supercoupe motor

[blackstalion232]

do you have to do any major changes to replace a 98 3.8l for a supercoupe motor what would have to be done to do that

 

[v6mustang94]

My suggestion to you is to go check out 3.8mustang.com in the power adders section and also check out v6power.net

Those are two really good forums and you'll find a pretty fair amount of information.

Someone asked a pretty similar question the other day at 3.8. http://www.3.8mustang.com/forum/showthread.php?t=206741
Read through that thread. There are links and such to good info and some good info within the posts.

 

[Doc_G]

To give you a brief synopsys of what you'll find over at those two forums:

You can install the supercoupe motor in place of your 98 3.8, there will be a few fitment issues that are discussed in both forums such as; brake lines from the master cyl. having to be bent out of the way of the intercooler pipe (fixable if you buy a 94/95 ranger master cyl. as the brake lines protrude from the opposite side), custom throttle cable bracket (must fab or have fabbed), custom coolant lines (supercoupe ac is the same as the mustang but mounted upside down)

Thats the basics that need to be considered right off the bat. YOU MUST DO THE MODIFICATIONS LISTED ABOVE IF YOU PLAN ON KEEPING AC, CRUISE, AND DONT BREAK YOUR BRAKE LINES.

Also you will need to upgrade your fuel system, I cannot remember if you have the returnless fuel line or not but if so you will need the 310lph focus pump (125-145 depending on where you look) or the 255lph walboro pump (100-130 again depending on where you look) You will need a good tune, I reccommend Justin @ vmp www.vmptuning.com I believe is his website. This is a doable project but its not something that you will do over night.

Another thing to look at is are you auto or manual. If your auto you will need a neutral balanced flexplate (any year supercoupe will do) and a neutral balanced harmonic balancer (you can get one from a 4.2 out of the truck/van I believe the years are 94-96 but dont quote me on that particular number) All in all if you can find a reasonably priced running supercoupe engine (500-600) the tune will run you 479. the fuel pump another 100-145, flexplate and harmonic balancer 200-550 (depending on what you end up going with the guys over at sccoa SWEAR by the bhj Harmonic balancer I believe, a damn good one but a bit pricy) then Lets say an additional 200 for the new master cyl. and custom hoses. Add to that another 200 for a complete rebuild kit for the engine (bearings, gaskets the whole shebang) and your at what 1679. on the lowest scale and up to 2176. on the high side. Still Way cheaper than most supercharger setups.

Now these figures are provided that you do your own work. Having a shop do anything will make the price go up, but if you dont trust yourself, or cant tell the difference between a 1/4in socket and a 14mm socket ... save the extra and go w/the pros. Also with any project you wanna add an additional 20% for unforseen misc. items. I personally would NEVER put a used engine in a car w/out tearing it down, inspecting it and having the block cleaned, magnafluxed and any issues taken care of BEFORE it gets installed in a car and blows up on ya. It could run you 1000. to have all the work you want done... but its a small investment if you think about it...

WHEN WORKING ON VEHICLES ITS MUCH EASIER AND COST EFFECTIVE IN THE LONG RUN TO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

enjoy the book

 

[Matt94GT]

why a SC motor, dont they eat headgaskets like its their birthday? get a 5.0 for the same price

 

[Doc_G]

why a SC motor, dont they eat headgaskets like its their birthday? get a 5.0 for the same price

not true, well it kinda is but kinda isn't. They did have some issues w/the factory headgaskets but that can be attributed to the incredibly restrictive exhaust system (logstyle exhaust manifolds). While it is true the v8 swap is a consideration, its as hard if not harder to do than the supercoupe motor swap. I originally bought myself a beaut of a 302 shortblock, but after research on both the v8 swap and the supercoupe engine swap I decided that it was easier and more of a "wow" factor to do the supercoupe engine. However I do stipulate that is my personal choice. It may not be the answer for everyone. I highly reccommend anyone who's contemplating EITHER swap to do thorough research on each subject and assess their own mechanical aptitude.

Either way one goes... its gonna be fun once its done. :banana:

 

[Matt94GT]

no thats cool man, I owned a SC for about 4 months it had high mileage and I was sacred of the head gasket blowing up so I sold it for 4X what I paied for it cool car though. I didnt know too much about them when I had it, just too many crazy features to go wrong, that auto stiffining suspension, auto dimming lights, like 10 way seats, power sunroof etc.

good luck with the swap, keep us posted man if you wanna start a build thread in here feel free and ill make it a sticky.

 

[v6mustang94]

no thats cool man, I owned a SC for about 4 months it had high mileage and I was sacred of the head gasket blowing up so I sold it for 4X what I paied for it cool car though. I didnt know too much about them when I had it, just too many crazy features to go wrong, that auto stiffining suspension, auto dimming lights, like 10 way seats, power sunroof etc.

good luck with the swap, keep us posted man if you wanna start a build thread in here feel free and ill make it a sticky.

you can sticky my build thread if you want, lol O0

 

[Doc_G]

mine too.. rofl although its going a bit slow due to the birth of my son... however I should have an update or two for y'all by next weekend. :dancing6:

::edit::

HMM seems that we may have run off the OP. BlackStallion is this not the info you were looking for? I've done ALOT of research on the swap, and am currently dead in the middle of tearing my supercoupe motor apart so that I can take a look at the internals and have the block taken care of. Which, incidently I highly recommend to anyone who has a questionable engine. Even if its currently running GREAT It needs to be inspected for any minutae that will cause you grief in the future. Case In Point, friend(aquaintence actually, but we converse a bit so I consider him an "InnaNeT_FriEnD") had a perfectly good mustang v6, and after swapping the top end of the motor across w/out inspecting the internals had a catostrophic engine failure 5 miles after he got it running. Turns out one of his pistons lifted from the rod and just fubared his engine. He then had to spend 3k getting the supercoupe engine rebuilt and installed. He could have saved himself about a grand to fifteen hundred had he pulled his engine apart and inspected it carefully. He may or may not have noticed the crack in the piston skirt, but its likely that he would have.

 

[blackstalion232]

yea thanks guys now the olny proble is finding a full supercope moter and all the parts :thumb:

 

[Doc_G]

there's a kid on 3.8 mustang thats selling a complete top end swap. Ive got spares of the water pump, electric fan and timing chain cover as well. I think he's only wanting 300 for everything. Let me see if I can dig it up...clickety

Or you can try www.sccoa.com to see if you can find someone local to you who's interested in parting out their supercoupe, or possibly just go and get you one for sale and gut the engine and all the associated wiring needed and just part out the rest... Its what I did/am doing.

Either way shoot me a pm @ [email protected] if you have any questions or w/e.

 

[Matt94GT]

just link me to your build threads on here and ill do it

 

[blackstalion232]

thanks guys for the links if you find any sc motors contact me i would like to do the swap

 

[Doc_G]

thanks guys for the links if you find any sc motors contact me i would like to do the swap

Where are you located so I'll know what region to start checking.

also matt... mine's just a few threads above/below this one.

:edit:

heres the link Doc's Supercoupe engine swap thread

 

[blackstalion232]

iam located in minnesota but iam willing if the price is right to travel within a 5 state area

 

[Doc_G]

okies I'll look around and see what I can come up with. You want the whole car or just the engine?

 

[v6mustang94]

iam located in minnesota but iam willing if the price is right to travel within a 5 state area

Where in MN, I'm in St Cloud

 

[blackstalion232]

iam located in farmington i would like just the motor and wiring but willing to take whole car if price is right

 

[Doc_G]

Well OP, TBH www.sccoa.com is your sure fire bet of finding what ever supercoupe engine parts you need. There are guys there parting out all kinds of things. I saw a helluva good deal on a MPS blower and lower for about half or less than it originaly goes for. There's tons of folks wanting to sell something you want there. You could also check the classified sections of both 3.8mustang.com or v6power.net for what your looking for. The resources are out there... its up to you to find what you would be willing to pay for.

 

[x182dan]

what you don't want to do is throw a tbird blower on your 3.8na engine. it will last for a few miles then boom. Whoever said scs eat headgaskets its very true but they don't blow them any more than a 3.8na would. Theres a few precautions that you could do to help them headgasket issue. I would use your factory stang headers since they are a lot better than factory sc ones. Mark my words one day I'm gonna buy a notchback and throw an sc motor in it. I figure 330pnds of torque at 2300rmps in a notchback would be a hellava ride and thats just a stock 94sc motor. Best of all is you can use a stock 5.0 t5 tranny to bolt to the 3.8 motor.

 

[slow_v6_stang]

also to prevent head gasket issues...buy 99-04 ford 3.8 head gaskets and use ARP head studs and use ARP's torque specs