Engine 1987 5.0 AOD hatchback, weird cylinder heads/ spark plugs question

Vulpes5.0

5 Year Member
Nov 17, 2018
141
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Warner Robins, Georgia
I'm wondering if the cylinder heads are stock on my mustang, or if i just had an off-year or something. I went to buy some spark plugs and the motorcraft ones that i got for my model year didn't even screw into my car. The spark plugs i took out were Autolite 2545, and i went ahead and bought some knowing they'd fit. They look different than the ones that "belong" in my car, with the motorcraft plugs having no distance between the thread and the electrode while the autolite plugs have roughly 1/4 inch of space. I tried cross referencing to find what heads or what might belong but i came up with nothing. This isn't an important issue but it's puzzling me and I'd like to know what I'm working with.

Edit- VIN is 1FABP42E5HF250403 if that may help
 
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Photo of heads? Specifically any markings on the edges near the lower bolts?
I can't quite see anything to distinguish them honestly. my car's back end is up because im dropping the fuel tank, so i cant get under the front. on the driver's side front most edge of the head, there's an "L" and on the passenger's, there's an S in the same spot. the person before me did lots of weird junk like a smog pump "delete" and a ram air system through the fog light hole, so i have no idea what hasn't been gone through
 
S is typically an identifier. The letters are located pass side front, or driver's side rear.

S= E6SE heads
T = E7TE heads
GT = GT40 heads
GTP = Gt40P heads

Checking rockauto, it appears Autolite 2545 is the plug for the e6te head.

E6SE heads were found on 1986 Mustang 5.0L engines, and 87+ NON-HO 5.0 applications. They were used on cars like the thunderbird, crown vic, town car, cougar. The Mustang got E7 heads in 1987.

Very common to find non-ho engines swapped into these cars when original motor goes south. You should confirm what other parts are on the engine as there are some major differences as well as lower HP output. Biggest difference is cam firing order so you'll want to confirm what yours is. It IS possible to convert the non-HO motors to HO, but the 1986 Mustang motor was already a HO motor with 10# injectors and correct cam.

basically you need to dig further into IDing what you have
 
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S is typically an identifier. The letters are located pass side front, or driver's side rear.

S= E6SE heads
T = E7TE heads
GT = GT40 heads
GTP = Gt40P heads

Checking rockauto, it appears Autolite 2545 is the plug for the e6te head.

E6SE heads were found on 1986 Mustang 5.0L engines, and 87+ NON-HO 5.0 applications. They were used on cars like the thunderbird, crown vic, town car, cougar. The Mustang got E7 heads in 1987.

Very common to find non-ho engines swapped into these cars when original motor goes south. You should confirm what other parts are on the engine as there are some major differences as well as lower HP output. Biggest difference is cam firing order so you'll want to confirm what yours is. It IS possible to convert the non-HO motors to HO, but the 1986 Mustang motor was already a HO motor with 10# injectors and correct cam.

basically you need to dig further into IDing what you have
Where should i begin? I like to pretend i know what im doing, but I'm incredibly new to cars in general, and I'm struggling to figure out what i have because i figured most of the car was stock. the guy before me did all kinds of weird junk. fake coil induction hood, 302 badges hastily glued on, random white paint plastered in odd places, he even put a manual shifter boot where the AOD one goes. I'd assume he wasn't exactly a fantastic mechanic because i was doing the spark plugs and a couple of them i could unscrew with just my fingers, so I would hope he didn't have the expertise to throw in a new engine. Where would i look for engine ID and stuff? should i get a Marti report?
 
I'd start a new thread asking to help id engine components and start posting pics. Many of us, myself included can ID items based on that

A marti report will tell you how the car was originally equipped, but before doing that post up a partial VIN to see if it was an original V8 car. Don't need the last 6 numbers just the beginning letter combos