I just so happen to have an opportunity to buy an extra 3.8, and for fairly cheap (probably under $200). It's out of my old '99 that I rolled. I was dumb enough to give the car away, but the guy who has it is just planning to junk it now. So, I offered to buy the engine. It'd be nice to have a second one to build up to drop into my car someday. I'm wondering though, is it really worth it?

The engine has about 116k on it, and ran perfectly until I rolled the car (and boy was that fun). I'd guess he will accept my offer to buy it for $100, but even if it went to $200, would the price be right?

Second of all, if I did get it, or any other secondary V6, what modifications should I do to it before dropping it into the car? (Note: it would probably be 1-2 yrs until it would go in.)

 

If its out, I would buy a forged 4.2 rotating assembly from SSM and have it ready for when you want to go f/i. I think they sell the full forged 4.2/3 stroker kit for around $1,500 maybe less.

 

Came across another option today, not sure if I should even bother with it though, so I'll leave it to all of you. Here's the motor:

'87 5.0L 302

 

build the 6. you can make as much or more horsepower outta the 3.8 than you can with a 5.0... and the 5liter doesnt have that much done to it. there are somany guys running aound with 5 litlers. BE DIFFERENT build the 6 and you aready know the v6 is in good running order b4 you tear it apart. who knows how long the 5 litler has been sitting. the guy says it runs and does not smoke, but i honestly would be weary about that. the motor that i put in my car i bought from a salvage yard and that said it ran and didnt smoke ... well it didnt smoke but it was locked up when i got it and had to tear it down to get it to spin free again

so the moral of the story is buy the v6 and build the v6

 

The '87 5.0L motor will take more money to build up than your V6. Plus you'd be swapping in an older motor that wasn't offered in your car - so it becomes not street legal. Just food for thought.

 

You keep saying its illegal to put a motor in a veh that wasnt offered. This makes no sense, seeing there are plenty of 5.0L miatas and a few 5.0L and 351ci focus' on the streets. What makes it Illegal, just curious?

 

You can't swap a 5.0 into your car because it wasn't offered in a 2001 Mustang. It's a law I believe. Thats because it is, you can only swap a motor into your car that was offered in a newer model. For example if you have a 2001 3.8 and you idk siezed the motor or some **** and wanted to replace it, you would have to put in a 2001-2004 motor not a 1999 or 2000. If I'm not mistaken not positive though. Never heard of a 5.0 focus or miata but never really looked either.

 

Heres the v8 focus conversion, which is done in Florida. www.ford-v8-focus.com/

 

Abiding by laws is not really an important issue. There are plenty of cars running around here with "not offered motors" under the hood. Most well known being an El Camino with the motor from an old Boss 302 he found totaled out (but I digress). Anyway, I'm still trying to get that 6, so we'll see. I still have no idea what to do to it when I get it. Probably doing f/i when it goes in, but before that....I'm clueless. SSM has some great power adders, and those would likely be my first step, but again, I start running out of ideas right about then.

 

I'm just telling you, to my best knowledge, what the law is. I know people don't abide by it just like any other law.