performance upgrades 3.8

D

DaBird93

Registered User
i have a Thunderbird LX 3.8 and have upgraded the exhaust and a cold air intake... the heads gaskets were just redone bc they blew.. i was wondering what i could do with this engine it has 57,000 miles on it...
performance upgrades...
where to find them ?
what can i use ?
can i use parts off a SC?
what would i have to do to hook up a SC supercharger?
what kind of little upgrades can i do?

thanks for the info
-Joe
 
You can't use the SC supercharger because the NA 3.8 and the SC motor have different internals. It has an 8.2:1 compression ratio, stronger rods, different crank, etc. It will just blow up.
I used to have a 3.8 NA cougar with an intake on it and it was the slowest car ever. If you want a fast car you might as well ditch the NA 3.8 and drop in a v8 or SC motor, because in order to go fast with it you'll have to dump a ton of money into the engine.
 
dam... haha alright so i know what im up against.. what would i need as far as building V8, what engines fit inside this (CI wise)? what would i need as far as electrical?
 
Thunderbird up to 1993 I believe came with 5.0 (302) HO mustang motors in the Sport version. '94 and up use the 4.6 (281) SOHC. You can also do what a few people have done and put a Lincoln Mark VIII/ Mustang Cobra DOHC 4.6 in there as well. I'm not too familiar with what's involved in the swap itself, but I know you need the engine harness and computer at the very least.

Rod (racecougar) put a DOHC v8 in his cougar, check out some of his posts.
 
a 302/351 carbed fits nicely... and little electrical work to be done. will also use your mounts and tranny bellhousing (the fe engines and the 3.8 shared a lot. and an sc swap can be done, but isnt realistic compared to buying an sc.

anothe option is to get a 91-93 sport with a 5.0 and do the swap... but why not just drive the sport? lol.


hell, someone even swapped a 2jzgte motor from a supra in their sc... anything is possible.. i think the only motor that hasnt been able to fit without sacrificing clearances, and modifying the engine bay is the 5.4 dohc...
 
thanks for the info.. i may look into that 351, as far as transmissions go what would i need to look for?
 
your stock transmission... lol. bolts right up bro. if you want to go manual, i suggest using one of those fe engines, and an m5r2 from a 5 speed sc.
 
DaBird93 said:
i have a Thunderbird LX 3.8 and have upgraded the exhaust and a cold air intake... the heads gaskets were just redone bc they blew.. i was wondering what i could do with this engine it has 57,000 miles on it...
performance upgrades...
where to find them ?
what can i use ?
can i use parts off a SC?
what would i have to do to hook up a SC supercharger?
what kind of little upgrades can i do?

thanks for the info
-Joe
Click to expand...


Sell it and buy an SC.

David
 
is the motor still out of the car ?

if so,

-port the crap outta the heads
-" " outta the intake manifold
-buy some short or long tube headers
-get a nice cam with around .500 lift
-gears (3.73,4.10)
-better tires

thats what i would do if i had a N/A 3.8
 
should be able to squeeze 200 ponies outta that v6 that way... or you could buy an sc for 1500 and have 200 or more to start with. ;)
 
lol.. speaking of which, i just found a set of 351 carbed engines, freshly pulled from vans for 75 bucks on craigslist... would definitely be the cheapest way to go... :)
 
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