What to pay for a 5.0 engine?

monkeydude3 · Sep 5, 2007

Okay, we are working on our 1994 GT Mustang 5 speed. Going to be taking an advanced engine's class next spring for school, and in that class I have already talked to the instructor he said I can build my own if I bring it in. So I'm looking to buy a 5.0 to rebuild and eventually swap into our 94.

I'm going to check out an engine out of a 1987 Mustang GT next week. The guy has it all apart, he was going to rebuild it, but had a couple kids and life happened. He also has the ECU and the transmission.

What should I offer him for the disassembled (but complete) engine? How about the ECU? How about the transmission? It's a T5... I wouldn't mind having a spare if I could get it for a good price.

Any input let me know, if it comes to it I'll just buy the engine as the tranny in our car is fine.

Thanks!

Lightning Struck · Sep 5, 2007

5.0 motors ( right out of car ) the entire engine in running order goes for about 500 bucks here.

GREG@SN95 · Sep 5, 2007

400 or less around here... if you are in NJ... I know of a mustang junk yard where you can get one... I can get it a bit cheaper since the guy that owns the place went to high school with my pops...

monkeydude3 · Sep 5, 2007

Okay so around 450 for a complete running one... how about complete, but all apart one? Same? should I offer 300 and see what that gets me? As the engine goes I have about $500 to spend on it, so this may work out nice.

monkeydude3 · Sep 5, 2007

oh and the transmission, what should i offer him for that if I got enough dough?

GREG@SN95 · Sep 5, 2007

well for a stock 302... about 400... thats a complete motor with harness and all that yata yata...

A stock t5 or t45 will go for 300+/- 50 bucks... I would try offering 800 for everything and negociating from there...

the thing is... You could find a complete 1987 mustang for around 1000 bucks... so You have to ask yourself if buying shit piece by piece is worth it...

monkeydude3 · Sep 5, 2007

maybe I'll just aim for the engine then.... I'll offer him $250 for the engine and ecu and see what he says... considering it's all down... but I'll have to see how it looks before I offer a dime.

the thing is my brother in law owns the car we are workin on, and we are sprucing it up/modifying it together and already have a fair amount invested.

For that $1000 car, what all will it need then at that point?

GREG@SN95 · Sep 5, 2007

monkeydude3 said:
For that $1000 car, what all will it need then at that point?

I'm confused... please reiterate... lol

monkeydude3 · Sep 5, 2007

I'm sure you could get one for $1000... but in what condition? We have done a lot already getting our 94 GT in good shape, and it's a totally solid running car and it's only gonna get better/nicer, and we prefer this body style anyway...

GREG@SN95 · Sep 5, 2007

monkeydude3 said:
I'm sure you could get one for $1000... but in what condition? We have done a lot already getting our 94 GT in good shape, and it's a totally solid running car and it's only gonna get better/nicer, and we prefer this body style anyway...

decent to poor... however... you get the entire power train... so if the interior is f-cked and so is the body... not a biggy... but for a few hundred more you get an extra set of wheels, rear, frontend, tranny, motor, etc etc...

If all you want to do is build a decent motor... you probably are better off picking up an old 302... punch it out, stroke it, cam it, swap the heads, etc.... do what ever you want with it... then when you are ready, you're all set for the swap... and if you're making any serious power, you probably won't want stock stuff. You may be thinking about beefing up the rear and tranny that you already have...

monkeydude3 · Sep 6, 2007

well see the thing is as much as I'd love to have more cars laying around, I still live with my parents and I still am a college student. I think i'll just see if I can get the best price I can on this engine (if it looks worth it) or move on to another. I just know I need one before next spring so I can do it in class. I don't think we are gonna make this a serious track car either. Yes I may run it once or twice just to see what it does but it will be mostly a DD, so we won't be goin all out unfortunately.

ripper · Sep 6, 2007

If the motor is apart you really cant check it out. You could i guess see if there were visible wear in the cylinder walls but as far as compression your screwed. How far apart is it? I mean is it just a block with all the parts? Or just the heads off. Remember the stuff to reassemble it is gonna cost you too. Headgaskets alone are a couple hundred.

monkeydude3 · Sep 6, 2007

He said it's down to the bare block. As for the assembly stuff.... I'm really thinkin of going with a trick flow top end KIT.

I just searched craigslist and ebay, and running 302 engines are like $250.

Sooo.... depending on how things look I may offer him $400 for the engine and transmission w/o computer.

I also gotta see if he labeled the rods 1-8... that could be a pita figurin that out.

monkeydude3 · Sep 9, 2007

Okay so i found on craigslist a 5.0 out of an 87 GT for $250 obo and he really wants to get rid of it. It was running when it was pulled. Going to look at this one tomorrow, I think even though it will cost me dissassembly time I will be better off buying a complete assembled engine.

I may offer $200 cash and see what i can do.

GREG@SN95 · Sep 9, 2007

monkeydude3 said:
Okay so i found on craigslist a 5.0 out of an 87 GT for $250 obo and he really wants to get rid of it. It was running when it was pulled. Going to look at this one tomorrow, I think even though it will cost me dissassembly time I will be better off buying a complete assembled engine.

I may offer $200 cash and see what i can do.

250 aint bad... good luck

monkeydude3 · Sep 9, 2007

Yep i'm tired of waitin for this other guy to call back. Anyhoo.. the 87 will have forged pistons right? the 87-93 had them correct?

GREG@SN95 · Sep 10, 2007

monkeydude3 said:
Yep i'm tired of waitin for this other guy to call back. Anyhoo.. the 87 will have forged pistons right? the 87-93 had them correct?

92 was the last year that they had the forged pistons

95CALI-5.0 · Sep 10, 2007

Yeah the 93's came with hypers. I'd pay between 300-500 for a "complete" 5.0 motor. All depends on the history and the person you are buying it from. You could end up with a steal of a deal or a hunk of junk.

monkeydude3 · Sep 10, 2007

Well I bought the engine, it's out of an 89 GT. $200 cash and it came with clutch/flywheel and a bellhousing with a clutch fork and the starter.

It doens't have many sensors or wiring or ECU, but it's all there manifold to oil pan. It is missing the bolts that go from the upper to lower intake... but I was gonna use new bolts all over anyway.

It turns over good, supposedly the car had 70k on it when it was pulled and ran fine until it was pulled. Nice guy who ended up livin a few mins from me and he is a big car guy, he pulled it out because he's goin with a 351, ha.

would you guys want pix of it? I can take them.

This is just step 1... I'm gonna get myself a stand for it and then pop off the valve covers and oil pan and at least see what we have to work with in there. Then I can start piecing together the top end parts :-D :-D