Installing A RoushCharger On A 2004 F-150 - Pulling Power

Another special tool you will need is the fuel line disconnect tool for the fuel rail. Disconnect the line at the driver-side rear of the rail (with rags under it to catch any fuel in the rail), and then disconnect the eight fuel injector electrical connectors, as well as the IPS connector on the driver-side of the rail. Unbolt the fuel rail from the OE plastic intake and carefully pry the eight injectors out of the intake and remove the fuel injectors and rail as an assembly. Set aside for later instruction.

Before the OE plastic intake can be extricated from the bowels of the F-150's engine bay, the coolant crossover bridge must be removed. Disconnect the heater hose from the fitting on the passenger side, and then remove the three retaining bolts to remove the bridge. The bridge and its three bolts will be reused, so do not discard them. Once the bridge is out of the way, remove the intake manifold bolts and pull the manifold forward to disconnect the CMCV wiring and brake-booster hose at the rear of the manifold. Then remove the manifold from the engine. You can solder the supercharger bypass solenoid connector into the CMCV harness at this time or later in the build, but it is easier with the intake manifold out of the way.

With the major components removed, we can now begin the installation of the RoushCharger parts. The brake booster vacuum hose will be routed to the passenger side of the engine, so install the new brake booster hose to the steel fitting (or plastic elbow on '05-'06 models) with the provided hose clamp and route to the passenger side of the engine for now.

The intercooler pump is powered by this relay that is mounted in the right corner of the engine compartment (battery and battery tray will be removed for this step and for wire routing). Power for the relay comes from a nearby connector. Be sure to solder all connections to the OE harness and use the provided shrink-wrap tubing.

The intercooler pump itself is mounted on the inboard side of the driver-side framerail, near the radiator. The wiring from the relay is carefully routed behind the passenger-side headlight, across the grille area, and then down to the pump. The intercooler fluid hoses are easily connected to the pump now and are routed towards their final connection point.

The power steering pump reservoir will require a small mounting point change, which will include lengthening the reservoir's hoses. First, drain all power steering fluid from the reservoir into a clean container, then remove the reservoir and cut off the one mounting ear, as instructed in the manual.

Install the new pump to the reservoir hose and the rack to the reservoir extension hose. Then assemble the reservoir to the adapter bracket and remount the reservoir on the engine. This moves the reservoir rearward a few inches for clearance of the new inlet ducting.

The low temperature radiator (LTR) included in the intercooled kit is mounted between the condenser and the radiator. Remove the radiator mounting brackets from the core support and carefully tilt the radiator towards the engine so that the LTR can be placed against the core support to mark the four mounting holes for drilling. Remove the LTR, drill the four holes, and then secure the LTR with the four tapping screws included in the kit. Be sure to connect the inlet and outlet hoses to the LTR before re-securing the radiator.

While the actual supercharger unit is one of the last things to be installed, the instructions have you prepare the unit on the bench at this time. This includes installing the throttle body adapter, throttle body, heated PCV, and all gaskets. Speaking of which, all gaskets are included in the kit, or are reused from the original disassembly.

The intercooled RoushCharger kit includes higher flow fuel injectors and a cooler performance spark plug kit. To swap the injectors, simply flip the rail over, squeeze the injector lock rings, and pull the injectors out of the rail. The new injectors will drop right in with a drop of lubricant on the injector O-ring, but we had to carefully make a little clearance groove on each injector to center the original injector lock rings. It wasn't a big deal and only took a few minutes with a miniature file.

The Roush instructions have you install the intake manifold first and then attach everything to it under the hood. We felt it would be easier (and better for our backs) by assembling as much as we could on the bench. The fuel rail with new injectors, intercooler hoses and tubes, PCV hose kit, and vacuum lines have all been installed here. We've also carefully transferred our original intake manifold gaskets from our OE intake to the Roush version, using the provided replacement crush inserts.

The intake is carefully lowered into place over the heads and secured using the provided intake bolts in the kit. The TP sensor and ETC connectors will require elongation to reach their new location on top of the supercharger. This is accomplished by simply cutting open the main harness and relocating the connector's "tape out" position for added wire length, and then taping everything back up. We also placed the supercharger base gasket onto the intake at this time.