Whats up guys (and gals?) I have an 02 Lightning at home and I wanted to know what the next step I should take to make it get from point A to B faster. It is barely more than stock with a CAI, 6# pulley w/Predator tune and 20" lightweight Centerlines. There are other things I want to get but I also have another question. Does anyone else get oil sucked into the intake after racing or is it just me? I asked the mech at the dealership and he said it was common with Lightnings and 04/04 Cobras and not to worry. He also said it would lube the valves and some other tech crap. Im not a master mechanic or anything like that but I had never heard of oil being good in the air intake for any reason. Any help would be appreciated. After fixing that, I was thinking about a Cobra TB, an upper plenum, headers and straight pipes and maybe porting the blower. Does anyone have any combination of this stuff? Id like to know what works and what will go with what I have so when I get home I can get right in it. Thanks guys.

 

First off, welcome to the site

Secondly, thanks for your service. I was there too, so I know what it's like.

Now, onto your questions and what I can answer.

A good dyno tune would be a step up. You could also port the blower for a little more boost. A small shot of nitrous, different pulley combo's, cams, new heads, I mean there's tons of things, it just depends on which route you want to take. Personally, I'd port it and see where to go after that.

It's not just you. All our trucks do it. You have two ways of fixing it. You can either get breathers to give the extra crankcase preasure somewhere to go, or you can install an oil separator. There's still a debate as to wether or not you have to get retuned after doing breathers. Some people have thrown codes after install, while others haven't. I plan on tunning mine for it.


I think it might be time to find another dealership to take it into.


Here, take a look at this. Very good read.

Click Me

Good luck and stay safe.

 

IJ Thomas I, the oil in the intake is very comon but can be alleviated with the few oil serperater kits that are available out there.
Oh BTW your dealer is feeding you a line or crap. It is just a bad design and they are side stepping the issue at hand......best bet here is to find another place to do your work.
As far as the mods go it really depends what you want from the vehicle...mild or wild? and what compromises are you willing to make?
Lots of things to concider but the one thing I have to stress the most is the TUNE! An off the shelf tune can cost you plenty. Its common knowledge that the cast cracked rods are crap and usually fail under sustained hi speed, high boost runs. This is where tune is criticle. Lean conditions are what you want to avoid. Change that fuel filter often.
One other thing I cant stress enough is check you plugs. Loose plugs constitute just about all of your plug ejecting problems. If you do experience a plug launch I would look for a shop the has and does use only Time Serts for a tread repair for the head. I have repaired many heads (all make and models) using them since the late 70's. There are a couple of other options such as Heli coils or lyle inserts but i would not recomend them as I have seen many of them fail as well.
Hope this helps a bit and dont let it scare you, HP vehicles are fun but have special needs and requir more TLC than most.

scott

 

Listen to everything that was stated, It's pretty much everything I was going to say. Just to add I would port the blower and get an upgraded heat exchanger. Although you do see an increase in power from porting, it mainly lowers the temp, making the truck run safer and more efficent. With a fluidyne, LFP, JDM, JLP Heat Exchanger helps keep the blower at a lower temp. Predator tunes are known for rod displacement........meaning KABOOM!! People are having good luck with those tuners, but after a custom dyno tune. Off the shelf tunes are no way to go. Some will say that running a 6# pulley is too much...I've had a 2.8 upper, 6# lower and ported blower for over 30,000 miles on my 2004 Lightning and taken it to 12.1 and 12.0 passes, but this is from a custom dyno tune by Jim D. himself when he was in Dallas for FFW at Ennis. Check the plugs often, run NGK TR-6 plugs. Change your fuel filter often!!! It only cost 12-15 bucks which is cheaper than a $8,000 motor if it gets cloged and leans out. About the oil in the intake, every Lightning that I have heard of gets some to some degree. Some local ones I know will eat up as much as a quart in 3,000 miles, while some have very little. I put LFP's oil seperator which still allows some oil, but traps the majority. My buddy eliminated his PCV system and put breathers on the hoses. I ordered the oil seperator from RPM which is supposed to re route the oil back to the valve covers, not sure if it works or not, we shall see. the only reason people run straight pipes is for the few Owners that have their trucks as track or trailer queen trucks. Basically running the 166 octane leaded fuel will eat away at the cats, so they just remove them. For everybody else, they remove them for noise and sound. I have run headers, hi flow cats, and JDM silver bullet exhaust as well as without cats and saw a decrease in trq without the cats. plus it was way too loud for me. I'm only 22, and it was way to loud for me on the highway. with cats it is still really loud. Sometimes I have to pull over on the shoulder of the highway to take cell phone calls. read this.....there has been alot of debate going on about with and with out cats debate http://www.talonclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10546

good luck with you and your truck. be safe and God Bless!!

 

Thanks for all the info and help guys (BC Lightning, SVT_Scott and 203Cree). I havent been able to get to the site much with the war and all but I have gotten to read the other sites you sent me. My wife is gonna hate seeing the Kenne Bell stuff because she knows thats what I want. I would have liked to reply to all of you separately but I havent figured it out and I dont have that much time on my hands, again the war thing. Anyway, Ill be home in less than two months and I will have money and time to get what I want. I havent decided what to get yet but I do have a list that keeps getting longer and longer.
Hopefully this will end up in the right spot so you guys will see it but if not, I will try to get back to you when I can. Thanks again guys

Idris

 

welcome IJ!!

heat exchanger is next for me...especially after this summer here in north texas. it's been a real bitch.

 

Hey BC Lightning what kind of boost #s are you seeing w/ the 2.8?I thought about swapping out the blower pulley at one time but I've heard horror stories of the snout getting screwed up.I've also thought about a 6#,but don't think my stock block/internals will hold much more.

 

I'm seeing about 12-14 depending on weather, But I'm also running a ported blower, ported lower intake, and Kooks long tube headers. these flow more air and decrease the amount of boost making it safer while keeping the same power level. I would shy away from a 2.8 upper for some, if you dont have an aftermarket heat exchanger with electric fan combo, which I do, fluidyne with 2 6.5" spal fans. Otherwise you will just be spinning the blower too fast, causing more heat and running worse than if you just left the 6# lower

I should be running 16-18+ here pretty soon when the UPS guy delevers my need mod Ordered it 2weeks ago and they said they would ship it out that day Oh well I can wait, and it will also be on my stock internals, but like I stated I have two electric fans for the radiator, 2 electric fans on the heat exchanger, super cooler in the bed, JLP intercooler resourvior, 170 thermo, so its running cool and waiting on my autometer wideband to come in, Just ordered the NV series, I Like it better than AEM, or dynojet because it gloes like the stock guages

I remember back in the day when a 2# lower pulley was considered too extreme It all depends on your tune, if you leave the canned tunes that come with the XCAL2 Predator, Xcal, SCT 9100, You will never see the full power or they will be too rich, too lean, I know a guy on the TALON forums who has been running 18#'s of boost out of his STOCK Internal, Kenne Bell 2.3 powered L for 3 years now, running 11.5's consistently, of course he has a wideband and does his own custom tuning

Snout getting screwed up??? Never heard about this?? Do you have the right puller??

 

I brought up the snout because a buddy of mine modded the h*** out of his 04 and decided to go back to stock before he destroyed the motor.He had a blower pulley and when he tried to take it off he stripped something on the snout.Now he needs a new blower.I was asking about the pulleys because my numbers aren't good enough to be in consistant 12s where I want to be.If I can hit mid-high 12s I'll be set until I can afford things like a built motor and a KB.I have to start thinking about a house among other things so the truck will b good enough for a while in the 12s.With the setup I have now I'm seeing about 12-14 psi.

 

With 6#lower, C&L Elbow and plenium, built tranny and stall, cai, stock eaton, metco traction bars, heat exchanger and a few other mods I went 12.1 all day long in 60* weather What kind/size slicks are you running, That day I was using 28/10/16 Hoosiers

As far as the snout, I have never heard of someone striping something while taking it off????

If I were you These would be the mods I get:
Long tube headers - Kooks
Kenne Bell 2.3
SCT MAF
255 Fuel pumps
60#injectors

My buddy rob back in 2001 had this setup on his Lightning and ran consistent 11's all day long on his stock block. Another friend, Mark (who both are members of TALON), has been running his KB 2.3 on a stock block at 18# + for 3 years now

I still to this day regret nickle and diming it, instead of waiting a month or two and just bought the kb/whipple first then the other mods later