Project TPS Reports
One BAD ASS 5.4L Powered Mustang
Give it up for Triton Power
| It started normally enough. Just a need to go fast all the time, so a simple 03 Mustang GT was purchased and slightly modded. Little stuff like big brakes, subframe connectors, seats, etc... All the little mods really made a drivability difference and exposed the real power deficit that the little 281cid OHC engine suffered from. |
 |
 |
| Trying to get maximum use of the power that was on tap an independent rear suspension and bilstein coil overs were added all the way around. The IRS was a great feeling and decent handling setup but there were shortcomings. The soft bushings allow the diff to load and unload rapidly which eventually led to its total distruction. Repeated attempts at beefing it up only made me poorer though and the rear steer tendencies were beginning to show themselves vividly as I got more in tune with the handling of the car. |
 |
 |
| I wasn't happy with the fragility of the IRS, and after breaking it severely 3 times I said the heck with it and went back to the 8.8" solid axle but now with a Maximum Motorsports torque arm and panhard bar. I decided that it was time for a power upgrade and I initially looked to N2O. I thought maybe a 4.6 and 125hp of nitrous would be enough. Wrong. Note to self, there's no such thing as "enough". |
 |
 |
| Then it hit me. Why not just drop in a 5.4L? It'll make more power than the 4.6 and be easier on the motor than nitrous or a blower. So parts began to accumulate. First intake adapter plates and intakes were collected. |
 |
 |
| And other intakes and all kinds of little intake tract parts, fuel system parts and some custom roll bar work to seal up loose ends. The car was finally approaching a state that I could contemplate installing the tall deck motor. |
 |
 |
| Then more motor parts, more fuel system parts and a Oil Air Separator of my own design and construction found their way in to the project. OHC cars aerate a lot of oil and drink it into the intake. This is bad, so the OAS is a very important component to keeping the new high compression engine breathing clean pure air. |
 |
 |
| 3 sets of ported heads and a pair of 5.4L blocks gave me parts to build from and parts to use for all the mockup work for new parts designs. I would have been happy with any one of the block/head combos but the extra bits made the ideal pairings much easier to come by. I added a nice set of Comp cams to make the heads worth it and we are off to the races. |
 |
 |
| Porting my HPS Hardball'R intake was intended to shorten the runners and open up the inlets. After the big stuff a simple port match to the runner exits for the heads and adapter plates. |
 |
 |
| Engine completed on the stand and just about to go in. A very exciting time for a lot of people. The motor went in without any real hassle despite the size and mounted up just like the 4.6L. The hardest part was really the waiting. |
 |
 |
| Engine going in with all the little bits being installed. |  |
 |
| Finally got all the parts hooked up and the hood clearanced and it's ALIVE! |  |
 |
| Some Pics of the whole car. You'll want to know it for when it runs you down. |  |
 |
Updates:
| 20071125: I spent about 4 hours pulling out all the Autometer gauges and the associated rats nest of wires to get my new Volt gauge in and fix some ground crosstalk issues that had been nagging at me. |
 |
 |
| 20071223: Got a new set of wheels for the beastie. Decided on a used set of Motegi Touge wheels. 18x9 in front and 18x10 in back. They're skinned in Sumitomo HTRZ II in front. The rears are in need of tires but I'm planning on matching the Sumitomos in front with the same tire in back. Front tire size is 265/35/18 and in back they're going to be 285/35/18. I'm putting my 95' Cobra R wheels and tires up for sale to cover the cost of the new rear tires and then it's off to the races. |
 |
|
| 20071229: Got my tires in and on. Sumitomo HTRZ II 285/35/18 in back and 265/35/18 in front. They're a cheap tire so I don't expect much from them other than 12 miles of commute a day. After the front and back are worn out I'll go for something more aggressive. |
 |
|
| 20080114: Finally got off my butt and washed the car. Took out the good camera and took some good clean pics. I'm lovin' how it's looking lately. Got a couple minor changes to the external appearance (rear diffuser, grill delete, ...) but this is the basic look it's going to have for a while. The flame dealie behind the cargo net is actually copper filament made into a paper of sorts and cut out in the flame pattern (my first try). It's in the cargo net on the headliner. I like it ... just a little touch inside. I also used the copper paper to make wear patches for the seats. It's doing great at keeping the harnesses from wearing holes in the race seat fabric. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 20081115: Longtube headers are well under way. Using 1.75" tubing anbd having the prototypes all hand made, then computer bent and then finally they'll be coated for up to 1400deg F operation. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 20081120: More pics of the headers being made. Lots and lots of work and expense but will be worth it. |  |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| 20081228: New header pics. These shots are of the driver side just before finish welding. The word(s) amazing(ly expensive) come to mind. Sorry about the poor quality of the pics. They're taken with my cell phone. Forgot the damned digital camera that day. |  |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
| 20090227: Pics of the headers being installed and more intake manifold stuff. This is the NEW HPS 5.4L Hardball'r Intake Manifold . It's got a number of improvements over its little brother and fits like it was born there. I really couldn't be even a little bit happier with the new intake. It also gained 10hp/10tq over its little brother and ported Reichard Racing intake adapter plates. You can see the coolant crossover line being plumbed in the pics to the right. Below you'll find some great pics of it installed on the car. It installs with about an inch of clearance to the hood. I might just be able to get my strut tower brace. Big thanks to TPS Motorsports for their efforts. They had to install the longtubes which were exceptionally tight fitting into a car with an engine that makes longtube headers a major bitch to install anyway. They did it fast, and inexpensively. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
||
| 20090402: Pics of the car on the dyno (underhood shots), a quick vid of the car doing a dyno run, you know... good stuff. The "same basic results" you'll hear is me referring to a timing increase not netting any real benefit of higher numbers. Not surprising. The longtubes were worth 20hp like you'd expect. I didn't lose any torque which was moderately surprising. The car is a fucking beast now even more than before. Couldn't be happier (for the time being)! More HUGE thanks to Mark Olson and TPS Motorsports. I'm a pretty picky guy and I wanted only the best tuner to touch my car. Mark is that sort of guy. He's a real hardcore techie, and a car nut bar-none. His tune is perfect and he was a pleasure to meet and work with. I have to pass more thanks and credit to Mike Mak (owner) of TPS Motorsports for arranging to have Mark tune the car. Mike Mak has been my source for vendor references during this whole project and has gone to great lengths to make sure that I had the best craftsmen in the industry work on the beastie. Mike and Mark, you're both rock stars! Thanks a bunch. |
 |
 |
| 20090417: Some idiot lady decided to be impatient and turned left in front of me causing me to T-bone her car with my baby. So it got to spend a month in the body shop. Got the car back from the body shop (and subsequently TPS Motorsports again) yesterday and decided to take some crappy pics. I'll update these later with some higher resolution shots. Big thanks again to TPS for pimpin' it and keepin' it real. Out of the whole mess of wrecking the car TPS hooked me up with a screaming deal on a 99 cobra bumper and a 2000 Cobra R' hood. Really pulls the Fauxbra R' thing together really nicely. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
||
 |
 |
|
| 20090430: Put on my Momo steering wheel. I've had the damn thing for a year and just finally got around to putting it on. Granted I haven't actually had the car for most of that time as it was stuck in header jail. Now that I have it back the build is kicking into high gear. |  |
 |
| 20090522: Decided to go completely nanners with the build. Went out and got a Lightning blower setup and we'll let that and the nitrous try to amuse me for a while. The sale of my HPS intakes paid for the blower and the labor to install it. With 10.5:1 compression I'm limited on the amount of boost I can safely run on pump gas but I think I'll be happy with 400+rwhp on boost and another 150-175 with the nitrous running. Should be ok. Have to cobble together some plumbing and a front mount heat exchanger and pump but nothing I'm really worried about. I have the pulley bridge and lower pulley coming in a few days. |  |
 |
 |
For Videos Look up MeccaStreisand on Youtube. There are dyno and idle vids and more coming soon.
Bookmark this Ride
Posted by: Mauinix629
12/29/2008, 08:58am
sik ass stang, nice work, 5*!