I don't know if we talked about this already or not, but Wards Auto has put our engine in the top 10 of all cars/trucks made that sell for under 50k.

My apologies if this is a repeat...

From Wardsauto.com
<snip>
Ford Motor Co.
5.4L Triton SOHC V-8
5.4L Supercharged V-8
There is a bushelful of great V-8s around these days. Unfortu nately, a lot of them happen to come in vehicles that cost more than the $50,000 cap that governs the 10 Best Engines competition. So one place we didn’t expect to find an excellent, affordable V-8 with honest-to-gosh refinement was in a pickup truck. Ford took a gamble with the 5.4L SOHC Triton when it broke cover in 1997. The company was astute in recognizing the consumer shift to pickups as personal-use vehicles and decided to specify an overhead-cam arrangement for its all-new redesign of the quintessential F-Series light-duty truck engine lineup. Ford planners bet that the personal-use customers would appreciate the passenger car-like NVH and power characteristics of the more refined overhead-cam engines — and simultaneously bet that hard-core “work” truck buyers could be won over, too. Since its launch, the Triton engine design has proved versatile enough to power the F-Series and Ford’s full-size SUVs, yet fully pleases the core market. It pleases Ward’s, too, as this year marks the Triton’s fourth consecutive year on the 10 Best Engines list. Last year, Ford engineers reworked the Triton’s upper end: The camshaft profile was revised, a larger exhaust valve was specified and the cylinder head casting was redesigned to promote improved tumble motion of the intake charge. The net result was a solid 25 hp, bringing the total to 260 hp. A competitive number, but not the best horsepower rating, which can be a liability in the dog-eat-dog truck market. So how does the Triton best GM’s more powerful Vortec 5.3L OHV V-8 and Toyota Motor Corp.’s new, highly refined 4.7L DOHC V-8 — not to mention any number of passenger-car engines? Back to versatility. The Triton is out-powered by a good 25 hp by GM’s Vortec, but the Triton produces more torque at a lower peak — important for a truck engine. Toyota’s new DOHC, 32-valve 4.7L Tundra engine is a formidable new presence in the market, but Ward’s testers believe it falls a touch on the “soft” side for a truck application. Anyway, the Triton outpowers the Tundra V-8 by 15 hp and produces 30 lb.-ft. (41 Nm) more torque at a lower peak: 350 lb.-ft (475 Nm) at just 2,500 rpm for the Triton versus 315 lb.-ft. (427 Nm) at 3,400 rpm with the Tundra’s i-Force 4.7L V-8. What’s more, every year the 10 Best Engines competition puts the 5.4L Triton up against a host of buttery passenger-car engines, and it trounces a goodly number of those, too. Ford’s 5.4L Triton V-8 goes above and beyond the call of duty for truck applications, striking a careful balance between refinement and get-your-hands-dirty power and durability. The Triton V-8 is a remarkable effort. That’s why Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) put the touch on the 5.4L Triton for its high-performance Lightning pickup. SVT engineers know a good thing when they see it. And they know how a good thing can be made outrageously good with a little help from a supercharger. SVT’s recipe takes a heapin’ helpin’ of Triton and spices it to the tune of 360 hp and 440 lb.-ft. (597 Nm) of torque with one prime ingredient: the Eaton Corp. Roots-type supercharger. But since the SVT Lightning V-8 essentially is the Triton 5.4L unit, Ward’s considers both applications under a single entity, but we believe it’s necessary to call out the SVT version as being such a far-reaching extension that it goes beyond the common definition of a simple “variant.” It’s testimony to the basic structure of the 5.4L Triton that the only internals upgraded to handle the extra 100 hp for the Lightning are forged aluminum pistons. The “regular” Triton’s forged steel crankshaft, powder metal connecting rods and deep-skirt block required no modification. But that’s not to say there aren’t changes. Along with the supercharger comes a water-to-air intercooler — artfully nestled into the vee between the cylinder banks — to provide a denser intake charge that’s fed through dual throttle bores uprated to 2.2-ins. (57-mm). There’s also a larger mass-airflow sensor to adequately process the gush of intake air to the supercharger.
</snip>

------------------
* 99.5 Black Lightning
* Personal Best ¼ Mile 13.82 @ 99.98 Mph
* Ohio Plate SVT2GO
* Sal’s Chip and Filter
* Interceptor Trans
* All three Factory options for 99
* Factory CD Changer
* Class 3 Towing Hitch
* Factory Tonneau Cover
* 8" Bazooka Tubs
* Kenwood 80 watt *2 amp
* Viper 550 Alarm w/ remote start
* 97 F-150 Extended Cab 4.2L V-6 daily driver

Injection is nice, but I'd rather be blown. 99 Lightning, the best of both worlds!

 

SVT2Go

Thanks

Loved reading it

------------------
Jim
jim@jimshaw.cc

Black 00, Swanson Chip, clear corners, super whites
Airaid w/10" Big Mouth filter, chrome wheels,
AIM 2" drop shackles, Mobile1 w/FilterMag, 35% tint
2000 E320, 1993 Cobra R, 1959 Corvette, 1949 Plymouth Coupe

Looking for a better paying job to support my L

 

good read!thanks for posting that SVT2Go.

 

Sign me up on the AttaBoy list!

Kinda makes you wonder -- if it's a deep-skirt block (doesn't use shorty pistons that tend to rock - er slap) - AND they use a significantly different piston (forged vs cast) it tends to implicate an errant machine or user -- for which Ford surely has identified or fired by now.

Or...

...piston slap isn't piston slap -- perhaps it's something else (I've got a 5-cent bet going).