grizzy225

Hey everyone,

New to the forum and here is the situation:

The car was purchased used a while back with low mileage. The car now sits at 100k with a bottom end issue that was already attempted to be resolve once. It started clunking/knocking so we had a tech tear it apart and found the crank bearings were spun out.

So my questions are;

Are the 99 Cobra stock bottom ends known to be bad?

If you were in the same situation what route would you take?
Crate Motor? Shop Rebuild? Aftermarket vs OEM? 03-04 Supercharged Swap(do they even drop in easily?)

I'm open to opinions so feel free to suggest anything.

Thanks

Fobra

known to be bad? No, neither is the motor you have "known to be bad" the 4.6 2v is one of the best motors of all time for reliability. If you paid to have it torn out, why not just replace the factory bearings, they are dirt cheap. If I were to build a motor, it would be a 5.4. If I were to buy a cheaper replacement motor it would be a 5.4 3v or 4v ($2000k or less for a good running engine). Building the 4.6 is fine to, they are all require boost to make power.

grizzy225

The rod bearings were already replaced once and spun after a tank of gas because the crank was never sent out so the motor is dead back in the car. Leaning away from just throwing in bearings since the car is at 100k miles. I would rather spend a little money and get greater reliability at this point.

Are there any specific links that people trust and recommend where I can start looking? Are there trust worthy rebuild shops in the North East(CT area) that are knowledgeable in specifically mustangs?

grizzy225

??? little help?

Tim99GT

Forged shortblock Money permitting that is and then throw some boost at it with a turbo/blower.

Are you looking to make more power in the future? sc/turbo ever going to make it on your motor?
If you plan to stay NA, i would agree with Fobra and say go to a 5.4l.

grizzy225

Thanks Tim,

Are there any reliable places to buy the forged shortblock. Supercharger was definitely a route I may go.

As far as the 5.4 swap goes. How hard is it? Direct swap? I assume the best place to get one is a junkyard but I'm geared a bit more toward reliability at this point. Don't want to go through all this hassle and have no motor 50k later.

Tim99GT

Forged shortblocks:

www.modularmustangracing.com
http://www.dssracing.com/
http://www.haneymotorsport.com/
http://www.seanhylandmotorsport.com/


As far as the 5.4l, yes, a junk yard would be the easiest way to get one. They are a direct fit. However the upper manifold is huge..

MJH78

If I were in the same situation, since you asked, I would buy a Ford Racing "ready to run" crate engine. They have like a 350 horse 302 for 5500 or something. Now do I have 5500 right now to do that? No way...but I figure when mine craps out that's kind of the route I'll go.

grizzy225

Hmm.. That could be a way to go. 5500 is a bit steep. i was looking more around the 3-4k range. Good advice either way. Thanks!


Tim yet again.. TY for the links and everything its a big help. I'm not familiar with mustang forums and websites so any help even if you think i should already know is appreciated