5.8 EFI

farmboy89

New Member
Apr 8, 2007
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I would like to go to the junk yard and pull a 5.8 out of a pickup and put it in my 66 coupe, couple questions,

would it fit or should i just go 5.0?
What model, and year would it be the simplest to pull this out of?
should i take the motor mounts off with it?
will the 5.8 bolt up to my AOD (I thought i read where it would, not sure if the 5.8 was hooked up to a AOD)?
What all would i need if i found a complete ready to go engine besides the computer and the fuel pump?

I'm doing this on a budget, if not i would just get a 351w and bore and stroke it out, then put on a turbo, but I dont have the ability to spend that money right now.
 
I've got a 351w in my old stang, but it's a73. I'm not sure if you would have to modify your shock towers to drop the 5.8 in there or not. I know that you would need to get a modified cross member for that AOD, but I don't know if you would need to modify your transmission tunnel as well.

I was unable to find a suitable 351w EFI intake for my build. Our local yard suck, but regardless of that I would have needed a better intake than those found on the non lightning trucks for my high performance build. It's a lot easier to find budget performance parts for the 5.0. You could always do a 302 based stroker motor. It would get you closer to a 351's torque output with less weight.
 
351w fits just like a 302 would in that engine bay. No problems with shock towers etc. A good amount of people on this board run 351's in their early stangs. I'm gonna be one of them in a couple months. as far as what to look for I have no clue. I would say search online. You can find rebuilt 351w's for cheap.
 
From what I've heard, you need special swap headers. I believe it will all fit without modifying the body. The 5.8L is a 351w. The main difference between the early and late blocks is the roller cam. You can always swap to EFI later. You are going to need the wiring harness, ECU, intake, new fuel pump and you will need to run a return fuel line. Depending on what year setup you you get there could be other EFI related issues.

I would just grab the block and all the EFI stuff and start doing your homework on the EFI setups. I don't know if you can use a 5.0 ECU to run the 351w motors or not but if you can then you could use 5.0 intake manifolds with adaptors. This is kind of assnine and prone to leaks but it can be done that way.
 
Everything from a EFI 351W can be swapped in fairly easily. My only concern would be the hood clearance.

I just picked up a 351W block, from the casting numbers it came out of a '89 full sized car. The motor mounts are completely different than the mounts in my 70, so you can probably leave the mounts behind.
 
go with the shock tower mounts from an early (64.5-early 65) mustang, or the aftermarket mounts which will allow you to jiggle the engine around as you see fit. as far as the headers go, the hedman elite series fit really well. which even with the late 65 mounts will fit, although they are pretty tight (see my cardomain page for a pretty good picture) 289-302 headers are either going to come out of the head too far before they turn down, or as in the case of long tubes, will hit the floors, as the deck height on a 351 is 1" higher than a 302. also, stay away from long tubes with an aod, as the collector is going to hit the trans pan.