About 6 months ago I came up with the wild idea to Nissan V8 swap a 1996 Mustang.
My daily driver is an 07 Nissan Titan 4x4 with around 150k. As I have been driving it I have noticed a noise occurring in the front of the truck that sounds like a bearing going. It is most noticeable when city driving at 45-55 mph when the truck shifts to OD without much load. I was having trouble determining if it was my front diff bearings going or my trans/torque converter going. Both of these would be expensive, in-depth fixes that would require a ton of technical ability/tools. I found a truck being sold in an auto auction that had been crushed by a tree. The tree landed on the driver seat and only damage the cab, bed and the steering column. My plan was to pull the trans, front diff, tires and some other bits for my truck and scrap the mangled body.
At the same time I was gifted the 1996 mustang from my parents after quite a bit of pestering on my part. The car is a v6 auto with northern rust so it needed a ton of work. My mom bought this car to drive after her 98 explorer bit the dust with only 100k. #4.0SOHCProblems
I drove the stang a bit in high school but it had sat for the past few years and didn't start anymore. The price/scarcity of a 5.0 these days is the reason I was open to the Nissan swap. I tried to find a wrecked v8 SN95 to pull the drivetrain from but I wasn't able to snag one for a good price.
This is where I came up with the idea to pull the Titan Engine from the wrecked truck and put it in the mustang. Doing research I've discovered that the NATS system on Titans is quite intensive so I figured I would completely gut the mustang and pull the entire engine/trans/engine harness/body harness and steering column from the wrecked truck and put it all in. Can't have security problems if I swap over everything, right? Well, yes but no... Here is where it gets interesting. I mentioned the tree fell on the driver seat and smashed the steering column. For this reason I assume the insurance company didn't think getting the key from the owner was important so I never ended up getting the key for it. Rookie mistake.
When I got the truck I was so excited to cut the truck up and scrap the body to make more space in my garage that I didn't have a key made before doing so. Hindsight is 2020 I guess. Luckily I got in touch with a locksmith that was willing to cut me a key and then come back later to program it to the harness/bcm after I finish the swap project. I figured others might be interested in the project so I have actually started a YouTube channel documenting the process thus far. My first videos are a bit lacking as its the first time I tried anything like this but they are getting rapidly better due to the addition of better equipment and know-how. You can search "TJ Rebuild Mustang" if you're interested. I have a video of me tearing the truck apart as well.
Pics below of the car and the donor truck. Let me know if you have any questions or comments on the build!
My daily driver is an 07 Nissan Titan 4x4 with around 150k. As I have been driving it I have noticed a noise occurring in the front of the truck that sounds like a bearing going. It is most noticeable when city driving at 45-55 mph when the truck shifts to OD without much load. I was having trouble determining if it was my front diff bearings going or my trans/torque converter going. Both of these would be expensive, in-depth fixes that would require a ton of technical ability/tools. I found a truck being sold in an auto auction that had been crushed by a tree. The tree landed on the driver seat and only damage the cab, bed and the steering column. My plan was to pull the trans, front diff, tires and some other bits for my truck and scrap the mangled body.
At the same time I was gifted the 1996 mustang from my parents after quite a bit of pestering on my part. The car is a v6 auto with northern rust so it needed a ton of work. My mom bought this car to drive after her 98 explorer bit the dust with only 100k. #4.0SOHCProblems
I drove the stang a bit in high school but it had sat for the past few years and didn't start anymore. The price/scarcity of a 5.0 these days is the reason I was open to the Nissan swap. I tried to find a wrecked v8 SN95 to pull the drivetrain from but I wasn't able to snag one for a good price.This is where I came up with the idea to pull the Titan Engine from the wrecked truck and put it in the mustang. Doing research I've discovered that the NATS system on Titans is quite intensive so I figured I would completely gut the mustang and pull the entire engine/trans/engine harness/body harness and steering column from the wrecked truck and put it all in. Can't have security problems if I swap over everything, right? Well, yes but no... Here is where it gets interesting. I mentioned the tree fell on the driver seat and smashed the steering column. For this reason I assume the insurance company didn't think getting the key from the owner was important so I never ended up getting the key for it. Rookie mistake.
When I got the truck I was so excited to cut the truck up and scrap the body to make more space in my garage that I didn't have a key made before doing so. Hindsight is 2020 I guess. Luckily I got in touch with a locksmith that was willing to cut me a key and then come back later to program it to the harness/bcm after I finish the swap project. I figured others might be interested in the project so I have actually started a YouTube channel documenting the process thus far. My first videos are a bit lacking as its the first time I tried anything like this but they are getting rapidly better due to the addition of better equipment and know-how. You can search "TJ Rebuild Mustang" if you're interested. I have a video of me tearing the truck apart as well.Pics below of the car and the donor truck. Let me know if you have any questions or comments on the build!
