chris_2vGT

Well here's the story i have a chance to pick up a 4 banger for 1grand the body is perfect condition the color i want it's stick it's a LX body style... i seen alot of people convert this car to a 5.0 which i wanna do. can someone break down how hard this swap is and what is needed the car runs it has over 200k on the clock but runs fine so im in no rush or anything to do a swap and i already own a 2001 GT. but i would like to turn this into a track car someday i have done some searching but i havent found the exact answer im looking for thanks in advance.

ACE

Are you looking for a twisty track or straight track? To be completly honest if you are going twisty the 2.3 is a heck of a good platform to make some fun! BUT I am guessing you are going for the straight line haha so Try this website, it was very useful!

5.0 Conversion

sYckmYnded

4cyl cars suck! lol, jk but there is alot of work, enginve trans rear end brakes computer, all need to be changd, just buy a 5.0!

ACE

hey now 4 cyl cars are great!! good donor cars dumby!! haha dont have enough power to twist!!

It is not that hard to make a v8 injected car if you have a donor car to swap all the harness stuff over from. But if you are going carb, it is simple as making cold cerial

stang8689

You will probably be better off wiith a wrecked donor car. You will need the 8.8 rear and the 5.0 T-5. You will need the engine with wiring harness and computer. Motor mounts of course and entire exhaust.

FoxGT

The swap is pretty simple depending on what car you get the 5.0 out of. Quite a few will just drop in (providing you have the mounts) I've done quite a few 5.0 swaps using lincoln mark vii engines or wrecked 5.0 mustangs. Engines from the mark vii's I did dropped right in, no oil pan issues.

Depending on how much you know about wiring the eec could be the hardest part. You could get a wiring diagram & repin the 4 cylinder one harness which takes a bit of time & a few pigtails. I'd say your best off getting the computer out of a j/y 5.0 car (or you could order one) & getting the engine harness only, then making it work with the existing body/dash harness.

Then there's throttle cable & the driveshaft. (you could cut/reweld yours if your tight on money.) If you do cut it make sure you cut a section out of the very end of it by the yolk & do it on the side that doesn't have the balance weight.

You don't need a double hump transmission crossmember, but it makes things a little easier.

You'll need fuel lines. both start at the passenger rear, the 4 cylinder goes over the trans tunnel to the drivers side of the engine, whereas the 5.0 ones go up the passenger side of the car & come out on the passenger side of the engine bay.

alternator wiring will need to be modified if you use the 4 cylinder harness since the 2.3's alternator is on the drivers side

The 4 cylinder tach will be off which you can either fix yourself or replace with v8 gauges. Most will tell you it's not able to be fixed. Every single person I asked about it said it couldn't be done so I decided to see if I could prove them wrong. It can be done. I doubt you'll find a writeup I searched everywhere with no luck. I can probably get a pic to help give you an idea how if you'd like.

4 cylinder brakes will work, the 7.5" rear will work aswell (one of my friends put down barely under 400hp in his notch with the 7.5"). The 4 cylinder t5 will work, you kinda gotta be easy on it though... no fast high rpm shifts.
All the same though with the rear & brakes I'd advise upgrading them but it is definitely not necessary. As i said, my friend had little under 400whp in his notch, but he also was running 215 street tires so he wasn't able to plant the power in lower gears to break anything [8D] I'm sure if he had wider tires it would have died.

I think I got everything... If I remember something else i'll post it. Feel free to correct anything I may have got wrong or missed anyone.

Edit: oh exhaust... you'll definitely be needing that Summit has a nice deal on headers/x-pipes/muffs on their brands. Pretty cheap if you don't want to grab some stock ones off of a wrecked stang or something.