3.8 V8 351 W conversion

[Lankolf]

I have a manual 5 speed 6 cylinder 97' pony, all stock at the moment. It was a gift car from my best friend, who sold it to me for 2500, even when other people were offering him 3500, so it has a great deal of sentimental value to me. The engine is starting to go down hill, and with 125,000 miles on it, I think I'm ready to put something worthy of the name "Mustang" in it. (i.e. v8) I've been looking around for a decent priced 4.6, but I'm not liking the price as much as I am the Windsor engines. Is it possible to fit a Windsor engine in my car with any effectiveness, or should I stick with the 4.6 plan? I really don't want to deal with the computer and alternator of a 4.6, will a Windsor bolt in easy, or will it take a great deal of fabrication to make my pony run with a Windsor underneath the hood? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, however the "trade it in for a GT" theory is out of the window for me. Like I said, this car means a great deal to me. I'll take my time if I need to, save my money.

 

[AP1995V6]

Tons of money for tons of parts.

Go to Sorscode.com to see a list of things needed for a 302 swap. Then go to the 5.0 forums and look at the list of things needed to go from 302 to 351.

To do it right, you're probably looking around $15k. Atleast that's the minimum I've figured for what I'm doing.

 

[Lankolf]

Thanks for the reply.

15K? That dosn't sound too bad, as long as I take it slow and don't spend all I've got at once. I was thinking of buying a longblock off ebay, ready to drop in and then work from there. If I don't use fuel injection and I stick to a carb, do you think I could possibly reduce price for a short term solution. I want to be able to drive the car in between my moments of upgrading, but maybe that's just too much to expect. That's the biggest reason I'm asking here I suppose ;P

 

[AP1995V6]

If you want carb, go with carb. If you eventually want fuel injection, be patient and wait for fuel injection.

I really want a dart aluminum 427 with a viper spec t-56 and all the appropriate supporting parts so my budget will definitely be way over 15k for that. I'll have to see how the job market looks once I get out of college and such.

But really. Take it slow, and do things right the first time around. Wanting to put in a 351 is a huge financial and time investment so patience should be exercised.

If you don't get stand alone for FI, Justin from superchips (I think, it's been awhile since I talked to him) suggested using a computer from a 98+ Ranger. Those units can have chips burned like that of GM eec (v6 to v8 and auto to manual programs and it also has more parameters).

 

[Lankolf]

Pateince is going to be my middle name when it comes to this car, I think I'll live with a 3.8 for a while and invest first in brakes, then in suspension, then in the base engine, then in the performance of the engine. Does that sound like a reasonable manner of approching the task? For now I think I'll keep it simple and go with a carb, but I'll definatly keep the Ranger ECU in mind for my future plans. What year of Ranger should I use, or does it matter? And of course, as always thank you very much for your responce.

 

[AP1995V6]

That's what I'm doing. Building up everything around the engine first. The car is my daily driver so I really can't afford to have it sitting in the garage engineless at the moment.

Brakes are next on my list, actually.

I'm pretty sure the guy suggested a computer from a 98+ Ranger.

 

[S351R"Animal"]

You'll actually need a computer form a 96 Bronco for the conversion. There are alot of mods. Alos, I see that you are in Colorado. I believe you guys have emissions testing. If so you will have to go FI. It isn't that bad of a swap. While on a budget find a motor out of a 94-95 Ford Lightning truck. Then start buying swap parts for a 94-95 Mustang GT. The wiring will be the tricky part. You have to modify the harness some.

 

[AP1995V6]

You'll actually need a computer form a 96 Bronco for the conversion. There are alot of mods. Alos, I see that you are in Colorado. I believe you guys have emissions testing. If so you will have to go FI. It isn't that bad of a swap. While on a budget find a motor out of a 94-95 Ford Lightning truck. Then start buying swap parts for a 94-95 Mustang GT. The wiring will be the tricky part. You have to modify the harness some.

This guy definitely knows his 351s.

Check out the Saleen forum some time. And his signature

 

[Lankolf]

Thanks for all the help you guys.