3.8 to 4.6 swap

[blackhawk10]

I have a 99 V6 and i'm going to do the swap. I just bought a 2000 GT low miles for $2200, the whole car. It is going to be work. but for the price nothing beats it. What i think is that the V6 is putting 200+/- HP. by doing the swap it'll bring me closer to 280+/-. now i was reading somwhere that a s/c gives you about 80 hp withSTOCK engine, no mods just the s/c. and the blower is close to 4k. so it'll be cheaper just to do the swap if you find a good deal like i did. now i found other pretty good deals in gt engines for $800 and core exchange. (for a V6 core exchange)but then i just bought the whole car for the price mentioned. So also i figure by doing the swap and putting a cam and headers and intake(i already am running dual ex.) then i'll bring it up to about 300hp.But i think it'll be better to do engine swap if you find a good deal and have the tools. also i thinkyou'llget more hp. out of the engine (V8). now i do admire you guys running V6 and putting out 400+/- hp out of those engines! when stock they have 195, 200 hp.idk, but you are one of a kind. I am nottrying to argure with anyone of prove people wrong, i'm just giving out what i think and what my plan are/and gonna do. But to each it own...

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[1RadStang]

Hello everyone again!I have watched this post too my amazement several times an just shake my head in amazment.I must admit I am new to the mustang world,But not to muscle cars at all,All Ive ever owned are muscle cars an hot rods.An even though,yes this is a mustang forum,Arent we all forgetting what the true deffinition of a HOT ROD actually is??????????The man asked a question on what it would take to do the swap?This person came here for help,right?An forgive me if I am wrong,but out of 3 pages only a couple of people actually tried to answer his question?I own a 97 v-6 an believe me If I wasnt living on disabiltiy,Id like nothing more than to jerk that slow ass v-6 an dump it in the dumpster an put it out of its missery!No disrespect to the sixers,Just my own opinion guys.I hit a tree at 165mph with a 455 hurst yes hurst slapped in an old pontiacTA body an lived to talk at a later time an you will say yes a v6 stinks also!!But too each his own thats what Hot Rods are all about.Building avehicle to ones own likings.Who cars if a sixer swapps cobra or gt badges,Its their car an the true enthusiast knows whats up as soon as the key is turned.But thats the fun of being in this hobby/business to some.Were here cause we love our cars an what we can do with them,why argue over who can do what,Like a man said earlier in this thread,shut up or put up,Take it too the nearest track an float them lifters fellas!I have loved rods all my existance an dont tell me that we dont all share that love.Throw me in a car pushing 1000 or more horses an tell me I aint gonna shove that gas peddle threw the dang firewall,lol!Why cause their isnt any better feeling in the world!!!!!!Take care everyone,Eric

[ImHondaAtHeart]

i am debating trading my del sol for my friends 97 v6 auto because my car is worth about 3000 and his is mint condition with black bullitts on it and a few other upgrades, my friend told me a 4.6 will bolt straight up the the tranny.. is this true? im just looking into it beacause he can get me a motor for about 700and me and him would do the swap ourselves. im sure ill need the ecm out of a gt. but will i need wiring harness out of a gt aswell?

[NeoTokyo]

Holy crap where did this thread get stirred up from? LOL

That was a much younger me back there on page 1

[NeoTokyo]

No the trans will not work.

[Sir Edward V]

I have a stock 98 V6 and I am looking to make it faster. I don't really care which way it happens, I am just looking for the most affordable solution. Me and my friends would likely to all the work, so labor isn't really needed to be taken into consideration.

After scouring through this thread, here is the information I have found that offered at least a little bit of knowledge. Some of it was paraphrased to keep it down to the useful information. I also do not know how much of what people are saying is accurate.

Originally Posted by HRnB

It will honestly cost you around 5K by the time it's running right.
3K in your V6 will make a crazy fast six

Originally Posted by nomocobra

it wont take 5k...i did it for under 1k
but i still wouldnt recomend it

Originally Posted by HRnB

We just did one in our club about 3 months ago. We had to change everything!!! It was kind of fun though, but alot of work and plus we made it a race motor by the time we were done. That added alot to the cost. IE: ported heads, intakes, cam forged bottom end. We thought it was a good motor when we got it used, but it was a basket case.

Originally Posted by HRnB

There are alot of great V6 products available these days for your car. I'll give you a couple links at the bottom. I built a 99 V6 sprint car with my bro some time ago and I'm just getting started on my 03 V6. Neo is also in the early stages and has tons of info on modding methods from doing research.

Super Six Motorsports

Moana V6 Racing

Originally Posted by NeoTokyo

Dont listen to anyone that tells you that you cant get big power from a V6. Hell there is a guy here in sac running 11's with a stock bottom end and some bolt ons with a nitrous setup, thats crazy shiznit. Of course I believe this is his 3rd engine, So if your going to play with the big boys then you have to think smart and prepair for the unexpected. Building your bottom end up will prevent you from breaking the engine. From the money that this kid has spent on his 3 engines he could have built 1 STRONG engine that would produce more power with more consistancy and not have to keep replacing it. Apparently the kid uses his nitrous to pass people in traffic too, so I guess its his own demise. The amount of nitrous he is pumping into the engine would break stock GT's, I think he is running a 350 or 400 shot. But it is possible for several thousand miles of this abuse, rather remarkable. As immature as this kid may seem, he has offered us some pretty valuable information of the breaking point on a stock 94-04 3.8L engine.

You can safely modify your engine and get 300hp out of it and not have to worry, and you dont even need Nitrous or boosted applications. There is a guy over at supersix running something like 425hp or something on a NA non nitrous car with just forged I-beam rods and stock-like forged pistons and stock internals with modified heads and intake and other easy bolt ons.

Oh by the way, a V6 is about 200lbs lighter then the GT and probably 300lbs lighter then the DOHC models, A hard top coupe is about 300lbs lighter then a convertible. So if you plan wisely and buy accordingly you can be as much as 600 or so pounds lighter then the SVT competition.

Originally Posted by HRnB

Again, missing the point. a BUILT V6 is a rare thing. The 99 V6 street legal daily driver we built a couple years ago was at 385 RWHP and 800 lbs less weight that a stock GT.

To reiterate...People appreciate a built car that is going against the odds. It show passion, ingenuity, skill and imagination. To put a couple bolt ons a GT and floor it around town is the same as every other guy doing the same. In 99, we had to custom make most of the shyt we did, but now there are alot of High performance V6 companies and it has become much easier. We will see 10 second street legal V6's this year. Of coarse they are Turbo and all forged and aluminum, but that is where it starts. The V6's were winning alot of the mustang events last year because of thier unique qualities.

This is not a statement to prove anything to the V8 guys, but it is a testament to the V6 enthusiasts to carry on and just nod and smile.

Originally Posted by Krusher

agreeing with what has been said here... if you want to produce more power out of your vehicle... the more cost effective and less agonizing way to do it is to build your 232... you have a 98... so you have the single port intake 232... powerful? no... can you make it powerful? hell yes... stroke her to 4.2 or 4.25 (4.3) using either a donor 4.2L truck engine or SuperSix's stroke kit. Then swap to a spilt port intake... port and polish... and you'll probably be happy with the power output

Originally Posted by 2000GT4.6

BS. There is no way a N/A 6 put out that much power and was anywhere near close to street drivable. And where did you save 800 pounds? The entire 4.6 v8 doesn't weigh 800 pounds. In other words, it weighed less because you gutted it? Which is the same thing you can do on a GT.

Here is a website for a 6 with bolt ons. www.rpmoutlet.com About 2500-3k spent here with tires, and we are pulling a mighty 14.47@90MPH. For the same price, coulda bought a used 99 GT with about 30k on it, still been faster.

Neo: Your saying you can beat a stock GT? The car on the website above is putting out MORE hp (though slightly less Tq) that is dyno proven. And still isnt anywhere near beating a stock GT. I know that .47 doesnt seem like alot, but that is a TON of car-lenghts in a street race. Handling wise, you might have an advantage of MAX 300 or so pounds. Engines dont wiegh THAT much. My friend and I picked up and moved a 78 350 with everything but a carb on it by ourselves, with engine stand attached. Cant tell me a 6 wieghs that much less than a GT to make up for a softer suspesion, and smaller tire footprint.

BTW when 100th96cobra was mentioning it was gay to swap, and talked about having 6 suspesion still, you realise this means you have to change all of it too to make it even on the same level as a GT right? AKA, after the swap, you STILL have a ****tyer rear end, a T5 instead of an improved T45, and the suspesion will be killing you every launch.

In other words, you will have a car that is STILL slower than a GT. Your gonna spend close to 3k on engine alone if its new. Add another 1500 for trans (unless you wanna risk it and stay with the stock 6 T5 (theres a reason they come with T45 now) , maybe 800 for a new rear end, and then god knows how much on suspesion. This isnt even counting the computer and wiring harnesses, or all of the intake/exaust stuff.

Do do it properly, your looking at 6-8K to be ONLY AS FAST as a STOCK GT.

What again was the point?

Originally Posted by my99mustangv6

WOW nobody answered this guy's question........3.8 to 4.6 swap you need a complete 4.6 motor and the wiring harness has to be switched for the 4.6 and the ECU also you are going to need a tranny that fits the T3650, T56 (newer models) even though the older ones will fit fine and the motor should swap right in to the 3.8 motor mounts

Genral labor will be about 1500
It can be done for 3000 or so

V6 are only fast if highly modified and when they are they are unreliable for daily driving

Originally Posted by Krusher

actually a cheaper way would be to buy a tbird that's an old 4.6... then use that as a donor car

Originally Posted by Mustang_guy17

First off gt's don't run 14.0 with an average driver. they run about 14.2-14.5 So that v6 would be running close to a GT with bolt ons!!. A gt is nothing special I hate it when you GT guys come on here and act like you drive a fast car. Mustang GT are SLOW so are V6 but you don't have the right to come on here and act like you got a 500hp beast and talk down to us. A v6 with a turbo or supercharge will come out cheaper then it costs to have a gt. AND you get v6 insurance. And the v6 supercharged will make 300-400hp.

Originally Posted by blackhawk10

I have a 99 V6 and i'm going to do the swap. I just bought a 2000 GT low miles for $2200, the whole car. It is going to be work. but for the price nothing beats it. What i think is that the V6 is putting 200+/- HP. by doing the swap it'll bring me closer to 280+/-. now i was reading somwhere that a s/c gives you about 80 hp withSTOCK engine, no mods just the s/c. and the blower is close to 4k. so it'll be cheaper just to do the swap if you find a good deal like i did. now i found other pretty good deals in gt engines for $800 and core exchange. (for a V6 core exchange)but then i just bought the whole car for the price mentioned. So also i figure by doing the swap and putting a cam and headers and intake(i already am running dual ex.) then i'll bring it up to about 300hp.But i think it'll be better to do engine swap if you find a good deal and have the tools. also i thinkyou'llget more hp. out of the engine (V8). now i do admire you guys running V6 and putting out 400+/- hp out of those engines! when stock they have 195, 200 hp.idk, but you are one of a kind. I am nottrying to argure with anyone of prove people wrong, i'm just giving out what i think and what my plan are/and gonna do. But to each it own...

Originally Posted by ImHondaAtHeart

i am debating trading my del sol for my friends 97 v6 auto because my car is worth about 3000 and his is mint condition with black bullitts on it and a few other upgrades, my friend told me a 4.6 will bolt straight up the the tranny.. is this true? im just looking into it beacause he can get me a motor for about 700and me and him would do the swap ourselves. im sure ill need the ecm out of a gt. but will i need wiring harness out of a gt aswell?

Originally Posted by NeoTokyo

No the trans will not work.

From the information I have seen, the 1996-2004 GT has the same automatic transmission as an option as the base model for the same years. The car I have is automatic, so it should work (though I would like a manual, and if I am going through this much trouble, I might as well get one).

I am going to do a lot of my own research over the next few days and try to straighten out some of the contradicting data people have provided in this thread. Any more advice is appreciated greatly.

My friend, who is a car enthusiast and does a lot of his own work on cars (he has replaced the engine on his car before as well as a lot of other things), brought up a good point. He said that though you can make the V6 stronger than a stock GT, you could spend the money on the V8 engine, then do all the mods you would have done on the V6, and get even more power.

I, personally don't care about V8 vs V6, base model vs. GT, or professional/amateur racing. I only want the HP for fun driving around town. I love my car, but the only reason I have never put a lot of money into it is because of how disappointed I am with the HP it has. If I can get this thing to 250+ without a ton of money, I will probably keep it for a long, long time. If not, I will probably get rid of it within 3 years.

Personally, I am leaning towards the V8 swap. But I would like to hear any and all opinions on the matter.

And please let all the flaming and fighting go so we can have a serious discussion on this matter.

Thanks!

-Nate

[DBovine]

Im toying with what Id like to do with my future engine plans as well, and found a lot in this thread to be useless. However what I did get from it is this.
To put a 4.6 into my 02 3.8, I need the engine, the engine wiring harness, the computer, and probably the tranny. I have the t-5 manual but I think that only goes on earlier 4.6s right. Now what about things like the drive shaft, and the rear end? The motor mounts should be ok? Id like to pick my direction soon, and the start building and collecting the parts over time, spread out the costs so that I can have everything when i start the tear down of my car.

thanks

[mustangman02232]

you can buy a new edge GT for 5k, either work with what you have or trade your car in

[Xemeth]

How many times is this thread gonna get bumped?

[moontang]

excastally what i was thinking but to answer op(bumper) get the m113 kit for 3k and have near 300 depending on a few variables.......or buy a v8 and spend more then 3k and get 250.......its up to you though