I am going to buy a lighting engine to replace my 4six my question is should I mod the wiring(in some way) to keep the coil packs or are the COPS that much better

by the way the engine that I have found it a complete engine with everything attached minus the belt

 

you can do it either way, COPS imo are a pain to remove for sparkplug changes from what i've read.

grab it.

i had to extend like 3 wiring connectors, wasnt that bad and i hate soldering since i suck at it.

 

Yeah I had to extend 3 connectors also, but I started with the 5.4

 

i would def.. keep the 2 coils packs and use wires.. there are too many people out there with Ls that are always complaining of COPs going bad..

 

Obviously you are going to need a tune. Your sig shows a Manual tranny. Your PCM doesn't have the Auto tranny programming nor does it have PATS. If you switch to Lightning PCM and keep the stock tranny you will need to disable the PATS and the Auto tranny functions along with accounting for the Speedo control. The L's have the vehicle speed info going to the PCM and the PCM sends speed info to the instrument cluster to report vehicle speed on the speedometer and miles run on the Odometer. Your 97 PCM doesn't. Talk to your tuner and ask what he recommends.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

yea the tuning is a definite, maybe if I get lucky I could find the software and do it on my own but with my luck it probably costs an arm and a leg. also is it difficult to convert cops to coil packs.

 

The wiring harness for a COP ignition is different from a Coil pack ignition harness. There are only 4 coil drivers for a Coil pack ignition and there are 8 coil drivers for a COP. You cannot easily use a COP harness to run a coil pack ignition. Your 97 uses coil pack so I would stay with coil packs and use the 97 engine harness along with the 97 PCM. Transplant that harness onto the L engine and make it work.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

and then have the stock computer tunned for the L motor right ??

 

yep. thats the route i took with my swap

 

yea coil packs suck!!!!!!!! thats the only reason it takes me a hour and a half to change plugs!!!

 

I have to move the Blower charge pipe out of the way of the #5 plug.

JMC

 

I dont know if the 5spd is gonna hold the power of the new engine. Are you planning on doing upgraded clutch, pressure plate and flywheel?

 

The 5 speed will not last. If you upgrade form the stock clutch it will just speed up the destruction of the tranny.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier

 

I am going to put the zf6 transmission from a 2002 f250 5.4l in there to replace my trucks current transmission

 

You will need the flywheel and clutch and possibly the slave from a SuperDuty. Let me know how that turns out. I am concerned about the BW T-Case bolting up to the ZF tranny. When you get that beast would you mind measuring the distance from the bellhousing to the centre of the shifter, in Neutral. Also the total length of the transmission.

Thanks

Jean Marc Chartier