04 terminator swap

[MustangChris]

im gunna throw up.....

 

[KWClutch]

search it on SVTP. there are a couple different ones but I can't remember. It's a lot but you can do it.

 

[MustangChris]

thanks man. im gunna keep workin' on getting the motor... then start on these computer things. lol.

one bite at a time.

 

[Shame302]

Don't take this the wrong way man but you are getting in over your head. Take some time and really research this, Otherwise you are going to make an already very expensive swap un necessarily more expensive. I can't believe your paying a shop to do the work. There is no reason you can't do it yourself. I can only imagine how much they are going to charge you for their time/work. That would be incentive alone to DIY.

You said the engine is still in the cobra? Where is the car? Is it a wreck? The more you can get from a single donor car, the better.

 

[KWClutch]

x2 to what that guy said about the donor car.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

whats a PCM harness?

whats the cooling mod, does 04 come with it stock, and how much does it cost? lol.

The PCM harness is just another way to say ECU, or ECM harness.

The cooling mod, taps a hole in the back of the driver's side head, and let's the coolant circulate fully through the motor instead of pooling in the back and causing a bad valve guide or lifted head.

There's several way's to do the swap. Give me a call tonight and we can go over your options before you throw a pile of cash at it.

You can do as suggested, and basically make your car a Terminator in SN skin, or you can swap to a return style system, keep your coil packs, and everything else stock and only swap engines, give me a call tonight Chris.

 

[MustangChris]

Don't take this the wrong way man but you are getting in over your head. Take some time and really research this, Otherwise you are going to make an already very expensive swap un necessarily more expensive. I can't believe your paying a shop to do the work. There is no reason you can't do it yourself. I can only imagine how much they are going to charge you for their time/work. That would be incentive alone to DIY.

You said the engine is still in the cobra? Where is the car? Is it a wreck? The more you can get from a single donor car, the better.

no offense taken. i know that im in over my head, and thats exactly why i'm going to let the shop do the computer/fuel. I just need to know what parts to supply so they can do thier magic. I'll be doing the motor swap, but the fuel and electrical is way beyond me...

he is swapping out his custom built 4.6 with a twin turbo set up, so he simply doesnt need this motor... its in Salt Lake City, UT. He will be keeping most of the electronic stuff.
correction: he will be keeping all of the electronic stuff. lol.

x2 to what that guy said about the donor car.

he has a friend who is parting out a 03 termi, he said he will try and help me out with the parts i need.

whats a PCM harness?

whats the cooling mod, does 04 come with it stock, and how much does it cost? lol.

The PCM harness is just another way to say ECU, or ECM harness.

The cooling mod, taps a hole in the back of the driver's side head, and let's the coolant circulate fully through the motor instead of pooling in the back and causing a bad valve guide or lifted head.

There's several way's to do the swap. Give me a call tonight and we can go over your options before you throw a pile of cash at it.

You can do as suggested, and basically make your car a Terminator in SN skin, or you can swap to a return style system, keep your coil packs, and everything else stock and only swap engines, give me a call tonight Chris.

is the cooling mod something that i can do? does the head have to be removed? should this be done by my head-guy?

I want a termi inside SN95 skin.

Where it gets complicated, (After reading for litterally 6 hours last night) all the termi guys seem to swap to returnless style fuel systems. I have the 03 tank, so i wont starve the motor for fuel, bt how do i do the return style with the 03 termi tank?

(now im REALLY getting dazed and confused)

this is why im throwing the motor in (because ive done that before... lol) and giving the fuel and electronics to the professionals...

PM relpied, btw, JR.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

If you know righty tighty lefty loosy you can do the cooling mod yourself, it's really easy.

As far as I can recall, the only difference between tanks is the pumps and hat. So you can just keep your stock tank, upgrade pumps, and swap rails on the engine. I was already aware terminator guy's go back to return style, lol. Fuel systems are cheaper and easier to work with on return style car's.

My personal pilosophy is to keep thing's simple. I see no particular reason to make thing's needlessly complicated.

 

[MustangChris]

the termi tanks have different sumps. They dont starve the pumps under hard turning or low-fuel levels.

ill give ya a call tonight. i have a few questions regarding return style fuel VS. returnless...

 

[KWClutch]

Yeah but if you can get the donor car parts cheap do that and just swap it all. It was designed that way. I want to eventually go back to return style but you'll need to upgrade your lines, buy an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator, Aeromotive fuel sender to send the extra back. And upgraded pumps because you'll burn up the cobra pumps. They weren't made to run all the time.

 

[Shame302]

I'll be doing the motor swap, but the fuel and electrical is way beyond me...

No it's not. If you have the ability to swap the engine in, you should be able to do the entire swap yourself and save a ton of money. If you get everything you need you should be able to get this thing done "turn key".

You need to have a good understanding of what's going on and all the parts you need before you buy anything (aside from the engine).

Are the 96-98 cars returnless? If so, stay returnless. No need to change over to return style.

is the cooling mod something that i can do?

There are 2 versions of the mod. I chose the LDC version. You can do it and its very easy. Pop out the plug in the back of the drivers side head and install the fitting and replace the passenger side fitting with the supplied one. Done. This is the one i used.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/terminator-talk-229/487018-terminator-custom-head-cooling-mod.html

Here are the 2 different kit styles.

http://www.socalterminators.com/ldc/index.html

 

[MustangChris]

I'll be doing the motor swap, but the fuel and electrical is way beyond me...

No it's not. If you have the ability to swap the engine in, you should be able to do the entire swap yourself and save a ton of money. If you get everything you need you should be able to get this thing done "turn key".

You need to have a good understanding of what's going on and all the parts you need before you buy anything (aside from the engine).

Are the 96-98 cars returnless? If so, stay returnless. No need to change over to return style.

is the cooling mod something that i can do?

There are 2 versions of the mod. I chose the LDC version. You can do it and its very easy. Pop out the plug in the back of the drivers side head and install the fitting and replace the passenger side fitting with the supplied one. Done. This is the one i used.

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums/terminator-talk-229/487018-terminator-custom-head-cooling-mod.html

Here are the 2 different kit styles.

http://www.socalterminators.com/ldc/index.html

okay. I'll take a look at this junk when I get it all pulled out of my car. maybe its not as bad as i expect ;-)
i cant do "turn key" because of the PATS. i'll have to have the tuning shop work that bug out.

all ive baught so far was the motor and the engine harness. i got a good deal on the harness, so im not worried about selling it again and creaking even if i choose to stay with the 96 ECU set up.

96/97 are return style. 98 was mix-match between return and returnless. (from waht ive read on the interwebz, so take that with a grain of salt.)

Id liek to stay return style, but use the 03 tank, as to use the better designed tank.

thanks for the leads on the head cooling mod links! ill look into it!

Yeah but if you can get the donor car parts cheap do that and just swap it all. It was designed that way. I want to eventually go back to return style but you'll need to upgrade your lines, buy an aftermarket fuel pressure regulator, Aeromotive fuel sender to send the extra back. And upgraded pumps because you'll burn up the cobra pumps. They weren't made to run all the time.

thats what im working towards. termi everything with a return style fuel system. from what you're telling me, the return style sounds pricey on termi tank.... lol.

 

[MustangChris]

im doing the head cooling mod. thats so simple, id hate myself forever if i didnt.

what exactly did they do in 04 to remidy the "head tick" problem. everyone says the 04 heads are better than the 03 heads (???)

thanks for the link!

 

[KWClutch]

Its not the tank. It's making what you have in the swap work with what you're trying to do. spend the money on the harness. It's plug and play (80 percent is).

If not you have to play with this. ANd if you're not doing it yourself then you'll have to pay for someone to do it and I'm sure that'll be more in labor than the cost of the harness.

 

[KWClutch]

Not sure what they did to fix it but it is fixed in the 04 heads. Some people try to sell 03 heads as 04. 04 Heads have blue paint.

 

[Shame302]

i cant do "turn key" because of the PATS.

Not true.

Get the gauge cluster, ecm/ecu (computer), key, key cylinder, pats module (Its a tiny green connector just above the key cyl on the column) all from the same car and that **** will fire right up.

The engine, wire harness etc can be pieced together from other cars.

The only difficult part of the swap will be dealing with the dash harness differences between the 2 cars.

 

[MustangChris]

Not sure what they did to fix it but it is fixed in the 04 heads. Some people try to sell 03 heads as 04. 04 Heads have blue paint.

is the blue paint visible from the outside, or do i have to remove the valve covers??

i cant do "turn key" because of the PATS.

Not true.

Get the gauge cluster, ecm/ecu (computer), key, key cylinder, pats module (Its a tiny green connector just above the key cyl on the column) all from the same car and that **** will fire right up.

The engine, wire harness etc can be pieced together from other cars.

The only difficult part of the swap will be dealing with the dash harness differences between the 2 cars.

im losing my mind... .. . lol.
i cant just pull my OEM dash harness and put in the terminator dash harness?

 

[Jrgunn5150]

:bootyshake:

 

[Shame302]

i cant just pull my OEM dash harness and put in the terminator dash harness?

You should be able to for the most part. You have to in order to use the terminator cluster anyway.

 

[KWClutch]

Some of the plugs for the 03 arent the same as the 98. If they are plug them in. If not just splice it in. Very easy. Id' just spend the money and get whatever you can from the donor car. That would make it very easy. But there are other ways to do it.