So...someone suggested an HO swap. Worth it?

[BlackVic_P71]

. As far as engine storage goes, storing the miscellaneous parts will probably take up more room than the assembled engine on a stand would.

Right now, I have the block on a stand in the backyard, heads in the shed, misc parts on shelves in the basement, the intake on a table on my porch...parts everywhere. Soon it will all become one

[sly]

Something like this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-8-8-inch-rear-end-gear-3-55-/291016583034?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43c1f0a77a&vxp=mtr

pretty much.

[sxcpotatoes]

I went from Canton, OH area with 19 miles on the trip odometer already, all the way down to slightly west of Charleston, WV area to visit my mom and grandma. Same tank of gas made it home. 422 miles on the trip odometer with cruise control set at 55. (The truckers hated me, I'm sure) I had TRUE DUALS, no H or X pipe crossover (trust me you want the crossover or it will drone like a chinese torture chamber if you have cherry bomb glasspacks messing with your internal sense of balance at 45-50-ish mph. I had 4-motherfucking 12" subwoofers and a 1000w amp in the trunk as well as all the various sundries needed for a weekend away from home. Highway, or in-town gears, proper tuneup and maintenance makes a world of difference in these cars. Learn some hypermiling techniques like not driving in the ruts on the roads and coasting instead of accelerating towards red lights. I got 28.5mpg on that tank of gas, in my 1988 Crown Victoria LTD down and back, there were mountains, so it's not like it was all flat.

Keep the engine you have, drive it until it quits, don't worry about supercharging it, or even replacing it. Drive it until it gets the LOPO knock, then switch from 10w30 to 10w40 oil. Once it starts knocking, switch to 20w50 Racing Oil. Once it dies, throw an HO motor in it. Just because you have a supercharger in the parts pile doesn't mean you have to have a hard-on to use it right away. Save money, you'll need it, especially since the car sat for years.

[87gtVIC]

If your alternator has exposed fins it is still stock.

[ootdega]

pretty much.

Great. I'll do that then.

I went from Canton, OH area with 19 miles on the trip odometer already, all the way down to slightly west of Charleston, WV area to visit my mom and grandma. Same tank of gas made it home. 422 miles on the trip odometer with cruise control set at 55. (The truckers hated me, I'm sure) I had TRUE DUALS, no H or X pipe crossover (trust me you want the crossover or it will drone like a chinese torture chamber if you have cherry bomb glasspacks messing with your internal sense of balance at 45-50-ish mph. I had 4-motherfucking 12" subwoofers and a 1000w amp in the trunk as well as all the various sundries needed for a weekend away from home. Highway, or in-town gears, proper tuneup and maintenance makes a world of difference in these cars. Learn some hypermiling techniques like not driving in the ruts on the roads and coasting instead of accelerating towards red lights. I got 28.5mpg on that tank of gas, in my 1988 Crown Victoria LTD down and back, there were mountains, so it's not like it was all flat.

Keep the engine you have, drive it until it quits, don't worry about supercharging it, or even replacing it. Drive it until it gets the LOPO knock, then switch from 10w30 to 10w40 oil. Once it starts knocking, switch to 20w50 Racing Oil. Once it dies, throw an HO motor in it. Just because you have a supercharger in the parts pile doesn't mean you have to have a hard-on to use it right away. Save money, you'll need it, especially since the car sat for years.

What would that knock sound like, exactly? I think I already use 10w40.

I don't have a supercharger, I was just looking into it. But if that's your advice, I won't touch the engine I guess. I already drive like that anyway. I'll do the exhaust and gears and such, then I'll start working on the engine project on the side while I do all the cosmetics and knick-knacks. I really don't see this thing dying for a very long time though.

If your alternator has exposed fins it is still stock.

Then yeah, it's still 2G. I just got it replaced though, so I'll wait a while unless I can do the 3G myself without any trouble. The wiring is what I'm worried about.

[ssme]

you can use a D9S engine computer and Mark VII engine from 89-91 Mark VII and it would be plug and play direct swap. no wiring required. This would entail an engine with E7 heads and HO upper intake and cam. The fewer mods the better for that setup and it should work right out of the box.

If you install the complete HO engine where the 5.0 was all you should have to do with your engine harness is swap out pins 5, 4, 3, 7 with 3, 7, 5, 4 fuel injectors consecutively and the car should run. Has anyone done this or is there a problem with how the computer would run the fuel injectors seeing how they are 19 pound HR and not 14 pound HR. This is the only difference in motor processor controls that I can see. Or is it like sticking a Holley four barrel on your 4 cylinder Pinto?

[jaywish]

No need to swap any pins in the harness. The only rewire is the spark plugs. The firing order is the HO firing order not the Lo-po order. It is as easy an upgrade as you can get in a "modern" car.

[sly]

No need to swap any pins in the harness. The only rewire is the spark plugs. The firing order is the HO firing order not the Lo-po order. It is as easy an upgrade as you can get in a "modern" car.

This... swap the D9S in and swap the spark wires and you're done. Only works with E6 or E7 heads. The D9S will bitch about GT40 or better heads.

[ssme]

This... swap the D9S in and swap the spark wires and you're done. Only works with E6 or E7 heads. The D9S will bitch about GT40 or better heads.

I have a complete 5.0 HO engine in my 90 Grand Marquis, that means the distributor, cam, crank and plug wires are all HO configured. The PCM is E8SF-V1A. The fuel injector timing is the only difference so the fuel injector pins are the only thing that need to be swapped over.

Have you done this? What is a D9S and when you say it won't work what do you mean?

BTW my car has been running for 3 weeks now.

Thanks for your help.

[pantera77]

D9S was the ECU in HO Mark VII's.

It's a 100% plug and play computer, just like any Speed Density Automatic HO computers from a Mark VII or Mustang. No wiring mods needed at all.


When Sly says "it sometimes doesn't work", he's referring to once you go past factory HO, and start adding better heads (gt40p's) and intake (Explorer intakes). The stock HO Speed Density computer can only adjust so much from it's factory tables and often times you'll end up with lean issues and popping through the intake on Explorer motor swapped boxes. (most fox body guys don't have this issue, but sometimes we run into it). The cure is a Mass Air Swap which just involves moving a few wires around and splice a few new ones in.

[ootdega]

D9S was the ECU in HO Mark VII's.

It's a 100% plug and play computer, just like any Speed Density Automatic HO computers from a Mark VII or Mustang. No wiring mods needed at all.


When Sly says "it sometimes doesn't work", he's referring to once you go past factory HO, and start adding better heads (gt40p's) and intake (Explorer intakes). The stock HO Speed Density computer can only adjust so much from it's factory tables and often times you'll end up with lean issues and popping through the intake on Explorer motor swapped boxes. (most fox body guys don't have this issue, but sometimes we run into it). The cure is a Mass Air Swap which just involves moving a few wires around and splice a few new ones in.

Well my plan at this point is to buy an Explorer engine and swap the parts off of it. I could just throw the whole engine in there, but the Explorer XLT gets 19 to the gallon maximum. It'll be much more difficult and the shop estimate is $1600 for just the pistons, but nothing worth doing right is easy.

So I'm going to need to know how to do this when I eventually get around to it.

[pantera77]

What does an Explorers Fuel economy have to do with anything? Apples to oranges.

[ootdega]

What does an Explorers Fuel economy have to do with anything? Apples to oranges.

Because swapping the entire engine block effectively turns it into an Explorer. The only real difference in the drivetrain would be the 2WD transmission, correct?

[L1011tristar17]

The Explorer's mileage depends on a lot more than just the engine. Rear end gearing, aerodynamics, tires, etc. It would be pretty silly to not do the complete engine swap for just that reason.

[starkophile]

If that shop is charging you 1600 to do pistons in that I'll do it for a grand. That's insane