Just wanted to get some opinions. I'm in the processes of selling my WRX and taking on a new project car. The WRX was fun and made 340awhp until the resent partout. I found a guy with a 97 V6 mustang with a blown tranny and will let it go for $300.00 so it seems like the start of a good project. It's a good solid car and other then the blown tranny it looks brand new.

I'll admit I know more about Chevy's and Subaru's then I do Fords but I'm willing to commit to the dark side.

I'm starting to do some research as to what motor,trans and rearend I want to drop into it. The car will be a weekend street runner and spend Friday nights at the 1320. More then likely I'm going to put in some kind of FI just not sure if I'll go with a S/C or turbo. Ok I'm getting ahead of myself here since I haven't even picked a motor.

I'm wondering what are my options here? Crate motor (read carbed), pick up a 4.6L and build it up. Or find an old 5.0L and build it up. I'm kind of leaning in the direction of the 4.6L just because I know that year GT was a 4.6L so I'm going to assume replacing th wireharness (if needed), ECU, motor and trans would be easier then converting to something else. Sure a carbed crate motor would be a sinple bolt on but I'm a fuel injection kind of guy.

My goals are 450+RWHP and this would be a winter project and hoping to get on the road by spring, summer at the latest. I'm willing to pay for power but at the same time I'm not rich so price is always in the game. I don't want to do things cheap but if two options get me the same results I'll pick the cheap way to do it.

So if you were just starting a 97 v6 project car which way would you go? By the way I haven't purchased the car yet so even a different platform is an options but I can't think of any reason not to start with the 97 v6.

 

Get a 4.2L engine its a stroked 3.8. You can get it from www.precisionengine.com for $2000. Itll make 250hp and 280tq.

 

hate to steal the thread and im not doing it on purpose. but i have a quick question. if a 3.8L gets stroked to a 4.2L what does my 3.9L get stroked to and can it be done with the f150 crank? or would i have to go into more of a product line type thing?


Chad aka moontang (not my dad)

thanks and sorry to steal the tread but just an idea that poped into my mind

 

It's slow and the power you get from your mods are almost not even worth it. 450+rwhp is gonna be a lot of money from a single port V6. I say find an older 5.0. The aftermarket is huge and you can easily be in the 350+rwhp level with a few thousand in mods.

 

Maybe I wasn't clear. I'm not staying with the V6. I'm putting an V8 or bigger in. That mean with that statement is I can't see any reason not to use the 97 V6 CAR as my starting platform.

 

The problem with using a V6 platform for a V8 platform is this; other than the overall body and interior, they are two totally different cars. They have different rear ends, belhousings, wiring harnesses, ecus, electronic and accessories locations, I mean, it's only a good idea if you have a butt load of money and just go all aftermarket, or have a donor car to do the swap.

If you really insist on the swap here's how I'd do things.

5.0stroker block bored to347 and balanced, hit up www.haneymotorsports.com
Trickflow Track Heat upper/lower intake www.mustangsunlimited.com is a good site for the next few things + ebay
Trickflow twist wedge heads
Steeda dual stage cam
Vortec 8-10 psi S/C
T-56 transmission (6 sp. manual with modified belhousing for the 5.0)
Steeda Tri Ax short shifter
BBK ceramic coated headers
Off road x pipe
Magnaflow catbacks (or other depending on your taste)
8.8 rear end assembly w/gear work done www.brothersperformance.com sells these (I like my 3.55 rear end ratio)
Aluminum driveshaft w/proper yoke for the T-56 (don't remember if it's 28 spline of 31 spline)
Dual chamber radiator (you're deffinitly going to want this when having all this power)

* Front strut tower bar
* Rear sway bar
* upper/lower control arms
* GT based spring kit (all depends on your taste)
All of the above will be needed to help control the car, and all will be needed for a GT based setup, sixers are different and not nearly strong enough

Now with all that said, you're going to have to hit up a junk yard and local parts store to get the wiring harness, radiator hoses, engine accessories/pullies, gaskets, 5.0 based ecu (A9L is a good one) and several other things.

Like I said, this will not be cheap, but do all this and you'll be hanging around the 500 rwhp or slightly more. I'd use the 5.0 simply because there is no replacement for displacement, add they're a little easier to work on.

 

Forged 4.2L, if you really want to stay V6... Otherwise, you could go with a teksid block, forgedDOHC 4.6 or a 351.

If I was shooting for 450whp+, and starting from scratch, I wouldn't go with a stock block 302-based engine. The chances are too good that you'd end up with 2 blocks instead of one

 

That's why you buy a forged kit and have somebody that actually knows what they're doing tune the car. I like the idea of the 351 as well, but parts can be hard to come by, not to mention more expensive at times.

 

Yeah, I know there are plenty of cars that run 450whp+ on stock block 302-based engines, but if my main goal was huge power for drag racing, I'd go with the Teksid 4.6, 351, or just play it safe and go with a Dart Block. Then you'll never have to worry about splitting the block

If you're trying to make 450whp the cheapest way possible, a 302-based engine may be the way to go, but like jthorn said, definitely get the tune right and build it right, too.

 

hate to steal the thread and im not doing it on purpose. but i have a quick question. if a 3.8L gets stroked to a 4.2L what does my 3.9L get stroked to and can it be done with the f150 crank? or would i have to go into more of a product line type thing?

the anser is that the 3.9 is a mildly stroked out 3.8
it is about a 0.6larger making itstroked out to 3.86 butbecause ford rounds up they call it a 3.9