motor swap questions

[Addicted2Boost]

First off im new here and heard good things about this place from others so decieded to come check it out.

Now with that said heres my questions hope u guys can help me out. Well i have a 96 gt which ill prolly be swaping over to 5.0. I was wondering if anyone knew where to find sum info on the ecu and harness part of the swap?

Second i was wondering what everyone thinks about a 347 stroker motor so far its either a really good stroker motor as the mags say, or its a really bad motor due to oiling problems as many people i have talked to state, they end up saying go with a 331 its a better motor. I heard that its only bad if u go with the 5.4 rods but ill be going with the 5.315.

Third if do go 347 i was thinkin about doing a sportsman block, with afr 185 heads, then a track heat intake mani, prolly a cam from comp cams. Now if i do this will this be a good setup and also what do u guys think would be a good set of H or I beams and pistons to use in this setup? Im also lookin to stay N/A so i would like to get the most power out of this with just motor. Thanx for any info on this topic im new to the pushrod based motors so hopefully i dont sound stupid lol

 

[Killercanary]

Welcome to the board! As for wiring info... I can't hgelp you there. Our 5 speed EEC are T4MO. As for 347 versus 331, the oil issues are virtually non existent now as the pin no longer intersects the oil ring. If I was doing an all out NA motor it'd be a 347... why give up the cubes? You will read that the 331 is more suited for high rpm due to the rod ratio, but there are plenty of high winding 347's out there. A stock block will be OK if you don't spin it real high or throw a power adder on it. If you plan to spin it pretty high or add some sort of power adder then the sportsman block is a good idea, the dart is an even better one. The jury is still out on who good the sportsman is, or is not for that matter. People are splitting those as well. I think the AFR185's with a track heat/edelbrock rpm/holley intake and a stout cam would make for one hell of a screamer, especially one setup to shift at around 6500rpms. I'd suggest getting in touch with Ed Curtis of http://www.flowtechinduction.com as I spoke with him before about a possible 347 for my car... it would have been killer!!! I decided against it because I'd have to swap my heads, cam, intake, etc so I'm just going to maximize what I got and leave it be. I will add some compression in the future when I rebuild it but that's about it.

 

[Joes95GT]

My novel for the day.

First of all, welcome to the board.

Secondly, you have two options when it comes to the EEC. If the car isn't going to be a daily driver, and you don't have to worry about emissions, you can carb it, so you don't have to worry about mass air or anything like that. If you need it to be emissions legal, your best bet would be to get an A9L computer from a 87-93 fox body Mustang. They are much less sensitive to modifications and have many more good points that the 94/95's do not.

Now the fun part, the motor. As a general rule of thumb, the more cubes, the more power, and the longer the rod, the more horsepower the motor is capable of. A 347 isn't going to use any more oil than a 331 is unless it is built with sloppy tolerances or with the wrong ring package. If you want to stay with the 331 anyhow, a 5.4 rod would be a perfect idea. What is wrong with a 5.4 rod? Never heard of any such thing.... Anyhow, to answer your question, the sportsman block will work well in an N/A application. It is only in a power adder situation where the block becomes "unstable". I would use I beam rods for several reasons. Some I-beams can withstand up to 1000 horsepower, which leaves plenty of room to grow in your application. Also, from what I've seen, I beam rods are much lighter than H beams are.

The combinations are usually differ quite a bit from a 331 to a 347. The combination you listed above would be perfect for a 331. The 347, depending how it is built, might need a larger cylinder head and intake manifold. The problem is that cylinder heads larger than the AFR 185's are not street/emissions legal. If you do not have to pass emissions, then you are fine. If so, you may want to stick with a 331. If you stay with the 331, and the combination you listed, the only thing I would change is to a Holley instead of the TF - just a personal preference though.

Remember this: PUT ENOUGH CAM IN THE CAR. It sucks to see people spend all this money on a build up that has some serious potential, then do something stupid and put an F cam in it.

Joe

 

[Addicted2Boost]

[/QUOTE]If you want to stay with the 331 anyhow, a 5.4 rod would be a perfect idea. What is wrong with a 5.4 rod?

I meant that if going with a 347 not 331 sorry about the mix up. This is my daily driver and ill need to pass emissions i shouldve mentioned that before. Thanx for the post so far!

 

[Addicted2Boost]

Oh yea before i forget id rather stay EFI, and one more thing how would the reliability be on a 347 sumone said if this was gonna be my daily driver that doing a stroker motor wouldnt be a good idea, i figured it would depend on how well i take care of it and how much i beat on it.

 

[Joes95GT]

How many miles are on the car? The reason I ask is because for the price that you are going to fork over for a longblock with all new stuff, you could do up a H/C/I setup and a supercharger on the stock block for roughly the same amount of money, assuming you do the work yourself.

If your going with a new shortblock, I would go with a 331 - again, just a personal preference. You could maximize the 331 by using all street legal and emissions legal parts, however the 347 would require slightly larger cylinder heads, and most larger cylinder heads are not emissions legal. If I were you, I would go with the 331 top it with 185's, Holley, a nice cam, and 30 lb/hr squirters. Don't even consider the 94/95 computer. The cam that you are going to need to in the 331 will make the T4M0 go nuts - find an A9L.

Reliability is in the tune, not the parts you use. Anything can be made reliable for a price.

Joe

 

[VIPERn94Five-0]

whats the deal with bashing the T4MO????....ive heard from more than 1 person that the T4MO is by far a better EEC than the A9L....its just a little harder to work with....and anyone who truly knows what they are doing can do just as much if not more than someone with an A9L....the A9L is just the easy way out....



Anthony

 

[Addicted2Boost]

Well lets see here LOL im on my 3rd mod motor, my car has about 75k on it now i had a shop do the swap the first time for me with a 30k mile motor (supposedly) cuz didnt have time or tools then few months later spun sum bearings on the rods to crank, so i found a 96 gt that was hit in the front for $900 so i bought that and did the swap myself and everything is good i did it myself and now i know it was done rite damn shops lazy A$$es anyway the motor that is in now has 120k and so does the tranny cuz i got my original one stuck in 3rd LOL my car is just a big ol cursed mess so just figured nto having any luck with the mod motors so y not try pushrod and due to the fact that its way cheaper.

 

[Addicted2Boost]

yea i heard that if i do, do this swap i should prolly stay with the clostest year things possible such as ecu harness and block, meaning (like 96 to 95 instead of 96 to 93 or further away). hope that makes any sense

 

[Joes95GT]

whats the deal with bashing the T4MO????....ive heard from more than 1 person that the T4MO is by far a better EEC than the A9L....its just a little harder to work with....and anyone who truly knows what they are doing can do just as much if not more than someone with an A9L....the A9L is just the easy way out....



Anthony

Your right in a way. But with a 331, your going to need a big cam, and who feels like installing a T4M0 then putting in a huge cam, and the computer going nuts. The idea is to get the car running decent enough to take it to a dyno, and some T4M0's will give you a much more difficult time doing that. When it comes down to it, a computer is a computer. A professionally tuned T4M0 is going to be no better than a professionally tuned A9L - if that were the case, then the FFW and NMRA guys would be doing it. The T4M0 has timing retards between shifts, mass air problems, and cam swap problems that the A9L does not have. To me, it's just too easy to use the A9L. The car is going to need to be dyno tuned either way you look at it, so the choice of computers should not be a huge decision.

Joe

 

[Joes95GT]

yea i heard that if i do, do this swap i should prolly stay with the clostest year things possible such as ecu harness and block, meaning (like 96 to 95 instead of 96 to 93 or further away). hope that makes any sense

Not true. The 5.0 shortblocks are the exact same from 87-95 with the exception that some early 90's Fox bodies had forged pistons, and that does not have an affect on anything.

Joe

 

[Addicted2Boost]

[/QUOTE]If you need it to be emissions legal, your best bet would be to get an A9L computer from a 87-93 fox body

Ok well if i do use that instead of the T4MO would i be able to use the ecu from a 95?cuz one of my friends has one for me if i need it.

 

[Joes95GT]

I'm confused by your question. Do you mean will you be able to use all the wiring and hook ups from a 95, but use an the A9L for the "computer"? I don't believe so. That actually is a very good question. I would like to know the answer myself.

Joe

 

[Addicted2Boost]

I'm confused by your question. Do you mean will you be able to use all the wiring and hook ups from a 95, but use an the A9L for the "computer"? I don't believe so. That actually is a very good question. I would like to know the answer myself.

Joe

yea thats what i meant sorry for the confusion.