anything to watch out for when buying a 4cyl conversion?

[cb18201]

i might buy a 93 that was converted to a 306, it is in mint condition with black interior, but is there anything special i should watch out for? is the manual tranny the same on a 4cyl as on a 5.0? and how can i tell the difference between a 4cyl rear end an the 5.0 rear? also all the computer and wiring for a converison, is it alot to hook up or can it be messed up easily? is there any real difference bewteen the 4cyl chassis an the 5.0 chassis or anything that could break if it wsant replaced? thanks

 

[DropTopR]

There is a quite of bit difference in the car, but I can't tell you all of them. But if the person who did the swap was smart, they would have gotten the engine harness out of the same year 5.0, cuz then it would just plug into the chassis harness. The 4 banger tranny is not the same as the 5.0. It will work, but probably not hold up. And the 4 banger rear end has a lot smaller center section, or diff. I personally did the swap, but had a complete parts car next to it. To look at mine, it looks factory. So, if it looks good, and the car runs well, then I'd say go for it.

 

[89MustangGX]

The chassis is the same, however the brakes and alot of the suspension is different as well.

 

[saleenx029]

Ahh, my specialty, I am almost finished swapping a 93 5.0 into a 92 convertible 4 cyl (about to drop in the motor). The rear end to the 4 cyl is a 7.5 and is very weak; don't do lotsa burnouts and you will be fine, but the 8.8 is the much better route. The 7.5 is flat on top and bottom and rounded on the sides when looking at the pumpkin, the 8.8 is rounded all the way around. The front brakes are bigger for a v-8, the brakes will look noticeably small if they are the 4 cyl brakes, especially with 5 liter rims (16 in ponys) it will be noticeable. Now, if the guy has a 4 cyl tranny mated to a v-8 DO NOT BUY IT! The 4 cyl tranny can be rigged up to work but will ruin your motor. The imput shaft where the pilot bearing sits, is smaller on a 4 cyl trans and therefore will produce much play that will produce horrendous vibrations on a downshift and will eventually cause exessive crankshaft endplay from the tranny moving around so much. I even modified the pilot bearing and built a metal layer around it to take up the slack and it did not work. The motor soon failed from the main thrust bearing being destroyed, oil pressure died. Those are the main issues I believe cause anything else wrong and the car won't run I believe. Hope this helps.

 

[saleenx029]

Oh yeah the wiring is very straight forward as long as the years are close, it was plug and play for my 93 to 92 swap, There is nothing to splice or anything like that, the connecter can only plug into the correct place. I wouyld just test all the electronics to make sure everything works, and if something doesn't, then I would be suspicious.

 

[Ranchero5.0]

saleen, if the thrust bearing went out it was most likely because the 4 pot t5 is 1/4" longer vs the v8 version and you were bottoming out the input shaft.

I've done the conversion and it's pretty straight foreward, expect about 40 hours of lab or to do the swap and have a V8 car sitting next to the 4 car. As to buying a converted car I have to ask why and how much?

Jamie

 

[cb18201]

well i want to buy it but i cant get anyone to do a carfax for me, i have to see that first to make sure its clean. if anyone can the vin is: 1FACP41M4PF120351

thanks

 

[88stangmangt]

make sure it doesnt have a v-6 in it.

 

[84blkstang]

Now about the 4 cyl tranny, when i did my conversion i bought a different pilot bearing for the tranny but fit in my crank i dont remember what car it is out of, anyways the tranny has held up to everything i have put it through and keeps going everyday.

 

[cb18201]

well this car i wanna buy has a 306 with an e-303 cam, stock ported an polished heads, cobra intake manifolds,24lb injectors, cobra computer and mass air sensor kit,65mm throttle body and egr, 8.8 rear and t5 tranny, full length headers, off road h-pipe, flowmaster catback, gt brakes with slotted rotors,smog and a/c delete, its midnight blue with all cobra ground effects and the stalker front bumper, has chrome cobra wheels, full black interior that is mint. i got him down to $4800 or he said he would take $5000 and throw in drag springs for the back, shorty headers, and the stock h-pipe. all the work and conversion was done by a shop and he has all the reciepts for pretty much everything. think its a good deal?

 

[cenok is family]

Wow, i havent been on here in a long time. Anyways, if it's as nice as it sounds and as you say it is, $5000 doesnt sound too bad. I'm STILL in the middle of doing the conversion myself...have it checked out and go for it if it sounds good.

 

[saleenx029]

Ok I keep seeing these guys who have swapped 4 cyl trannies into 5 ohs and are somehow making it work. What is the magic pilot bearing size, that is the key. No pilot bearing I have found will work and I tried many. Nobody seems to know what size, but you all say it works, well I am holding in my hand right now, a 4 cyl trans imput shaft and a v-8 imput shaft and the v-8 is obviously thicker diameter tip and it is not longer, they are the exact same lengths, even at the tip where the bearing goes. Maybe I have a weird 4 cyl trans, mine is and 86, and I also have a 88 I am going to go look at in the garage after I dig it out, but even if the imput shaft is a 1/4 longer how are you guys making it work?

 

[84blkstang]

Mine just bolted straight in, i wanna say it was out of a Ford Escort, but dont quote me on that. i had a pic of the t-5's side by side (cpu crashed) everything was the same visually except the output shaft which was visually smaller in diameter, but the same length. I am digging through my hundereds of reciepts to try and find the part number i will post if i find it.

 

[orangecapri]

Sorry for bringing up an old thread, but I thought id help out. I work at autozone and just did put a 4cyl. t5 in mine since my t5 was going out big time. It made so much noise it wasnt even funny. I picked the 4 cyl. tranny up for $60 and it had no play in it basically at all. Probably had very low miles. It was out of an 83 turbo coupe thunderbird. Anyways if you go to autozone, ask for a pilot bushing for a turbocoupe thunderbird or another 2.3 car. You cant just use the pilot bearing, buy the bushing for it, Slide right in place of the old pilot bearing the 5.0 uses and fits the 4cyl. input shaft very snug. I have no noise whatsoever now and it shifts and drives better then ever now.