Engine swap for '96 GT

olred

olred

I loves a lovin' cousin
Oct 21, 2010
46
2
18
South Carolina
#1
I'm not sure where to put this, since it has to do with two different generations of Mustangs, but maybe some SN95 people can help me haha.

I have a '96 GT, the motor has over 350k neglectful miles (I've had the car a year and kept up with routine maintenance but it had a rough life before I got it so clearly the damage has already been done). It's nonpi, and at this point it would seem stupid to swap heads/cams/intake. I have a '68 302 Mexican block that I could build, however I'm reluctant to put an older engine in a newer car... Basically I just want yalls opinion, would you build the 302 and put it in the '96 or try to find a different engine? If you'd get something different, what would you put in it?

This car is my daily driver, but it doesn't see many miles and I rarely drive the car over 60mph. I basically just want it to be a badass daily driver that I can take to cruise ins and the drag strip occasionally. I don't want some over the top race car, but I want it to have more power than an everyday, typical sn95 gt. Gas mileage is not on my list of concerns. I have the ability and means necessary to build an engine for the car, I'm just not sure what exactly I should put in it for what I want out of it. Thanks for any help or advice, I'm still pretty green when it comes to all this. This wont be the first engine I've built, but it's my car so I don't have a clear cut path to follow.
 
#2
Im sure many people will voice there opinions but i'd say try and find a low mile PI engine and go from there. Even a NPI motor is fine. Finding the PI cams/heads and intake from a junkyard is always pretty easy and since you are buying a motor you can easily do the swap while its on a stand. Good luck! :nice:


BTW Nice paint dude
 
#4
apats77 said:
Im sure many people will voice there opinions but i'd say try and find a low mile PI engine and go from there. Even a NPI motor is fine. Finding the PI cams/heads and intake from a junkyard is always pretty easy and since you are buying a motor you can easily do the swap while its on a stand. Good luck! :nice:


BTW Nice paint dude
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Thanks! I'm leaning towards a PI engine, it would be easy and could probably even find someone to trade one for my 302. And the paint is horrible right now, just looks good in pictures haha and I'm a girl.

Why not keep the engine that you currently have? Give it a nice rebuild and while you are at it swap over some PI parts?
Click to expand...

I have to have something to drive while I build the engine haha. I know when I start putting the engine in the car I wont be able to drive it, but for that short of a time I'd be able to find a ride. I go to school all day, everyday. I figure it'd take me longer to build the engine than it normally would. My family has other cars I could drive, but my mama's insurance kicked me off and made her sign a paper saying I wouldn't drive any cars owned by her, so it's my car or no car.
 
#5
You can find cheap decent mile PI engines for cheap....id get one of those, slap on some basic bolt ons, put a tune in it,and gear it and call it a day...

Glad to see you posting in here recently....its been a while....oh and don't forget to lower it :p

Guess all the newbies that have joined don't know your a girl....better bust there balls a bit....oh and if what I said has already been said then im sorry, I just kinda skimmed over their answered since I have add
 
#6
Night Shifter said:
You can find cheap decent mile PI engines for cheap....id get one of those, slap on some basic bolt ons, put a tune in it,and gear it and call it a day...

Glad to see you posting in here recently....its been a while....oh and don't forget to lower it :p

Guess all the newbies that have joined don't know your a girl....better bust there balls a bit....oh and if what I said has already been said then im sorry, I just kinda skimmed over their answered since I have add
Click to expand...

haha thank you! I'm hopefully lowering it within the next couple weeks, I'm waiting on my MM c/c plates to come in, then idk if theres anything waiting in front of my car.
 
#7
Nice!!

Another thing to think of is going 3v swap...you can come across low mileage ones for around 1k...they bolt right in and you can use your 2v exhaust...there's a kit you can use to run the cobra twin throttle body so you wont have to run the 3v chitty drive by wire system and the only thing you'll need is a new tune to accommodate the 3v engine which saves you the hassle of finding a new computer...

If you go 3v then you can stay stock and be faster than most minor bolt on 2v cars
 
#8
wow Night Shifter, I just spent like 2hrs reading about how budget friendly a 3v swap can be.

I wonder where the clearance issue is on the stock hood though, I kinda like our stock hoods. If it is under the hood scoop, I wonder if you could cut it out and water proof the hell out of the scoop.

I also wonder about possible MPG gains.
 
#9
i read your mind lol...

i looked into 3v swaps a while back...they do require a cowl hood, but im not sure how much of a cowl is needed.. might be possible to fit under the stock hood if you took out the heat shield crap and removed some bracing :shrug:
 
#10
I wonder how nice a cammed 3v with CAI, pullies and full exhaust would perform in comparison to a 2v with a cheap centri.

Don't think the MPG would see that much of a boost, going from 16/22 to 17/26. Maybe you might see another 1-2 based on the SN95 being lighter.
 
#11
most bolt on, non cammed 3v's that i have dynod pull over 300hp...had a few on the dyno hitting 325 with long tubes....the ones with just a cai, tune, and pulleys usually pull about 285-290ish...if you get a 3v out of a 2010 you will see 290hp to the wheels completely stock all day long..so with less mods you'd be making way more power than the 2v

idk about mpg's though
 
#12
BlackArtemis said:
I wonder how nice a cammed 3v with CAI, pullies and full exhaust would perform in comparison to a 2v with a cheap centri.

Don't think the MPG would see that much of a boost, going from 16/22 to 17/26. Maybe you might see another 1-2 based on the SN95 being lighter.
Click to expand...

Cammed 3V engines with the FRPP intake and headers can easily lay down 330-340 rwhp. Will also make over 250 rwtq from 2500 - 6500 rpm with a tq peak of around 320 at 5000 rpms.

This is much better than a built 2v can do and keep in mind these numbers are based on a stock block with unported heads on a 3V car. For a 2V to get numbers like this it would need stage 3 ported heads, some nasty cams, 11:1 compression, run e85, and likely have the eddy intake revving to 7K. It also wouldn't have nearly as much area under the torque curve as the 3V engine has. With the money it would cost to build a stout 2V like I'm referring to, you're better off buying a salvage 2V PI engine and tossing on a supercharger.

If you're just looking for stock like driveability with an increase in power and mileage, like the others have said I'd look into getting a salvage PI 2V and just tossing it in. The swap is easy and parts are readily available.
 
#13
Hmmm, I kinda like the 3v swap idea, but I don't have the funds nor really the technical skills. But I can get the funds over time and I can always find people willing to help. But I am making a big move soon, sooooo this wouldn't be in the cars for a long time. But I would love to keep the stock hood. Maybe get a junk yard hood and do a test fit :shrug:
 
#15
Well, my paint is neglected from years of abuse. My front is peppered from lots of highway mileage, trucks kicked crap up and nicked the hell out of my paint.
On a return trip from Thailand I promptly forgot how to drive a LHD car and scrapped my passenger side a bit on my garage.
This year my 86yr old grand mother gave me a matching scrape on the driver side (we didn't tell her, no need for her to feel bad).
So I basically gave up washing the damn thing haha. I need to repaint it and a new hood/bumper really wouldn't add much on to the cost of all of that, but I want to use the stock hood for looks. I love the way the stock hood looks with an 99-01 cobra bumper and chin spoiler.
 
#16
BlackArtemis said:
Well, my paint is neglected from years of abuse. My front is peppered from lots of highway mileage, trucks kicked crap up and nicked the hell out of my paint.
On a return trip from Thailand I promptly forgot how to drive a LHD car and scrapped my passenger side a bit on my garage.
This year my 86yr old grand mother gave me a matching scrape on the driver side (we didn't tell her, no need for her to feel bad).
So I basically gave up washing the damn thing haha. I need to repaint it and a new hood/bumper really wouldn't add much on to the cost of all of that, but I want to use the stock hood for looks. I love the way the stock hood looks with an 99-01 cobra bumper and chin spoiler.
Click to expand...

My car's clear coat is donezo. If I'm going somewhere I'll wash my 20% of paint, but on a regular basis I don't give two :poo:s about it. I need to replace the rh fender, hood and front bumper (keeping it all stock, cause it looks bitchin). It's discouraging having a :poo:ty looking car especially since it's a rare color car and everybody notices it, but there's no way I can afford to repaint my car right now.
 
#17
I vote the PI 2v route. 3v swap would be cool but the 2v swap is the easiest and cheapest route for sure. I came real close to the 3v swap myself but I knew that I would not be keeping the car past 2011 so I bought a low mile 04' PI motor instead that cost 700 plus 100 for a core. Swap was a weekends work with my son. I also bought a SCT tuner and and custom tune from BAMA after the swap was done. You can always boost it later on down the road.
 
#19
Get 4v shortblock out of a rear wheel drive car and put pi heads and intake on it, it will make 280whp with all stock parts, and drive like stock, plus you lose 80lbs off the front of the car. Its about 12.1-1 compression, but it will run off 93 with no problems. I had about $600 in my teksid swap, and it would do 107-108mph in the 1/4 untuned. tuned i think it would have done 110 pretty easily. I got 25 mpg with it.

the beauty of this, is that anything you do to the car bolt on wise makes a huge difference.

The 3v swap is cool, but its more involved than people say it is, totally worth it in the end however.

DO NOT put a pushrod motor in it, you will have to change harnesses, k member, exhaust, transmission, driveshaft, etc.
 
#20
Is the stock 3v shortblock stronger than the 2v? I'm building more for open track. How much power can you get out of a na 3v. Would a termi hood work? I haven't found anything about this thats looks difficult. I think I might try it. I just don't know jack about the 3v.
 
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