New Project Car

[chism]

Originally Posted by 28HopUp

I posted in the following thread about our trip to Ohio in May -

http://www.specialservicemustang.net...ead.php?t=4259


As stated, we had a great time. We're now getting ready to bump the power in Jack's 98. All along we had planned to perform a splitport/Windstar head/cam/intake swap on the original motor. Well, the "shop" we've been using for the porting and custom cam has been taking FOREVER to get return our lower intake and new custom cam. So Jack decided to look at going another way with his V6. We began looking for a suitable Thunderbird SuperCoupe to use as a engine donor for Jack's car. Those blown 3.8L's had 230 hp and over 300 ft/lbs of torque.

We found a wrecked 1993 SC on one of the Mustang forums, and it turns out the seller is the brother of a guy I know on another forum. The car use to belong to their Mom before the car was involved in an accident. So Jack and I will be pulling a borrowed trailer on Friday to Flint, Michigan to pick up the donor car. Later that morning, we will stop by Lapeer Dragway to catch up with at least two MOCSEM members we know. One of them just took delivery of a 2013 3.7L convertible, and he's planning to get some baseline runs in this Saturday before adding forced induction to the car. If anyone is near Lapeer this Saturday, feel free to meet us out there.

Now we're talkin! Keep us updated on the progress, or link to another forum where it will definintely be posted. Thats gonna be awesome!

[03cobra]

I have an extra motor and tranny for a SC T-Bird. If you need anything let me know.

[28HopUp]

Thanks Jason! We will know more once we get the engine out and examine it more closely. It is leaking a bit of antifreeze by the waterpump, but it starts right up and sounds great. Ideally, I'd like to swap in the SC set-up and get that running reliably for Jack. Then we can rebuild the Mustang's original engine and match the parts selection for using the supercharger.

But we had a great trip to Michigan this weekend. The SC is now resting in my parent's garage where will be doing the swap later this summer.

[28HopUp]

Here are some pictures of Jack's new parts car. The first one shows me using the Come-Along to pull the car onto the trailer. Note the use of car dollies under the rear wheels.




The Come-Along only had a 6' length of pull, so once it was drawn up we had to reposition/shorten the yellow strap to pull it another 6', and repeat, and repeat, etc. Unloading it went about the same way, except once those dollies were on the garage floor I had Jack start it up and use the front brakes to ease it off the trailer. The car is at my parent's house, which is a 3-car unit my Dad built using recycled timbers from a barn he tore down across the street. With an 8"x10" overhead beam, I've used that Come-Along to remove several engines in the past. Just need to move some of my Mom's clutter to get the car positioned to remove the engine.








Jack is anxious to get started. The plan is to have the swap completed and running before schools starts up at the end of August.

[ChrisL]

Cool project! What kind of power increase will that be?

[28HopUp]

Presently, the Mustang has 160 hp at the crank. The new set up is factory rated at 12 psi to make 210 hp @ 4000 RPMs and 315 ft/#'s of torque @ 2600 RPMs. That's a great torque number down low in the powerband, which should really wake up the Mustang without being overly powerful for a young driver. It should run 14's in the 1/4 mile before adding an underdrive pulley and tune. Built motors are into the 12's.

[ChrisL]

That sounds perfect, can't wait to see it after the swap!

[28HopUp]

We've made a little bit of progress through today with the Thunderbird. Being from Michigan, the car is quite rusty underneath and many of the fasteners do not feel like budging. A combination of Rem Oil, the right wrenches, better leverage, and a solid hammer are working so far. Here's our starting point -




To review, we are pulling the engines at my Mom's place, where I grew up. We will be using a Come-Along strung from the center beam to lift the motors. We moved the car perpendicular across all 3 bays, which allowed us to stage a table for tools and shelves for parts and fasteners -




With the hood off, we are able to take advantage of overhead lighting. As of this evening, we have removed the:

• battery and many of the electrical connections.
• radiator
• intercooler
• starter
• unbolted (mostly) the engine from the transmission
• unbolted the passenger side engine mount
• cut off the exhaust pipes above and below the catalytic converters.

We need to remove the front accessories, throttle, fuel lines, electrical connections, and remaining engine mount bolts. My nephew, Kris, is skilled with a wrench, and he will be coming over tomorrow morning to help with the car(s). I don't believe it is unrealistic to think that the SC engine will be sitting on my engine stand by tomorrow night.

This is a fun project for both of us. In some ways we are both learning as we go, while I'm trying to teach him about the inner workings of the automobile. Both of us already have a more colorful vocabulary. As bolt heads get rounded which causes busted knuckles when the wrench slips, we just have to look atop the 3.8L see the final goal we have in mind for Jack's Mustang -

[chism]

THATS GONNA BE SICK! THANKS FOR THE UPDATE

[Mustang Kid]

Curses Bill!!

I have been wanting to do a SC swap into my 85 LX for a while now.
I am jealous!!!

I found a standard V6 though, so I can't do a swap anyway, unless the car I got has a bad motor as well

What is the rear gearing? And does Jack's car have a 5spd or not?

From a member on FEP, he said this in a 3.8 Performance thread-

super coupe 3.8 S/C engine, with a smaller pulley, and a T5 with 3.55 gears...

I guess that is the setup to have.