Slowing Down a Lightning on Purpose

[95FordLightning]

I'm a new owner of a 1995 Lightning that I purchased for my son who is just starting to drive. Yeah, I know, I could have probably got him something a little slower. But he loves these trucks so much and I found a good deal on one with low mileage.

What I'm trying to figure out is what some ways might be to limit RPMs or the throttle or anything else to slow the truck down until he can get a little more experience and maturity. I checked with Hypertech to see if their chips will let you do anything like that and they said not for this old of a truck. My mechanic is looking at it now trying to come up with a solution. But I thought I'd see if any other Lightning owners knew of a way. Thanks for the help!

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

A mechanical stop under the gas pedal or on the throttle cable just before the throttle body or inside the throttle body (under the blade) just around 50% open could be relatively easy to craft and limit hp considerably.

Another option would be to tune the vehicle and put the rev limiter at 3500rpms if thats possible.

Lastly a very safe conservative tune with low timing and low a/f could sap a lot of power out of the truck.

Considering a tradition truck from the 90's had about 200hp, pulling timing and dropping the a/f to about 10.5/1 or so coupled with a 3500 or 4000rpm rev limit would effectively generate about 200hp or possibly less.

Sand bags in the bed for traction are still a must if you guys have snowy/icy roads and the torque will still be there so the efforts may be futile to an extent.

Best of luck

 

[WhiTriCobra]

Sounds good but what if it comes to a point where he needs to give it more gas to get out of the way or get hit by a car?? To many what if's when it comes to your kids driving. Just give him the rules, keep it strict, don't let him take it out past a certain time or stay out a certain time, let him know that friends and family knows the truck and that they will tell you if he drives fast or crazy. First ticket he gets, truck gets stored for a while and so on. It's hard not to get your son a cool vehicle to have but at the same time, you have to buy a vehicle that can limit him, even if it's not the coolest. My kids will get something that gets good gas mileage and good safety ratings. It could be a used honda accord...but..most kids are stoked just to get a vehicle to drive. As long as it's not a POS.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Most decent running trucks pull 16's, a 200hp lightning would pull 16's, that's enough power to get on on ramps and "evade" xyz but still low enough that you've gotta be in a wreckless mood to try and speed. When it takes an entirety to reach 90mph, you don't try to very often.

My opinion anyways, which is very likely flawed

 

[itSSlow98]

I cant imagine a stock first gen lightning being much of a handful.

 

[neatofrito1618]

240 hp in a truck that's probably 4,000 lbs+? That's really not much to write home about.

Any less power and I'd be worried about it not having enough ass to avoid any type of accident.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

240hp isn't all that much but there's a lot of torque and proper gearing, with a sportier suspension. Remember there's a first timer behind the wheel, toning it down a bit isn't a bad play call imho.

 

[spike_africa]

Just back the timing off and he will be fine. They aren't that quick.

 

[kevinatfms]

take him to a driving school. i did it when i was 16 and was the best way to understand the car/truck that you drive.

 

[RDJ]

take him to a driving school. i did it when i was 16 and was the best way to understand the car/truck that you drive.

No matter what route you take this should be top of the list. And the FIRST time he ****s up park the truck and get him a beater to drive till he is 18.

As a matter of fact buy a shit box and park it in your driveway SHOW Him what he will be driving if he ****s up, that should put the fear of God into him

Sent from my phone whilst taking a massive

 

[Frostonsvt]

Best Idea of the year - Make him pay for the gas theres a reason it has 2 fuel tanks . He will not even think about doing over 50 after the first trip to the gas station

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

Make him pay insurance as well.

Have it on your policy so the rates lower but have him pay it monthly to you. Probably $80/mo?? That plus ~$200 gas per month will go a ways in showing him the cost and respect of a vehicle

 

[fknsmshn]

I think the avoiding collision argument is BS. If your kid is pulling out in front of cars close enough that he needs extra power to get outa the way, then he doesnt need to be on the road at all.

One thing to think about too, is if your kid is very mechanical then anything you bolt on can be unbolted. My dad and brother went rounds for years on the same issue. My dad would put somethin on the truck, and itd be in the garbage can in under an hour.

 

[tt335ci03cobra]

I don't wanna step on toes but I think the best mod here would be the parent mod. Driver/mechanical/etc will only go so far.

This is something your gonna have to ask yourself: do you trust him driving that truck? If not, parent mod would be keep him outta it. It's a hard call and I don't know either of ya but that's really what it'll come down to in the end.

Good luck and best wishes no matter which choices you take; safety and good luck!

 

[Willy Mo]

idk about you all but my first gen is quite fun to drive. These trucks love a little timing. so it you bump it down to 8* base timing it will take some pep out of it. But the fuel mileage alone would be enough to keep my foot outta it if i were 16.

 

[selbyvince]

Make him pay insurance as well.

Have it on your policy so the rates lower but have him pay it monthly to you. Probably $80/mo?? That plus ~$200 gas per month will go a ways in showing him the cost and respect of a vehicle

idk when i was 16, i had to buy my first truck, pay gas, and insurance lol.. i bought the truck for 3500 in which i had to pay on every pay check (every two weeks) my insurance was 180 a month, and well the gas wasnt that bad. it was a single cab 4 cyl 5 speed 2000 s10. i know thats not the case, but i learned a lot by having to do this. that was the best thing for me and im glad i had to do it even though i hated it then bc i was always broke! lol

 

[5.0Flareside]

im just gonna be flat out honest... you NEVER EVER should buy your kid a vehicle.. the kids need to learn what it's like to EARN vehicle.. Im 21 no and when i was 16 I started off with a 91 Toyota Camry $500 bucks.... wrecked it cause i didnt give a dam... that straightened me up...

i dont have an issue with parents fronting part of the money like less than 500 bucks if its a 1k dollar car... but no more than 500.... make them work for it..

these kids nowdays including my age are so used to getting stuff handed to them, that when they get into the workforce.. they dont wanna work.

 

[Swervedriver]

2.73 gears. It'll get better gas mileage too.

Retard the timing.

 

[Wabish]

I bought my dads 94 lightning from him when I turned 16. The first time I went to the pump to fill up both tanks it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 108 dollars and this was 5ish years ago. That made me want to keep my foot out of the throttle forever. The lightnings make their peak torque at about 3200 rpm so any kind of limiter would most likely still allow him to see every bit of that torque. Like others have said, the best way I think would be to make him realize he would have nothing (or a shitbox) to drive if he does anything out of line in the truck. Also, it doesn't hurt that the anemic 240 hp is pushing around a 4500lb truck, so that doesn't allow a whole lot of speed. I managed to never get a ticket in the 4 years I daily drove the truck.

I think he's got a great first vehicle. Make him take care of it, nice examples of these first gen lightnings are getting harder to find.

Good luck man.