Walked past this cougar? with the 3.8L supercharged motor. I had nasty thoughts about that motor in a much smaller car. I have neither the funds nor welding skills to make it happen but is this engine a turd? I can't remember seeing it in Challenge cars? Think I could even fit that blower onto my brother's 4.6L V8 Crown Vic?
A little undersized for a 4.6L.
I think that engine would be teets in a Miata with a T5 with the factory gearing.
Stop making me think these things.
How about in my 318is BMW mmmmmmm.
find a ragged out v6 mustang, swap the drivetrain over ultimate sleeper.
they are pretty notorious for blowing headgaskets like their N/A counterpart. But they do have good power and torque. A guy that live by my mom had a supercoupe and 2 supercharger cougars (1 automatic and 1 manual) thats a pretty rare thing as thats the only one's i have ever saw.
I thought the head gaskets issues were more with the transverse engines than the longitudinal ones due to the routing of the coolant. At least that is what a mechanic told us when we had our POS Lincoln Continental. I could be totally wrong.
The same mechanic told me a co-worker of his had one of the Superbird coupes that when he tore the engine down with around 125,000 miles on it, you could still see the honing on the cylinder walls.
The 3.8 head gasket problem was widespread. They covered my 95 Mustang under warrenty. I was told it was the gaskets themselves, but I have replaced gaskets and headbolts on 3 Mustangs so far with no problems. One was changed at 67,000 miles and it now has over 320,000 miles.
Bruce
all ford 3.8 headgaskets asplode.
my buddy had an 86 t bird. they went, so he put in a new crate motor and they went in 2500 miles, new heads/gaskets and they went in 5k. now he has a 92, they went and locked the motor. and he has a 94 cougar, they've been done two times.
his 5.0 cougar doesnt have them however. but the cam broke.
The heads on the supercharged 3.8 are not the same as the n/a heads. If you can believe it, the 3.8SC's are far LESS likely to blow head gaskets due to having more meat in the head. The pan on these are rear sump and fit easily into a Miata due to the way the Miata's crossmember surges forward after leaving the subframe rail. You will have to trim a little on the inside of the xmember to be able to position the engine a little further forward, but it is not too bad. Also, the 3.8 bellhousing is HUGE. You will have to massage the trans tunnel, but even that is not too bad, along with fab'ing a trans cross member. The Torsen LSD will be the first to go, so don't chance it. Swap out the 8.8 IRS from the donor. Do yourself a favor and go with a stand alone management system. The stock electronics leave a LOT of power on the table. Swap the pulley for a 10% smaller one, get a great-flowing set of headers, and a 3.55 or 3.27 gear out back. That is good for low-12/high-11 second passes.
-Les
slack jawed
I can only dream! Argh!
fastasleep wrote: The heads on the supercharged 3.8 are not the same as the n/a heads. If you can believe it, the 3.8SC's are far LESS likely to blow head gaskets due to having more meat in the head. The pan on these are rear sump and fit easily into a Miata due to the way the Miata's crossmember surges forward after leaving the subframe rail. You will have to trim a little on the inside of the xmember to be able to position the engine a little further forward, but it is not too bad. Also, the 3.8 bellhousing is HUGE. You will have to massage the trans tunnel, but even that is not too bad, along with fab'ing a trans cross member. The Torsen LSD will be the first to go, so don't chance it. Swap out the 8.8 IRS from the donor. Do yourself a favor and go with a stand alone management system. The stock electronics leave a LOT of power on the table. Swap the pulley for a 10% smaller one, get a great-flowing set of headers, and a 3.55 or 3.27 gear out back. That is good for low-12/high-11 second passes. -Les
Also Use a T5 from a 1999 and newer V6 Mustang. But yes everything that Les said is correct.
The heads are different for the SC heads vs the NA heads. The intake ports are a little different but the exhaust ports are HUGE. The heads work great on a supercharged application but don't work well on NA applications. The 99 and later split port heads are best but will not work with the SC intake.
MY perfect SC engine combo consists of a 4.2L E/F150 block with balance shaft delete, I beam rods, forged pistons, a RPM Motorsports cam regrind, ported and polished heads and intake, 1995 Mustang header/manifolds running to dual 2.5" exhaust, 10% overdrive pulley, big intercooler and good charge piping. Add an alloy zero balance 157 tooth flywheel, a King Cobra clutch and a 5.0L bell and T5 and I would be quite happy.
Toss in an XR4Ti or Miata with a 3.73 geared 8.8.
just pull the s/c then find another one and "just slap them on" your bro's V8
I stood next to the t/bird this motor is in while it was on a dyno putting 470+hp to the wheels
Awesome car. Super nice guy who built it. Check out http://www.toohighpsi.com
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