need buying advice

Metalcorpse

Registered User
Hi guys! Ive been looking at replace my 93 base model cougar for a v8 cougar. I was told the PI heads are from 95 to 97 (or 96 and 97?) I see two cougars one is a 97 the other is a 96. i was really interested in the 96 because the 97s i read had dropped a lot of nice features. Sadly i am told by the owner of the 96 it needs a "tune up". engine shakes a lot. guessing its timing. the 97 is fine tho. both are PI heads im sure. whats your take on this?
 
Birds never had PI heads. They didnt exist until 99 or 00. You can put a PI intake and PI cams on the NPI heads. Either way, it wont perform like the SC. Trust me been there done that.
 
No tbird or Cougar ever had PI heads from the factory. They only came out in 99 for the Mustang, and in 01 for everything else. There is a difference in the heads and intake setup from 94/95 to 96/97, which may be what you are thinking of. 94 and early 95 heads had a problem with wearing out the valve guides, which causes the engine to burn oil. Starting in late 95, and on all 96 and 97 cars, there is an updated version of the NPI heads that has the better valve guides, and that also allows you to run a larger cam without causing coil bind. Also for the 96 model year, they changed from the all aluminum intake manifold to the plastic one, which is of the same design as the 96+ Mustang. If you are going to do a PI head and/or intake swap, it makes it much easier to be starting with a 96+ car. As for the one car shaking, that sounds like a misfire problem, that may be as simple as needing plugs and wires, or it may be a cracked intake manifold leaking coolant. Either way, I would not let that sway you from picking the right car. There are plenty of more expensive things that can need repairing, like front suspension, rust, or transmission issues, so look at the whole picture, and maybe see if you can get the 96 cheaper due to the issues that it has.
 
No tbird or Cougar ever had PI heads from the factory. They only came out in 99 for the Mustang, and in 01 for everything else. There is a difference in the heads and intake setup from 94/95 to 96/97, which may be what you are thinking of. 94 and early 95 heads had a problem with wearing out the valve guides, which causes the engine to burn oil. Starting in late 95, and on all 96 and 97 cars, there is an updated version of the NPI heads that has the better valve guides, and that also allows you to run a larger cam without causing coil bind. Also for the 96 model year, they changed from the all aluminum intake manifold to the plastic one, which is of the same design as the 96+ Mustang. If you are going to do a PI head and/or intake swap, it makes it much easier to be starting with a 96+ car. As for the one car shaking, that sounds like a misfire problem, that may be as simple as needing plugs and wires, or it may be a cracked intake manifold leaking coolant. Either way, I would not let that sway you from picking the right car. There are plenty of more expensive things that can need repairing, like front suspension, rust, or transmission issues, so look at the whole picture, and maybe see if you can get the 96 cheaper due to the issues that it has.

I found a 95 with only 38k miles for a good price. The issues you said might be barring me from buying it. My money is tight. I want something reliable and affordable. Might go for the 97 but I hear features were dropped for that year. The 97 has 160k miles. (Ok for a v8)? Anyhow it's down to those three. If I can I'll post the links when I get off work
 
At 38K miles, if all the cars are priced similarly, then the 95 sounds like the way to go! The oil consumption issue is usually only once you get to higher mileage, and even then it doesn't stop the car from being driven. Also the 94/95 aluminum intake manifold never fails, while the 96/97 plastic ones get brittle with time, and eventually start leaking coolant, so both cars have their advantages and disadvantages. As for 97 dropping options, there were some little things that were dropped like the rear map lights and the support strut for the glove box door, and they changed the instrument cluster to one out of a Taurus, but then they also added real cupholders, so the 97s aren't some stripped down car with manual windows or anything like that, and for a daily driver, you probably would never notice most of the differences unless you sat a 96 and a 97 side by side and looked at everything.
 
At 38K miles, if all the cars are priced similarly, then the 95 sounds like the way to go! The oil consumption issue is usually only once you get to higher mileage, and even then it doesn't stop the car from being driven. Also the 94/95 aluminum intake manifold never fails, while the 96/97 plastic ones get brittle with time, and eventually start leaking coolant, so both cars have their advantages and disadvantages. As for 97 dropping options, there were some little things that were dropped like the rear map lights and the support strut for the glove box door, and they changed the instrument cluster to one out of a Taurus, but then they also added real cupholders, so the 97s aren't some stripped down car with manual windows or anything like that, and for a daily driver, you probably would never notice most of the differences unless you sat a 96 and a 97 side by side and looked at everything.

can the 95 have parts changed to be up to speed with the newer models? if so i might go with that one then
 
can the 95 have parts changed to be up to speed with the newer models? if so i might go with that one then

Yes it can, and many have done it. The layout of the 94/95 intake and fuel rails is different from the 96/97 style, but the PI setup is very similar to the 96/97 non-PI intake, so to do a PI intake swap, you just need to get some donor parts off a 96/97 tbird, specifically you'll need the fuel rails and lines forward of the filter, the EGR tube, upper intake plenum and throttle body, throttle cable, intake tube, and the vacuum harness. There will be a few things with wiring that will need to be moved around or extended, but it isn't too difficult.
 
Yes it can, and many have done it. The layout of the 94/95 intake and fuel rails is different from the 96/97 style, but the PI setup is very similar to the 96/97 non-PI intake, so to do a PI intake swap, you just need to get some donor parts off a 96/97 tbird, specifically you'll need the fuel rails and lines forward of the filter, the EGR tube, upper intake plenum and throttle body, throttle cable, intake tube, and the vacuum harness. There will be a few things with wiring that will need to be moved around or extended, but it isn't too difficult.

awesome. now if i wanted to just swap the engine from a PI mustang, is the bolt pattern the same for the transmission?
 
awesome. now if i wanted to just swap the engine from a PI mustang, is the bolt pattern the same for the transmission?

Yes, all the bolt patterns are the same for all the 4.6s, except the 92 Town-car/crown-vic, which has the small block ford bell housing. If you are doing a complete engine swap, look for one out of a 4.6L explorer. Those came with an aluminum block, which will save about 75lbs off the nose of the car, and they generally sell for the same price or slightly cheaper, since most junkyards see the word Mustang and jack the price up.
 
my budget is very small i cant afford anything over 2k. the mileage of the tbird is too good to pass up for the price. id trade it for a cat later on. found a cat with 38k miles on it. might check it out if i can have them lower the price a bit.

thanks for the info guys. cleared a lot of stuff up!
 
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