I purchased a used Lightning motor for a project on my 1998 4X4 truck. The engine was sold to me as a 2002 model. I am seeing stickers showing dates of 1999 on them. Are there any numbers on the motor that would confirm the year of the motor?

 

there should be a sticker with some numbers. Most notably it should way where and when it was built.

Windsor Ontario?

 

What does the Supercharger have on it? Eaton logo (1999-early 2001) or Ford and SVT logos (mid 2001-2004)?

(no logo would be a Harley F150, gray =2002, black =2003)

 

The driver's side valve cover and a cover on the front of the motor have a July 1999 date on them. However, the supercharger logo is SVT. I am certainly confused.

 

Take some pictures of the intake manifold and blower, on both sides and either e-mail them to me (powersurgeperf@aol.com) or post them here. We will at least be able to tell if it's a 99-00 or 01-up motor.

 

anyone can change the valve covers.....or even the stickers. There's no way there's a 99 motor in an 02 truck from the factory. My 00 has a 00 built motor.

 

maybe a reman. motor that replaced a motor that was blown? or misinformed seller? if it is a 99 motor the rods are better than a 02 anyways but the lower intake on the 01 and up have a more defined runner. which has yet to be proven (to me atleast) to be superior to the previous lower intake.

 

Another urban legend that has yet to be proven. However , if it is true.....i have a 00 so yipee.

 

your right, maybe it was the lack of knowledge of the new pcm or the fact that there were bigger pulleys available but the fact is there were a hella lot more 01 motors blown than previous years. and being that i work for Ford i know that cheaper parts are almost always used to save money. case in point the 06 1/2 mustangs that i build daily cost about $385 less to build than the 05-06 stangs we previously built. just by cost savings.

 

So what you are saying is if we can find out if the 01 and newer motors cost less to build we might have better truth of this urban legend???

Is this really a fact, or yet another urban legend? There is no way to prove this is true. I good bit of evidence would be if you can get a record of how many motors ford replaced in the SVT Lightnings under warranty for connecting rod failure, but I doubt that would be easy to get your hands on.

Yes, I have done a search on statistical facts of blown motors. I think it's more coincedence if anything that we read more about how 01 motors failed more than previous years. Why? A) There were far more and more aftermarket parts available, far more tuning options, far more tuners (some of which had no idea what they were doing). B) THe longer these boards have been around, the more members join. I myself joined in 01. Just another dead horse to kick by saying a small portion of L owners actually visit these boards.

You also don't see many 03 and 04 trucks reporting blown motors. Why? Maybe ford did use cheaper internals, and realized they sucked. Maybe it's because the knowledge of aftermarket modification has come a long way. Maybe because there are plenty of horror stories on what not to do. Maybe alot of people with newer trucks are just plain scared to mod their trucks for fear of failure? Let's face it, back in 2000, changing to a 2lb lower pulley with the kiss of death. Now, i wonder how many 2lb lowers vendors actually sell. I think alot of guys went right to the 4 or 6, and the tuning capabilities just weren't there. I can't remember reading about guys "dyno tuning" the way we have over the past few years. I think the motor failure more of a "learning process" if you will for owners and tuners. Fortunately it has come a long way. Very few motors fail in stock form. But they do fail, as you know if you work for ford.

Who knows really? Ford and only Ford?

 

It's not an urban legand, and I take offense to that, since I'm the one who started it .

Seriously, it is true. While Ford did NOT change the part number from 99-00 to 01, I compared the rods from my 01 to the rods from my 99, and there WERE differences in the construction between the two. Nothing was changed design wise, but you could see that it was a different run of parts. That is why I suspected that Ford may have went to a new vendor for 01, and possibily the new vendor wasn't using as good base material.

 

I was wrong about SVT being on the supercharger. It does have Eaton on the Supercharger. Therefore, it must be a 99 or 00.

Thanks!

 

Having Eaton written on the Supercharger will not necessarily make it a 99 or 00. I know my 01 has that on there as well.