2001 F150 build

My buddy craftsmanquad and I went to look at a truck yesterday, and it's a rare one. It's a 2001 f150, with a 4.6 v8, 5 speed manual, and 4x4. Oh, and the transfercase is a manual shift, not the push button crap. CQ and I settled on it for 550 due to a seized engine. First and foremost, we're going to try to break free the 4.6. After that, I need opinions on what to do.
Keep the truck a 4.6?
Forget the 4.6 and swap in a 5.4?
Any route I go will include headers, and maybe a few other goodies, depending on budget.
What would you guys do?

Nice truck. Must be the work truck class, everything being manual. Either engine would do. Maybe just a couple more hp on the bigger one. Usually comes down to what you can get ahold of. The 5.4 will probably need the computer to go with it to run, since it is bigger with a reflash for the mileage to keep it legal. Not to sure if the 4.6 computer will work with the bigger motor, do some checking because it might and would be a lot cheaper and easier to get running.

He has already done the checking, the computer will run it fine. The issue we can foresee is the 5.4 has a higher torque rating than the m5od-r2 transmission is “supposed” to be able to hold. According to ford specs.

Many have done it without issues but it could be asking for trouble depending on how hard he drives it (this is his truck, I’m just the money man lol)

We are pretty much at the point of finding a wrecked 4wd f150 with either v8. That will give him an engine for this, and me an 8.8 rear end with disk brakes and the right width for a certain turbo LS project I have in mind...

Whichever we find first that seems like a better taken care of engine will be the one we go with

Maybe you tube the trans to see how they blow. I doubt the gears will shatter, LOL. Might be the two shafts that hold the gears might bend, or the clips that hold the bearings in place on the shafts break out of the case, or maybe just a clutch with not enough of holding power. My bet would be the clutch just not holding the torque.
That's good then, the computer would run the bigger motor too.

They’re basically the same engine, just ones a little bigger inside. Dunno if it’s bored or stroked, but I know they’re pretty much the same

The plan right now is to try and break free the 4.6, for the sake of testing. According to the seller, it was running perfectly fine, when he noticed the oil pressure gauge acting funny. It then stalled completely as he went to turn into a parking lot, and right now the starter is just clicking like it has a low battery. My initial thought was that the oil pump failed.
However, as I sit in my bed and ponder, a 3AM thought occured to me. I have heard a lot about the oil PSI sending units acting funky on these mod motors. typically a failing unit or a loose wire...heck, the oil gauge on my current f150 with the 5.4 jumps around sometimes (gotta love those dummy gauges ford used)
He said it stalled as he was turning into a parking lot, meaning he was slowing down and it was probably in neutral, or a high enough gear the rpms were down
what if a bearing went out of an accessory, but the force of the engine running at a higher rpm was enough to keep it moving, until the rpms dropped to the point where the drag killed the engine?
Ive been poking around on forums, and read several reports of accessory bearings going out with no adverse effects until the engine slowed down to the point where the drag was able to overcome the output of the engine..
Saturday morning I am picking the truck up, and will have roughly two hours to tinker with it before I am supposed to pick up a parts truck, which would contain the donor engine and CQ's rear end. As soon as i get it home and off the trailer, I will release the tension on the belt, hit the key, and see what happens.
My other thought was to put a charger on the battery. When you hit the key, the starter clicks, almost like the battery is low. If the problem is one of the aforementioned things, I am a very lucky gearhead...
ill keep yall updated as i conduct research on the truck!

To add on to what I just posted, the most common thing on these trucks is for the A/C compressor to seize up, either that or the alternator. I did some more browsing, and found two more reports of a/c compressors that locked up without any warning, and cause the no turnover condition of the engine.

the guy i am buying it off of seems to have some general mechanical knowledge, but nothing in depth about these trucks or even the engines. I should add he never had the truck looked at, just towed it home and parked it.

Sounds promising either way it goes.

We are about a half hour from picking it up. We will definitely keep updates coming!

Video of both trucks. Any ideas on the vacuum leak? So far I’m checking PCV system first. Anyone out there have any experience with these triton engines?

The vacuum leak is bad enough that it isn't pulling air in the intake. The egr pipe to the manifold is gone entirely, which is part of what is causing it to run rich. However, it does run rough

It wasn't any accessories like I suspected. Something was hung up in the block. We hooked onto it with CQ's ranger, got it rolling, and popped the clutch. The tires slipped a little bit, but in the end, it fired right up. I shut it off immediately due to my concern about the oil pressure. We started it again, and the oil psi was fine.

As of now, there's an aftermarket anti theft system installed preventing us from starting it from the key. I assume it somehow got armed, and we don't have the key faab to disarm it. We will probably end up removing the system all together

Found a pretty good leak in the PCV system as well. We got ahold of the seller and figured out how to reset the anti theft so I will play with it some tomorrow. Gotta get some vacuum hose and patch at least one of the spots I found. Might be able to get the EGR patched temporarily with a piece of coolant hose I have

Wow something way off to make it run that bad. If there is a leak between the egr valve and the exhaust, I don't think that would cause any run issues besides some exhaust leak noise, but I don't know. If you have access to a scanner you can see what kind of codes it has on it. (if your still having issues that is)
My dad has a 98 F150 and I think that has the 4.6. We've never had too many serious engine issues. It's about spent at this point though with 320,000 on it.

Sometimes that anti theft stuff can be a pain to remove, but if you can reset it if it gets in the wrong mode that would be good.

If you need any info on something specific, I can try to help. We have alldata so we can look some stuff up if needed. Pm me if necessary.

I have a code scanner, but it won’t run long enough to trip any codes, even though it runs like absolute dookie.

I’ll pull more of that foam sheath off the PCV system looking for more leaks. You think intake manifold gaskets could cause this? I put my hand over the intake tube while it was running and it wasn’t pulling any air through. It was running completely off of vacuum leaks

Well I found the leak. The lower intake manifold exploded down behind the alternator (front of the valley).

We have put together a parts list and will be hitting the junkyard next weekend probably. Ford updated the lower intake manifold after 2001 because apparently this was somewhat of a common issue on the 97-01 trucks. Go figure lol

EGR systems, only open while cruising mainly. On a mid range rev it might open. It is there to ingest some exhaust at cruise speeds to lower emissions mainly. The EGR valve itself stays closed at idle always. The pipe from exhaust that goes to the EGR valve has a leak and can hear the exhaust from it, will suck in air into the system when the EGR valve opens, which in turn would run lean. If you can't repair the pipe, you can plug both ends of the pipe somehow. The EGR valve will still work and will not give off a code for a check engine light, quiet the exhaust, but the system itself will not be active.

Yeah that’s pretty much what I figured. Lowers emissions by cooling the combustion chamber with inert air. By design also boosts fuel economy because less fuel mix is entering the combustion chambers under light load. They’ve gone away with the addition of variable valve timing. Now the exhaust valve just closes before all the exhaust gas has a chance to escape therefore doing the same job with less parts.

Anyway, another side effect of no vacuum is no power brakes haha go figure. I knew that would be an issue but it makes it annoying to drive around the yard. Was able to get it to rev up high enough to actually produce some vacuum though so I felt it in the brake pedal. I know the booster is good now

CQ and i are planning on visiting a junkyard here soon. This truck already has the revised aluminum intake, and the lower plenum was always plastic on these engines. if the junkyard charges the plenum and manifold as one unit, they will be installed as one unit. otherwise, the plan is to find an f150 in the junkyard to steal the lower plenum off. The idea to get a PI intake manifold and plenum was tossed around, but there are too many minor differences to mess with it. Plus, by stealing it off an f150, we can figure out the best way to get to the plenum without destroying everything on my truck, because we sure are good at breaking things.

New manifold plenum fixed the vacuum issues, now we have to track down the misfire, and do something about that horrible exhaust leak. Also the oil pressure gauge reads 0 sometimes. Need to determine if it’s the pump or something in the wiring. Or the sensor itself

Little update for everyone: The truck is running, but only until it hits operating temp. Bout the time it hits operating temp it stalls out and won't restart until it cools down. It's also pretty down on power, but im attributing that to the fact that the manifolds are so rusty that they mightaswell not even be there.
After it has warmed up and stalled, it has spark, but somewhere in the fuel system isnt getting gas. We checked power at the injectors, and i cant remember the exact number, but it seemed a little low. CQ and i are thinking something with the injector circut or something with the fuel pump.
I bought a fuel filter, and whenever college quits kicking my a$$, ill get around to replacing it and see what happens.
If anyone has experience with this, all help is appreciated. I only ever had issues with the ignition system on my current truck, so this is all foreign to me. For once, the haynes manual isnt much of any help

Guy said new pump put in not long ago. Thinking maybe a cheap pump not rated for adequate pressure or hopefully just the fuel filter. Simple things first. Also may just be the old gas. Hoping that solves some issues. Just dilute it with good fresh gas lol.

I don’t have a noid light to test the injectors, but may need to pick up some to keep around for things like this. Also since I’m starting work at a local ford dealer parts will become a bit more affordable.

That being said, a brand new set of eBay shorty headers came in the mail so exhaust leaks should be fixed soon. 113 bucks shipped! Hopefully they’re enough to last a few years

Okay guys, weve been doing some tinkering. Got the fuel issue fixed, now we are running into one or more fairly nasty rod knocks. CQ and I have accepted the fate of the 4.6, and once the tranny on my f150 7700 finishes going out, the 5.4 from that will be put into this truck. This engine does have over 250,000 miles, but it has never shot a plug, it doesn't burn oil( just leaks it out of the cursed rear main seal) and only cold knocks a little bit.
The other day CQ and i tried to drive this truck. first gear was okay, it even seemed like it was taking off a little easier than before. shifted out of first about 3000 rpm, grabbed second, and it just bogged. it would lose speed until i shifted it back to first. eventually it stalled, and it wouldn't restart, it just popped and farted. Do you guys have any ideas about why it would be so down on power? Fuel pressure is okay, air filter is clean and clear, maf is clean. Right now the only online help ive gotten was someone mentioned a plugged cat. Haven't had time to check it, but if someone here has had this problem before or knows anything about it, I'm at a loss.

have you checked fuel pressure while drivin? I had a truck that would test fine idleing/revving sitting still but lost pressure going down the road.