DOHC in a 94-95 GT

cntchds · Feb 19, 2010

Lately I've been toying with the idea of trying to put a Mark 8 motor in my 94 GT. I know the basics of what needs to be changed like the engine harness, computer, K member, gauges. I just don't really know the intricacies of what all is necessity compared to what "should be" done. In the end it will need to be completely smog legal, so anything that has to do with emissions must remain on the vehicle.

One of my biggest concerns is the hydraboost brakes, and the power steering pump and rack. What else do I need to worry about? Can I use my current chassis harness, or do I need to move to the 96-98 harness there as well?

Feel free to convince me not to do the swap... I'm thinking about saving some money and selling the 94, and buying a 96-98 to make the swap go a bit more fluidly.

Javi · Feb 19, 2010

You could find a donor car or better yet, trade it for a car with a 32V already in it....
is not hard but time consuming, if you try to piece it together, lil things will add it could end up costing more than you
originally planned to spend.. Good luck

IMO trade it for a cobra or sell it and buy a cobra... :dontknow:

atlanticblue98 · Feb 19, 2010

you will also need a 96-04 K-member because the 94-95 K-member will only accept motor mounts for 5.0's and 94/95 V6 blocks.

KWClutch · Feb 19, 2010

^^^ He said that he knows he needs one. lol But I agree with Javi. In a 94 car it wouldn't be worth all the time/money/PITAness

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 19, 2010

By the time your done you could have bought a 96 Cobra, that is worth more than a 94 with a 32v

atlanticblue98 · Feb 19, 2010

KWClutch said:
^^^ He said that he knows he needs one. lol But I agree with Javi. In a 94 car it wouldn't be worth all the time/money/PITAness

i apparently fail at reading

Venomous96Cobra · Feb 20, 2010

I sold my nicely modded 95Gt for $4850 and paid $6000 for my nicely modded Cobra!

I also was debating doing a 4v swap! but once you're done it would have cost you so much more then selling the Gt and buying a Cobra. The way I see it is I paid $1150 for my Cobra and it already has a 4v in it! problem solved.... :wink:

duff daddy · Feb 20, 2010

cntchds said:
Lately I've been toying with the idea of trying to put a Mark 8 motor in my 94 GT. I know the basics of what needs to be changed like the engine harness, computer, K member, gauges. I just don't really know the intricacies of what all is necessity compared to what "should be" done. In the end it will need to be completely smog legal, so anything that has to do with emissions must remain on the vehicle.

One of my biggest concerns is the hydraboost brakes, and the power steering pump and rack. What else do I need to worry about? Can I use my current chassis harness, or do I need to move to the 96-98 harness there as well?

Feel free to convince me not to do the swap... I'm thinking about saving some money and selling the 94, and buying a 96-98 to make the swap go a bit more fluidly.

I have the power steering pump, hydroboos, lines master cylinder, power steerign rack, all that good stuff for ya if you want to, oh golly i even have the STOCK K MEMBER !!!!!

cntchds · Feb 20, 2010

See, my GT has 220k miles on it. Body damage here and there, and really is not "worth" much. I bought it for 1500. I did all the normal stuff. GT40 heads, Cobra intake, Cobra brakes, race seats, Simcos, and a watts... nothing really worth much when I sell it. I would say that at most I could probably get 3k. And that is asking a lot. So I think that going the swap route makes a bit more sense in my case since I would be paying around 5k on top of my car for a clean Cobra.

Thanks duff daddy, but I'm really still weighing options here. Not really ready to dive in and buy parts just yet.

KWClutch · Feb 20, 2010

I'd just throw more money at the gt. I love the 4v motors but if you're worried about money then you don't need a 4v.

Javi · Feb 20, 2010

cntchds said:
See, my GT has 220k miles on it. Body damage here and there, and really is not "worth" much. I bought it for 1500. I did all the normal stuff. GT40 heads, Cobra intake, Cobra brakes, race seats, Simcos, and a watts... nothing really worth much when I sell it. I would say that at most I could probably get 3k. And that is asking a lot. So I think that going the swap route makes a bit more sense in my case since I would be paying around 5k on top of my car for a clean Cobra.

Thanks duff daddy, but I'm really still weighing options here. Not really ready to dive in and buy parts just yet.

guess how much you are going to get if you sell the car??
after spending XXXX.XX on a 4V swap..
waste of time and money if you ever sell the car, but if you are going to keep it go for it..

mikey94gt · Feb 20, 2010

WHy not keep your current 5.0 as a nice daily driver, and save up for a nice Cobra 4v? or....... slap an S trim on that 5.0, you wont need a 4v, cuz your 5.0 will be soo much fun to drive.

cntchds · Feb 20, 2010

javi said:
guess how much you are going to get if you sell the car??
after spending XXXX.XX on a 4V swap..
waste of time and money if you ever sell the car, but if you are going to keep it go for it..

The selling part does not really matter to me since I don't plan on selling anytime soon, and I'm already 4.5k into a car that's "worth" maybe 3k. So I'm pretty invested in this car.

How much needs to be done exactly to put the 4.6 in my car? I'm interested in if there is any body work involved, or if everything is really a "swap." Can I use my current body harness?

mikey94gt · Feb 20, 2010

it is a purely mechanical/electrical work swap, nothing more. no real bodywork needs done.

Javi · Feb 20, 2010

how much you want to spend on this swap?

cntchds · Feb 20, 2010

I'm not too worried about cost. Under 4 grand would be nice.

My list of things I know I need is like this...

Motor- Mark 8s go for between 500 and 1000 Cobras go for significantly more, but not out of the picture.
T-45 - Probably cheaper if I can get it with the engine, roughly 300
Tranny crossmember - pick n pull (read "cheap")
Stock K - 50
Engine harness ~100?
Comp - no idea
Brake booster (hydraboost or whatever,) I have no idea how much to expect for that.
Power Steering pump and rack if it's different than 94-95 -200?
Gauges- 100?

As far as I can tell it looks like it will be about 2000-2500 bucks, maybe a bit more, but still significantly less money than buying a Cobra.

My reasons for the swap is because my car is just old. 220k miles is a whole bunch to have on the clock, and the chassis is straight, but the motor just... isn't too happy. I'd rather not build a 5.0 when I could just put in a motor that has significantly more power than I have right now, and gets better mileage. My buddy is getting 25 mpg in his 96 Cobra consistently. I am lucky to get over 16 every now and then. I think I can recoop a bit of the cost selling off my Cobra stuff (heads/intake) and bring the price tag down a bit, too.

Is it much easier to do the DOHC swap on a 96-98? If it is that much less work, I can start looking harder at finding one of those to use instead. I am fairly set on the "I want a DOHC" idea though. Just not really sure how I'm going to do it though.

mikey94gt · Feb 21, 2010

If your worried about gas mileage, my 5.0 gets consistent 20-22mpg, and I have H/C/I and all. not trying to discourage you from building a nice 4v car, just sayin....

so, back to the 4v stuff.... I bet you could get the 4v engine for not too much... maybe search CL for a complete Lincoln to get the engine/harness from, maybe a wrecked 4v Cobra to get the complete wiring harness, ECU, instrument cluster, etc. from. I see wiring harnesses go on ebay for aboutu $100 here and there. I would wonder if it would be easier to swap the entire car's wiring than to wire in the 4v harness, splicing into the stock 5.0 harness.

Transmissions shouldnt be hard, any 4.6 trans will work, as well as flywheels and bell housings, crossmember.

overall, i think you could easily do the swap for $4k or less.

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 21, 2010

cntchds said:
Is it much easier to do the DOHC swap on a 96-98?

Yes, it bolts to everything, the harness hooks up, the fuel system hooks up, you extend a few wires, fiddle with teh throttle cable, done.

98green5.4 · Feb 24, 2010

J.R. said:
cntchds said:

Is it much easier to do the DOHC swap on a 96-98?

Click to expand...

Yes, it bolts to everything, the harness hooks up, the fuel system hooks up, you extend a few wires, fiddle with teh throttle cable, done.

sounds familiar to me. lol

just be prepared to start from square one if you want to do it. change computer, harness, under dash harness, (all engine wiring basically). like others said. 5.0 k member is different, so that would have to be changed out. would be nice if you found a wrecked 96-98 cobra with the drivetrain still on a good k member. just bolt that in and it would be a chunk of the project done.

researching is your best friend at this stage, and just know that the 5.0 and 4.6 are two completely different animals (i'm sure you knoew that.. lol), so like i said above, all the stuff will need to be changed that involves the motor.

cntchds · Feb 25, 2010

I've been reading a lot about Fox swaps, because I can't really find anything about 5.0 SN95 swaps, but it should be interesting whenever I get into it. Other than the stuff listed, what else am I looking at? I really want to get everything together before I start tearing into it. What else am I going to need?