OP
OP
MISTERgadget
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Engine is out, next is the transmission's turn!
But as the procrastinator I am, the rest of the engine bay was emptied out and degreased first
Not many pictures or details as wrestling these things out solo is not for the faint of heart. Just the height I needed to get to clear the trans and trans jack was nerve-wracking.
The perspective in the picture doesn't quite show just how high up it needs to be. It's definitely a butt pucker moment.
Now that the transmission was out, was when I hit the main hurdle that would really change the whole trajectory of the project. A little bit of "this'll work better" and "might as well while you're there" thrown in, and it was all downhill from there.
What happened? Well, I had assumed.... and we know what assumptions are the mother of....
On the left, painted in black, is a used built transmission out of a totaled Lightning I had gotten a deal on a few years ago. It sat patiently in the corner waiting for it's time to shine again. On the right, the transmission out of my Expedition. Looking carefully we can tell one of this things is not like the other.... there's a sensor in the middle of the case on the black one, and the tailshaft housing and sensor are pretty different on the silver one out of my Expedition....
Yeah, definitely not the same stuff here....
So, what was I looking at? I have to confess I hadn't really done the research and my expertise was on the Lightning stuff more than the changes between 97-98 and 99+... I had an E4OD in my Expedition, not a 4R100. And unless I wanted to spend big bucks getting the E4OD built to the same spec I had in this built 4R100... finding a way to run that 4R100 would be the most economical option.
The 4R100 has an OSS sensor - output shaft speed. The sensor reads directly from the output shaft and then that signal gets translated by the ECU and other boxes to be whatever it needs to be.
E4OD has a VSS - Vehicle Speed Sensor. There's a mechanical output from the tailshaft housing, turning a gear that can be changed to adjust the speedo, etc... and then that gear is read by a sensor that is in turn intrepreted by the PCM etc.. as Vehicle Speed.
Plan A: The first path I went down in researching alternatives was keeping everything else in place, but adapting the 4R100 in... "ok, what does the ECU need to see from the 4R100 to run it" and "can the E4OD PCM run the 4R100".
The first part wasn't too bad. There's a few different boxes that can convert the OSS signal to VSS, just need to work out things like the pulses per revolution that each sensor creates and what the ECU is expecting.
On the second part, the answer was also yes, but not quite the resounding yes that I wanted. Put an E4OD solenoid pack and VB in, and just ignore the input shaft speed signal as the ECU can't read it anyway. You'll lose PWM TCC lockup as the earlier ECU can't do it. So it'll work, but anytime you're losing sensors or unable to have certain features work as intended, that type of thing bugs me. The outcome works, practically speaking, but you lose things that engineers had to justify the cost of including... so clearly there is some benefit to it. That on it's own wasn't what really swayed me though. The issue comes in when you compare it to the pros of the second alternative I was considering.
If it isn't clear by now, I am a major major Lightning junkie and have owned one since 2003. I am also someone who likes collecting parts here and there I think might be useful... so I had a varity of bits and pieces from totaled or parted out Lightnings that I had collected thinking "hmm maybe one day I can use that". This is where Option B was brainstormed.
Plan B: The other option to run a 4R100, is just to put in a computer that will run a 4R100..... which sounds simple, but the electronics and wiring completely changed from 98 to 99, and everything was different... well, being a parts hoarder, I assumed I had nearly everything. I had an engine harness, engine bay harness/fusebox, and transmission harness out of a 99 Lightning, and a computer and instrument cluster out of a 2003 Lightning. I knew the dash harness in my 98 would be the sticking point, but figured that I could use all the Lightning stuff with a 99+ Expedition dash harness, and then the engine bay harness would plug in on the other side, maybe with some minor tweaks, and everything would be hunky dory. I've got most of what I would need to convert it in my hands, and a junkyard trip to get some harnesses and a dash fusebox would likely put me out of pocket the same or less than a speedo calibration adapter and a handful of transmission parts.
What sealed the decision in favor of Plan B? Well, the 03 Lightning ECU has a faster processor and tables that don't exist in 97-98 calibrations, specific for supercharging, and is much more of a known quantity for custom tuning. Plus you get an extra IAT and barometer sensor the NA trucks don't have. The 97-98 ECUs are slower, and not as tuning friendly, and the Expedition calibrations in particular are files that aren't very popular for tuning and not as well developed. Calling around a couple tuners, they all resoundingly preferred tuning a newer Lightning ECU, especially for built motor with a whipple.
Icing on the cake? I would get to use my Lightning instrument cluster! What could make a Thunder tribute build more authentic and true to Ford's concept than that?
So, off I went to do my homework....
But as the procrastinator I am, the rest of the engine bay was emptied out and degreased first
Not many pictures or details as wrestling these things out solo is not for the faint of heart. Just the height I needed to get to clear the trans and trans jack was nerve-wracking.
The perspective in the picture doesn't quite show just how high up it needs to be. It's definitely a butt pucker moment.
Now that the transmission was out, was when I hit the main hurdle that would really change the whole trajectory of the project. A little bit of "this'll work better" and "might as well while you're there" thrown in, and it was all downhill from there.
What happened? Well, I had assumed.... and we know what assumptions are the mother of....
On the left, painted in black, is a used built transmission out of a totaled Lightning I had gotten a deal on a few years ago. It sat patiently in the corner waiting for it's time to shine again. On the right, the transmission out of my Expedition. Looking carefully we can tell one of this things is not like the other.... there's a sensor in the middle of the case on the black one, and the tailshaft housing and sensor are pretty different on the silver one out of my Expedition....
Yeah, definitely not the same stuff here....
So, what was I looking at? I have to confess I hadn't really done the research and my expertise was on the Lightning stuff more than the changes between 97-98 and 99+... I had an E4OD in my Expedition, not a 4R100. And unless I wanted to spend big bucks getting the E4OD built to the same spec I had in this built 4R100... finding a way to run that 4R100 would be the most economical option.
The 4R100 has an OSS sensor - output shaft speed. The sensor reads directly from the output shaft and then that signal gets translated by the ECU and other boxes to be whatever it needs to be.
E4OD has a VSS - Vehicle Speed Sensor. There's a mechanical output from the tailshaft housing, turning a gear that can be changed to adjust the speedo, etc... and then that gear is read by a sensor that is in turn intrepreted by the PCM etc.. as Vehicle Speed.
Plan A: The first path I went down in researching alternatives was keeping everything else in place, but adapting the 4R100 in... "ok, what does the ECU need to see from the 4R100 to run it" and "can the E4OD PCM run the 4R100".
The first part wasn't too bad. There's a few different boxes that can convert the OSS signal to VSS, just need to work out things like the pulses per revolution that each sensor creates and what the ECU is expecting.
On the second part, the answer was also yes, but not quite the resounding yes that I wanted. Put an E4OD solenoid pack and VB in, and just ignore the input shaft speed signal as the ECU can't read it anyway. You'll lose PWM TCC lockup as the earlier ECU can't do it. So it'll work, but anytime you're losing sensors or unable to have certain features work as intended, that type of thing bugs me. The outcome works, practically speaking, but you lose things that engineers had to justify the cost of including... so clearly there is some benefit to it. That on it's own wasn't what really swayed me though. The issue comes in when you compare it to the pros of the second alternative I was considering.
If it isn't clear by now, I am a major major Lightning junkie and have owned one since 2003. I am also someone who likes collecting parts here and there I think might be useful... so I had a varity of bits and pieces from totaled or parted out Lightnings that I had collected thinking "hmm maybe one day I can use that". This is where Option B was brainstormed.
Plan B: The other option to run a 4R100, is just to put in a computer that will run a 4R100..... which sounds simple, but the electronics and wiring completely changed from 98 to 99, and everything was different... well, being a parts hoarder, I assumed I had nearly everything. I had an engine harness, engine bay harness/fusebox, and transmission harness out of a 99 Lightning, and a computer and instrument cluster out of a 2003 Lightning. I knew the dash harness in my 98 would be the sticking point, but figured that I could use all the Lightning stuff with a 99+ Expedition dash harness, and then the engine bay harness would plug in on the other side, maybe with some minor tweaks, and everything would be hunky dory. I've got most of what I would need to convert it in my hands, and a junkyard trip to get some harnesses and a dash fusebox would likely put me out of pocket the same or less than a speedo calibration adapter and a handful of transmission parts.
What sealed the decision in favor of Plan B? Well, the 03 Lightning ECU has a faster processor and tables that don't exist in 97-98 calibrations, specific for supercharging, and is much more of a known quantity for custom tuning. Plus you get an extra IAT and barometer sensor the NA trucks don't have. The 97-98 ECUs are slower, and not as tuning friendly, and the Expedition calibrations in particular are files that aren't very popular for tuning and not as well developed. Calling around a couple tuners, they all resoundingly preferred tuning a newer Lightning ECU, especially for built motor with a whipple.
Icing on the cake? I would get to use my Lightning instrument cluster! What could make a Thunder tribute build more authentic and true to Ford's concept than that?
So, off I went to do my homework....
