Well guys it showed up today. Mr BBQ it was worth the wait! First off after seeing pix of the truck you know it's gonna look good, but up close and personal it's really something else.

1. From the front it says outloud...I'm mean and don't mess with me.
2. Have to agree with Bill...I would like the look of the exhaust on both sides, but looking at it from the passenger side you can tell this truck means business.
3. You guys know I'm also a Corvette guy...and boy do I love them, but this is a close to a C5 with a bed and an extra 1500 lbs as you can get...if you weren't sitting so high you would think you were in a sports car.
4. Have not noticed any piston slap, but will be looking out for that.
5. Handling and cornering are truley phenomenal. As for the brakes...thought I was in the C5 with a little extra weight. (took it out on a long twisty road with speeds up to about 85 mph)
6. SC whine is noticable under acceleration, but think I can live with it.
7. Quite interior as far as the wind and road noise were concerned...really no wind noise at all.
8. Torque.....plenty and then some.
9. Did I try to light up the tires....well not yet, but with what they cost, want be doing that much.
10. What I don't like...I feel that some of the interior is inferior to my "95". Sunvisors are a little cheesey..they returned to the old style rearview mirror..manual type..I really love the one in the "95"...Fogs want come on in Auto setting...wife couldn't get the passenger seat adjusted right for her....Of course this may be her fault...I'm not planning on sitting there anyway....And last and most important to me...EXHAUST!!!!! way..way too tame...this baby just crys out for an aftermarket exhaust system. Not nearly as an agressive exhaust note as my "95" was stock...of course this is just my opinion, but I do think when the aftermarket catches up with this new baby...I'll be one of the ones first in line.

Ok guys that's it...sorry I took up so much space...but on a scale of 1-10....after the first day and almost 300 miles....it is truley a 9 1/2!!!!!....Tybee

 

TYBEE , congrats and thanks for the report, good and bad. don't know how much more of this i can take. mine should be here soon, like last week or so. as long as the performance engineering is there, the interior is no sweat. remember how spartan the mopars (hemi's & 6packs) of the early 70's were? all collectors items with the crappy vinyl bench seats and pos floor coverings.

 

Evening Pilgrims:

Gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, for you are about to enter the Twilight Zone!

I swear to you that this conversation did take place, at least the gist of it, at around 1600 this afternoon.

At 1000, I called my designated Service Advisor at my dealership to check on the boost gauge I had ordered one month ago today. Remember, mine has not functioned from day one.

Finally, at 1600, he called back, and I will relate the conversation as best I can recall it.

1. He said we had a communication misake. The owner of the Red Lightning delivered a week before mine had the same problem. They had to order a complete new instrument panel. Panel comes in and guess what. Problem was not the gauge but rather that the hose leading from whatever valve is in line to finish the circuit to the gauge was 4 inches too short.
This was apparently known by both SVT and the assembly line folk in CDN. It may have been restricted to real early production models, but my dealer has had others.

2. If you remove the instrument cluster and replace it, you have to reprogram a bunch of stuff. The Technician took over three hours to do the first one, including being on the phone to SVT for an hour.
Now, he can do it in 15 minutes!!

3. I mentioned the exhaust leak from the left bank and that mine has also developed a rattle on the pass. side.
Said Service Advisor informed me that this is very common on Triton engines and is probably worse on blown engines. did not offer any reassurances that it could be cured. He did think he could fix the rattling exhaust (probably a hanger or some such).

4. Since he was already on a roll, I asked him his impression of the Lightning launch, quality control and etc. You do not want to know his answers, and he is an enthusiast type guy and fairly knowledgeable.

5. As he had alluded to other problems with their first delivery, I asked him how that one was doing. I just couldn't shut up, right?

6. Seems that once he got the boost gauge functioning, it was better, but now his truck is down to 4 lbs. boost and way down on power. Duh! He is apparently one unhappy camper. They can't figure out what is wrong.

7. It gets better.

8. I said "why don't you put it on your SVT diagnostic thingie and get it fixed.
"We didn't buy the SVT thingie, it costs 10K and we don't sell enough Lightnings (allocation was 7) to make it worthwhile."
I said "But you are a CERTIFIED SVT DEALER".
He said "not really, we just bring in a few, not like those guys that have a hundred on order".

I went to the SVT website to make sure he was a CERTIFIED SVT DEALER and he is, although the address is several months old.

You guys got any ideas what my next move should be? Other than, of course, contacting my junkyard dog lawyer.

This, gentlemen, has been a very interesting day for me. My tube is 4 inches short (nothing new there), my SVT technician fixes things over the phone and my SVT CERTIFIED DEALER apparently isn't, at least as far as Lightnings are concerned.

But darn, I love that truck.

Ever faithful, but shaken.

Bill Murray

 

A bit of humble pie.

Finally got through to SVT hotline.

They are not aware of a $10K diagnostic tool for the Lightning. The only thing the could think of was the ditto for the T-Bird SC of a few years ago which should still be around. Did not know if my dealer had it or not.

The hotline guy was VERY CAREFUL in his remarks, but I did get the impression that the CERTIFIED SVT DEALER requirements were about 90% marketing/sales oriented and the person they sent to get the certification was expected to go back to the dealership and do the old Chinese "Each one teach one" routine.

So, my expectations about certification were way above reality, there are apparently no exotic special tools or diagnostic machines to monitor a Lightning's performance or health and his biggest life rope hope was the fact that there is a dedicated sort of SVT technical hotline (available only to dealers until we hack it) where all of our present and future problems can and will be solved.

As a side note, he professed to be a marketing person, not a technical one and said he had never heard of any of the problems I mentioned.

Maybe he runs the certification process too.

Well, such is life. I am the kind of guy that, last night, Pat and I watched "Saving Private Ryan" and followed that with "You've Got Mail" If I could have stayed up longer, I probably would have watched Forrest Gump again!

Ciao

Bill Murray

 

TybeeC5- Glad you are now an owner! Worth the wait, right?
I do agree about the sunvisors, as I said earlier, I will probably snag some XLT's somewhere.
The mirror is not a big deal to me, as the auto dim doesn't work when you have "limo tint" on the rear window.
Still have no answer about what is going to happen with the piston slap. An engineer from Ford told the dealer to do nothing to the truck right now, as they are still trying to figure out what to do. Still not ready to hit panic button, but plenty concerned.
I have noticed front suspension noise with wheels at or near full lock right. Full size Ford cars had a problem like that a few years ago.
Gas mileage is unchanged (11 city/18 highway). My city driving is 100% city.

 

Bill.....I know it's a ways from you, but if you get to the point where you have to go somewhere else, let me know. My SVT Dealer is one of the best and his SVT Mechanic is top notch and he owns a Lightning. Haven't been able to out fox the old boy yet....Sales man that I know says that other SVT dealers have tried to hire him away....later....Tybee

 

Thanks Tybee.

I am sorry for carrying on so long last nite, jsut really frustrated by my motor mouth service advisor and the laid back attitude of the SVT hotline guy.

In all fairness to my dealer, I have to try, and have a service appointment for next Wed. to look at the exhaust leak, piston slap and to fix the boost gauge.

If that works out, I'll just carry on.

If not, I believe you said you were in the Savannah area. Pat and I take off Mon and Tue, so could ride over there and spend the night and do a bit of touring while your guy looks at the truck. I think it is only three hours to you from here.

 

Bill......no problem if you end up having to do that.....and Tybee Island is a neat place....we always have room for Lightning friends!!!!!!

 

I finally heard the "piston slap" you guys are talking about. I have about 1500 miles on it now. I'm going to call my dealer next week to see if they have heard anything from Ford on it. For a while there I thought mabe I got lucky with none of the other problems I heard about.

------------------
'99 WHITE LIGHTNING

 

If I didn't want to hear the supercharger whine when I punched it, I wouldn't have bought a truck with a supercharger. I think it sounds pretty cool. This is my first Ford and I switched from GM because the new Lightning had everything I was looking for in a truck such as horsepower, looks, horsepower, handling, not to mention horsepower. I have not been disappointed. The only drawback is the weight. This probably has a lot to do with the sluggish performance from a dead stop that some people have complained about. (I'm using sluggish as a relative term). If some well-educated (experienced) Ford guy can explain to me why a short wheel based truck should be pushing 5,000 pounds, I'd like to hear it. Everything on the truck works as advertised. I would like some help on finding a cleaning solution for the ceramic exhaust tips. The detergent I used to wash the truck stains the exhaust tips white and I have not found anything that will restore the original sheen. Anybody got any ideas?.

 

Some of the weight is probably from the added stiffening of the frame to handle all the torque.

 

My 99' SC SB weight less than 4500lbs. Geez, I wouldnt have expected the lightning to be pushin 5000lbs.

------------------
1999 Ford F150 XLT ,Cloth Seats, CD Player, 4.6 Liter Triton V8, 3:55 LS, Towing Package, 4 Speed Auto, K&N Airfilter, and soon Superchip and Airaid

Fast46Triton The Freaky, fast engine from the factory!
The 4.6 is a great engine, so dont be dissin it! Oh yeah, Shovies, watch out! This aint no ordinary truck!

 

How you guys weighing your trucks? My MSO had the weight of 4006 lbs. I haven't confirmed it, but I think it would be very close. Because I bought it in one state and titled it in another I needed the MSO for registration.

 

Hello Everybody,
Still waiting for my "pull me over red"
Lightning. It was supposedly built the week
of May 24th and has a ship date of this
week. One month to get from Oakville to
Detroit area? I don't get it, anyhow I enjoy
reading the bulletin board. My VIN is B05407
hope this helps.
thanks
jim
Utica, MI

 

99.5 lightning curb weight 4670 lbs