General Chat
Q:
I've got a 1988 Mercury Cougar with the crappy 3.8L v6 in it, and I want to convert it to the 5.0 HO that came in the same car. I'd leave it as is, but both the engine and auto. transmission are on their way down the toilet. Anybody know off hand the basic rundown of swap parts for this?
I know it's a long shot, and not really for this particular site, but the existing Cougar/T-Bird websites are really, really crappy. Nobody checks them regularly, and if it IS regularly active, it's about the 1st generation (60s) cougars... no help to me.
Here's what I've been able to gather from a couple days of searching:
Swap out the K member, A rods (?), computer, harness, and mounts. I'm only mentioning the computer and harness because it's common sense... I haven't even been able to find info on that.
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[Subject Title]
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N/A '81 280zx - project car
Flat tops, MN47 head w/port & polish, 480 270/270 cpm
--and a really sh**ty fuel system
Post Edited (Sep 14, 6:45pm)
A:
the question you should be asking is if it's worth it. First of those couger/ T-birds aren't really worth a whole lot, so you could probably pick up another one that already has a 5.0 for cheaper than it is to convert yours. Also the 5.0 versions had a better suspension set up that the V6's didn't have. Second is going to the 5.0 really any better? I would say no. My friend used to have the 91 t-bird 5.0 HO and it was rather slow. My stock 280z could edge it out in a race. Then he added intake, exhuast, high flow cats, headers and even then it wasn't much faster. While he did those mods I added intake, exhuast, and headers to my 280z. At that point my car was beating his by about 2 cars. All I'm saying is that the 5.0 isn't going to really make your car much faster and in the end doing the conversion would probably cost more than the car is worth. I think with all his mods he only sold it for 3k and that was back in 2001. If I remember correctly his auto tranny started acting up to at about 150k miles and thats why he got rid of it. The engine was also starting to burn about 1 quart of oil every couple weeks. Still if you want to go ahead with it it looks like you are on the right track with the parts needed. I remember he was looking at supercharging his but decided against it when the car started falling apart on him
1977 280z: Intake, exhaust, high flow cat, header, euro damper, cam, MSD, adj. FPR, 3.7 lsd, F+R sway+strut bars, 2580lbs
1984 300zx: intake, exhuast, high flow cat, headers, JWT ECU, F+R sway bars, F strut bar
06 WRX TR
A:
My whole reason for keeping the car is that it was my grandmother's. She drove it as her primary vehicle since it was bought new in 1988, and it had 52,000 miles on it when she died last year. This is what makes it worth something to me... that it was hers, and it's got 52k mi. on the car itself. It's almost perfect body-wise. It also came with a couple of dealer proprietary options... a full ground effects kit and some old school racing wheels.
The 3.8L v6 is notoriously bad about blowing out the rear main seal, whatever transmission it has is starting to grind and knock in reverse (what's scary is it's an auto), and even the poor rearend is going out. Even if I had the 5.0 originally, I wouldn't have kept the stock suspension since it was built to be on the low end of the luxury scale. My current suspension is in dire need of an overhaul due to the squeeky bushings from hell, overworn shocks, and poor alignment.
Having to fix all of this includes buying all sorts of new parts which could easily be traded up for performance stuff, like the shocks and springs, bushings, a beefier tranny and engine, and a 9" rear end.
Anyway, sorry to go off on a tangent there, I just wanted to explain my situation and why I wanted to even attempt the swap instead of overhaul a drivetrain that didn't even last 60k miles from when it was new.
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N/A '81 280zx - project car
Flat tops, MN47 head w/port & polish, 480 270/270 cpm
--and a really sh**ty fuel system
A:
It would take more money to do what you are planning to do than to buy a different,clean t-bird with a v-8 in it.If the sentimental value is the key,i would suggest you pick up a whole donor car that has the complete drivetrain in decent shape but was,say,t-boned,and start to gather,and swap the parts one by one form it.While you're at it put a t-5 tranny in it,and an LSD rear end from a mustang.
1971 "Series One" 240z,L28 n42/n42 flattops.primered,work in progress,Tokico Iluminas,Eibach Pro-Kit,1" front swaybar more to come..
A:
I second the donor car idea
Naturally aspirated 300zx made in 1984 2+2
A:
The donor car idea does seem like the best one. Having read this entire post again, I have thought about using the computer and harness from one of the 5.0, or even the newer 4.6 mustangs. With the mounting provisions from the v8 cougar, the electronics from the mustang, and the engine from either one, there should be plenty of versatility in the setup.
Thank you for your replies on the subject. I'll have to try to find a decent V8 Kitty and go to work on all this.
Anybody have a 302 they're wanting to get rid of? I'm in the Atlanta area...
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N/A '81 280zx - project car
Flat tops, MN47 head w/port & polish, 480 270/270 cpm
--and a really sh**ty fuel system
A:
what are the most good looking cars in any car cemetery? Ford's, they die young
take some pictures, don't drive it. get rid of it, it will disintegrate under pressure, good looking cars, very expensive to fix when they break n so cheap n plentyfull ..all this comment based in low income, otherwise go ahead , I second the one with 5.0 already in it
Have you shared the left lane today?