Progress Thread Sn95 V6 To 4.6v8

Currently started a new mustang project. Took a little time off from my fox. I purchased a 1997 mustang 3.8 and had a spare 4.6 motor and a whole donor car that a buddy of mine wrecked a while back. Anyways I just wanted to share and show everyone my progress and how to do this VERY difficult swap. I am currently about halfway through. First off. You need to pull the v6 motor and wiring harness and transmission. (Best to do them both at the same time) after you get that pos out of the way you will need to pull off the passenger fender and go inside under the passenger side dash and pull the kick panel off and the computer out. Then pull the wiring out outside the car. (Also a pain). You will need a new computer and wiring harness for a v8 car. Also you will need a new v8 gauge cluster. Some say you need a whole new dash, but I would argue against that. Next you will need a new hydro boost brake system out of the v8 car. The v6 brake booster is too large for the v8 motor. To swap over the brake system you will need to change out the power steering rack and pinion also. If you were going to change from auto to manual now would be the best time to do it. Pull out the steering column (5 bolts and some wiring I believe.) and then just unbolt the pedal assembly and reinstall the new one and run your clutch cable as you are doing so. 5 bolts. And some wiring and spring loaded assemblies. Pretty straight forward. It was pretty easy for me considering I had my dash out but it's not too bad. This is as far as I got. I will keep updating and show pictures as I go along. I know a lot of people have attempted this swap and there are always people that tell you not to but if you have to recourses and are mechanically inclined I say the hell with them. I will keep you posted. (Sorry for the disorganization).

You will need tons of different parts so buying them individually you will have a small fortune in it. So the best thing to do is find a donor car with everything you will need.
YOU WILL NEED
Motor mounts
Transmission crossmember if you are changing from auto to manual.
Rear end- optional, some say you can beat on the 7.5 rear for a while.
Driveshaft
Exhaust
Wiring harness
ECU computer- under passenger side dash
Gauge cluster
Fuel pump
Brake hydro booster
Radiator and fan
Rack and pinion
I may be forgetting some things. I will keep updating. If anyone has any specific questions shoot me a message.

Just swapped out the rack and pinion out of the v8. Figured I better paint the engine bay and then put the hydro boost system into the car and get that all hooked up and figured out tomorrow night. Coming along nicely, not bad so far for somebody who don't know about painting. I'm about 2 weeks into this swap. Need to get the brake system hooked up so I can put my pedal assembly in and then I can get the new dash put in as well as the rest of the new interior. Looking forward to cruisin this to ocean city cruise week in Maryland next month hopefully.
If anyone has any 17x10.5 and 17x9 wheels for sale let me know I am in the market!

I got the call from the auto parts store. My gaskets for the motor are in. It's so ty out in pa right now, damn snow in April but that just means I can spend the whole day in the garage. Gonna go get them and get the motor together today. Lots of updates coming! Pedal assembly and dash should be in tonight with the other interior then I can focus on everything under the hood. Keep posted!

I don't know if you guys are still watching up on this post but I've got caught up in some things. Still made a little progress though. Finally got the pedal assembly and dash installed as well as the back part of the interior and the carpet. Still working on swapping all the motor around. I ran into an issue with hooking up the clutch pedal. There is one wire that is missing in the main wiring harness that goes to the front for headlights and all the way to the back for the taillights. Do I need to swap all that wiring harness out or how?

Narmalee said:

ugh... please turn the pics!

GL with your swap, im doing mine at the same time it looks like =D

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Will do! Sorry about that I never even reliezed. And that's awesome, good luck with yours as well!

Narmalee said:

im just glad I don't have to do the harness BS lol, I HATE dealing with harnesses

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Same here, I do everything I can to avoid dealing with wiring bull. I pulled my drivers side door off today and someone cut off all the damn wires that go to the door. so now I'm stuck soldering and shrink tubing all that back together tonight.

Agreed. But I'm having some set backs with the motor I bought. May turn out that I will have to be looking for another motor. I have around 3 weeks to get this car done. The motor will set me back quite a bit. But I managed to get the door wires back together as well as all the interior. Only thing left to do is pick up my new motor hopefully and swap out fuel pumps then I will paint the bitch! Stay tuned. Another 2-3 weeks.

Narmalee said:

wtf happened with the motor?!

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I bought the motor awhile back for a Ford Explorer. Figured the will interchange. And bolt right up with the stand stuff

Narmalee said:

wtf happened with the motor?!

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Whoops, I didnt mean to press post. But what I was saying is that I bought the motor and turns out they are very different it seems for the explorers and truck motors. I don't know if it would be worth it swapping everything over and not even be sure if it's going to work. 200 bucks in gaskets probably if I was to swap everything over. I'm gonna put the motor up for sale and hopefully one of my local hookups has another motor reasonably priced. I've already made a few calls asking around. I can buy one all day for 500.

Well still waiting on the motor guy to get back to me. Went ahead and got some paint and did my door jams and stuff. Let me know what you guys think