scubasteve20

Just finished swapping in a new(er) engine & tranny after a broken valve spring/dropped valve destroyed my last one It had 150k on it so I guess it wasn't like an early death or anything. Anyway I wound up dropping in a 2004 4.6 2V and a barely used 2001 T45. I figured I would post the stuff I had to change to make it work in the 1997 car.

ENGINE
Coil packs and brackets: remove the C.O.P.'s from the newer motor and use coil packs from old one.
Fuel rails: use old fuel rails since newer one doesn't use a return.
Timing cover: use old timing cover as the newer one doesn't have mounting provisions for the coil packs.
Crank trigger: you MUST use the newer stamped steel one or you will crack the timing cover (JB weld bonds well to cast aluminum)[:@]
Coolant temp sensor: you need a 3/8" brass tee and nipple since the newer manifold only uses one sensor, extend wires from driver's side sensor about 12" to reach.
IAC motor: I can't remember why I changed this but something didn't fit.
Alternator: I had to use the older bracket and only one hole lined up with the manifold, the two rear holes are too far back.
*This info applies to using older engine harness and computer*

TRANSMISSION
Tail housing: to convert from magnetic pickup to gear driven speedometer you need to remove this and install the drive gear and gear driven sensor from the older one.
Clutch fork: use older non-weighted fork unless you have an adjustable cable, It will need to be longer.

I think that's about it. She fired right up and runs like a champ! I hope this info can help someone out so they don't have to learn any expensive/time consuming lessons.

jmmorgan82

nice write-up. did you do this yourself? how long did it take? I'm getting ready to tackle this in the next month or two.

scubasteve20

Yup, did it all myself in a garage unit at my apartment. (the neighbors had some less than kind words to say about it). I got everything out in a day but I pulled the head off first so that took a while. Received new motor tuesday morning and with all the cleaning and swapping parts over it took a couple hours a day in my spare time and one day to put it all in and had it running on saturday. I'm kinda glad I took my time with the cleaning and re-taping all the harnesses since the engine compartment looks brand new now. I would highly reccomend taking the time to do this. The whole job can be done in 2-3 long days. Good Luck!

Steve

scubasteve20

Oh yeah... Make sure you have high quality tools for this. I use all craftsman and kobalt and I broke three 10mm sockets on oil pan bolts!! some of the other stuff was damn near impossible to break loose (driveshaft, tranny crossmember, bellhousing) I don't know why ford had to make them that tight but I'm a big guy with good equipment and I had a hell of a time with some of it.

jmmorgan82

why did you have to take the oil pan off? i've already swapped my tranny out, so the driveshaft, transmission, etc won't be too hard to get at. Where'd you get an engine hoist from also?

scubasteve20

Let's see... I pulled the head with the motor in to see how bad the damage was and to pull the head you have to remove the timing cover and the 4 bolts from the front of the oil pan, I pulled the whole pan after the motor was out to recover the shattered peices of my #4 piston. I borrowed a NICE tow-behind hoist from a buddy, that thing was a life saver. Advance auto parts sells engine stands for ~$34.00 and I sold it to my neighbor 2 hours after the motor was in for $25