Sweet- Mines all done, minus the skid plate and plastic fender liners. It runs it **** off. A few things not in the swap notes I encountered.... The 5.4/4.6 fuel rails are different- so make sure to have the 5.4. The throttle cable bracket is also different- mine is on there with ONE bolt as of now. Also the cooling line that went from the heater core to the intake is different on 5.4's. The 4.6 I had- had the inlet on the intake on the REAR of the intake. The 5.4 is on the front of the motor So the tube looks kinda goofy. Had to extend it a bit. Also some of the vac lines are different like the IAC to the intake tube. The PCV line is a also a bit different. I had to move the oil dip stick as well as the tranny dip stick. I had to modify the wiring on the IAC, and one of the temp sensors. The oil sender wire was fine the way it was. I used my coil packs so the brackets had to be modified. The plug wires add a huge mess to the motor. Also the 5.4 I got didn't have all the front accessories so the 5.4 has an extra pulley. I ended up selling my 8 rib setup on my 4.6 to my buddy that was helping me. He has a SN95 mustang with a built 4v navi motor and a p1 procharger He has a bit of a problem with belt slip so he wanted the 8 rib stuff. Then all my newly acquired 6 rib stuff went on my motor. The last important thing I came across was the passenger side O2 sensor wire was not long enough. I had to use a mustang o2 wire extender.

All in all it was a pretty straight forward swap. I'm in it less then $400 after I sold my 8 rib stuff, cats, and old 4.6 motor. All that I have left to do is get a tune. Another friend has Delta Force Sniper tuning software.

I think it's also important to add that after I flipped my IAC the wrong way and had to put it back I have NO check engine lights. It runs very smooth. The IAC I had on backwards made it not go into cold start and didn't idle well at all.

 

So you didn't have to modify your exhaust to match the manifolds on the 5.4? i did the temp sensor a little different and drilled out the water crossover and tapped it with a 3/8 npt. fits perfect and it looks factory. Also the 5.4 I swapped in was a non pi from 98 and the water to heater core was in the same location. The mounting bracket for throttle cable issue all I did was center punch my 4.6 mounting plate and drill a second hole to align the bolt with the intake. I had to extend the IAC harness but that was a piece of cake. Also with the knock sensor I spliced the 4.6 two wire right to the 3 wire 5.4 sensor. deleting one of the connections. cant recall what color I went with.? I didn't have any issues with O2 sensor wires though??? The drivers side coil pack was a direct bolt on, but the passenger side I had to modify. I'm a little curious as to how you ended up with an extra pully? The pcv system was straight forward on mine. Everything fit like a glove.

I only spent a little over $450 after I sold my cats. (deleted the precats in my swap) Now if I didn't live out in the boonies and could sell all this other 4.6/5.4 leftovers. I'm about to take the old 4.6 motor to the scrap recycle and sell it for 6 cents a pound just to get it out of the shop.

 

novsun88 and shockey

I want to revise my swap notes could you please answer the following. What year engines were involved in your swap? How far off was the alignment for the tranny dipstick tube? Most 5.4s come with their own dipstick so using a 4.6 will cause fitment issues because of the taller deck hight. How different were the fuel rails? I used my 4.6 rails when I swapped a 99 5.4 into a 2000 truck. I will caution people about the heater core hoses. Some years the inlet is in the front and some years it is at the rear. I did not consider the throttle cable bracket, again because most 5.4s come with it. I don't understand the o2 wire problem. Using the 4.6 harness should not change the location of the O2 sensor connector by more than an inch if at all. can you explain that.

Thanks guys,

Jean Marc Chartier

 

Yes yes the exhaust was modified. I believe my O2 sensor to be because of the manifolds on my 5.4 being so large. They almost look like the f250s- a bit larger. I'll try to get a picture but scroll thru my pages I posted some. Like i said I used the O2 extender but the wire was maybe 4 inches to short. Not real bad. I was a bit confused as well because the 5.4 has a taller deck and therefor I should have had MORE room, not less. Just thought I should note it. The tranny was not very far off. It just hit the evap container bolt, so I moved the container bolt with some vice grips. The OIL stick on the other hand did come with my 5.4 but when I put the bracket for the Power Steering tank, then it was behind it. So either A) it was bent before I got it or B) it's different. Just thought I should throw that out there it was about 3 inchs to far forward so I just bent it back. Fuel rails on my 1998 4.6 NON PI were very tall and did not match up to the lower profile design of the plastic 2001/2002 5.4 PI engine. The 5.4 came with fuel rails so I used those. My throttle bracket did NOT come with the 5.4 so I had to use the 4.6. Since the 4.6 intake was tall and metal the bracket doesn't quite fit right. One bolt holds it, and I will see if I can drill out to use a second bolt. Most 5.4s like you said should come with it- but another important thing to note if it doesn't. The reason I needed an extra pulley was because my 5.4 came to be bare. Most 5.4s already have the front accessories on them, I mentioned it in the case they didn't- like mine. The knock sensor was like you explained in the swap notes. Common sense says black to black and yellow to ??? Cut, solder and shrink.
shockley- I didn't end up with an EXTRA pulley- I was short one. The idler on the driver side to be exact. On the 4.6 its not that tall on the 5.4 it's so tall that coming off the alt it needs an extra one or the belt would rub on the coil pack bracket, or looks like it would. My PCV was a bit different because the guy I got my 5.4 from was going to swap into a mustang. So when I got the motor there were two boxes of truck/mustang parts. All greesey and dirty. So I had no real way of knowing.

JMC- The notes were on everything other then what I mentioned. Of course the notes could not contain all the info. There are a couple things that I think are real important. One being the Torque Converter. It's very important people understand the different stalls. The second is adding several options for adding the second temp sensor if it applies. I'd still love to see pictures of people that did tap the crossover (shockley) since I couldn't find a good place to- without risking the integrity of the crossover. But what I will do this spring is replace the heater hose that was designed to go to the REAR of the intake with a 5.4 that is designed to go to the FRONT of the intake, then fab the T for the temp sensor, but this time out of brass like jbrew has. It looks much more reliable then the plastic one I'm using. The other thing to mention is taking the skid plate and plastic from the wheel wells out. I tried first without removing them but having them out is a HUGE improvement, and makes it way easier. BTW I have no knowledge of mechanics or am I even a shade tree mechanic.

Old: 98 4.6 Vin W Non-Pi Auto, 4x4
New: 2001 Vin L PI 5.4

 

All tied up. You can see the heater hose is looking kinda goofy, as well as the IAC line from the intake to the throttle body.


Video of first start- no exhaust, IAC, MAF intake, O2s etc
View My Video

 

Surely The 5.4 motor I swapped into my truck was a 98 same year as my truck. My tranny dipstick tube was only off about 2 inches, It was a pretty straight forward and easy fix to "tweak" it. looks just like it came that way from the factory. The fuel rails.... While i dont have them sitting in front of me, If I remember correctly it was impossible to use them because they where close to 3 inches too narrow. The 5.4 intake is much wider than the 4.6. Making it physically impossible to "stretch" the distance between the rails enough to even try and make it work. However the distance (spacing) between the injectors was the same. Oh also the mounting locations on the fuel rails from the 4.6 was different than the 5.4 intake. So again impossible to make it work without some serious fab. Much easier to install the right part.
On my heater tube I modified mine, when removing the old hose from the intake (on the 5.4 donor) The heater tube where it exits the rear of the intake manifold was soft and I could bend it a little. so I spent the better part of an afternoon with a hammer and old screwdriver pounding the pressed fit sleeve out of the intake, I then took and tapped it out using a 3/8 NPT tap, then threaded in a "3/8 pre-threaded nipple" from the hardware store. I'll take some pics tomorrow for you. It now just sticks straight up instead of having a 90 degree bend from the factory. However I haven't had any leaks or issues from this.
Not having the throttle bracket was my own fault, as I was the one who removed the 5.4 from the donor truck. I left it attached to the cable
I'll get a pick of that if I can as well.
I didn't have any issues making the O2 sensors fit. Thats a new one to me. I actually dont know how thats possible?? And FYI I used the old 4.6 harness and have the 5.4 wired up just like the 4.6 came from the factory.

 

I had to modify the exhaust. And I too used the 4.6 harness. Id like to see some pics to compare too.