Pi Swap on my 96. Whole motor or just Heads/Intake?

Boulky12 · Apr 21, 2017

Hey guys. So I'm planning on doing the Pi swap on my 96 so I can keep up with the newer mustangs.

I found a Salvage yard here in my city selling the whole motor from a 2001 GT for 550 and they dont wanna sell me just the Heads/Intake.

So if i buy it, would it be a better and easier to swap the whole Pi motor in. Or should I just swap the Pi Heads, intake on the Npi block.

Would it be just plug and play if i swap the whole motor or will i have to use the 99+ GT harness and cpu as well.

Thanks

lwarrior1016 · Apr 22, 2017

That'll really be up to you. You won't gain much over the whole pi engine if you do the pi swap, but you will set yourself up a little better if you want to install aftermarket cams in the future. The cams will favor the higher compression of the head swap on the npi short block.

The whole engine will sit right in there. You will want to swap timing covers and then install your accessories from the only engine. It'll run just fine with the stock computer but to optimize it, you will want a custom tune.

Thomas_W · Apr 22, 2017

No real reason to swap front covera if you drop the PI motor into the car currently. Only differences were some belt pulley changes, tensioner mount changes and water pump lengths. Other than that nothing important (accessory mounting, belt routing, etc) changes betweem the front cover variants.

That said. If the Current motor is high mileage and consuming oil, i would just drop the PI motor in the car and be done with it. The stock computer can compensate for the small changes in efficiency to where a dyno tune isnt 100% necesary.

Now if your current motor is fine, id just throw some PI cams and PI intake (if your on a budget) or aftermarket cams/springs and a PI intake (if your have a deeper budget) on your current motor and get a tune. The PI heads honestly aren't as horrible as people make them out to be (if memory serves me correct. They actually flow better at higher RPMs when paired with a PI intake and PI cams) so the only true benefit of PI heads on a NPI block is a slight bump of compression and a few extra ponies, but its nothing your seat of the pants dyno will be able to tell the difference of.

lwarrior1016 · Apr 23, 2017

The only reason I suggested front cover swap is because of coil pack bracket mounting. I'm not sure if the newer covers have the provisions for mounting them.

Thomas_W · Apr 23, 2017

Ahh ok.

Yea im positive you can mount the Coil packs to the newer front covers.

Personally i would use the PI motors Cop's and wire them in to replace the npi 4 tower coils.

talltim · Oct 1, 2017

Swap the heads and intake you will bump your compression up to 10 to 1

NEURON · Oct 1, 2017

Since you have a choice between engines I would base it on the condition of the two motors as my main criteria.

BigBore96 · Oct 1, 2017

Old thread.

But personally youre better off power wise doing a aftermarket intake for pi heads and throwing large NPI specific cams in the npi heads. If you want an even better engine. Replace the pistons with a flat top with reliefs.

Npi heads allow a much much larger cam than a pi head will. The whole you must pi swap to make power is on old information without modern parts.

Also. Dont ditch the coil packs. Theyre more reliable, respond better at high rpms, and generally last longer. COP for looks but not performance.