As the title says, I'm curious as to what I should look for when buying a used 2v. I have a guy that wants to give me a deal on a 90k mile '05 crown Vic motor. He says it was running great when it was pulled. Anything I should specifically be looking for? Should i buy the stuff to do a compression test? Any input is appreciated!
Buy an engine you hear running! Period! Unless your intentions is to rebuild or the deal is hard to pass up or you really trust them.
What are you scheming up? Replacing the tired npi? Youre going in the right direction looking for the '05-up pi heads.
[MENTION=14727]96blak54[/MENTION] still undecided. Goal for 2016 is PI and boost. Here's what I got. 90k mile NPI in my current '96. I already have a OEM Ford PI intake, and '04 PI cams sitting in my house. I'm going to buy a set of '01 Windsor heads (fully assembled) this weekend because they are a great deal ($50). Then I came across a guy that sells and parts-out government owned crown Vic's. He usually wants 500+ for his engines cause most of them are low mileage. I told him I really only need the long block without the intake or anything and he told me about this one that he has ('05, 90k, fleet maintained) for $250 that doesn't have the intake or anything cause he sold it off of it. Thought about going to look at it, but was curious what to look for since it's not in a car and I can't hear it running
[MENTION=14727]96blak54[/MENTION] and right now, an engine swap looks more appealing than a full PI swap on my current NPI since my trans is out being built at the T45 source
The pi swap compression increase along with boost is all but tempting! I can understand that! Its the 01' pi heads that could pose a problem. The pre-'04 heads like to spit out sparkplugs unless a special insert has been installed into the sparkplug hole....added cost!($50 is a deal though!!!) That '05 vic engine has the desirable 8thread plug hole pi heads, something to consider. Boosting the short block safe is a tad over 400rwhp and it is no sweat to achieve that. Anymore power puts the stock rods and pistons on borrowed life. Some have done more successfully, but alot have found out the hard way through failure. My suggestion, pull your engine and replace the rod, piston, rings, keep your npi heads and run a good matching cam. No cam on the market will have piston to valve clearance issues with npi heads.
96blak54 As much as I would love to have a forged bottom end, I really don't wanna put that kind of money into it right now. I'm trying to figure out what would be best while keeping the budget in mind. For a while, I thought about just doing the PI cams and intake that I already have, then boost it. Is it worth buying the heads? I've heard good and bad things about the compression bump with the PI swap
I think that 05 long block for $250 is a deal honestly. You could sell the heads/cams for that easily if you didn't use it and 90k on a modular isn't even broken in yet. Swap your timing cover over to the new long block and drop it in. You'll add an easy 40 hp with the new setup and still be able to run cheap gas.
I agree. Turns out, the guy pulled a valve cover and it had a stuck valve. I'm glad he was straight up with me though. I'm debating still buying the long block hopefully for a much discounted price, and putting a set of heads on it. Maybe some cams if I can find them cheap too
