[zigbigadoru]

ok so my plan is to put together my 5.4 and drop it into my non pi 97 mustang gt. i dont want to turbo or supercharge it for one reason or another. i will however be putting some giggle juice to it. so my question is will the rods/pistons from a ford lightning be ideal and sufficient for what i want to do? and if not could i have a suggestion of something else? i would prefer something along the forged pistons/rods as i dont want to be doing this again.

 

[SWEET2KSTANG]

the rotating assembly's in the lightnings are very very strong, stronger than the termi's. the forged lightnings have JDM rods, and the piston forging is higher strength compared to the termi's as well. the forged crank in the forged lightnings are kellog as well (if i remember right) and very stout pieces.


so yes, they will be plenty strong if you get the stock forged lightning stuff.

 

[zigbigadoru]

will the compression ratio be suitable? i know the lightnings are supercharged and therefore should have a lower compression piston to accommodate for more boost but will they be good or decent for possibly some N/A and/or nitrous? obviously i wont be spraying 100% of the time.

 

[SWEET2KSTANG]

depends on wha size shot you spray. if you spray 150 or so (my guess) then you have room to play with. there is room to play with and power to be desired from a 5.4 set up. you will want to raise the compression a little bit to get some n/a performance gain out of it. you could look into an off the shelf flat top piston for that (150 shot) and not have an issue if you would like.

 

[zigbigadoru]

what would the compression be roughly?

 

[SWEET2KSTANG]

stock lightning compression is 8.4:1

 

[Boostang]

i have 11cc pistons and mine will be at 11:1 compression... i dunno if u wanna go much higher or u cant run pump gas

 

[SWEET2KSTANG]

you can run pump gas on that compression, thats not a big deal. 11cc dish is not the same in the 5.4 as it is in the 4.6 either.

 

[zigbigadoru]

ahhh that is a bit low to be running N/A though isnt it?

 

[Boostang]

11:1 is a good comp for n/a.. 8.5:1 is not

 

[Lefty]

11:1 is a good comp for n/a.. 8.5:1 is not

+1

 

[zigbigadoru]

what would i encounter if i were to say use these rods and pistons for N/A?

 

[97GT4.6]

It wouldn't make much power.. higher compression would be your best bet.. or just spray it most of the time

 

[Boostang]

the rods aren't ur problem.. its the cc of the piston.. u need a smaller cc to up the comp.. more comp equals more n/a power..

 

[zigbigadoru]

so i would need say something closer to 9 or 9.5? dang thats what i was afraid of. well i guess lightning internals are out of the question now

 

[zigbigadoru]

how much do you guys think i can get a set of lightning pistons and rods from a junkyard for?

 

[Boostang]

well probably if they're in good condition around 450 for all?
you can keep the rods and crank.. just buy some flat top pistons or something with low cc piston..

 

[zigbigadoru]

i have to buy rods AND pistons. ones i got from my 5.4 were junk, so i had to trash them. im gunna go with lower compression because i want a supercharger but i will need to figure out how to fit it under the hood is all. just dont want to be low balling the junkyards without knowing it

 

[330CubeGt]

the rotating assembly's in the lightnings are very very strong, stronger than the termi's. the forged lightnings have JDM rods, and the piston forging is higher strength compared to the termi's as well. the forged crank in the forged lightnings are kellog as well (if i remember right) and very stout pieces.


so yes, they will be plenty strong if you get the stock forged lightning stuff.

+8694832