what to do w/ the wagon ... OR ... my accidental project

[sinistral]

If I were in your shoes (AKA the least amount of work) I would drop in an Explorer motor, pull a wiring harness from a donor SEFI Panther (87-91) and do a mass air swap with your choice of ECM (engine computer from a 5.0 HO mass air/automatic car), simply an uninstall/install aside from the throttle linkage which is easy to fix up.

Thanks, I think I'm leaning this way... how much of the harness though is needed? That seems like that alone could be a pretty significant job, no?

[GM_Guy]

Why bother with an explorer motor, sefi wiring harness, AND a mass air swap? Why not go for a mass air mustang and use it as a donor, harness and all?

Alex.

OTB = off topic bullshit


If I were in your shoes (AKA the least amount of work) I would drop in an Explorer motor, pull a wiring harness from a donor SEFI Panther (87-91) and do a mass air swap with your choice of ECM (engine computer from a 5.0 HO mass air/automatic car), simply an uninstall/install aside from the throttle linkage which is easy to fix up.

With the above method you would need to figure something out with the exhaust though depending on whether it's a GT40 or GT40-P motor.

Least amount of $: Find an automatic 87-93 Mustang and strip it down to the shortblock and keep everything you removed. Take the ECM, headers and possibly wiring harnesses from that car and install everything on your wagon. I don't know if you could use the Mustang wiring or not but probably. Someone will correct me, I'm sure. I say this is more work because you're stripping the motor while it's still in the car but I could be way wrong.


Either way (cheapest or easiest) if you want to go SEFI you're going to need to do some wiring, and unless you keep your stock exhaust you'll need to figure something out for that.


supporting mods:

big brakes (rear disc swap and bigger front brakes)
rear end (trac lok unit and numerically higher gears)
exhaust

[1990LTD]

A better idea!

[sick88tbird]

Why bother with an explorer motor, sefi wiring harness, AND a mass air swap? Why not go for a mass air mustang and use it as a donor, harness and all?

Alex.

People want WAY too much money for a running fox 5.0...and they're typically modded and hacked up...if they're cheap, it's because they're junk. I agree with what some people have already said here...quick, easy, cheap...explorer 5.0. My only recommendation would be to get the late 97-00 gt40p headed motor...the only reason is for the fact that the P heads make better low end torque(P specific headers are easy to come by)...being a wagon, I would want every bit of low end torque.

Good luck,
Don

[sinistral]

update

before:

after:

before:

after:


Build summary thread.

[Mainemantom]

You did a great job taking something most people would scrap to something to be proud of. I like the plain non factory woody look. Good job on pin striping. Be careful to get the exact part number on the bumper pad. Hopefully you have the old one. I have just gone through that expensive nighmare.

[slack]

I agree with Tom. Your wagon looks great and you did a good service to it in your ownership. Hopefully the next owner will continue to take care of it to the level you did.