What's going on guys. I'm a new owner of a 05 FX4 SuperCrew and had a few questions since I'm a performance nut. Just about every vehicle I've own has been either blown or SC. My current monster is a Vorteched 90 Mustang GT that is fully built. My questions are since I'm new to this whole 5.4L stuff is:

1) How are the stock internals on the 5.4L? And does the lightning and standard triton all share the same rotating assembly?

2) As far as a price point which route of SC is the best? Meaning over cost of purchasing. (say Whipple vs buying a lightning setup)

3) How much HP/TQ can a stock tranny take on these beasts? And how much boost can these things take before you're into the motor?

Don't have any pics of my truck ready yet so here is few pics of my 6000 original mile 90 GT... she's sleeper looking but it moves

 

Well I can tell you that you can't put a Lightning blower on the 05 5.4! and a lightning block is the same as a stock block but has forged pistons. The rods are crap!!!
You can probably get away with 8 or 10 PSI on your stock 5.4.
Try looking through the S/C posts. There is a lot of great info in them.

This is a nice kit for the 05 and I think it's about the cheapest.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=251610

Phil

 

It's hard to get into exact differences as Ford makes numerous mid-year changes. Generally the Lightning engines have the same engine block, heads, and cams. Cranks are the C38 forged steel cranks in the L-trucks and Navigators and a lot of early 2V 5.4L trucks had them until they where phased out for cast steel cranks. Either would hold up to a lot of power so that shouldn't be a concern unless you decide to build the motor. Then opt for a forged crank as they are $300 from FRPP and good for 1400+ hp. Lightnings get forged low compression pistons...but they are not exactly quality pieces either. Rods are the same sinter forged powder metal with fracture split caps. Lightnings are supposed to have more material in the big end of the rod but then that change seems to have gone over to 5.4L engines in general. As far as power handling a stock naturally aspirated 5.4L can handle 400 - 450 rwhp with little issue if the tuning is good. Lightnings are good for 500 - 525 rwhp...mainly due to the better pistons. Reguardless of what others say about the internals and their supposed limits the real limit is the tune. There are plenty of us (mainly centrifugal owners) running around pushing 11 - 14 psi on stock motors without issue. That's mostly because centrifugal supercharger are more efficient compressors and don't shock the drivetrain as much though. Transmission can hold a good bit of power if you get a good valvebody installed and can keep its temps in check. That's probably the weakest link in the whole setup but if you are reasonable about how much power you want to make, make the right supporting mods, and don't beat the living crap out of the truck you can expect the transmission to get along fine. As far as what system you want Whipple (and the several companies, including FRPP, that use Whipple to make their own kits), Roush, ATI ProCharger, and Vortech all offer kits. It's really going to come down to how you drive your truck and what your overall expectations are. If you want OEM fit/finish/NVH charateristics then one of the Whipple or Roush kits would be a good investment. If you like a bit of noise and do a little light-to-light racing and want more mid-range highway passing power then ATI or Vortech might be better suited. They also cost considerably less.