It's cheaper/easier to just buy another car with the engine you want rather than doing a swap. Only good reason to do a swap is if you have a ton of money already into the car or if it has some sentemental value to you.
not sure if you know the potential of the 3.8. it is a better desogn than the 5.0 anyways despite what V8 guys will tell you.
depending on your year of 3.8 with just adding a procharger you can have between 240-300rwhp. a stock 5.0 only makes 190rwhp and to make decent power you need to get rid of the boat anchor E7TE heads and invest in at leasst a $1200 set of heads. then you need an intake and cam and for what? 280rwhp -300rwhp swapping in a 5.0 will cost at least $3000 to do just to put a stock 5.0 in then it's another $3000 to build it to get you 300rwhp $6000 total where the 3.8 takes $4000 to do with a procharger
i was considering the same thing and it is totally do-able. but what i have decided to do is to purchase a 94-98 cobra has between 240-305 horse stock depending on the year you can pick one up for about 5,000 so thats what i have decided to do.
not sure if you know the potential of the 3.8. it is a better desogn than the 5.0 anyways despite what V8 guys will tell you.
HEY!!! haha jk yea man its way too much work imo. i say just buy a v8
so explain what is soo much more work on a 3.8 than there is a 5.0?
also explain the superior design of the 5.0 over the 3.8?
if i remember i used to give people with modded 5.0's nightmares with my 86 turbo buick. the ford 3.8 was a modifed and improved copy of Buick's stage 1 3.8. the buick IMO is a better design than the 5.0.
the 5.0 is a very reliable engine no doubt but making power with it isn't as easy as opening a magazine and reading the millionth 5.0 buildup ever done. alot of things need paid attention to especially for a novice like using the right balancer so the engine doesn't shake itself apart. ther 5.0 has a low deck ehight which doesn't lend itself to great manifolding but this has been overcome 5.0 blocks suffer from severe coreshift above 450-500rwhp the 3.8 has been fine well above that level so far on the stock block and crank. the mains and rods on the 5.0are smaller than the 3.8. lets not even talk about factory heads. Iron slugs for the 5.0 aluminum for the 3.8 which outflow E7TE's stock for stock and can be ported to equal very expensive aftermarket 5.0 heads.
the ONLY advantage that the 5.0 has is a huge aftermarket but it really isn't much cheaper than 3.8 parts and the power gains/dollar are about equal.
it's attitudes like yours that the 3.8 never achieved the potential that it should have in the stang.
answer this. why didn't ford drop the supercoupe 3.8 into the Fox? they did as a test mule and it walked all over the 5.0 but ford being V8 heritage couldn't have a v6 outcompete it's mainstay V8.
if ford would have turbo'd the 3.8 and put it in the fox instead of the lima 2.3 back in the mid 80's the buick grand National would have never became such a cult icon and the 5.0 would have very likely been dropped. also if ford would have developed a V8 off of the 3.8 essex it too would have replaced the 5.0 due to being a superior design
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current mods
98 3.8L 11psi P1SC Procharger,97 junkyard engine ,3.73`s,7.5 Detroit Truetrac,TA rear girdle,B&M shift kit,2500 stall
mods to complete
8.5:1 ross .030" pistons,Eagle H-Beam 351W rods,Comp cam 224/236 .569"/.578" 112* lobe sep,Rhodes variable duration roller lifters,Pro-M Univer MAF,siemens deka 60lb injectors, upgrade to D1@20psi,Delk Main Girdle and Main studs, Head studs,Comp 1.7 roller rockers, home ported heads CFM 216/196,PI 3500 stall
BistroMustang was just asking if it was better to swap a 5.0 or buy a V8. And I, like many many others here, will say that buying a car with the motor you want would be the way to go. I never said anything about buying a V8 would be any better than modding his current V6, which he never mentioned anything about mods. I am not here to start another unneeded V6-V8 argument. I just chose to stay on topic and answer his question.
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what good is 48.4 mpg when by the time you get there, all your friends are gone?
for sale: 79-95 adjustable clutch cable brand new shoot me a PM
thanks....im not going to be buying another car for a while..my mustangs in good condition for its year. i've started doing small mods, so i'll continue to do so. any suggestions other than what i already have?
not sure if you know the potential of the 3.8. it is a better desogn than the 5.0 anyways despite what V8 guys will tell you.
HEY!!! haha jk yea man its way too much work imo. i say just buy a v8
so explain what is soo much more work on a 3.8 than there is a 5.0?
also explain the superior design of the 5.0 over the 3.8?
if i remember i used to give people with modded 5.0's nightmares with my 86 turbo buick. the ford 3.8 was a modifed and improved copy of Buick's stage 1 3.8. the buick IMO is a better design than the 5.0.
the 5.0 is a very reliable engine no doubt but making power with it isn't as easy as opening a magazine and reading the millionth 5.0 buildup ever done. alot of things need paid attention to especially for a novice like using the right balancer so the engine doesn't shake itself apart. ther 5.0 has a low deck ehight which doesn't lend itself to great manifolding but this has been overcome 5.0 blocks suffer from severe coreshift above 450-500rwhp the 3.8 has been fine well above that level so far on the stock block and crank. the mains and rods on the 5.0are smaller than the 3.8. lets not even talk about factory heads. Iron slugs for the 5.0 aluminum for the 3.8 which outflow E7TE's stock for stock and can be ported to equal very expensive aftermarket 5.0 heads.
the ONLY advantage that the 5.0 has is a huge aftermarket but it really isn't much cheaper than 3.8 parts and the power gains/dollar are about equal.
it's attitudes like yours that the 3.8 never achieved the potential that it should have in the stang.
answer this. why didn't ford drop the supercoupe 3.8 into the Fox? they did as a test mule and it walked all over the 5.0 but ford being V8 heritage couldn't have a v6 outcompete it's mainstay V8.
if ford would have turbo'd the 3.8 and put it in the fox instead of the lima 2.3 back in the mid 80's the buick grand National would have never became such a cult icon and the 5.0 would have very likely been dropped. also if ford would have developed a V8 off of the 3.8 essex it too would have replaced the 5.0 due to being a superior design
if my sister had a dick she'd be my brother. with a superior penis design at that.
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by the time you've finished reading this sentence, you'll realize you wasted like 5 seconds of your life
3.8 to 5.0
