Project: Adventure F150

[PDenbigh]

The engine swap was pretty hard. I'm used to working with small engines, or in the case of the Mustangs, having lifts/hoists/etc.

I took the engine out by itself, leaving the tranny in the truck. This added to the difficulty when compared to all the other swaps I've done, but because of the 4x4 drivetrain it was almost mandatory. The dealership lift the cab off the frame when they do a swap.

The engine sets way farther back than I gave Ford credit for, and there is very little headroom at the firewall, making it a real squeeze to get out but most challengingly, a real squeeze to get back in place. It took us nearly 6 hours just to get the engine setting in the right spot.

Thanks to the modular engine family, everything bolted right up except the exhaust Y-pipe because the 5.4 block is wider. I had to have an exhaust shop do a little modification there. We first fired it up w/o any exhaust, just the manifolds, and it sounded glorious. We woke my friend's neighbors up that live about 300 yards away.