Thread: For all you Mustang Gurus
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07-30-2006 08:02 AM #3
What Dave said except you would need a front sump pan.
As you read this post keep in mind that it is meant to be helpful advice.
You have a nice looking car to start with but in spite of how big the engine compartment looks with the 4 Cyl (and it will look bigger with the engine out) IT IS NOT THAT BIG. Even doing a 351W engine in one of these cars can be a relatively major swap.
For someone with limited engine swapping experience and only having common hand tools wanting to put an engine in these cars on a limited budget only really has 3 alternatives:
Put in a replacement 4 Cyl.
Swap to a 2.8 V6 (not a real power house either)
Swap in a 302 as I outlined in a previous post.
While other engines have been successfully swapped into these cars the amount of work was horribly extensive involving major (expensive) surgery to the car which unless you have access to a full fledged fabrication shop and the ability to use welders, plasma cutters, metal benders etc is going to be prohibitive.
One of the other major consideration on an engine swap on for these cars is weight. While these cars handle reasonably well with a 4 Cyl or even the V6 they become fairly nose heavy with a 302 (basically 60% of the weight on the front and 40% on the rear). Putting a really heavy engine in turns the car into basically a straight line terror that is not really a lot of fun to go around corners in (in addition to the additional work you will be asking the stock 9" rotors to do).
Basically I see a couple of choices for you, if you want to car on the road quick find another 2.3, if you want to go fast start collecting parts for a 302 swap. The down time/cost for doing any other swap often ends up in just an unfinished project.
That is terrible, sad to hear about him.
RIP Mike Frade, aka 34_40