Should Have Had a V-8: 1994 - 98 Mustang V-6 to V-8 Conversion

Once the wires have been disconnected from the computer, the EECharness--located in the right fenderwell--can be pulled through and put aside. The new V-8 EEC harness and computer are installed and routed thesame way as the V-6 harness.

Once the new harness has been routed through the right fenderwell, Timinstalls the necessary smog devices, required for V-8s. Since this isn'tstandard on the 3.8 car, the smog equipment must be attained from adonor 5.0 Mustang. As you can see from this photo, Tim nestled the smogsystem in the same side fender as the electrical harness.

With the V-8 harness in place, the TFI module--which isn't found on theV-6--can be plugged in on the right side of the engine bay.

While the V-6 engine is out of the car and the electrical harness isrouted through, Tim goes underneath the Mustang and disconnects theexhaust system and the driveshaft. For a swap such as this, you mustalso obtain a new dual-exhaust system from a donor car, or just purchasea new system from any aftermarket company. Also, with the new exhaust,you'll need to get the hangers from a V-8 car or from Ford. Without thehangers, your exhaust pipes won't sit straight, nor will they be secure.

With the driveshaft and exhaust out of the way, Tim lowers the V-6'stransmission in order to install the new clutch. The V-6 and V-8 T5transmissions are almost identical, including the fact they both havethe same gear ratios. The only dif-ference, according to Tim, is theV-8's gearsets are stronger than the V-6's.

According to Tim, the clutch upgrade is a must for performance when itcomes to converting your existing 3.8 into a pavement-pounding 5.0. Forthis installation, he chose to have a RAM heavy-duty clutch, known forits exceptional grip and longevity.

Now that the clutch is in and the tranny reinstalled, the Mustang islowered and the new 5.0 engine is ready to be dropped in. Note how mostof the engine's parts are already installed, including the headers, theintake, the throttle body, and even the spark plug wires. The morecomplete the engine is, the easier the entire pro-cess will be. Makesure you take care of anything you want changed with the engine-- such asspark plugs, wires, headers, and so on--before you drop the engine in thecar. You and your knuckles will be glad you did.

One of the parts you'll definitely need to acquire either from adealership or a junkyard for this conversion is the throttle cable andlinkage. The V-6's cable is considerably shorter than the V-8's, as youcan see from this photo.

With the 5.0 engine in place, Tim makes all the necessary connectionsfrom the main electrical harness to the correct sensors and relays. Asfor the fuel system, the V-6 engine also uses 19-lb/hr injectors, butthere are only six of them (obviously) instead of the needed eight forthe V-8. The best thing to do is to purchase eight new injectors fromFord (PN M-9593-C302) so you know you get a balanced set instead of justtwo new ones. You also can opt to use a set of bigger injectors if youplan on modifying the engine later. As for the rest of the fuel system,Tim assures the V-6 stock 88-lph fuel pump is adequate for an engineproducing up to 300 hp.