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Thread: Lucky's '96 Mustang DOHC Swap

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Lucky's '96 Mustang DOHC Swap

    Let me start by saying I'm not much of a Ford man - but I had some nice rims left over from a dying Infiniti J30 and I was looking for something fun that used a 4.5" bolt circle. I found a deal on a 96 Mustang GT convertible with a 5 speed


    It has pretty good street manners for a Mustang, it ran great and scored an excellent E-test. So I pulled the motor out of course.
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    The 96 4.6 2-valve engines have performance issues. Not a great head, not a great intake and a very mild cam profile result in a fairly boring engine that doesn't rev to it's potential. The 96 Cobra addressed these issues with a DOHC version of the 4.6 with 4 valves per cylinder helping the power band reach all the way to 7000 RPM.
    A slightly milder version of this engine had been used in the Lincolns for a few years. I started searching the classifieds for a likely engine doner. Found a 93 Lincoln Mark VIII with a serious case of floor rot


    The engine was complete and the compression test was good but the wires and hoses had been mouse food for a while...


    The motor was gunged up inside, the IMRC plates had stuck open on one side, shut on the other, the IAC was pooched and the poor EEC couldn't figure out all the vacuum leaks and bad sensors. But I believed in it :lol:
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    So out she came - these engines are supposed to go in and out the bottom of the car - call me old fashioned ...


    Pulling the engine apart revealed some good things. The crank was A1 ok and the cylinder walls still had the factory hone marks. I decided to risk putting it back together without sending it to a machine shop for honing, decking, turning, polishing, tanking, aligning, etc etc


    These engines use an aluminum block with iron cylinder inserts. The block is about 80 lbs lighter than the iron version and very strong by all accounts. The 93-98 blocks were cast in Italy by a company named Teksid - the same guys that do the blocks for Ferrari. It has 6 bolt main bearing caps. The crank is only the cast model but they are supposed to be able to handle 600 hp and they are a little lighter than the forged cranks since they skip the center counterweights. I would think that would be a problem at very high rpm, I'm not spinning it that fast.
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

  4. #4
    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    This is the Mark VIII oil pan. Notice the extra capacity added onto the side with the small 'daughter' pan. Very much like the pan that Canton sells for the Cobra. To use this pan in a Mustang with the stock K member you will need to trim about 3/4" off the inside lip of the K member for about 4". These engines are noted for loading up oil in the valve covers at high RPM so I think the extra oil capacity is good insurance. I find it takes 6 liters to fill it when I change the oil. It has lots of oil scrapers and windage features worked into the insides too.


    It also makes the engine very difficult to pull out of the top on the Mark VIII :|
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

  5. #5
    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    The heads on these engines are the first gen DOHC heads known as "B" heads. Each intake valve has it's own runner. They flow massive air in stock form. So much so that there is no port velocity at low RPM's and this limits swirl and cylinder filling. That means torque suffers.
    Ford helped this out by putting throttle plates in 4 of the 8 runners on each head. At low RPM's the engine uses 1 intake valve per cylinder, at 3200 RPM the plates open up so the second intake valve can draw air. These are called IMRC plates (Intake Manifold Runner Control). When I ported the heads I only matched up the intake ports - no point making them bigger


    On the exhaust side I primarily worked the center divider to smooth the flow where the exhaust flows join. There was some casting flash to clean and a gasket match on the outlet.


    By the time I finished doing all 16 intake runners, 16 IMRC ports, 16 head ports for intake and 16 head ports for exhaust - I was tired of porting
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    The stock rods and pistons in the MARK VIII engine are pretty high tech - but on the weak side. Going over 400 HP is a matter of 'when' they will fail not 'if' they will fail. Since some form of boost is planned for the future I figured it was prudent to insert some forged pieces.

    The rods are 608 grams and the pistons about 340 grams - all matched to +/- 1.5 grams - rated to 700 HP
    They are supposed to have a 6cc dish in the piston (it looks bigger to me) which should produce a comp ratio of about 9.4:1
    Unfortunately the dish is shaped for a 3 valve head which means that one of the 2 quench pads isn't being used :cry:
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    With everything cleaned, inspected, replaced, gauged and blessed it was time for some paint and assembly. I'd been watching EBAY closely and badgering the local speed shops for deals. The hardware store got a lot of business too ...


    Notice the coolant crossover mod to the driver's side head - this tends to run too hot on the Stangs since there is no flow from the back corner - there is now
    Mac long tube headers
    Aluminum flywheel
    11" stage 2 clutch
    and many hours modifying the wiring harness to hide it ...
    the long block is ready - now for the car and the intake and the computer and the tuning etc etc
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    At some point before then the trusty 2 valve had been photographed, documented and extracted ...


    The bumper and fenders came off, everything was stripped, sandblasted and painted up front.

    In an effort to keep things clean looking under the hood (and to use the Mark VIII intake) I relocated the EGR to a place off the engine. I'm surprised that the EEC is running the EGR and it's sensor like this without throwing a code. :shock:


    Notice the area above the tranny has been BFH massaged for intake clearance
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

  9. #9
    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    FINALLY ! The engine went into the car. Let the wiring and plumbing begin. These things are TIGHT. There is only 1 place for everything and it doesn't include your hands or a ratchet :x
    It has been said that you cannot use the Mark VIII intake in a mustang - and that is mostly true ....
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

  10. #10
    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    Though it is much maligned in the Modular Motor circles I always kind of liked the intake from the early Mark VIII. A common complaint is that the runners are too small - but there are 2 per cylinder and combined those 2 tubes have the same area as a single tube 1.83" in diameter - way big in my book. The length of the tubes helps out in mid RPM and upper RPM cylinder filling and overall it adds some needed velocity to the air charge. The plenum is a bit cramped but it's still better than most of the other intakes available. And I like the look myself - totally tubular :lol:


    Here you can see what needed to be done to make the intake fit in my Stang. The back of the intake was shaved to within a few mm of being a huge air leak - the EGR boss was threaded and fitted so the valve could be connected with a steel line - the IAC boss on the far side got the same treatment. Then I had to make a stalk to lift the throttle body up above the intake since there was no room behind it where it was on the Lincoln.


    Items of note; the big electrical connector at the back has every wire that runs on the intake routed to one connector - all the wires come off with it - that has come in handy
    The plenum extension didn't last - JB weld won't hold against a good backfire :(
    I also added a vacuum line to the very bottom of the plenum to draw off the oil that tends to collect there from the PCV
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

  11. #11
    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    This is what the inside of the intake looked like;


    My research indicates that a tube with a bell mouth will flow at least 30% more air than one without. To their credit Ford had rolled the shoulder a bit at the tube entrances. I opened them up as best I could with the material thickness there was.


    From what I read, polishing the surfaces is counter productive. Boundary layer air clings to smooth surfaces and actually creates more drag. Rough surfaces cause the air to tumble along the surface and flow better. ie Golf balls have dimples to reduce drag.
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    With the intake welded up and the lines connected I could finally bolt it on the engine. Then things started to progress up top on the engine and throughout the engine bay. I never liked the coils using up so much prime real estate in front of the engine so I fabbed up a bracket to relocate them.

    The throttle body was modified to use the Mustang throttle cable.
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    I still had to mount the MAF. I never liked the look of a huge tube layed across the engine to feed it air, and I wanted some ram-air effect too. So I started cutting into the hood. Fortunately I had the fiberglass model.


    The front of the engine nearly touches the hood so I added the center lump to make room for the MAF and vented it to let some hot air out.

    Many sheets of sand paper and cans of filler later I had created the outer shape of the MACH0 hood

    Now to do the inside ...
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    The inside got the same treatment - and then some plumbing. I wanted enough air path to separate rain water from the air, but not to add restrictions - and I was getting tired of complex fabrication with fiberglass and filler so I modified some 4" tubing and grafted it on.


    I like to think the primer makes it look less like drain pipes stuck to a hood lol. The tube ends are the correct size to fit some aftermarket air cleaners.

    And then I grafted on the Mustang MAF housing and connected it up with some rubber and steel

    Whew - a lot of work :!:
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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    Super Moderator Lucky's Avatar
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    Re: Lucky's '96 Nustang DOHC Swap

    Drat. The fresh engine Was all dusty before I even got to drive it. But at least it's testdrive time.

    Items to note; Overflow bottle from a Beretta
    Coolant connector modified so that the hose points down(to clear the air cleaners)
    Relocated power steering fluid reservoir
    Modified strut brace
    A/C lines from a Marquis
    A lot of things you don't see were moved to the inner fenders - like electrical and IAC - battery is in the trunk
    The MAF is at the top end of the silver tube. I have tried several materials for the air tube, it's hard to find something 4" that will 'accordian' easily but not collapse when it bends or when the engine starts drawing hard. Currently I have a plastic one that has been working fairly well.
    odd things the police have said to me; "you can't drive that on the road", "I like your cow", "I didn't think you would pull over so quick"

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