, what will I need to change? I know the injector plugs are different, and it has all of the PI components, but will I have to change the intake? Etc. Also, are there any other mods you would reccomend for this motor while I have it out? and lastly, will you have to write me new tunes? I would assume so, and would like to get the ball rolling so I have the tunes when I get the motor in. How are you doing tunes now, I thought I read somewhere that you are emailing them now? (Forgive me, it has been awile since I have been to this part of the forums) Thank you for your help!
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Joined: Mar 1998
Posts: 13,385
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From: Virginia
Hi Kickin,
Sorry to hear of your troubles!
However, I have to ask you to please understand that we cannot provide you with free engine swap tech support or take on any responsibility for making this work for you - we get involved in engine swaps ONLY when we have the vehicle here in our shop and are being paid to do the actual work - as I'm sure you can understand.
We have no idea what the source was for that motor, and thus there can be all kinds of issues aside from the obvious completely different ignition systems & potential wiring harness differences, etc.
Briefly............
Usually you will continue to use your original vehicle's ignition system instead of the coil pack setup from the newer PI motor, and it's easiest IF you can retain your existing PCM and wiring harness - but you will need to figure out if that is workable in your case on your own, or get some local help. We have no idea the source of that motor, if it came from a vehicle with the exact same transmission you have, or if it came from a 2004 F-150 using a 4R75-E automatic, or a Heritage model, etc. In most cases, you try to treat the new motor like the old one, as you can retain your original harness & PCM, and then simply retune as needed - in a best case scenario.
As far as 4.6's go, as long as it's a 2-valve 4.6, all the same mods generally work, it's just that you have different ignition systems - but you can retain your existing spark plug wire-based ignition system & original PCM, and just not use the newer coil pack-based ignition on the 2004 4.6 - also, things like the underdrive pulleys & air intake kit should work, AS LONG AS that 4.6 is NOT from a vehicle that uses ETC - what some people call drive by wire. In other words, as long as it uses a traditional MAF meter just like your original engines does, like all of the 1997-2003 F-150's do (including 2004 "Heritage" models, which are nothing more than 2003's that are leftovers using the previous body style) - then you would want to use your *original* MAF meter, that is the easiest way to try to make all of this work by hopefully retaining your original wiring harness and PCM.
What I suggest is that you get a service manual for your truck, and then a service manual for whatever vehicle that 2004 motor came out of, and work on getting them married up - and then it will most likely need to be tuned again, and if so, we can take care of that aspect for you. If we need to retune it, as long as you have the XCalibrator 2, then yes, we can simply email those tunes to you.
That's about the best I can tell you on this without us actually getting involved in doing the work, and I hope this brief info helps, my friend - once again, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the blown head gasket!
Good luck!
Sorry to hear of your troubles!
However, I have to ask you to please understand that we cannot provide you with free engine swap tech support or take on any responsibility for making this work for you - we get involved in engine swaps ONLY when we have the vehicle here in our shop and are being paid to do the actual work - as I'm sure you can understand.
We have no idea what the source was for that motor, and thus there can be all kinds of issues aside from the obvious completely different ignition systems & potential wiring harness differences, etc.
Briefly............
Usually you will continue to use your original vehicle's ignition system instead of the coil pack setup from the newer PI motor, and it's easiest IF you can retain your existing PCM and wiring harness - but you will need to figure out if that is workable in your case on your own, or get some local help. We have no idea the source of that motor, if it came from a vehicle with the exact same transmission you have, or if it came from a 2004 F-150 using a 4R75-E automatic, or a Heritage model, etc. In most cases, you try to treat the new motor like the old one, as you can retain your original harness & PCM, and then simply retune as needed - in a best case scenario.
As far as 4.6's go, as long as it's a 2-valve 4.6, all the same mods generally work, it's just that you have different ignition systems - but you can retain your existing spark plug wire-based ignition system & original PCM, and just not use the newer coil pack-based ignition on the 2004 4.6 - also, things like the underdrive pulleys & air intake kit should work, AS LONG AS that 4.6 is NOT from a vehicle that uses ETC - what some people call drive by wire. In other words, as long as it uses a traditional MAF meter just like your original engines does, like all of the 1997-2003 F-150's do (including 2004 "Heritage" models, which are nothing more than 2003's that are leftovers using the previous body style) - then you would want to use your *original* MAF meter, that is the easiest way to try to make all of this work by hopefully retaining your original wiring harness and PCM.
What I suggest is that you get a service manual for your truck, and then a service manual for whatever vehicle that 2004 motor came out of, and work on getting them married up - and then it will most likely need to be tuned again, and if so, we can take care of that aspect for you. If we need to retune it, as long as you have the XCalibrator 2, then yes, we can simply email those tunes to you.
That's about the best I can tell you on this without us actually getting involved in doing the work, and I hope this brief info helps, my friend - once again, I'm sorry to hear of your troubles with the blown head gasket!
Good luck!