I posted an initial thread awhile ago about the 87' GT I bought from a co-worker for $100. Well a few months ago the engine took a dump, and the T-5 would grind in every single gear and sometimes didn't want to go into reverse, so it was time to do something with the drivetrain.
I pulled the drivetrain and the engine/ecu harnesses out and sold it all to help fund my project. I knew I wanted to do a modular engine, so I decided to hit up a junkyard and start finding some of the parts needed. First up was a stock K-member out of an 04' V6. I also found a complete hydro boost setup out of a 98' GT, and bought a reman steering rack for 99-04 and the MM hybrid shaft. I honestly thought the hydro boost swap was going to be the most difficult thing about this swap based on all the other forums I read through, but it wasn't bad at all. The lines from the 98' GT were not a perfect fit, but they worked.
The MM brake line kit for this swap made easy work of that.
I found a complete 4.6 from a very low mile 2002 Mountaineer. I thought this would be a cool engine to use since it's all aluminum. I hit up the junkyard again to try and find the mustang accessories for this engine.
It became apparent that I would have to swap the timing cover to a mustang one. No possible way to mount the power steering pump otherwise. Also, the mustang timing cover had one bolt hole that didn't line up. The intake manifold could have worked, but the heater hose location was different and would have been in the way. Found a mustang one for cheap. Since I was using a stock K-member, I decided against longtubes and went with shorties. I grabbed a 98' GT fuel rail at the junkyard so I could re-utilize my fox fuel lines. About half the coils were bad, so I bought a MSD set. I decided to use the Mountaineer injectors, but they required adapters to work with the 99' GT harness I had. The Mountaineer also had a different alternator, so swapped that one out for a mustang version.
Test fitting, it dropped right in like it was meant to be there.
Got the engine and trans(T-45) in place and started putting everything together. Used the stifflers crossmember for the trans. The coolant tank is just sitting there as to get an idea. I re used my fox radiator which has the SVE electric fans on it. The 4.6 radiator hoses were a perfect fit to it. I used the engine, ecu, starter, and dash harnesses out of a 99' GT, and for now have left the body harness from the fox in place. I'm going to try and basically make the 4.6 a standalone harness. I'm using an Autometer gauge cluster I built, so the gauges are all working on their own wiring.
I had a tune written to a handheld device to disable PATS and work off a return style fuel system, along with the other things they do in a performance tune.
The front end now sits quite a bit higher.
Things I have left to do: Waiting on my aluminum driveshaft to show up, hook the exhaust up(Bassani catted X), finish trying to figure out the wiring, and bleed the brakes/hydroboost system. I've been working with someone over on the modularfox forums with the wiring, so hopefully it won't be too bad.
I pulled the drivetrain and the engine/ecu harnesses out and sold it all to help fund my project. I knew I wanted to do a modular engine, so I decided to hit up a junkyard and start finding some of the parts needed. First up was a stock K-member out of an 04' V6. I also found a complete hydro boost setup out of a 98' GT, and bought a reman steering rack for 99-04 and the MM hybrid shaft. I honestly thought the hydro boost swap was going to be the most difficult thing about this swap based on all the other forums I read through, but it wasn't bad at all. The lines from the 98' GT were not a perfect fit, but they worked.
The MM brake line kit for this swap made easy work of that.
I found a complete 4.6 from a very low mile 2002 Mountaineer. I thought this would be a cool engine to use since it's all aluminum. I hit up the junkyard again to try and find the mustang accessories for this engine.
It became apparent that I would have to swap the timing cover to a mustang one. No possible way to mount the power steering pump otherwise. Also, the mustang timing cover had one bolt hole that didn't line up. The intake manifold could have worked, but the heater hose location was different and would have been in the way. Found a mustang one for cheap. Since I was using a stock K-member, I decided against longtubes and went with shorties. I grabbed a 98' GT fuel rail at the junkyard so I could re-utilize my fox fuel lines. About half the coils were bad, so I bought a MSD set. I decided to use the Mountaineer injectors, but they required adapters to work with the 99' GT harness I had. The Mountaineer also had a different alternator, so swapped that one out for a mustang version.
Test fitting, it dropped right in like it was meant to be there.
Got the engine and trans(T-45) in place and started putting everything together. Used the stifflers crossmember for the trans. The coolant tank is just sitting there as to get an idea. I re used my fox radiator which has the SVE electric fans on it. The 4.6 radiator hoses were a perfect fit to it. I used the engine, ecu, starter, and dash harnesses out of a 99' GT, and for now have left the body harness from the fox in place. I'm going to try and basically make the 4.6 a standalone harness. I'm using an Autometer gauge cluster I built, so the gauges are all working on their own wiring.
I had a tune written to a handheld device to disable PATS and work off a return style fuel system, along with the other things they do in a performance tune.
The front end now sits quite a bit higher.
Things I have left to do: Waiting on my aluminum driveshaft to show up, hook the exhaust up(Bassani catted X), finish trying to figure out the wiring, and bleed the brakes/hydroboost system. I've been working with someone over on the modularfox forums with the wiring, so hopefully it won't be too bad.