|
Roush F-150 Project Vehicle – Roushcharger Installation
The Roush F-150 Project Truck
Roush – it’s not all about looks. Although a Stage 1 and Stage 2 Roush F-150 include Roush’s
suspension package, the 5.4L V8 is a standard Ford package with a minor update made to the PCM for the difference in
tire/wheel size. The thing that really makes a Roush F150 stand out is the 145HP Roushcharger.
The Troyer Performance Shop
This is a first in a series of articles detailing the installation of a Roushcharger in our vehicle,
tuning on a dyno, before and after results, and a surprise article at the end of the series (sorry,
we’re not tipping our hand just yet). Troyer Performance, aka Performance Products, is a
Roush authorized installer and handled the installation procedure and tuning. If you’re
adding a Roushcharger to a Roush F-150, or any 2004-2007 F-150 with a 5.4L you’ll want to use
a Roush authorized installer in order to keep your Ford warranty intact. The folks at Troyer
Performance know F-150s inside and out, making them a great choice for installation and tuning.
The engine bay before the Roushcharger installation.
This article is not meant to be a comprehensive step-by-step installation article.
Roush provides extremely detailed illustrated installation instruction in a 93 page manual. The goal of
this article is to give the reader an overall idea of what’s involved in installing an intercooled Roushcharger.
In order to have an accurate look of the gains we did a dyno pull on the Troyer Performance
Dynojet 224LxC dynometer prior to the installation in order to establish baseline numbers. At the time
of the dyno pull the truck had approximately 9600 miles on the odometer, 1600 miles on the Motorcraft
oil and filter, the original fuel filter and spark plugs were on the truck and the factory intake was reinstalled.
Special thanks to Mick at www.cargonetswork.com
for the sturdy and handy cargo net. It made the 500
mile trek a lot easier!
Once baseline numbers were established we could begin the installation. The second article
in this series will have detailed dyno information from Troyer Performance’s Dynojet 224LxC dynamometer
with eddy current absorption unit (all this is a fancy way of saying its accurate!).
The first step is to inspect the packaging to make sure everything is there and in good
condition. Once your PCM is sent out to Roush you’re pretty much committed to put in the Roushcharger and
you don’t want a non-starting truck while you wait for parts from Roush. Installation begins disconnecting
the battery and the removal of the PCM located on the passenger side firewall. Remove the 3 wiring harness
connectors and unbolt the computer from the firewall. Note your VIN number on the PCM and overnight the PCM
to Roush. Roush includes a pre-paid FedEx shipping box for this. Roush will reprogram the PCM for the
Roushcharger the same day they receive it and overnight it back. This means you’ll need to set aside
3 days of down-time for the truck.
While waiting on the reprogrammed PCM you can begin installing the Roushcharger. Roush
provides complete instructions in a 91 page illustrated booklet. The book is thorough to say the least.
They estimate 10 hours for the installation but it’s prudent to double that number because you never
know what snags you’ll run into along the way. With 3 days down-time you have plenty of time to do
things right and double check your work.
I recommend you change out the fuel filter, change the oil and oil filter, and the O2
sensors if they have more than 25,000 miles on them. Any supercharged vehicle will generally run better if you
take these simple steps. Use a good synthetic oil. This install used Royal Purple synthetic fluids. The
maintenance schedule will change as well. The plan for this F150 is to run full synthetic oil with 2,500
mile change intervals, high quality oil filters and fuel filter changes every
3rd oil change.
Prior to any work you should place protective covers over the fenders and front bumper
in order to protect the finish of the truck. Our project truck was very dirty from a 500 mile trip to
the Troyer Performance facility and we wanted to make sure it looked great when washed and waxed again.
Your paint will thank you later for this simple step.
The first step involves draining the engine coolant. It order to prevent spillage of
engine coolant attach a 3/8” hose to the petcock, place the other end of the host in a drain pan
and open the petcock.
Goto Page:
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five
|
