While Sprinting A Staffer And His Family About, The Thunder Began To Shift Strangely Or Sometimes Not At All. A Diagnosis By The Ford Dealer Said The Tranny Seemed To Be Working Fine; However, That Was After He Discovered And Removed The Strange-Looking Blue Chip Piggybacked On The Ford Ecu. Removing The Chip Alleviated Some Of The Tranny Problems, But Not All Of Them. The Chip Was Originally Installed By Paxton And Controlled How The Engine, Transmission, And Supercharger Interact. Paxton's Advice Was To Drive The Vehicle With Extreme Care And Caution.
| 1998 Ford Expedition Suv interior View
So How Did The Chip Cause Such Strange Shifting Patterns? It Didn't. In Fact, After Only A Few Miles Of Driving Gingerly (A Tough Feat In The Thunder), We Soon Discovered The Tranny, Not The Paxton Piggyback, Was Cooked. We Appealed To Huntington Beach Transmissions.
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Hbt Not Only Advised Us How To Best Solve The Problem, But Also How To Prevent It From Recurring. Hbt Removed The Ford Components From The Original Casing And Installed Its Own Brew Of Heavy-Duty Jet Performance Clutches And Gears. Knowing The Racing Backgrounds Of Both Companies, We Were Confident The Transmission Could Handle Aggressive Driving, But We Required Durability For Towing And Hauling As Well. We Needed This Transmission To Run Cool When Faced With The Rigors Of A Hot-Weather, Hard-Work Life.
Rebuilding The Tranny Presented Another Issue: The Chip Now Tells The Ford Module When To Tell The Transmission To Shift And How Hard. Because Jet Had No Way Of Ascertaining Exactly How Hard The Computers Make The Transmission Shift, It Installed A Mild Shift Kit As Opposed To One For A True Racing Application. This Would Ensure Longer Life For The U-Joints And The Differential, Especially When Towing.
"One Thing To Keep In Mind With Ford," Says Steve White, Jet Transmission Technician, "It's Notorious For Building Transmissions Designed For Just Over The Amount Of Flywheel Horsepower Put Out By The Engine." With That In Mind, It Was Easy To Understand Why The Transmission Failed.
When Paxton Dyno-Tested The Thunder (March/April 2002) Sporting Only The Headers, Intake, And Exhaust, We Recorded 163 Horsepower At The Rear Wheels. That Alone Put The Original Transmission At Its Limit. When The Supercharger Was Installed, That Number Jumped To 205 Horses, Meaning The Flywheel Was Probably Turning Roughly 250 Horsepower--Well Beyond The Factory-Flywheel Number The Trans Was Designed For.
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When Finished, Jet Handed The Transmission Back Over To Hbt For Installation. The Thunder Received Stronger Steel Gears And Heavy-Duty Clutches. The Difference Is Noticeable--The Ford Shifts Much More Aggressively Under Full Throttle, And Shifting Is Not Nearly As Harsh When Cruising Normally.
As To Acceleration, The Thunder's Once-Slingshot Prowess Off The Line Has Been Retarded Somewhat By The Heavier Transmission. Likewise, We Can Hear The Engine Working Harder To Spin The Tranny. Now The Engine Grunts, The Nose Lifts, And At Green Lights, The Truck Feels More Like A 747 Than A Lear, Which Isn't A Big Deal. Although We've Not Yet Timed A 0-60-Mph Run, It's Probably Safe To Guesstimate It's Stretched From 7.0 To 7.5 Seconds.
| 1998 Ford Expedition Suv right Side Repair
With That Said, The Thunder Had To Trek Back To Paxton For Inspection And Replacement Of The Computer Module, At Which Point The Company Checked The Supercharger And Engine. It Took Them A Few Hours, But When Paxton Handed Back The Keys, It Said Everything Was In Order. Paxton Did Warn Us, However, That The Only Way To Truly Ascertain If The Engine Was Still In Top Working Order Was For A Complete Compression Check.
Sure Enough, Everything Was Sound. Giving The Thunder Some Heavy Throttle Showed Excellent Shifts, And The Computer Was Back At Work Maintaining Higher Post-Shift Rpm Levels. With The Proper Chip Back In Place, All Was Well With The World.
Once That Problem Was Solved, Our Next Step Was To Give The Thunder A More Menacing Look. Svt Lightning Fascia In Hand, We Turned The Beast Over To Bells And Vaughn Auto Body.
The Stock Fascia And Rear Bumper Were Taken Off, The Bumper Going To The Media Blaster To Remove The Chrome For Proper Paint Adhesion And The Fascia Unceremoniously Placed In The Recycle Bin. The Lightning Fascia, Bead-Blasted Bumper, And New Mirror Covers Were Prepped With Vermont Green Paint, Mixed To Match. After The Clearcoat Dried, The New Pieces Looked Factory Fresh And Were Bolted To The Thunder's Exterior. The Folks At Bells And Vaughn Couldn't Have Done A Better Job.
With Fresh Paint, It Was Time To Visit Velvet Touch Motoring Accessories, Where Rick Porter Installed The Factory Foglamps In The Fascia And Built The Custom Wiring Harness. While We Could've Purchased A Ford Factory Loom, It Would've Cost Over $700. Porter Wired The Lights Directly To The Factory Switch With Minimal Hassle, At A Fraction Of The Cost.
Since Getting To The Headlamp Switch Requires Removal Of Some Dash Pieces, We Took Advantage Of The Situation And Installed A Set Of White-Face Gauges. After Taking Off The Binnacle, Eight Screws Were Lifted From The Back Of The Cluster, And The Lens And Pointers Were Removed. We Then Peeled Off The Original Gauge Face And Applied The White-Face Unit. Reversing The Process, The New Package Was Installed And Svt-Like Gauges Now Grace The Dash.
It's Certainly Rewarding When A Vehicle Project Comes To A Close. Although We Didn't Duplicate Svt's Original Concept, Rolling Thunder Is An Affordable Means To Get Maximum Streetable Horsepower, With Edgy Looks That Strike Fear In Chevy Tahoe Owners Each Time They Meet At The Stoplight.
By The NumbersStock ConfigurationAcceleration, 0-60 Mph, Sec 9.1Quarter Mile, Sec/Mph 17.0/{{{80}}}.0{{{600}}}-Ft Slalom, Mph {{{57}}}.0Braking, 60-0 Mph, Ft 141Stage I Modifications
K&N Air Filter, Borla Cat-Back-Exhaust Power Set, O.Z. Racing {{{Nova}}} S/T Wheels, Toyo 285/60r18 Proxes S/T TiresAcceleration, 0-60 Mph, Sec 8.8Quarter Mile, Sec/Mph 16.6/82.2600-Ft Slalom, Mph 58.0Braking, 60-0 Mph, Ft 138Stage I Cost $2946Stage II Modifications
Eibach Springs, Tokico Trekmaster R/T Shocks, Hotchkis Anti-Roll Bars Front/Rear, Jba Shorty Headers, K&N Fipk2Acceleration, 0-60 Mph, Sec 8.8Quarter Mile, Sec/Mph 16.6/82.2600-Ft Slalom, Mph 60.5Braking, 60-0 Mph, Ft 138Stage II Cost $2006Total Cost $4952Stage III Modifications
{{{Ford Expedition}}} 5.4l Paxton Supercharger Kit, Installation, And ServiceAcceleration, 0-60 Mph, Sec 7.0Quarter Mile, Sec/Mph 15.9/89.0600-Ft Slalom, Mph 60.5Braking, 60-0 Mph, Ft 138Stage III Cost $4920Total Cost $9872Stage IV ModificationsBraking, 60-0, Ft 127Stage IV Cost $3195Total Cost $13,067Stage V Modifications
Alpine Am/Fm Stereo With In-Dash Lcd Monitor, Dvd/Cd Player, Gps, Four 5x7 Direct Replacement Speakers, Overhead Video Unit, Installation Overhead Video Unit, In-Dash Dvd/Cd Player $2500Speaker Upgrade, Gps Unit $3600Stage V Cost$6100Cost To Date$19,167Stage VI Modifications
R&R {{{Ford}}} E40d Transmission With Jet Racing Application, Lightning Fascia Installation, Paintwork, Foglamps, Wiring Harness, White-Face GaugesE40d Removal And Reinstallation$450 (Price Varies With Drivetrain)Jet Application$2000 (Price Depends On Transmission Condition And Drivetrain)Install Fascia $888 (Paint Fascia, Mirrors, And Rear Bumper)Install Foglamps$70 (Create Wiring Harness, And Install Gauges)Stage VI Cost$3408Total Project Cost $22,575
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