Look what I found on Craigslist!

relykz

relykz

2001 White SVT Lightning
I have been looking over the different aftermarket transmission pan's for the L recently since I purchased the Punisher "Comp" Valvebody... I didn't want to go through the trouble of installing it without having a better pan that held more fluid and had a drain plug.

Anyways, I was browsing CL today and saw this ad:
MOROSO Trans Pan Lightning 4r100

I couldn't have been more shocked... called the guy and it just so happened to be Ed from PSE Superchargers there in Edmond. So I jumped on the deal, I'm heading up to Edmond tomorrow to pick it up from him. I wonder if any of you guys would be interested in helping me with the quick install... I can bring all the needed tools etc. Just want to get this new valve-body installed since I have had it sitting on the counter since before Xmas.

Someone hit me up if they feel like lending a hand... I know James has done the valve-body swap on his old L and said it was a breeze.
 
Feel free to come over to my place tomorrow. I am going to be installing some Monroe air shocks on a friends 74 Gran Torino (NICE!) so he can tow a trailer full of stuff to California. Won't take long, and we can do yours then. I do have a floor jack and two jack stands.

We live a few miles north of I-40 at exit 162, Anderson Road.

405-596-7098
 
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cbxer55 said:
Feel free to come over to my place tomorrow. I am going to be installing some Monroe air shocks on a friends 74 Gran Torino (NICE!) so he can tow a trailer full of stuff to California. Won't take long, and we can do yours then. I do have a floor jack and two jack stands.

We live a few miles north of I-40 at exit 162, Anderson Road.

405-596-7098
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I should have given you a call... I went by PSE with James and John, got the pan and I'm heading back up next week to get some drop spindles from him. Decided it was too cold to do any kind of install today since it was 20*.

Looks like my L will be getting a lowering treatment sooner than expected... 2" drop spindles, removing the coil spring isolators, DJM hangers, shackles, and c-notch... and belltech shock extenders. Should look a bit better hugging the wheels... :D
 
I suspected that was what happened. It was cold and I never got the air shocks on my friends car either. Always another day. Your truck will look good lowered. Me I may consider taking just the isolators off,that is supposedly good for 1/2 or slightly more. I do not want to go too low, my front end will look like the silver L for sale here in town, beat to ****.
 
cbxer55 said:
I suspected that was what happened. It was cold and I never got the air shocks on my friends car either. Always another day. Your truck will look good lowered. Me I may consider taking just the isolators off,that is supposedly good for 1/2 or slightly more. I do not want to go too low, my front end will look like the silver L for sale here in town, beat to ****.
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LoL, ya... my trucks front end probably already looks worse than the silver L's. All of the previous owners abuse is starting to show more and more every time I wash the truck. I'll probably just have a local friend repaint the front clip after I get a Cervini's rollpan and shave the tailgate handle. Might have a set of those cal-vu sport style mirrors painted up too... they fit the size of the truck a lot better.

Depends on what I have left of my 2010 tax return after the 13" front Wilwood brakes. I am really wanting to black out the interior with the Latemodel Restoration black seat skins, carpet and headliner, install my expy console, build a duel gauge pod in the overhead display area, and spray all the panels with black SEM paint. After seeing S|CK's truck I was amazed at how it made the truck look much more refined and less cheap.

161,000 miles on the odometer... if the motor lets go anytime soon I will have to part out the engine and trans for the Mustang drag car project in order to rebuild the daily driver. Hoping the engine can hold out till at least 200,000... :rolleyes:
 
Wow, how low does that pan hang? My 4x4 pan is the lowest thing on my truck and that one looks even deeper. I think I'm going to add the Stiffler's chassis brace just some something that doesn't hold fluid will be the first thing to kit a speedbump.
 
oilwell1415 said:
Wow, how low does that pan hang? My 4x4 pan is the lowest thing on my truck and that one looks even deeper. I think I'm going to add the Stiffler's chassis brace just some something that doesn't hold fluid will be the first thing to kit a speedbump.
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It doesn't hang much lower than the stock pan... the 4x4 pan hangs down MUCH further than the Moroso pan... it also hold 4.5 quarts more trans fluid than the stock pan. The Moroso pan also used the stock filter instead of the Ft-114 4x4 filter. The pan doesn't hang down further than the trans crossmember and the magnetic drain plug is on the side of the pan so you don't have to worry about it getting ripped off when lowered like you would with alot of the other pans on the market. There is no way I could go 3" x 4" lowered with a 4x4 pan... it would be a disaster.

I too plan on installing the Stifflers chassis brace, long bars, and driveshaft loop... I don't think it will be too bad.
 
Part No. 42050 - Moroso Aluminum Transmission Pan

It holds a total of almost 9.5 quarts of fliuid... which helps drop the trans temps a bit. A local friend came by yesterday and helped give me a hand with the install. The Punisher Comp valvebody was the easiest mod I have done to my truck... a few bolts and swap the accumulator our, torque to spec and reassemble with new filter and pan. What a huge difference in how the truck behaves now... it feels like god came up and kicks it in the *** every gear shift. lol. :blink:
 
Sounds good. After I get these cogs I bought installed, I am going to start saving for some transmission stuff. THe Punisher valve body sounds good. Definitely a tranny pan with a drain plug.

Does it shift that hard just putting around like grandpa?
 
The Stiffler's brace is said to only fit stock and 4x4 pans. Do you know of anyone that has used it with that pan? I was on their website the other day and saw that they offer the bars, brace and loop for $940. I wasn't planning to do the bars, but since the cut you a break for doing all three I might. I can always remove the bars and leave the brackets on the roadcourse. I've also been looking at different oil pans, but don't want to relocate my oil filter. I may have to buy the Canton and add a notch to it for filter clearance.

At the rate I'm going I've got a pretty good list of potential spring time mods going.

14" Wilwoods
Eaton True Track
Mag Hytec diff cover
Stiffler's stuff

It's been a looonnngggg time since I did a mod to the truck. I guess I'm catching up.
 
Good God. The spelling in my last two posts has been horrible. The first one I can blame on autocorrect because it was from my phone. The last one....damn.
 
oilwell1415 said:
14" Wilwoods
Eaton True Track
Mag Hytec diff cover
Stiffler's stuff

It's been a looonnngggg time since I did a mod to the truck. I guess I'm catching up.
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What is the difference between the Mag Hytec differential cover and the TA? The guys at the other site are trying to get a group buy on the TAs. My understanding is that the MT interferes with the sway bar if the vehicle is lowered.

http://www.lightningforceperformance.com/TA_Rearend_Support_Girdle_Cover_9.75_Differential.html
 
The Mag Hytec holds twice as much fluid and has cooling fins. I can fix the sway bar problem with the Mag Hytec. I can't fix the diff cooling problem with the TA. At least not without increasing the parts count. Plus I already have the MH cover.
 
cbxer55 said:
Sounds good. After I get these cogs I bought installed, I am going to start saving for some transmission stuff. THe Punisher valve body sounds good. Definitely a tranny pan with a drain plug.

Does it shift that hard just putting around like grandpa?
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Shifts a lil bit firmer and faster than stock just putting around, part-throttle to half throttle it will bark 1-2 shift... full throttle it scratches 1-2 and 2-3 very nice, a real hard "bang-shift"... I love it.
 
oilwell1415 said:
The Stiffler's brace is said to only fit stock and 4x4 pans. Do you know of anyone that has used it with that pan? I was on their website the other day and saw that they offer the bars, brace and loop for $940. I wasn't planning to do the bars, but since the cut you a break for doing all three I might. I can always remove the bars and leave the brackets on the roadcourse. I've also been looking at different oil pans, but don't want to relocate my oil filter. I may have to buy the Canton and add a notch to it for filter clearance.

At the rate I'm going I've got a pretty good list of potential spring time mods going.

14" Wilwoods
Eaton True Track
Mag Hytec diff cover
Stiffler's stuff

It's been a looonnngggg time since I did a mod to the truck. I guess I'm catching up.
Click to expand...

The pan will fit fine with the Stifflers parts... it doesn't hang down past the trans cross-member... sounds like your getting your truck setup right. Let me know when those 13" fronts come off... I am still very interested in buying them from you.
 
cbxer55 said:
What is the difference between the Mag Hytec differential cover and the TA? The guys at the other site are trying to get a group buy on the TAs. My understanding is that the MT interferes with the sway bar if the vehicle is lowered.

TA Rearend Support Girdle Cover 9.75 Differential at LightningForcePerformance.com - Your American Muscle Parts Depot
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Mag Hytec for the win in my opinion... you can easily resolve the rear sway bar issue by swapping to the best sway bars on the market for our trucks, Heklwig. The Hotchkis bars are better than stock but the Hellwig stuff just puts a beating on all of the competition... check out Tim Skelton's page and he explains why. The added fluid capacity and cooling fins are why I would say the Mag Hytec beats out the TA cover.
 
I don't agree with Hellwig being the best solution, at least not for everyone. Looking at the specs on them they look like they are designed for a standard F-150 that understeers like crazy. Having a rear bar that stiff will loosen up the rear a lot. If I put that much rear bar in my truck it would probably be undriveable, so I chose Hotchkis. On a truck with stock or near stock spring rates the Hellwig would probably be the way to go.

I've also had to install Hellwig on a lot of client cars and would not choose to install them on my own. Tim says their quality is much improved, but until I see that going beyond the finish into the design and manufacturing I won't be using their products.

FWIW, the baddest road race L ever built ran on stock sways.
 
oilwell1415 said:
On a truck with stock or near stock spring rates the Hellwig would probably be the way to go.
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Why would anyone change their spring rates? The geometry of the front suspension changes pretty drastically when we run shorter coil-springs... making alignment more difficult to dial in. Go with Belltech drop spindles in front... and hangers with shackles and c-notch in the rear, then you have stock spring rates with a decent 2.5" to 3" front drop and 4" rear drop. Replace all bushings and then run the Hellwig sway bars. Toss on a set of QA1's and the price is still cheaper than the Hotchkis TVS with the Hotchkis tuned Belstein shocks.

Now if you have a Hotchkis suspension... which changes the spring rates, their sway bars are probably the way to go. I didn't care for the Hotchkis TVS because it wasn't low enough for me. Also, from what I have been told by other L owners who have the Hotchkis setup, their rear leaf springs are a bit more stiff and which in turn cause's wheel hop... the last thing I need is more problems with hooking up.
 
You would change the rates because the stock rates allow too much suspension travel. As you said, the geometry changes a lot as it moves up and down, so the less it moves the more consistent the geometry is. I don't know what my total drop is, but I would guess somewhere about 2"/3". After taking the springs out and looking at the camber curves on an alignment machine I would much prefer to lower it with a spring to this point. The camber curve is much better here than at the stock ride height and there is still a ton of adjustment available for the alignment. Not to mention that when I turn the steering wheel the front end goes where it's told immediately without any delay at all. With the stock springs you turned the wheel and the truck didn't change direction at all until it thought about is a while and shifted some weigt to the outside from tire. The response improved again when I installed the HOtchkis sways, but it was nothing like the improvement when I changed the springs.
 
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