@Robert LaPointe Why does Ford and GM have exponentially more wins in Nascar, Nastruck, NHRA, off road truck racing, ect? Is because Dodge feels SOOOOOO bad for Ford and GM that they let them win time and time again? Oh yeah, aren't they owned by Fiat now? One of the worst reliability ratings an auto manufacturer can get!
My first car was a black 94 lightning. I absolutely loved that truck. One day while I was driving and minding my own business, I was hit by a driver who ran a red light. Totaled the truck, but I walked without a scratch. I parted the truck out and now the drivetrain is in a Country Squire Wagon somewhere in Michigan and the body panels that were still good went to fix another lightning. Hopefully one day I’ll drive one again.
I guess that it didn't possibly save your life it did save your life because you are here today even though it may have not been really really bad but some people die in some accidents that leave you scratching your head wondering how in the hell did they die in such a minor fender bender but it happens but that's when Ford was still "tough" too , at least she still lives on some what anyway kind of like some poor soul that has gotten killed somehow early in their life and ended up helping some other poor soul that was in dire need of a heart and another one needing a kidney or whatever so its like they are still around kind of so lol if you catch my drift
The transmission in the Ford is not an E40D (ee forty dee), it's an E4OD (ee four oh dee). As in, Electronic shift, 4 speed, OverDrive. Just a little FYI. :)
The poor horsepower/torque specs were not due to GM's design, but directly due to EPA regulators. The engineering knowledge base and technology simply was not up to the level of what the EPA was mandating at the time. Kinda like when they first started mandating EGR and DPF's on diesel trucks. They were horrible when first introduced. While they still aren't a perfect system, they have gotten better and will continue to do so as the technology advances. They should have compared a '93 SS with the '94 Lightning though. Much better comparison as most all trucks get better and better every few years. It doesn't make sense to compare a truck that is 4 years older than the one your comparing it too. Might as well compare a brand new Civic R to a 1978 Camaro. Complete waste of time by these two morons!
@@randomprojectsusa5196 The supercharged Lighting didn't show up until '99. That's an eternity when it comes to engine tech advances. Again, they were comparing early 90's naturally aspirated trucks.
All anyone can do is grind away the shame.. you know it's a crap weld when the evidence is just looking you back in the face.. metal holding hands Not a Weld..
@@AtZero138 heh I would say most of my work is just holding hands. Says a lot about the previous owner when they don't even bother clipping that wire though :)
I remember seeing it. I had a 1994 Chevy Cheyenne 1500 as my first vehicle. It only had the 4.3 and I wanted a 454SS in the worst way. Seeing this episode and how easily that truck in the show laid rubber didn't help that any lol
Also 290-300 torque from a package that was all but choked to death by emissions regulations. Let that engine breath and you'd see all three numbers increase
I bought a 454SS new in ‘90 and just by changing the factory air cleaner to a 5” open element along with the Edelbrock intake made a huge difference. Then I changed out the factory y-pipe to the ‘92 SS dual y-pipe with cats and true duals our back completely transformed that truck. Intake and exhaust is choking that big block and you’ll see when you get into it .
My dad had a 454 SS. I'm not a truck guy, but I liked that truck. Lot of torque, decent handling for a truck of that time. I always imagined he'd give it to me one day, but someone stole it.
@@lenagdyfigpkhhmossuto9623 And for EPA reasons, they still were limited on what they were allowed to put out hp wise. And car manufacturers just weren't there yet with having a high horsepower fuel injected engines priced for the masses, with low enough emissions to pass the federal regulations. All while getting decent fuel mileage. Fuel injection by the times these trucks were produced had only really been widespread available for 8-10 years. They had along ways to go to get them were they needed to be.
@@drewinhou You have no idea what your talking about. Fuel injection had been around since the late 70's. The Eldorado was not only fuel injected but front wheel drive. Camaro's and Monte Carlo's in the 80's you could get with a fuel injected 305.
Lmao these are both bone stock trucks with around 100,000 miles on them,at this point who cares,wait and see what happens when the 454 gets properly set up,and the Ford small block gets the same the 454 will destroy the sbf! I remember both trucks when they came out,Ford never could keep up back then!
@@BUILTFORDTOUGH79 Ford didn't take anything over, where do you fellas get this crap from? The 90s LT1s killed 302 Fords,then the LS1 came out and the rest is history, the only fast Fords back then needed help with nitrous or boost,they never could keep up NA!
Geez this episode takes me back, I remember watching this a long time ago, on Spike TV! PowerBlock is probably one of the many reasons why I work on cars professionally now! 👨🏼🔧
It wasn't about balls, they did the best they could given the limitations of the time. That was (sadly) as much power as they could coax out of the old big block and still meet 1990 emissions laws. ALL cars were dogs in the 80's and 90's, as manufacturers hadn't yet figured out how to meet emissions without de-tuning their engines beyond all reason.
Big blocks from both companies were pooches in that era.. emissions killed alot of power in the 90s.. as far as the chevy looks better, I suppose it's in the eye of the beholder.. but as I wrote in another post I've owned both trucks and both were black, the lightning got more looks than the Chevy.. so you can like which ever.. in my personal opinion the 78-79 fords and box Chevys of the same era kick both their assis
2:49 "Kick a few Syclones to the curb." Lmao. Anyone who calls themselves a car guy and doesn't know that the Syclone was the quickest vehicle in 1990 famously gapping a Ferrari in a drag race.
My buddy has a f250 with a 460 and dual tanks he uses the secondary tank every three days due to it sucking on gas luckily he just bought a 2.2 s10 for a daily
Steven Lindsey Your Corolla is almost 20 years newer obviously it’s gonna have more power. Everyone knows American v8s struggled to make good power after the Emission laws took place. If you were to carburetor/head swap that 454. It would be making at least 400 hp to the wheels.
Steven Lindsey Yeah if you want to make more then 500 hp to the wheels. There’s plenty of low compression 454’s making mid 400 hp with just a top end swap. All depends on your build.
That’s because these truck/car shows continue to follow a rubric that predates even the 90s you think it represents. I prefer it, especially when alternatives are essentially absurd reality TV shows.
Well TBi Vs multiport. 🤷♂️ off course the multiport runs better. just check the Vortec 454 to see the gain in power. Even the 5.7 Vortec(96-01) is making lots better.
GM TBI from '88-95 were junk. Run forever and start right up but NOT even close to performance engines, not even a decent platform. I had a '94 GMC Sierra K1500 4x4 with TBI 350, lifted with 35s. A guy I worked with had a heavier Chevy Tahoe, 1996 K1500 with Vortec 350, same lift, same size tires and he would smoke me every time. Nice truck, clean, cool body style but no power. Now a days you can get those LS3 E-Rod crate engines designed to pass CA emission/smog and have 400+ horsepower.
Very true. TBI trucks absolutely suck for any kind of performance. Besides, Ford did a way better job in matching parts. All Chevy did was take the big block from the 1 ton and put it in a half ton. It is the same engine out of the 1 ton.
Gm's TBI was rock solid, well designed, and one of the first of it's kind. They were (back then anyway) trying to make the most dependable truck you could by.. and one of the reasons GMT400 trucks are one of the best Chevy Truck runs in history.
Back in 2010 I bought a used 1994 F150 Lightning for $4,500 I put about $1,500 into the truck. New rear tires, new shocks , new parking brake cabel, new Lightning Decals, new plugs , wires, rotor and cap, new vale cover gasket, bought a complete used Bassani equal length shorter headers exhaust system. Had the headers power coated black. Recondition the engine bay and some engine components, new radiator, sway bar links. Went to the auto recycling to get a decent radiator core support to recondition ( the one in the truck was rotten at the bottom) a completed jack and a better coolant/windshield washer tank, new fog lamps, new rubber channels for the door windows. It was a fun truck that got about 10 miles to a gallon of gas. Sold the truck in fall of 2012 for the same amount that I bought it for.
@@chefderappa4838 LMC Truck saved me a lot of money the hardware to mount the reconditioned radiator core support was about $150, the dealer parts department was around $300. Also RockAuto was a big money saver. The owner of the Auto Salvage yard is a friend so any parts that I bought from him I got a killer deal on them.
A friend of mine had a red Lightening just like this one,he did some mods on it including a Paxton Supercharger which made it a real drag racing machine,the only other truck that could touch him at the local track was a Dodge RumbleBee. One of them would win one week and the other the next week. Both of them would run the quarter mile in the mid to high 13 second range. That Lightening would plant you in the seat at wide open throttle
That man that ran that show was a real man! Think about most of us man used to wake up early sunday morning as we are used to waking up M-F for work. And knows about our daily routine, work and work on cars... this man is a real business man. Great shows.
O no shit, the syclone didn't even weight 4000lb it was all wheel drive backed up with a 4.3 Turbo'd engine that was a little truck that got a reputation for smokin Ferraris in the 90s what's a lighting and a 454!? Ya know!👌
And neither truck really changed the years they were made. There really isnt any difference between a 93-95 lightning except 94 later blocks were roller cam ready...
@303StreetMachines been fords go to since then. Just slap a supercharger on everything because our motors can't compete with the modern marvel that is the LS series motors.
My grandpa daily drove a lightning when I was a kid as a daily driver. I literally watched him use it to haul hay. I’m not a ford guy but there is a certain amount of nostalgia I get when I see a lightning.
@Robert LaPointe the current 10 speed that Ford and Chevy share is great, it shifts faster than any person could and because of the amount of gears it gets better gas milage and accelerates faster than a 5 speed manual could.
@@noelmedina6925 while all that is true, it's also a hell of a lot more expensive. A simple clutch is a damn sight cheaper to replace than those shift packs. I WISH my '93 had an NV4500.
Because of a high demand for pick up trucks in the US, I think Ford and GM should bring back these two iconic muscle trucks for young truck buyers (who want to haul a*s rather than payload). Same goes with Ram. They need to take this opportunity ASAP before we switch over to electric cars in the future.
This was in my era too. I had a 1994 Dodge Dakota sport with a 318 and 5 speed manual trans. These 2 trucks got to see my taillights on a regular basis.
I knew a guy with a 5sp 318 Dakota reg cab around '99. He embarrassed a couple of 5.9 rt Dakotas at the track. Those were some. >R< eal. >T< urds back then
Ive owned both trucks.. the lighting kicked the crap out of the ss.. but tons of performance parts out for the 454 and the 351w so both can be a great truck.. but personally ill choose the lighting everytime it was just a better platform..
I've seen middle school kids who can weld better than that. Love the trucks. Grew up in the 80's and 90's and I love trucks. My 91 GMC stepside I'm building to be a muscle truck. I have taken off all the chrome (mirrors, grille, bumpers) and put on the 454 SS mirrors, color matched front bumper, roll pan in the rear, took off the emblems and rubber trim. Just painted it all fresh dark gray last summer. Needs a drop and some wheels now. It has no cats, EGR delete, K&N filter, injector pod spacer, Hypertech "salad bowl", 3" flowmaster 40 series dumped, B&M shift kit (chirps second easily), timing advanced at the distributor, 180 degree t-stat, and electric fan. Would love some 4.10 gears and Detroit true trac.
I got the black ford lightning in 93 off the show room floor first day I saw it.. went in for a 4 wheel drive pickup in January..upstate New York.. saw the Black Death sitting inside.. salesman said wanna drive it.. well hell yes..drove it like it was built to do.. man it was a blast .. I mostly loved how well it stuck to the road . It was like a slot car with both gas tanks filled. So yes when I returned to the dealer I got Black Death that day . The smiles on my face driving her home .. I lived 10 miles away..think I got home 6-7 hrs later.. OH yes the Long Way home.. lol
@@breimer87 yeah I commented that before they got to the rest of the exhaust😂 sad to say I was welding 5 x better than this before I was even in highschool. Built my own exhaust for my f150 when I was 17 and all we had was a oxy acetylene torch and a stick welder from the ww2 era. Hell I even took two sections of pipe and pie cut then with a sawzall , welded them back together and made a large cowbell exhaust tip.even made the thing shoot flames with some primary wire, a switch, and old coil,and spark plug. I couldn't even imagine kids these days doing any of that.They are too busy with their fortnite, or whatever game is out lol
"Wide open throttle " the most American sounding song with all the potential for greatness lol i didn't know i needed a 454 ss tell this video thanks -Trucks!
Obviously you've never driven a Lightning, if you had of, you would know that the statement you just made is wrong. The 1st gen Lightnings were nice trucks, and the 2nd gen ones were even faster. My 2000 Lightning ran mid 9's in the quarter on street tires and pump gas, it also wasn't stock. To get those numbers I installed aJohhny Lighnting 8 lb lower pulley with belt, 92mm throttle body, an Anderson Motorsports Cold air kit, K&N air filter, Yellow top Optima battery, a transmission shift kit, a superchips chip with multiple programs that were fine tuned on the dyno and tweaked after drag strip runs, replaced the factory mufflers with Spintech mufflers and a Cervini fiberglass (functional) Ram Air hood.
@@Lightning546 I was referring to a stock first gen lightning vs. a stock syclone. I'm well aware of how fast the blown lightnings can be with a few mods.
Man ... lighting was legends that you would read about more than see on the road ... the 454 SS I would see othen... both are amazing trucks to see when i was growing up! I would take the lighting if I had option.
@@thatquick429 Who said anything about a vehicle. I said he "should have HIS emissions checked'. Sounds to me like you should consider the same treatment.
I miss this truck.. Had a red 93 lightning back in 2003.. Surprised a lot of people at the light with those 4:10 gears.. My cousin had a ram SS/T 1998 .. Always a battle.
