Thread: Mid 80's crown vic as motor donor?

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Anybody have any experience using the 5.0 out of granny's old crown vic. They are selling for nothing, and they appear to be carb motors, so it should be pretty easy to wire up. There would be a ton of smog stuff to get rid of, but that shouldn't go too badly.
CHAZ

They are actually throttle body fuel injected, in most cases. That thing that looks like a carb is actually the fuel injection. You can mount an aluminum intake and carb and convert it over real easy, and you get rid of all the computer stuff too if you put in an after market dist. My daily driver is an '84 crown vic., and I am running the same setup in my Jeep truck. I pulled all the computer stuff and converted it to carb. You will have to run electric fuel pump because there is no provision on the block for a mechanical one.

They aren't as strong as a Mustang engine ( horsepowerwise) but are usually in good condition because they haven't been run as hard. (Granny only races on Sunday, not 7 days a week ) I bought my vic 3 years ago from the proverbial little old lady. It had 50,000 miles on it and I paid $ 400 for it. So yes, they can be great deals. (It hadn't left her garage for 4 years, but she still put 4 brand new tires on it and kept up the insurance and license plates)

Don

Get one with a 351W! I put one in my '79 Mustang, worked great. Even better with '69 heads and a cam.

If I ever get to the point that I need a motor it seemed like a really cheap way to get a SBF drivetrain. I found a few on ebay that were selling for less than $500. Thanks for the insight,
CHAZ

I really like using a donor car, because if it was a good running car when you tore it down you end up with a lot of very usable pieces. Engine, trans, driveshaft rear axle, wiring, radiator, etc. Obviously you wouldn't do this on a high dollar show car, but for a driver it is fantastic.

If you figure that a good junkyard engine goes for a few hundred on up, you are way ahead of the game. I've built more than one car this way, and that is what I did to my Jeep truck. Bought a hit in the rear Mustang 5.0 and started moving stuff over to the Jeep. You also get a lot of brackets and parts that you can modify to fit, and when you are all done you can go to any autoparts store and get repair parts, because you have the make and model of the donor.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

I really like using a donor car, because if it was a good running car when you tore it down you end up with a lot of very usable pieces. Engine, trans, driveshaft rear axle, wiring, radiator, etc. Obviously you wouldn't do this on a high dollar show car, but for a driver it is fantastic.

If you figure that a good junkyard engine goes for a few hundred on up, you are way ahead of the game. I've built more than one car this way, and that is what I did to my Jeep truck. Bought a hit in the rear Mustang 5.0 and started moving stuff over to the Jeep. You also get a lot of brackets and parts that you can modify to fit, and when you are all done you can go to any autoparts store and get repair parts, because you have the make and model of the donor.

Don

Bingo Don, right on the money. That's how I do it too.