JLP has been conducting lots of R&D on aluminum sheetmetal upper intake plenum designs on its in-house chassis dyno. The new truck is sporting the latest; JLP believes the piece is finally worthy of resale to horsepower-hungry customers. Kenne Bell's 2.3-liter supercharger is attached to said intake.
Next comes the Billet Flow 133mm throttle body and JLP 102mm mass air and Racing Thunder Tube to assure the air is properly atomized with the 60-pound injectors for optimum air-to-fuel. Johnny found the fuel rails on an '05 F-150 to have three or four times the flow rate of old Lightning units, and his are fed by an 1100 Aeromotive fuel pump. The 5.4 uses a stock intercooler, an Afco heat exchanger, and a JLP Power Cooler.
JLP collaborated with Bassani to design 1 5/8-inch to 1 3/4-inch long-tube headers with 3-inch collectors and a complete 3-inch exhaust system. Johnny also swears by DiabloSport tuning and uses the stock distributor with Nology coils and Denso Iridium spark plugs.
Hooking up the beast had been quite the challenge, and with the addition of the big 16-inch meats, it won't be long until the Level 10 C4 transmission is traded out for a C6. The triple clutch lock-up trans and Precision Industries converter have held up fine with the 2,400 stall and low-10-second runs. But, Johnny says, "If we're going to have a shot at the eights, we are going to need at least a 4,000 stall to make use of the new chassis, even though we got her down to 3,800 pounds."
When this article was written, the truck had gone as fast as 9.70s at 142 mph with a new race-tested nitrous system.
 Other than the racing seats...  Other than the racing seats and rollcage, the interior retains a stock look--door panels, console, and all. |  |  Johnny and his wife, Sue,...  Johnny and his wife, Sue, have dedicated them-selves to Lightning performance full time for the last six years. |