Nicole's Offical 5.0 Swap thread!

[Nicoleb3x3]

Yay! Now in my driveway...I can drool at the potential power....




the engine from the 87 is resting inside the 93 until swap time

...just wait till this is all installed in my car...you'll never recognize it!

I let Bruce take the leather interior since it was not black it was useless to me (think it was gray..if anyone is interested..let me know; cause he's going to try and sell it)

Part of my mass air system and portion of the exhaust

Due to funding..this will be a basic swap(and lots of paint!!)..get the car running as a stock 5.0 and upgrade headers, exhaust, and cold air intake later.

[Nicoleb3x3]

ok, no updates lately.
It's a bit of a wait until Winter is offically kicked in.

Talked with my dad about garage space, it looks like maybe late into January we may get started. (it depends on space in the garage and his schedule to free up the bay)

I don't want to take apart the donor car too soon, and have too many loose parts.

Hey J, you going to help me with this swap when you come out here?

[J]

Hey J, you going to help me with this swap when you come out here?

For sure

[Nicoleb3x3]

UPDATE:
Waiting for garage space from my Dad...should be sometime this month- I hope

I'm getting Joey's stock intake (blown93feature) which is in better condition.
I'll be polishing it with Charlie's (onebad95) awesome polish -I'll post pics when that's done.

Trying to debate getting headers and exhaust while I got the car apart....good ol Visa can help me save time getting the headers done now. -it would suck putting in headers next year...when it's so easy to do it durring this swap

[Nicoleb3x3]

got my custom plate this week (not on yet though...)

[Nicoleb3x3]

Ok, Confirmed with Dad; he's coming over this week to bring the Donor car down to the garage for stripping.

He was nice enough to put his race car in the trailer for storage to free up the bay for the next few months.

DAMN, HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN WAITING!!!!!!! Can't wait to start tearing these two stangs apart!

[crimsonblack]

Good Luck Nicole! Hope all goes smoooooooothhly

[Nicoleb3x3]

This project is offically started!


Donor Stang brought down to the garage


My dad checks out the donor and the work ahead of us

I noticed the gas tank has been taken off the donor....so I guess I'll be needing a new fuel pump. Any tips on this? What I should buy, and I assume I can use the tank from the 4 banger???

I also realized the spindles on the 4 vs 8 is different...does anyone know if I need to swap the spindles over?? or is it possible to find good brakes for a 4 banger mustang? what else is a concern here? I didn't plan on changing anything in the front suspension..I heard the kmember from the 4 would work...and again, I'm not sure about the spindles and other parts I may need to swap over?

[Roush8702]

Its been a while since I did this swap on my 88 LX. Let me see if i can remember a few things.

The rear your gonna want to swap. get rid of the 7.5 for the 8.8 and while its out you might want to concider the disc brake conversion.
These should be 5 lug now.

You can use Front rotors from a 83-88 4cyl. Ranger direct swap to give you the 5 lug up front. ( if the rear is shot in the donor car , you can use axles from 83-92 ranger/bronco II w/7.5 for a 5 lug pattern.

The engine tranny and driveshoft direct swap, you need to use the GT Crossmember with the double hump for the exhaust.

You may want to concider the suspension , since everything is already going to be out , if i remember correctly there is a difference in the spring rates do the the weight of the engine. sway bar is a different size.

Since you have a donor GT, my suggestion is to use as much/many parts off that car as you can.

I took my lx to a frame shop first to have it checked ( because of a acciedent ) , then installed subfame connectors, remember with the new motor your going to be making more torque

Basically with any project , take your time , do it right the first time even if this means it takes a little longer and more money, you will be happer in the end rather then kicking yourself saying why didnt i do this then.

[Nicoleb3x3]

thx
I am taking the 8.8 rear fron the donor, and keeping the 4 lug

I already have upgrade all the suspension to 5.0 srpings and rear shocks; but the front struts are 2.3 struts because of the spindle size. I even have subframe connectors; but still need to get those welded on.

I think I'm going to buy some better rotors for the 2.3 application and upgrade the breaks, and paint the calipars; hopefully should be fine (this way I can keep the KYB struts I have in the front...the ony 2.3 suspension part I got stuck with.

[Nicoleb3x3]

Quick updates on the swap I'll put in my Blog:
Blog updated: http://www.gotstang.com/profile.php?Nicoleb3x3&blog=1

Work progress I'll post on this thread -sorry we really haven't done shit yet....

[Nicoleb3x3]

Updated Blog:
Blog updated: http://www.gotstang.com/profile.php?Nicoleb3x3&blog=1
2/18/06: Swap Update -Removed Gauge Cluster & Inspected stock air box

Updated pg 2

[Fastest302]

i heard that the 2.3 spidnles wont hold up good with the 5.0 because of the weight..

[Nicoleb3x3]

I'm planning to swap the spindles, struts and the brakes from the 5.0, hopefully it goes well.
it sucks cause I'll have to put the 2.3 spindles in the donor car to make it possible to roll it onto the trailer for delivery to the junkyard.

...so...the day the donor goes to the junkyard..we'll have to do all of this on the same day:
1. Roll the donor out of the garage and take out the rearend, spindles and brake parts
2. Get the 2.3 down to the garage & park it into the bay and remove the rearend and spindles and other brake parts
3. Take the 2.3 parts and rearend and install them on the donor
4. roll the donor on up on the trailer and bring to the junk yard

Does anyone know if the kmember needs to be swapped too???

[Fastest302]

that sounds like a busy day.. i dont kno about the k member but i can ask for u and let u kno..

[Nicoleb3x3]

thanks!

...yeah, it would be easier if we had two bays at the garage...

[Nicoleb3x3]

Ok, FINALLY!!!!!!!
Dad helped me out..after like 3 weeks...but I'm still thankful nonetheless

Being "heavy" stuff, I give today's credit to my Dad. He pretty much did it all by himself. (honestly, I didn't want to get in the way!!!!)

With the motor, tranny, and driveshaft now out of the donor; I get get going on removing the wiring harness and computer next. ...yes still ALLOT of work left ahead of us!!! And some cosmetic and restoration still ahead!

(my site is also updated on page 2)















I'm happy today

[Nicoleb3x3]

Started removing the engine wiring harness today
..I hope to have this done over the weekend.

page 2 updated on my site with more pics...check it out!

[Nicoleb3x3]

more updates posted on pg 2
wiring harness is out

AND I NEED HELP; does anyone know if the throttle cable is the same in the 2.3?? Can I just change the bracket?

schedule for this weekend:
remove shifter, linkage, throttle cable etc
final check list checked and double checked
engine to be put up on the engine stand and disassembled next week
donor car to be junked next week

[Nicoleb3x3]

Got some nice updates on page 2, come check it out:
http://www.gotstang.com/profile.php?Nicoleb3x3&page=2

[Nicoleb3x3]

More updates, besure to check out page 2

Some good...some bad...but all is basically going good

SOME GOOD:





SOME BAD:
When replacing the water pump, we broke 3 bolts...wonderful....

[Nicoleb3x3]

Well, check out my blog's for the problem solving of the bolts...
finally got that solved

and then broke another bolt in the lower intake...

so; the motor assembly done, except we need to do the lower intake and upper intake later. (I can also install the new intake plate which CobraSpence got for me!! THANK YOU!!) for now the engine is pushed aside.



The 2.3 is going to the garage in the next few days.

I would say it's about halfway done!

From the day the 5.0 was lifted from the donor car on 3/6, it took about a month to get this far.
So; if all goes well then I expect to be done by the second week of May.
From there I'll need the stang brought to a tranny shop for a TV cable adjustment,

so mid May and I hope to drive her again.

[Nicoleb3x3]

STOP BY PAGE 2 FOR UPDATES

[Nicoleb3x3]

Ok, NEED HELP!!!

I realized today when looking at my 2.3 engine harness that is i does not have one of the dash-side plugs that the 5.0 harness has.... It's a brown plug w/ 6 wires I beleive, in the 5.0 donor it plugs in somewhere above the computer. My 2.3 does not have a place for this plug to go...

.... I assume it needs to be re-wired somwhere??

Here's a few pics of the plug on the 5.0 harness:




anyone know anything about this mystery plug???

[Nicoleb3x3]

I've been working on cleaning up the rust spots I found on the frame and k member....

I treated the rust, which you see as black areas on the below pic






Here's the "after" shot of the worst area orginally.
not bad now!



I started running the 5.0 engine harness...need another day or so to get this done.

...does anyone still read this thread??? or is everyone catching my blogs and site updates?