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Decision time

38K views 290 replies 20 participants last post by  Grog6 
#1 ·
So I lost an oil line Thursday, put a regular 820S on in place of the remote, refilled oil, powered up, seemed ok, but 5 miles down the road the rod started knocking. Got it home, but it's not good.

So I'm looking for a replacement motor. Currently I'm running an NPI out of a crown vic (original motor was hydrolocked under Traveler's ownership) with a PI swap, PI cams, mildly ported heads, 80mm MAF, and a chip from Lonnie at BOC.

The way I see it, I can go a couple of different ways. Simplest would be get another NPI, swap my heads and top end over, and have essentially the same thing I started with. I'm hoping that the heads should be OK, but I'l get them checked out.

Plan B is I found a Mark VIII block for $300 a few hours away from me. I can either put it in as a 4v modify my wiring a little, get a Mark VIII throttle cable, and a rpm trigger for the IMRC's. Plan B part 2 would be to put the PI top end on the Mark VIII block, getting me a "recession buster" motor, but that would require relieving the pistons and a hotter cam.

Plan C would be an explorer motor. Miller, I'd buy yours, but you're too far from me brother.

So, what are thoughts? I'm really liking the idea of a Mark motor. Even if I leave it stock, it's more power than my PI swapped NPI, and the wiring isn't too bad for the switches right? Plus the weight loss is handy.
 
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#2 ·
Oh yeah, I forgot Plan X.

Big Bore Stroker from LMC, Summit, whatever with TFS 44cc heads for 11.5:1 compression, kooks, all the good stuff.

Let's check that lottery ticket, see if I can go ahead and buy it.
 
#3 ·
Plan C would be the most expedient with little to no sacrifice or supporting modification, and you get the weight loss benefit.

Plan B1 is realistic as well in that it's a drop in proposition IF you snag as much as you can off the doner car - fuel lines, vacuum lines, cables then it's as simple as modding the wiring and getting a tune. The main issue will be exhaust depending on what your plans are there. Because Marks use an integrated cat/manifold on the driver side, if you have stock piping, you'd want the whole midpipe assembly, which from the midpoint back will mate to a factory Tbird exhaust, problem though junkyards tend to cut cats off before they hit the yard, which serves as a double whammy if you want to use the whole front section or just the manifolds/cats from it. Only other option at that point are Kooks and all of a sudden this is a $1,000+ engine.

Plan B2, while it sounds fun has a lot of holes, on top of needing cams, needing valve reliefs, you'll also need springs, and don't forget about the supporting stuff like new head gaskets/bolts, cam degreeing stuff, tune, ect. And power wise in the end you're going to be limited by the stock heads and intake, it'll just be a hot PI motor, and for the time and money it just isn't there. IMO that whole recession buster setup isn't much of one unless you work at a junkyard and get freebies, have all the right tools to do it all correctly, and have a machine shop and the ability to port heads at your disposal :tongue:
 
#4 ·
Gotcha. And the Explorer motor will allow me to do other PI style mods too, right? I think that'll probably be the way I steer.
 
#5 ·
Local yard that is selling their entire inventory off has an 03 Mountaineer 4.6 (same as the Explorer) that'll drop in. $300 cash.

Going to see if I can't scratch that up pretty quick.

So to drop that in, since I have a PI top end, pretty much all my existing stuff will just plug in, I just have to swap front covers, accessories, pullies, and go ahead and put a new suite of sensors in (may as well while it's out, right?) then get a tune for a real PI motor right? Since my chip is for pi heads on an NPI, I'm guessing the timing won't quite be right.

May leave it out for awhile, get a few goodies for it while I'm at it. May as well while it's out, right? Some headers, things like that, and sell my PI top end to recoup some of the cost.

So here's a question.... Drop the K member or pull it out from the top. Tools wise I have a jack that goes about 11" high, I have access to a cherry picker, anything else I should do while it's out.

Since my AC doesn't work, what are the odds that the compressor on this one is serviceable, and is there a way to test it out of the car? Or just pony up for a new compressor along with the other stuff I need?
 
#6 ·
Reading Porkchop's explorer swap thread, couple of questions.

Why can't we use the Explorer/Mountaineer front cover? Hood clearance issue? If that's the case, I'll have to find a 94/95 Front cover as my 97 front cover won't seal in one area?

Since I already have a Mustang PI intake with all the coolant holes made, it'd be easier to swap it over right?

How do I tell what type of injectors do I have, color coded?
 
#7 ·
$300 for an explorer motor is a no-brainer. Yes, swap your Mustang PI intake in place of the explorer one. As far as your injectors go, yellow is 19#/hr, orange are 21#, light blue are 24#, red are 30#, dark blue wide body ones are 36#, dark blue skinny body ones are 39#, and green are 42#.

For the timing cover, I'm not 100% sure, but I think you could keep the explorer timing cover as long as you also keep the explorer water pump, belt tensioner, and belt routing.
 
#8 ·
I don't see any real issue with the explorer belt routing, it's just different than the Thunderbird. I think they have the AC compressor up top, but as long as it fits under the hood, shouldn't be a big deal right?
 
#11 ·
So my next question...

I have a shock tower brace going over the engine. Passenger side is just a bolt, driver side appears to have the bolt welded to the brace.

Would it be simpler to cut that bolt off, take off the brace, and pull her from above using a hoist, or get the car way high in the air and remove the K-member?
 
#12 ·
I would just pull it out from the top. Dropping it out the bottom is feasible on a lift, but I don't think it saves any time, since you have to remove even more things. Plus if you don't have a lift, I don't think you'll be able to get the car high enough to get the engine out from underneath.
 
#13 ·
Thanks MadMikey. That'll be the plan. I'll pick up an engine hoist and an engine stand asap. I assume I can't pull the motor from the intake manifold due to it being plastic. I'll look around for how to hoist them out.

Any issues setting the new block on a pallet while I wait for the hoist and stand?
 
#14 ·
The explorer front cover will not work with the factory belt drive and power steering layout, that's why the swap entails a 94/5 front cover.

You can however use that layout if you want, and you may find it quite desirable since the oil filter is readily accessible. You'd just need to modify the lower coolant hose (add a coupler and a 90* section) and make a custom power steering line to reach the higher mounted pump. I'm doing that with my 4V swap with an Aviator cover(same belt drive as explorer)
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the tip. Any special type of hose you are planning on using?
 
#15 ·
No issue setting it on a pallet, just use a 4x4 under the front part of the pan so it will sit level. And no, you can't pull it from the intake manifold. Since the manifold has to come off anyway, I would suggest pulling it while the motor is still in the car, and use one of the alternator mount holes in the front, and one of the bolt-holes in the back of the head on the back.
 
#19 ·
Thank you, the one I'm looking at buying right now is an 03 Mountaineer block. It's $300, I may have said Explorer above but yeah, they're both the same.
 
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#21 ·
As much as I hate being without my bird, buying Kooks is on the plan. For the money, I may go with the MAC longtubes like in the thread here, and have one of the primaries modified to clear the steering shaft. They're a lot less expensive, but the Kooks would be so much nicer.
 
#22 ·
So here's a question regarding the headers...

Do I install them while the engine is out, and lower it in with them attached, or do I install them while the engine is halfway in/out of the bay?

I'm guessing I should invest in some stage 8 locking fasteners and SCP's super soft exhaust gaskets?
 
#23 ·
I've always installed them as the engine is going into the bay. It's a very tight fit from the top. I'd recommend the Ford exhaust gaskets at the head.

 
#25 ·
Well if long-tube headers are in the cards, that argues for dropping the subframe with the engine out the bottom, as long as you can get the body high enough to clear it. That way you can bolt the headers to the engine out of the car, and then lower the car on top of it without trying to fight everything.
 
#26 ·
FYI - The newer front covers do not have the provisions for coil packs.

You can use your stock front cover but one bolt hole does not line up.

-Miller
 
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#27 ·
Do I need to fill it with RTV or something?

I'd buy your motor, you're just too far from me.
 
#30 ·
Potentially dumb question...

Since the 2003 Mountaineer motor has Coil on Plug, will that make going Coil on Plug any easier? Could it be as simple as just rewiring the plug into the ECU?
 
#32 ·
I was just reviewing that.

So basically the only real advantage is a cleaner engine bay?
 
#35 ·
I'd agree with that if it weren't for the wires. I've had the worst luck with them, My last set of motorcrafts had two that simply lost all conductivity at random, and the set before that had three break trying to pull them off the plug, which like clockwork I gouge my hand on the fuel rails when they do give.

COP Coil goes bad, I just reach into my stash and swap that one out. No spending nearly $100 on plug wire sets for 1 bad wire, no rerouting, no mixing up order, no drama swapping them out.
 
#36 ·
So I've been thinking (yes, that's the burning smell) about how to get more power...

Putting in a stock Mountaineer (Explorer) block with my already modified PI intake manifold on it. Going to get a set of headers, a tune for 91 octane, 180* thermostat, and go ahead and swap out every gasket on the motor, along with every sensor so I know they're all in good shape.

That said, I started thinking about electric water pumps. I understand that with an electric pump, it flows at a constant speed regardless of engine RPM, so radiator choice and the possibility of removing the thermostat entirely open up.

Pros/Cons of an electric water pump? Worth it to save a few horses, or should I just try and get them back another way?
 
#37 ·
Only issue with electric pumps is motor life. Most are designed for track use so are not built to handle day in day out use (are not continuous use motor). Though with the OEMs going this route should become less of an issue.
 
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#38 ·
I've been doing some reading, and the Maziere pumps are being designed to be a street driven replacement pump.

Some thinking would need to happen to put the right sized restriction in place of the thermostat to keep the engine at a relatively constant temperature.
 
#39 ·
When mechanical water pumps fail, they leak, but they'll still circulate coolant, when electric pumps fail they do absolutely nothing, with no warning.

I wouldn't use an electric water pump on a street driven vehicle unless it's OEM and gone through the rigors of testing they put parts through to know with confidence that they'll last a hundred thousand miles under real world conditions. Few factory cars exist with them, which is telling. The exceptions are by in large(if not all AFAIK) Hybrids, in which case it's far less of a concern since the IC engine isn't always operating.
 
#40 ·
Yeah, and the $400 they want for them is a little steep for me.
 
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