Hello, new to Ford here. Picked up a sweet project.

[MarquisMalarky]

Hi all. My boss sold me his 88 Mercury Grand Marquis for the sum of $200. It's got 75,000 miles on it. Little bit rusty on the outside, but the inside is absolutely perfect (with the exception that the drivers side rear window won't go down, the driver's door doesn't lock and I can start the car without the key).

Anyway, I'm 19 and enrolled at the New England Institute of Technology for Auto mechanics. I've worked in the trade for about 2 years.

I have some car experience. I've owned 8 cars, this is my first FoMoCo product. I've had all Chryslers.

An ongoing project I have is a 95 Plymouth Voyager van I bought for $230 with a blown trans. I pulled out the motor, rebuilt it, and threw in a 5 speed manual. It's off the road now until it's supercharged, which will happen soon. I'm almost there.

My last project was a 94 Dodge Caravan, 2.5L TBI 5 speed (Factory). I was bored with it so I pulled it out and installed a 2.5L Turbocharged engine out of a Dodge Daytona. 14lbs of boost, goodbye tires!
The death of that vehicle was that an injector stopped firing and melted a piston.
website on that van: http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/turbominivan/van.html

Anyway, with this new Grandma-quis I'm really interested in a 5.0 HO or 351W swap. I *hear* that either of the two would bolt right in. The only differences would be the engine bay wiring harnesses, but I can swap them at the bulkhead connectors.

This can be a cheap and powerful project. I cought the V-8 bug and although I'm not enjoying the 18.8mpg I've been getting, No one expects this thing to be able to spin the tires!

What are some popular engine swaps?

[HerMajestysMechanic]

Take a gander at the stickies in the tech forums. The fellars and ladies round here can point in you in several of the right directions. I was a Chebby man until I started dating a Grand Marq owner, and Ive been consistently amazed at what can be done, and done fairly cheaply, to make these big ole boats run like a raped ape.

Welcome aboard, and good luck. You definetly step into a big ole pile of GM-expertise, I'ld say.

The Admiral

[mrltd]

There are no wiring changes for a HO V8 from a lopo, unless you add mass air, and that's a simple change just like a mustang mass air convo. The only thing you need for the HO swap is a HO motor and an HO ECU. The only fab work is boring the EGR spacer (or finding a 93-95 SVT lightning one) and swapping the linkage on the TB's. All of which take a total of half an hour. Depending on the HP you plan to make upgrading the fuel pump to an aftermaket mustang one is a good idea.

[MarquisMalarky]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

The reason I chose this car was because of the wiring. When I did the motor swap on my Caravan, I had to send out the wiring harness to be converted. Cost: $350. That's not the bad part. When it was all back together, the tach/speedo/battery gauges didn't work, because the Turbo engine was running 89 electronics which did not use a Body Control Module. The 94's did, and needed a digital signal as opposed to an analog signal provided by the 89 ECU. It was a mess. Still ran fine, though.

I'll check out the stickies. Thank you again!

[gadget73]

Ford EFI you'll find is quite easy to work with. No wiring changes for an HO swap, and really, if you can find the parts to put together an EFI 351w swap, there wouldn't be any wiring changes there either. EEC IV uses pretty much the same wiring and sensor setup for every engine from a 4 cyl to a v8, and as long as you're keeping the same number of cylinders its all generally the same.

[grandpaslincoln]

Welcome!

[boXman]

[gabegt90]

welcome mang

[MarquisMalarky]

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I'm going to browse the local junkyards to search for a HO 5.0. I have a feeling it would be an easier swap. Slap some AFR(?) heads onto that baby as well as a cam, intake manifold, headers and exhaust, and I'm thinking I have a potential mid 15 second car here. Not bad for a literal tank.

Not looking to break any records here, I just want to be able to surprise some of the local ricers.

[Blaze86Vic]

AFR heads and a nice cam on an HO engine are an easy mid-low 14s car, probably 13s. Depending on the exact cam and heads, that setup could be anywhere from 270-370hp. AFR heads are one big bolt on HP upgrade. Though you will require to have the ECU tuned.

[p71towny]

hell yeah, a cam and afr heads could throw you into the 13s N/A assuming you can grab traction.

[MarquisMalarky]

Wow. A friend told me I could pick up a set of used ones for ~500 bucks. I'd do that. I don't really feel like rebuilding another motor so I'd probably have a machine shop take care of it.

The last motor I built took too much time (granted it was the first time), but it does run like a champ now (it's in my Caravan).

My goal is to have enough power to pin the throttle from a dead stop and just spin both rear tires. I can spin one right now, but it has literally zero tread left.

What's the durability of the AOD? My boss had some transmission work done to it a few years ago. It shifts like a dream.

I'm not digging the one wheel wonders, though. Would a Mustang complete rear end bolt in? Or would I have to swap the diff? I'm new to RWD.

I appreciate all the help, guys. You make me want to can my other project and get this one going

Pete

[88Vic]

If you're gonna get a 5.0 HO from a juckyard, Mustang engines can be hard to find and usually were ran pretty hard. But you can get a HO engine from a Mark VII. Not a lot of people know that they came with a HO engine, and usually weren't ran as hard. Good luck with your project. And it's not everyday you see people modding Chrysler minivans. My parents have a 93 and an 02 Grand Caravan. They're bone stock and are very reliable. They have lots of pep for a minivan, but I really wish they were RWD. And

[MarquisMalarky]

Thanks I can't wait til the M-90 blower is on my Caravan. Hoping for 14's!

Anyway, if I bought a 5.0 HO mustang motor I'd probably have it re-ringed and have new bearings installed. So abuse isn't really a problem.

[Blaze86Vic]

You can just put in a limited slip or a posi differential. You don't need to swap rear ends. AODs have a weak point, the planetary gears are not rated for high HP, in fact the rating is something in the order of 270hp. They do stand up quite well though, despite the low rating. But with that engine setup I would highly recommend a wide ratio AOD. The wide ratio uses the planetary from a 4R70W transmission which is rated for 700ft/lbs (4R70W) 1st and 2nd are slightly higher gears as well, better launching. If the tranny already has a shift kit and is doing good, then drive it till it needs it.