I know this isn't a y question but,my brother is interested in updating his pickup[Ford of course]to a late 90's Ford extended cab 4x4. his old ride is a cherry 79 150 xlt with the rebuilt 460 out of my old 73 tbird.I really don't know much about the triton ,is it a good engine and what can be done to pep it up a little ...etc? he get's the usual long winded scrub bozo's bragging about the "fabulous duramax" just thought some of you guys might have a little insight to pass along...thanks oh yeah,my y cars are a 55 crown vicky and a 56 customline.

Thanks

Welcome to the site!  I don't have any "Pep up" answers for you but I do have three things you can look out for. (1) Be sure the oil has been changed on a regular basis and the engine is clean inside, when timing chain tensioners get sludged they put too much down force on the cams and burn up the journals.  (2) These engines are notorious for blowing the spark plug threads out, watch for that. (3) Check to see the cooling system has been kept up with the proper coolant not just water. The aluminum heads rot out and there are freeze/expansion plugs in the front of the block that will leak into the crankcase when corroded.  Just a few things I've seen as a rebuilder.

Cheers!

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Ditto on the Triton 5.4 Litre V8 ford engine. I have a 2001 Expedition and it has this engine. My dad had one for several years in his F150, my buddy had the same engine, and then we have a Triton in our snow plow truck at church. Personally, I don't like them although they are strong engines. I can pull anything with my Expedition and have had no problems while hauling anything I wanted to.

BUT,,, unless you buy one of these and have the heads removed and have each spark plug hole redone, and unless you take a good look at the exhaust manifolds and where these things bolt to the heads, I would steer clear. There is quite a few electrical gremlins as well. The coil packs are awful for sure, and I am on my 3rd starter... don't really like the design of the starter in my opinion.

Follow Tim's advice... he deals more with the day to day mishaps than I do I would imagine.

We have had so much trouble with our snow plow truck at the church, one of our deacons is trying to talk me into throwing a Y block into the truck. Would be fun for sure. It really isnt' a road truck although the truck is a 2002 F250... who knows. I have no spare time to do it, even on the "clock" at the church ministry, lol.

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

I put 113K miles on a 98 F-150 Lariat 5.4 that I bought new.  I had to watch the oil level, it used some oil.  I think it is important to use a Motorcraft oil filter with the anti drainback valve.  It keeps some oil up in the area of the overhead cams.  I then bought a 2006 F-250 with the 5.4 L .  One bad thing about these trucks is to even pull a head, you need to lift the body off of the frame, due to the deep setback in the body.  I think the extra weight of the F250 over the F150 took away from the towing performance when towing my 29' travel trailer.  Now I have a 2007 RAM 1500 with 5.7L Hemi.  I special ordered this truck with 3.92 limited slip rear axle, towing package, and traction control. I really like the truck, but it seems strange to me to not be driving a Ford...I do also have 4 Fords  There are a lot of Triton engines in police cars and cabs with over 200K miles on them.

Paul J. - '57 E Code