Crown Vic power..

[marky mark]

Hey fellas, so I have an 86 bii that I just recently swapped a crownvic motor into, M5od f150 5 speed and currently a 8.8 rear axle, running 35.12.5 tires .I did this swap kinda fast cuz it's my daily driver so I didn't have alot of time to inspect the motor I got from behind some guys house for 250 bucks before I put it in, and I notice it's leaking oil from what looks like my intake manifold .. This makes me believe that I should take the motor back out and put new gaskets on the whole thing however I'm curious, while I'm in the motor regasketing what are some low cost decent performance options I could add! Cam maybe? I heard new heads are an issue with crown Vic motors? Also is it a timing chain in there? Should probably replace that too eh? Basically I'd just like all bit more torque and power I don't need anything crazy like a supercharger it is my daily driver and a simple trail rig.. Any suggestions would be much appreciated thanks guys..

 

[JoshT]

So which Crown Vic motor you got? 302, 351, mod motor? They came with a lot of different ones over the years.

Can't really help with your problem but knowing the motor will help someone else.

 

[dangerranger83]

If its a 302, then it has 150hp from the factory as she sits. I have a 302 out of a Grand Marquie (same car as yours basiclly) and I plan on swapping in a stock Mustang HO cam (bumps it up to 200hp). You running the FI or did you go carb?

The oil could be just the valve cover gaskets but you should replace what gaskets you can if you do take it out again.

Got pics of your setup? Like I said I will be doing this swap soon and Im looking for all the pics and advice that I can to do this.

 

[baddad457]

You can also pickup about 15 horses by replacing the stock rocker arms with a set of full roller pedestal mount 1.7 rockers. Crane makes these and are the same rockers the 93-95 Cobra Mustangs came with. Other than the HO cam swap, there's little you can do with the heads and pistons these motors came with. If you pull the heads you could pick up a little more power by unshrouding the intake valves and removing the Thermactor bumps in the exhaust ports. All this is of course assuming you have the 86-91 Vic 5.0

 

[skx762]

What type of pistons are we talking about in this engine? Will he have to worry about the valves hitting the tops of his pistons with the 1.7 roller rockers? I read conflicting things on the Mustang web sites.

 

[baddad457]

The 86-91 Vic motors have no valve reliefs in the pistons. These motors came with the E6SE heads (same as the 86 Mustang HO motor) in which the combustion chambers are deeper and locate the valve seats a full 1/8" deeper (high above the piston) than all other small block heads. This is why the pistons lack valve reliefs. You can swap the heads or swap the cam (as in the HO motor) but you're playing with fire in doing both at the same time. In some cases you can do both, but you MUST check the piston to valve clearances before running the engine. If you're going to rebuild the engine with new pistons, then these are excellant fodder for this. The blocks, crank, rods and roller cam hardware are all the same parts as the Mustang engines. The only parts different were the pistons, cam and heads (except for the 86 Stang) and the intake parts (lower is the same as the Stang lower) The 87-97 Pickup 5.0 has all the same parts as the Stang 5.0 except for the cam, pistons (cast instead of forged) and intake. The 94-97 pickup/van motor has the same cam as was later used in the Explorer/Mountaineer 5.0, this cam is just a step below the HO in specs. The 87-91 Pickup/van motors had flat tappet cams, the 92-93's had the same small roller as was used in the Crown Vic motor

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

You can swap the heads or swap the cam (as in the HO motor) but you're playing with fire in doing both at the same time. In some cases you can do both, but you MUST check the piston to valve clearances before running the engine.

Wonder what the difference is, headgasket crush?

I have to pull the heads off of mine to decarbon them. I have a set of E7's sitting on the bench... might be worth risking a shot.

 

[baddad457]

Wonder what the difference is, headgasket crush?

I have to pull the heads off of mine to decarbon them. I have a set of E7's sitting on the bench... might be worth risking a shot.

Did you not read what I posted about the E6 heads ? It was in the second sentence.

 

[lairdt]

If you swap your E6 heads for E5 or E7's, you can also put in the HO cam, or any cam with up to about .480 lift (check of course when assembling). I did the heads and HO cam (and later swapped in a Lunati cam) on my '89 Towncar which was a 160hp (duel-exhaust rating) non-HO motor.

 

[baddad457]

Total lift is only one part of it. The complete sequence (timing) of valve events are just as important.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

In some cases you can do both, but you MUST check the piston to valve clearances before running the engine.

Did you not read what I posted about the E6 heads ? It was in the second sentence.

As to why you can sometimes get away with it and sometimes you can't.

 

[baddad457]

As to why you can sometimes get away with it and sometimes you can't.

Ok, but it's going to take more than the difference in head gasket thicknesses to make the difference in that case.

 

[marky mark]

Hey sorry I was pulled away for a bit.. And yes I'll try and get some pics on as soon as I can and trust me I think I've encountered every problem there could be with this swap so if you have any questions I'll try and be as helpful as possible and yes it is the fuel injected 302 out of what I believe is an 86 Vic.. Ya I heard te same thing about swapping the heads I like the idea of keeping it simple like the rockers and cams I really just want to re gasket the whole motor and adds lil horse and have it just run super clean you know?!