1999 Ford SVT Lightning - Fuelish Desires - Project Fridge

An Aeromotive fuel-pressure regulator was mounted above the passenger-side fuel rail thanks to a custom-built plate that JDM's Shawn Lacko made on the in-house lathe and drill press. Another unique product used on the truck was a Teflon fuel line, also at the request of D'Amore. He has seen some Lightnings come into the shop with a miss. After a thorough inspection, the conclusion was that the rubber line had deteriorated and rubber chips clogged one or more injectors. D'Amore feels that the fuel quality today (read: high use of ethanol) kills the rubber lines, and the Teflon ones are more durable. He also pointed out that the Teflon lines have larger inside diameters compared to similarly labeled rubber lines.

The fuel system took a few days to complete; the JDM crew custom-made brackets and even wrapped the lines for protection and performance. Subsequent dyno-testing commenced, and D'Amore took a few easy runs to dial-in the computer tune properly. As always, he manipulates the ECU using SCT software. The truck was tested using 93-octane first. Timing was set at a paltry 10 degrees and boost thumping to the tune of 23 psi. The fuel pressure was dialed to 42 psi base and 76 psi at WOT. In this trim, the Fridge spun the DynoJet chassis to an impressive 635 rwhp and 630 rwtq. On street VPC-16 race fuel, a smaller pulley (28 psi), and 17 degrees of timing, the Fridge produced 714 rwhp and 745 rwtq.

One of the most amazing feats with the Fridge is that it's still streetworthy. With 105,000 miles on the odometer and 70,000- plus miles on the built engine, it's running as strong as ever-this time with 714 rwhp at the touch of the throttle.