Back up and running after about 4 months! (pics)

The story...

Back before last Haloween my car started making some weird noises that sounded like a knock and increased w/ RPM. Well as it turns out the dipstick was very inaccurate and showed full when the oil level was at about 1qt.

Needless to say it spun a rod bearing.

I drove it like that until early July...during that process 4th gear on my T45 decided it was done.

After scrounging up the money I bought a t3650 from a member in these classifieds from his 03 Mach 1 w/ less than 30k on it. Soon after, I bought a rebuild kit for my engine and began the teardown...

This process took a long time due to only being able to work on it on weekends so after a few weeks it turned out that the crank was not serviceable, and the cast for rods etc was more than it was worth...

I went junkyard shopping and found a 4.6 from a Grand Marquis w/ only 20k on it for $800. I jumped on that. I had to swap over a few things from my 00 engine but w/ both of them out of the car it was actually really fun.

Now getting everything back into the car...not so fun.

Worst parts of project...

1. Getting tranny back onto engine
2. getting last power steering bolt back in.
3. multiple trips to parts store
4. scratching my head for 45 minutes trying to make sense of Haynes manuals INCORRECT serp belt routing

Highlights...

1. disassembling the engine (very interesting)
2. prepping new engine for install
3. putting final touches on knowing I was almost done
4. Cranking it! (So scary too)

anyway here are the pics of it today about 300 miles later:

Yes. manuevering subs into that trunk is annoying...Just not diggin any of the enclosures available for our cars

yea I know about the springs...I wasn't about to spend $ on springs though before the drivetrain itself was in order.

As far as the engine being from a Mercury...its identical. I mean the valve covers are BARELY different...but that's about it.

The shift knob is from an 05+ Stock mustang. I love it. so much better than the ghey chrome one the previous owner had.

well to answer the first remark...yes definitely alot cheaper than an engine from a Stang.

As far as the differences of the compression and cams...I don't THINK there are any, but I'm not sure. I can tell you it runs just as strong and quick as my original setup, if not better.

On the outside: the oil pan from my 00 was used...the water pump...the tube attached to the water pump should have been swapped from mine...the lower coolant outlant is at a different angle...oil pickup tube is too long for stang pan so I changed that too...and the throttle body setup...that's truly it.