Need engine swap ideas...

[torquelover]

I have talked about this before to some of you, but now it's official. I am looking for any ideas on engine or engine/trans swaps for my Vic. Since I am now located in an emissions-testing county, I have found out that my plates cannot be renewed until I get past a rolling-dyno smog test with visual inspections under the hood and also under the car. So, to save the Vic, I need a complete motor or motor/trans combo that will get the car back on the streets legally, while not altering the character of the vehicle negatively. So far on the table:

1) 32V 4.6 and 4r70w from a Mark VIII
2) GT40 302 from an older Explorer
3) Keep 358, go FI/cats and hope for a good tune.
4) There is a shop nearby that thinks new cats, reinstalled air pump, and $XXX.XX worth of tuning on their dyno, it might pass.

Not sure if the first choice will clear the UCAs or the steering shaft. 2nd choice may take a little searching. I am worried about a performance loss. 3rd choice seems the best to me, but would suck if I coudn't get it to pass. 4th choice seems logical financially, but I am unsure if it's possible. Any ideas fellas?

[86bbub]

if you have the money laying around or the payroll to do it i think 1) would be frickin sick especially because that engine should be ready for a sc, i think, i could be wrong...

[Grand Marquis GT]

Bribe the inspectors.

Otherwise, keep the windsor.

[Lincolnmania]

historic plates?
friends in low places?

[FastGallopingPonies]

You don't have anyway around it by registering at a classic or something? I say keep the 358 although option 1 would be sweet if you could afford it. Too bad you can't find a shop like I recently did, Saturdays the guy will pass your car for a $100 (our inspection is $29) They have an older Dodge omni he pulls in that breaths good emissions he punchs your info in, hooks the omni to the machine and gives you a sticker. Learned about it from my buddy with his 347 mustang setup for the strip pretty much.

[torquelover]

historic plates?
friends in low places?

You don't have anyway around it by registering at a classic or something? I say keep the 358 although option 1 would be sweet if you could afford it.

:smirk: I became friendly with a woman in an emissions-free county and had the car registered there previously. When that came to an end, I had a PO box in another county for a while. The BMV became hip to that on the last visit and pulled me aside on that one. In 5 more years I can get classic car plates, 25 year or older for that one. My friends in low places has come to an end. We all grew up and have families now, LOL. My buddies mom used to be an employee at the BMV. She said to get a class III or IV hitch and plate it as a truck, LOL.

I am going to start researching FI windsor. If I start with a wideband O2 setup and can get it tuned okay on my own with the carb, I'll wrap the headers and mount some cats up close and try to go for it. I would need to do that anyway when I go FI.

[1987cp]

I guess my seat-of-the-pants notion would be to just add cats and Edelbrock's Performer EGR manifold and #1400 carb, and go from there. I would wonder if sticking to a nominally-emissions-legal camshaft on the cam swap could help in that department as well.

Yeah, non-Region guys, I'd be pretty surprised if Porter County inspectors would be much interested in outright dishonesty in issuing passing emissions-test results. Greg knows a lot more people than I did when I lived there, but as much illegal activity as goes on in that area, I'd be surprised if something like that could really go over.

What would be the advantages of getting truck plates for the car? Are they emissions-exempt? I was offered truck plates when I went to register my LTD in Montgomery County for the first time, but I didn't think there was any reason to do so, and I have no idea what would normally be required to do it in the first place.

[torquelover]

Yes, the hotter cam must stay on the shelf for now. Hopefully I won't have to step down to an even milder cam. The emissions places around here are very serious. Ever see the "Soup Nazi" Seinfeld episode? Same thing pretty much. The truck plates are emissions-exempt over a certain weight. They also would prevent my car being legal on some roads, and would definitely get me pulled over quite often with officers thinking the tags were stolen off a truck. I will keep my current intake/carb combo for now. Might have to disable the secondaries for ease of tuning. The last time the car was on the rollers, they actually got into the secondaries a few times. That's where the graph got ugly on the printout.

[mrltd]

Should be able to get it to pass as is with some tuning.

[1987cp]

Huh, I hadn't thought about people thinking a truck plate was stolen.

Think you might try leaning out the secondary side a little? Going two-barrel-only for the roller test does sound like a much simpler solution, though.

Do the smog goons there insist on physically seeing a functional smog pump and EGR?

[1987cp]

Should be able to get it to pass as is with some tuning.

heh - except that the first thing they do is take a mirror and look for catalytic convertors. So a pair of fake convertors at the very least would be needed to pass that step of the inspection.

[Pirate]

Keep the windsor.

1. You need a carb with the vent line for the charcoal canister. If you already have an Edelbrock, I haven't checked into it, but it might be possible for you to simply swap the cover plate for the vented cover. That problem is solved.

2. EGR. You have to have it. However, some Saleen S351 cars were tuned well enough that they didn't need EGR.....however, I think that you are going to need to get EGR with the carb, a temporary swap to a stock 351W intake with EGR crossover may be the ticket here.

3. Cats. Put four cats on there, if you have to.

4. Move.

5. Put the car back to stock, leave it as a daily driver, and toss the motor into something older.
The only reason why I am considering an Exploder build is that I am seriously contemplating moving to another town that doesn't have smog testing. Otherwise, anything newer than 1975 is out for me.

[1987cp]

5. Put the car back to stock, leave it as a daily driver, and toss the motor into something older.

I've thought of the possibility of trying something like that by trying to mix-and-matching body and chassis parts such that one could end up with say, an '03 Panther frame, whatever body and interior you want, and the VIN from something old enough it doesn't get tested. But I don't know now much of the older car would have to be present to have the VIN legally apply to what you've got - unless I used most of the body from that car, I'd worry about being charged with swapping VIN numbers.

[mrltd]

It will only need 2 cats. I never understand why people get rid of them or don't put em back on when they get exhaust done. Maryland's visual is well, a joke. Mine would pass the visual, because all they check for is cats. Mine blew out awhile ago, and the car was still able to pass on the dyno.

If the graph was getting ugly when the scondaries came on, it needs some tuning. Or like you said, disable them. If I could get our 79 Bronco with a 4bbl swap, cam, heads, and intake to pass, I'd think your motor could pass also. heck, our Versailles with a 4bbl, H/C/I passed-with flyig colors! Just need to take the time and tune. Cats and EGR help too.

[packman]

Sounds like the NJ DMV. Though I wonder, if your car is a true P72, then wouldn't it get a lenient inspection standard. I don't think the municipalities got hassled on things like emmissions testing. If your car is a P72, then it should be inspected like a cop car. 1) get some BBK 351W swap shorties and matching H-pipe with cats. That should clean things up a bit. Or 2) go EFI and get some cats for your car; that should definitely work. Your engine is already built so all you need now is the intake. 3) just as important follow Pirate's advice because he seems to know about getting a carb to pass the sniffer test. Though this is just my . Good luck mang!!!!!


Packman