3.8l V6 Questions

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

9

Fountain, Colorado

Apr 2, 2014

#1

• Apr 2, 2014

• #1

Hey all, i have a 3.8l V6 that im gonna be building a twin turbo setup for my Mustang. Guy said it came out of an 87 Mustang, but for $75 i didnt say anything. Sooo, its an 87 Tbird 3.8.
Question: will a newer 3.8 Bellhousing fit on it since they did all these changes to the engine in '88?
2: could i put the newer better flowing heads on and still keep the CPI intake?
3: I got told that the best turbos would be 2.3l Turbocoupe/Mustang turbos, or buick GN turbos? which would be best? going to run ~8-10lbs boost.
cant find much on the CPI 3.8s out there.

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

9

Fountain, Colorado

Apr 2, 2014

#2

• Apr 2, 2014

• #2

the real question is: why not?

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

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Fountain, Colorado

Apr 2, 2014

#3

• Apr 2, 2014

• #3

im gonna stick with why not? its because i want to do it, and i can do it.

 

94Blue302GT

Member

Oct 20, 2003

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Chicago

Apr 3, 2014

#4

• Apr 3, 2014

• #4

Go for it!
I love built 3.8's!
Sounds like you probably know more about the CPI stuff and differences between years than most people on here anyways.
You won't know until you try, and the 3.8 parts are easy to work with, and easy to come by.
Without turbo's, and a budget type of build, what kinda power does that 3.8 put down?

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

9

Fountain, Colorado

Apr 3, 2014

#5

• Apr 3, 2014

• #5

its unique, nobody has a 3.8tt in a 67 Mustang gonna do it

a standard 3.8 in '87 put down approx 120 horse and 205lbs stock. pre-88, you can get a "lumpy" cam, port and polish, probably mill the heads .020 to bump compression. rough guess, thats$700-800 if you DIY the port and polish, so thats reasonable budget. Power estimates are 160ish hp, 250ish torque.

turbo build- port polish, cam, forged internals, tuned megasquirt and the twin turbos. $2kish. but those numbers will easily double if done right.

thing is, IF the 94+ heads will bolt to the -87 blocks, i can get as much/more power than a port/polish. but the intake may not be the same, and they made MAJOR changes on the block after 88, not much interchanges from what i understand. dont wanna spend $300 on heads that dont work, ya know?

 

Last edited: Apr 3, 2014

94Blue302GT

Member

Oct 20, 2003

704

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Chicago

Apr 3, 2014

#6

• Apr 3, 2014

• #6

I would be surprised that the 3.8 changed so much that the heads and intakes wouldn't be swappable.
So the early 90's 3.8's sound like they would be a better starting point, why start with the older ones?

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

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Fountain, Colorado

Apr 3, 2014

#7

• Apr 3, 2014

• #7

cant beat a $75 engine. lol
otherwise i would have gone with the 01-04 or the Supercoupe engine. but hey, its a testing ground i guess.
from everything i read, the 88 changed to internal balance, roller cam, the such. and full EFI, im not confident on that yet.
i guess i could hit the local Upull and suck up $60 bucks. but i want to keep the CPI, its supposed to respond better to boost.

gonna grab a manual flywheel while im at it.

 

rbohm

Founding Member

Apr 12, 2002

6,698

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tucson,az

Apr 3, 2014

#8

• Apr 3, 2014

• #8

here are a couple of articles on the 3.8/4.2 essex V6 that you might want to read;

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=144269

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=141039

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=6680

 

Reactions: ColinMAC

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

9

Fountain, Colorado

Apr 3, 2014

#9

• Apr 3, 2014

• #9

rbohm said:

here are a couple of articles on the 3.8/4.2 essex V6 that you might want to read;

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=144269

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=141039

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=6680

Click to expand...

those links helped a ton! i was considering the 4.2 crank swapped in, since the bearing journals are not the same, that helps. by the looks of it, the '88+ heads wont work either because of the injectors placed directly into the head. so i gotta work with what i got here.

 

rbohm

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tucson,az

Apr 3, 2014

#10

• Apr 3, 2014

• #10

ColinMAC said:

those links helped a ton! i was considering the 4.2 crank swapped in, since the bearing journals are not the same, that helps. by the looks of it, the '88+ heads wont work either because of the injectors placed directly into the head. so i gotta work with what i got here.

Click to expand...

actually everything interchanges between all 3.8s and 4.2s. in fact they are the same basic block. they use the same bell housing bolt patterns, which are the same as the push rod ford small blocks. you can even swap on the split port heads from the later engines onto your 88 block.

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

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Fountain, Colorado

Apr 3, 2014

#11

• Apr 3, 2014

• #11

yeah, they all had the late windsor pattern. i have an 87 block, that first link stated that the injectors were in the heads from 88 up. i could theoretically plug the injector bungs, but then id have to go with full EFI, which i want to keep the throttle body setup. im not ready to go that route yet. im in foreign water with this CPI deal

 

ColinMAC

Member

Apr 2, 2014

58

5

9

Fountain, Colorado

Apr 3, 2014

#12

• Apr 3, 2014

• #12

i mean, dont get me wrong. i would LOVE the split port intake. i had an SVT, larger secondaries, CAI, catbacks, superchipped, thing hauled. i LOVE that, but dang it, just aint in the budget right yet