cheapLEY

I've been seriously considering doing this swap. Started doing some research about a week ago, and pretty much every single discussion about it inevitably points to this monster of a thread. I've read through some of it in the past couple of days, looking for info, but it seems easier to just introduce myself and ask some questions.

I'm stationed at Travis AFB in California, and I've got an '02 GT. Car is almost completely stock. I've had it for nearly 5 years, but I was working my way through college and didn't have much spare cash soI never did anything with it. I still don't have a lot of spare cash, but am slowly building up a nice little savings account. I'm ready to start planning on making a long-term project out of this car.

I'm still in the research and planning stages, and I don't plan on doing any work until Spring of 2012. I'm really just curious about the best way to go about this, and I figured the more I know before I start the better off I'l be . . .

I've considered looking for a block and buying parts and putting it all together, but truth be told, I've never taken on a project like this, and I'm not sure I want to go that route. So I've also considered just buying a built block with all forged internals from JLP or Manny's Performance. I know both are pretty popular with Lightning owners.

I'm not going to be able to afford to do everything at once, but ideally I'd running that block with some stage II heads and cams, initially. Would running the stock 4.6 heads and cams be a feasible option for a limited amount of time? It's my understanding that I can use all the accessories from my 4.6, at least until I'm making enough power to have to upgrade. Like I said, this is gonna have to be a long-term project that gets pieced together, and not something I can do all at once, unfortunately.

Also, at some point down the road, I'd definitely like to add a blower into the mix, and so am looking to make sure I don't do anything that will make doing so a pain in the ***.

And overall, I'm just looking for thoughts and opinions from others that have completed the swap. Are you happy with the results you're getting? Is the swap worth it, over just building my 4.6?

I've posted pretty much this exact same thing in that monster thread I linked up top, but I know there's some guys here that have done or are in the process of doing the swap, so I figured I'd post it here as well and see what kind of replies I get.

Thanks in advance for any responses/help/thoughts I get.

Bpohlman13

I think if youre going through all this trouble to swap engines out, you might aswell go with 4v heads. You can get a decent set off of a 99-01 cobra for a decent price. Get an intake off of a cobra as well, and just get the adapter plates. The hp on the 5.4 is the same as the 4.6. All it does is increase torque by about 40 i believe. With a 4v setup and 01 cobra intake cams and 96-98 cobra exhaust cams, you could easily be over 300hp

Ryan86272

Cool build.. guy here in tampa area has a built 5.4 2v that runs high 8's lowwwwww 9's.

I was debating doing it but rather put the cash in a 2012 gt. One owed added your on bottom 10's and its comfortable.

Jay-rod427

Personally I considered the 5.4L swap for a while, but the gains in torque are pretty irrelevant for what I want, so I decided against it. I have a 5.4L longblock sitting in my garage that is a big paperweight now. I decided to build a 4V 4.6L Aluminum block. The block weight savings will make the extra torque a waste anyway.