My work van is a 1997 5.4 ambulance body with water leaking into a cylinder or two. Exhaust leaks, overheated the whole way home, abused it's whole life, etc.

I have a 2003 Crown Vic with a good 4.6 and wiring harness, ecu, etc etc.

My question is... can I swap my 4.6 into my e350 easily? 5.4s are hard to come by, money is tight, and I need something ASAP. My understanding is they're both 2 valve motors.

I'm not worried about power, I don't need a ton for work purposes...

If I strip long blocks down and swap everything over, will I have a runner? I assume I need my ECU reprogrammed for 4.6 over 5.4, but not having PATS should help, right? I'd like to not modify my 5.4 harness as I'll probably have another 5.4 in the future to install.

Thanks guys!

 

From everything I can tell, the high rise alum intake will fit right on the 4.6, and the exhaust appears the same too. Am I missing something?

It should fire right up and run a little rich, if I were to not tune the ECU, correct?

Also, water in the cylinder (not spark plug well, cylinder) can only be caused by cracked head/ gasket, correct? I've seen the intake manifold gaskets squirt water out, but I don't believe it'd be possible to shoot them into the intake valve... would it?

 

Intake is negative i believe.the deck height is different.
deck height also makes exhaust a negative as well.

 

The intake is definitely different. The '97 5.4 will not have PI heads, the 2003 CV will.

Sounds like you have a cracked block/head or blown gasket. Only opening it up will tell.

The swap can probably be done and the ECU might even deal with it correctly.

Things to watch out for are flexplate/torque converter, as in how many holes to bolt it to, diameter, teeth, etc. Exhaust width will be different, so the y-pipe won't just bolt up.

Other than that, the ECU might deal with it OK - as long as all the sensors are there.

 

Well aside from the flexplate (which will hopefully bolt up) all my research indicates it should be a relativity straight forward swap. Either I can try to make the PI manifold (intake) work or get an adapter plate to use my truck intake. other than that exhaust manifolds, crank pulley, accessories should all swap on.

 

Flex plate will be fine.accs yes,manifolds i think will.check the pattern at head.early are tilted pattern,late are vertical bolts.the y pipe will be long so shorten will be doable.you can maybe use the pi intake if the packaging fits.torque will be less but that is the best bet but that intake tubing will have to be engineered probably.since both engines use 19lbthe inj. The processor might not do awful.

 

Recently swapped a 4.6 from an 01 interceptor into an 04 350 with a bad 5.4. It wasn't exactly drop in. Flex plate didn't match bolt size of torque converter so drilled them out larger, no vibration after install luckily. Fuel lines had to be lengthened. The 4.6 did not have the same holes for the 5.4 style motor mount on one side. Haven't had it reprogrammed yet but swapping the intake sensor from the 4.6 will make 200 rpms difference at idle. Vacuum lines are also an issue, some splicing or plugging off is required. There is a valve that has a different style electrical plugin that needs some plastic filed off in order to fit. I'm probably forgetting a few things, but do not expect this to be a couple hour wrench pulling swap. Fabrication skills are a plus, if a guy has time it turns out to be cheaper than a $1200 used engine though.

 

the accessory mount holes may not line up due to the different deck hight. measure to see if you will need the 4.6 mounts… if you still have the vic. your good to go.. if the ecu isn't locked to the vic. use it...