I Really Need Help! 3.8 Engine Swap

biker360 · Dec 26, 2017

can any one tell what I can do about fixing my 96 ford mustang 3.8 l, it has a manual T5. BorgWarner 5 speed and I bought it from a kid that place a 97 3.8 l automatic motor in it with all the old motor parts from the oem motor out of the manual96. I think the balance is off do I have to buy a new 97 flexplate for the 97 auto ,trans motor and then take it to a machine shop with the flywheel from the manual to have the set the right weight and balance like the auto plate had to get it to stop shaking the hole car??? is there a flywheel any were that will match up to the auto 97 3.8 flexplate that will work in the manual 96 with the t5 trans [please help. could my synchronizer cam position sensor be the wrong one too?? can I buy a truck or another flywheel from store from a different mustang year or size?

RaggedGT · Dec 26, 2017

Hi,
Welcome to Stangnet,
I’m not 100% sure what you are asking.
What I think I know are this- you have a ‘96 Mustang. It’s origanally a 3.8 car with a 5 speed.
The motor was replaced with a ‘97 Mustang motor . That car was an automatic. The original owner did not swap the flywheel over before installing this engine.
If I have the correct info-then I would suggest buying the correct flywheel for a Mustang with a 3.8 and 5-speed. I’m not really sure why you would need anything machined?
Hopefully others with more knowledge will drop by soon.
Good luck with your car,and maybe add some pics

wmburns · Dec 26, 2017

It's not possible to mate a flex plate to a manual transmission.

But. Halfway through the 2000 model year Ford did switch from externally balanced to internally balanced V6's. So for your application an externally balanced FLYWHEEL from a 1999 or older V6 should do the trick. Remember it will be necessary to add a pilot bearing that would not be in place when a motor is converted from automatic to manual.

But as a reminder there is an external balance weight on the FRONT of the motor as well.

So if the wrong flywheel was used or the external front crank weight were left off, I could see that creating an out of balance situation.

Note, sometimes the front crank damper will split and not hold the crank shaft correctly. This can also lead to a very rough running motor.

As for other possible "applications" to source the needed parts from. Try Car-part.com which is a searchable index of salvage yards in your area. The best part is the interchange list. Key in the part needed and the web site can show you which salvage yards have the part in question including the interchange applications.

biker360 · Dec 27, 2017

RaggedGT said:
Hi,
Welcome to Stangnet,
I’m not 100% sure what you are asking.
What I think I know are this- you have a ‘96 Mustang. It’s origanally a 3.8 car with a 5 speed.
The motor was replaced with a ‘97 Mustang motor . That car was an automatic. The original owner did not swap the flywheel over before installing this engine.
If I have the correct info-then I would suggest buying the correct flywheel for a Mustang with a 3.8 and 5-speed. I’m not really sure why you would need anything machined?
Hopefully others with more knowledge will drop by soon.
Good luck with your car,and maybe add some pics

biker360 · Dec 27, 2017

RaggedGT said:
Hi,
Welcome to Stangnet,
I’m not 100% sure what you are asking.
What I think I know are this- you have a ‘96 Mustang. It’s origanally a 3.8 car with a 5 speed.
The motor was replaced with a ‘97 Mustang motor . That car was an automatic. The original owner did not swap the flywheel over before installing this engine.
If I have the correct info-then I would suggest buying the correct flywheel for a Mustang with a 3.8 and 5-speed. I’m not really sure why you would need anything machined?
Hopefully others with more knowledge will drop by soon.
Good luck with your car,and maybe add some pics

no the car is a manual t5 3.8, but kid put in automatic motor and never checked balance differences so now its got auto motor from 97 in a 96 manual, kid never checked that the flywheel from manual car that's on it now would be banaced the same as the auto motors flexplate, so now I have the car did all this work to it before I could figure that it shoke like this. called kid back and he told me car never did this with old motor just after he put this one in the auto, from a 97

biker360 · Dec 27, 2017

RaggedGT said:
Hi,
Welcome to Stangnet,
I’m not 100% sure what you are asking.
What I think I know are this- you have a ‘96 Mustang. It’s origanally a 3.8 car with a 5 speed.
The motor was replaced with a ‘97 Mustang motor . That car was an automatic. The original owner did not swap the flywheel over before installing this engine.
If I have the correct info-then I would suggest buying the correct flywheel for a Mustang with a 3.8 and 5-speed. I’m not really sure why you would need anything machined?
Hopefully others with more knowledge will drop by soon.
Good luck with your car,and maybe add some pics

wmburns said:
It's not possible to mate a flex plate to a manual transmission.

But. Halfway through the 2000 model year Ford did switch from externally balanced to internally balanced V6's. So for your application an externally balanced FLYWHEEL from a 1999 or older V6 should do the trick. Remember it will be necessary to add a pilot bearing that would not be in place when a motor is converted from automatic to manual.

But as a reminder there is an external balance weight on the FRONT of the motor as well.

So if the wrong flywheel was used or the external front crank weight were left off, I could see that creating an out of balance situation.

Note, sometimes the front crank damper will split and not hold the crank shaft correctly. This can also lead to a very rough running motor.

As for other possible "applications" to source the needed parts from. Try Car-part.com which is a searchable index of salvage yards in your area. The best part is the interchange list. Key in the part needed and the web site can show you which salvage yards have the part in question including the interchange applications.

the balancer or harmonic balancer was left on front of motor from when it was a automatic car and now it has this flywheel on it from 96 manual so this should really be the big issue here, but do I and can I, or is there a 97 manual and if so cant I just put that front hormomic balancer on to fix this or do I mechine flywheel to the right flexplate balance to fix it or can I , or is there a proper flywheel out there that has this motors proper balance? what is the balance of the auto motor anyway I dow know the flywheels and flexplates have different balances and sizes as well as front balancers too. but whats the best way to do this? I ordered already, the 97 3.8l flexplate off another 97 car. and planed on having the flywheel machined the same way. but that's a lot of money to through away. and theres got to be another flywheel out there that would work or front balancer maybe if I changed that to the manual motor one, but would that even work?

biker360 · Dec 27, 2017

biker360 said:
the balancer or harmonic balancer was left on front of motor from when it was a automatic car and now it has this flywheel on it from 96 manual so this should really be the big issue here, but do I and can I, or is there a 97 manual and if so cant I just put that front hormomic balancer on to fix this or do I mechine flywheel to the right flexplate balance to fix it or can I , or is there a proper flywheel out there that has this motors proper balance? what is the balance of the auto motor anyway I dow know the flywheels and flexplates have different balances and sizes as well as front balancers too. but whats the best way to do this? I ordered already, the 97 3.8l flexplate off another 97 car. and planed on having the flywheel machined the same way. but that's a lot of money to through away. and theres got to be another flywheel out there that would work or front balancer maybe if I changed that to the manual motor one, but would that even work?

plus would trying to even machine my flywheel to the same balance of a 97 auto flexplate even do anything since my manual is a 96 and motor and front balancer is a 97, shouldant these two flywheels and flexplates and front balancers already be the same since there only a year apart? and since they both should have been externally balanced ?

I Really Need Help! 3.8 Engine Swap

biker360

RaggedGT

Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

wmburns

biker360

biker360

biker360

biker360

Similar threads

I Really Need Help! 3.8 Engine Swap

biker360

RaggedGT

Been here over a DECADE and still no CT

wmburns

biker360

biker360

biker360

biker360

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency