So it has finally come time for my '04 S-crew with 190K to have a heart transplant.

Bought in October 2011, changed most fluids except transmission and transfer case. I change oil at the 5k mile mark these days in my vehicles. Maybe that isn't good to do. LOL.

Changed oil a couple times till:

In May 2012 had to replace driver side 'cam phaser actuator' because it was severely gunked up. Ford recommended doing oil changes every 1k miles for 5k miles to clean the engine up. And also use one quart of tranny fluid with every oil change.

After that I continued for the next year with regular oil changes at 5k miles and cooling system fluid change every 25k miles.

Currently the engine is in a sick state LOL, and time for replacement. We have been trying several things to clean up this sludging and coked on oil, as well as tried a few replacement parts that arent' gunked up. So with future horsepower and bolt-ons in mind, what parts would some of you recommend? In the future I plan to add a small roots type blower(Kenne Bell or Roush probably) and exhaust...there are tons of exhaust choices.

So with the truck being a daily driver and future horsepower in mind I'd like to hear some suggestions for building a strong short block.

Thanx
Chris



EDIT: Oh and here is a pic of the passenger side cam phaser actuator.

 

best bolt on i found was a 75mm tb huge differance but i had to grind the intake down a little i would go with a 70mm. but without headers and intake its kinda pointless. got to have exhaust to let the air thats comeing in out. so i got a cai and long tube headers biggg dif gas and power. i got a couple other things done as well gforce chip and edge programer iridum plugs and head work but thats a pain in the a$$ to get done and expensive.

 

Right on. Thanx man. For now I am just kinda focused on what goodies to use for rebuilding the bottom end. I'm not looking to make killer HP or anything. I'm thinking at least over 400 or so with the supercharger bolted on top.

I need this to be a daily driver still unfortunately.

 

well the crank is forged so you shouldnt have to touch that. and you will probly need steel retainers better rods i dont know about lifters because ford has decint ones stock.

 

Cool deal. It's been many years since I researched the 5.4 design. In the past hour I have read it looks like a stock engine can handle way more than I am planning.

 

Oh. That phaser solenoid looks a little erm 'Gunky'

I have a Manley bottom end here in a crate. Factory forged crank.

Jut keep an eye out for Pistons & Rods. Make sure you get ARP2000 bolts in the rods.

Gotta get it machined. The Manleys will need a couple grand clearance over stock pistons.

There's a few guys looking to go built, a JDM bottom end is probably a good idea if you don't want the leg work. Just beware of budget bottoms ends as they tend to leave out quality fasteners etc etc.

 

Tomorrow or Saturday the work begins. Will be pulling the engine out and hopefully start tearing it down for inspection. I will take some pics along the way to see the horror. LoL. Wish me luck.

 

Did actually get started till Tuesday. But motor is out. Good grief what a pain in the rear. Ford really should attach 127 MORE things to the engine....LoL, and hide them better. I was able to get everything unhooked except one bracket on driver side head...which I didn't see till engine was most of the way out. Ha ha ha.

 

More pics.

 

Forgot some pics. I'll have to add them in a bit.

 

Future

 

Putting in a reman till I build something good. LoL.

 

Sounds like a plan! Nice to see you going for this! Did you get your original motor torn all the way down yet?

 

Cool. Did you get the later head design?

 

Have not torn down the original yet. Taking my time preparing for the install. Plus kinda limited by work hours and kid's schedules.

Ross...what do you mean by later head design??? I'm assuming I don't but what should I look for to determine that???