Ford 5.0 conversion ???

On Thursday night we bolted the engine to the torque tube. We've got a bell housing out of a 1967 Mercury Comet with a V8 and a C4 (which cross references to a bunch of other vehicles). The throwout bearing is from a 2011 Mustang GT500 and the adapter plate centers in the bore of the torque tube and the bell housing and also has a step in it to center the throwout bearing.

The bell housing needed a bit of clearancing on the left side with an angle grinder, but it doesn't look like there's going to be too much work needed to fit the engine in there. It looks like the oil pan will need some massaging and the fuel and brake lines on the left side of the engine bay will need to be rerouted and it may require a custom intake to clear the hood, but that's down the road a bit. I'm hoping we won't need to lower the crossmember.

I've got some pictures from Thursday at my Tumblr site.

Does anybody have any measurements for the stock location of the front of the torque tube? We didn't get any good ones before we started tearing into it.

as far as an intake goes i would look into some of the box intakes or even a carb intake with a 90 degree elbow on it, they will be shorter than a fuelie intake of most of the stock styles.

tntocco wrote:as far as an intake goes i would look into some of the box intakes or even a carb intake with a 90 degree elbow on it, they will be shorter than a fuelie intake of most of the stock styles.

We're probably going to be making our own intake.

pix please!!!!(even crappy ones!)

suboptimalfit wrote:pix please!!!!(even crappy ones!)

Any pictures I take are posted to my tumblr site as I posted before. The project has been stalled for a month or so as a baby has entered the picture, but I'm hoping we can do some more on it soon.

I suppose I should update. We've got engine mounts made up and headers most of the way done. The right side is a block hugger header from Summit (I believe it's Patriot-brand) and the left is almost completely custom. We have 3 of the 4 primary tubes routed on that header. The right side one looks like it was made for this application.

I've got flare to AN fittings and line for the clutch hydraulics. We're still working on accessory drive stuff. The stock Mustang and Explorer stuff is close, but not quite close enough.

Haroldk,
You can probably look at my headers on my website for a good direction to go with the headers, The mustang motors exhaust ports are only about .100 of an inch different than the LS motors,

Admin wrote:Haroldk,
You can probably look at my headers on my website for a good direction to go with the headers, The mustang motors exhaust ports are only about .100 of an inch different than the LS motors,

The ports may have similar spacing, but the left head is farther back on the Windsor than on an LS. Also, we've got this pretty much wrapped up, it's just getting the tubes actually made. Our direction is set, it's just getting the free time to execute it.

One of the things we were set on is not having the steering shaft go between the primaries, so we're going up and back.

haroldk, how has the swap been coming along? I've just picked up an 89 944 S2 for my explorer 302 GT40P swap. It looks like the factory 4wd clearanced oil pan (rear sump) will be helpful - I'm more interested in the luck you've had with the bellhousing and torque tub fabricating, though. I'll be starting collecting parts this week, sourcing mustang T5 components (flywheel, etc).

bcjohnson wrote:haroldk, how has the swap been coming along? I've just picked up an 89 944 S2 for my explorer 302 GT40P swap. It looks like the factory 4wd clearanced oil pan (rear sump) will be helpful - I'm more interested in the luck you've had with the bellhousing and torque tub fabricating, though. I'll be starting collecting parts this week, sourcing mustang T5 components (flywheel, etc).

We haven't been able to do much on it in a while. He's got some projects he needs to get done before we can really get cracking again.

I've got pictures of the adapter plate up on my tumblr page (http://haroldina.tumblr.com/post/21934022640). It's a bellhousing from a 1967 Mercury Comet with a V8 and C4. The throwout bearing is from a 2011 Mustang GT500. We had the adapter turned and the 4 holes for the torque tube bolts drilled and tapped and then just marked and drilled the holes for the bellhousing side ourselves.

Once we get the left header finished, we'll be pulling the engine out and modifying the oil pan on a spare block. We're starting with a Fox body Mustang pan, and it's pretty close to working as-is. We just need to notch around the steering rack pinion housing a bit.

Any particular reason you chose that throw out bearing? This is the first time I've set up a manual transmission. I'm assuming all other components will be from a T5 mustang, minus the custom-spline 10.5" clutch for the 157t flywheel. Also have a C5OP-7976-A bellhousing in the mail.

bcjohnson wrote:Any particular reason you chose that throw out bearing? This is the first time I've set up a manual transmission. I'm assuming all other components will be from a T5 mustang, minus the custom-spline 10.5" clutch for the 157t flywheel. Also have a C5OP-7976-A bellhousing in the mail.

We chose the throwout bearing because it's really short and allowed us to make the adapter plate thicker. The clutch disk I've got is just one for a Dodge. I don't remember what year or model it was from, but it was pretty cheap. I thought I got it from Rock Auto, but I can't find it in my order history. I'll try to remember to post a part number once I get my hands on it again.

Thanks - ill see what I can find clutch wise. Also, I'm assuming you're going to cut into the bellhousing to accommodate the clutch fork setup..?

bcjohnson wrote:Thanks - ill see what I can find clutch wise. Also, I'm assuming you're going to cut into the bellhousing to accommodate the clutch fork setup..?

No, we're using the hydraulic slave that's in the pictures I posted.

Oh, excuse my ignorance. I'm learning a bit as I go. If you dont mind my prodding, I can do diameters for the adapter plate, but any chance you'd be willing to share the side profile dimensions?

bcjohnson wrote:Oh, excuse my ignorance. I'm learning a bit as I go. If you dont mind my prodding, I can do diameters for the adapter plate, but any chance you'd be willing to share the side profile dimensions?

I'll see if I can get those from the guy who drew it up.

We finally got the left header finished last night. Pictures are up at: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Nice job on the header! I have the adapter plate for mine just about done, still need to take final measurements and tap the threads for the torque tube and clutch actuator (got the same one you did from the dealer). Also, the ford racing engine swap oil pan (rear sump) looks like it clears the crossmember without any modification so far.. I might lower the CM 1/2" like the LS1 guys for better torque tube positioning. I'll probably go the same route as far as headers go, nothing I've seen so far clears the explorer mounts - more fabrication to come. I plan on starting a photo album of my progress much like you have in the next week.
Quick question as well - are you using the factory style EFI intake manifold for your setup? Rough measurements look like it will be close but doable.

bcjohnson wrote:
Quick question as well - are you using the factory style EFI intake manifold for your setup? Rough measurements look like it will be close but doable.

The stock intakes aren't even close. We're trying to do this without lowering the crossmember at all, but even 1/2" wouldn't make a stock intake clear. Same thing for the distributor. There are some smaller distributors that might fit, but I decided to do EDIS instead so we could route the intake through the space the distributor usually fills.

The clearance issues we have with the oil pan are really only because of the rack.

Good to know. I'm going edis as well with a megajolt controller. Wanted to try and swing a multi port setup without spending an arm and a leg, but I may just end up using the FAST ez-efi TBI setup with a traditional low rise intake manifold.

I'm using an A9l with a Quarterhorse to run everything.

Edis will be for sure on my setup but I'm still in the planning process for fuel injection. I had hope for the factory efi.. I read somewhere (I think a miata or factory 5 forum) that some guys were milling 3/8" off the top of the lower SN95 intake. I'm a ways out for that though, still saving for a set of twisted wedge 170 aluminum heads lol.

bcjohnson wrote:Edis will be for sure on my setup but I'm still in the planning process for fuel injection. I had hope for the factory efi.. I read somewhere (I think a miata or factory 5 forum) that some guys were milling 3/8" off the top of the lower SN95 intake. I'm a ways out for that though, still saving for a set of twisted wedge 170 aluminum heads lol.

You can go factory EFI without using the factory upper intake. I'm using either a GT40 lower or a truck lower and building a box intake for the upper. And 3/8" isn't going to be enough to make a stock intake clear. You might be able to do it, but certainly not without dropping the crossmember. This is all based on my car with the GT40 intake and the stock Fox-body intake. If your car is different and you can make it work, more power to you. One of my goals is to get this done without dropping the crossmember or bulging the hood.

EDIS is really easy to turn on in the GUFB computers and the wiring is pretty simple. The guy who's doing basically all the fabrication work on this has a Windsor that he's run using an AEM and a TEC3 and he greatly prefers the factory computer with a tuner in it. He's got a TwEECer and I've got a Quarterhorse, but you could do the EDIS with just something like a Moates chip.

This is just my two cent's worth, but somebody with some bucks and knowhow needs to do a NEW 5.0 (Coyote) swap. My daily driver is a Mustang GT with the coyote engine and that engine is honestly the best thing Ford has ever created. Just an extremely efficient monster. That said, I am likely going to have Eric at TPC do a 5.3 Chevy swap into our 924S because I don't have the time, equipment or money to pull off any swap at this point. BUT...I still think somebody should do it. Ford sells the crate Coyote as well as the complete wiring harness and computer, off the shelf. That thing would be UNBELIEVABLE. I'm telling you, that crate engine is going to be an up-and-comer for hot-rodders to use as a drop-in. I truly think it'll be the SBC/350/350 of the future.

Do you have any of the measurements for the Coyote? It isn't any smaller than the Mod motor, is it?