ModularFords Ride of the Month Winner - MisterGadget
January 6, 2010 | Ride of the Month
One sweet truck accurately describes this ride! Matias, also known as MisterGadget out of Miami, built his Ford Lightning right in his garage. The project started as a dream of one of his dearest friends and fellow Lightning owner, VinnieP. Vinnie passed away before the project got underway, and for that reason, it’s affectionately dedicated to him. The build itself took nearly 3 years so I think it’s safe to say that Matias was very passionate about this project.
The truck was purchased brand new in 2003 after ordering it in late 2002. It spent the first few years of its life as the owner’s daily driver, and had the usual bolt-ons, intake, chip, pulley, exhaust, and eventually nitrous. With that combo the truck ran a best of 11.90@114 with the stock motor. That wasn’t quite enough for MisterGadget so he decided to take the performance to the next level.
Here are all the details on this Lightning. It has made 625rwhp on only 12psi, stay tuned for numbers and track times when the boost gets turned up!
Engine:
32v 5.4L built by Al Pappito
Iron Block
Manley Billet Rods
Diamond Pistons
Ford GT heads and valvetrain
Ford GT intake and Intercooler
Custom made intake hat designed by me
Moroso aluminum oil pan & transmission pan
Turbo System: Custom built turbo kit, designed by Matias, welded by a friend
Borg Warner S480 turbo with a custom 1.10 backhousing
5” downpipe, narrows down to 4” exhaust the whole way back
Turbosmart Pro-Gate 48mm wastegate
Turbosmart Race Port BOV
Turbosmart Eboost 2 boost controller
Supporting modifications:
Custom tuned by Torrie @ Unleashed Tuning with an SCT Livewire
Fore Performance fuel pump hanger with 3 Walbro 255 pumps
-10 feed line, -8 return
RPS Billet Fuel Filter
Wilson manifolds custom fuel rails
16 42-lb injectors (two per cylinder)
Aeromotive Regulator
OEM Ford GT ignition
Odyssey battery
High output alternator
Aluminum intercooler tank with Meziere pump in the bed
Racetested nitrous system
Factory tech valvebody
Dirty Dog Performance custom stall converter
Suspension/Brakes/Tires:
Front TCE Wilwood 4-piston big brake kit
Belltech front coils and rear leafs
Belltech shock extenders
Hotchkis Bilstein shocks
Hotchkis swaybars
Competition Engineering driveshaft loop
Competition Engineering endlinks
Competition engineering slide-a-link traction bars
Nitto NT555/555R’s street
Bogart racing wheels with slicks/skinnies setup for the track
Exterior/Appearance:
Bedrug
Sylvania Xenarc HID headlights
KC daylighter driving lamps behind the grill
LED taillamps
Yellow foglamps
White powercoated wheels
Custom twin 5” exhaust tips
Interior:
Bucket seats
Expedition console with custom lid
Alpine headunit, Boston Acoustics door speakers, PPI amp, two JL 10” subs
Fully dynomat covered
Autometer NV gauges
It took many people to make this project happen - special thanks to: Accelerated Race Technologies, Boss330 Racing, FastPartsNetwork, Mike Turbo, Race Parts Solutions, Spray It Racing, and VMP Tuning.
