i have an 86 mustang i bought last year, thinking everything was original. yesterday i decided to tear the engine apart to rebuild and prepare for a carb swap. when i took the heads off, i noticed the pistons arent the "true flat top" pistons they say the 86 mustang uses, so i flipped the heads over and found an e7te casting. the setup is speed desity so i assume its most likely an 87 or 88 block, where can i find the casting on such years? also, if i intend on keeping the engine stock, or maybe just a mild cam, what carb would be best for street use that will give me the power when i want it? i assume i shouldnt get a double pumper as the engine will be stock, i was thinking a 600 edelbrock with vacuum secondaries? im open to suggestions!
found out i have wrong engine!!!
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91TwighlightGT
Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
my original plans were to swap to maf, but my wire harness is in such bad shape all corroded and stiff being that it's over 20 years old. also, most of my electrical connectors are broken and a lot of things have grounding issues. a new harness is about 600 with maf pigtail and the maf sensor/pcm are gonna be another 200 or so. swapping to carb sounds cheaper but correct me if im wrong
Ok, consider yourself corrected. Stick with the EFI. There's no feasable reason to convert backward to carb...especially with stock or near stock car.
Hit the local swap meets, wrecking yards, whatever to find yourself another wiring harness and fix what's broken. Hell, you could probably buy a complete used Mass Air engine and harness for what it would cost to do either conversion.
f8tlfiveo
My wife likes my spool and blow-off valve.
+1. A lot of the connectors Ford used across all their vehicles, and can be easily found in junk yards. If you're meticulous enough, entire sections of wire can be spliced together to repair damaged/corroded areas.
I'm not entirely against converting to carb, but if all you're doing it for is to avoid replacing a few broken connectors.... Might not be a good idea.
You've not lost anything by not having 86 pistons and heads. You actually have more bolt-on mod options now that you would have otherwise.
What these guys are telling you about converting to carb is troofs! There are not many circumstances where that swap will make it better for you. All is not lost however...
Take a look here : http://www.rjminjectiontech.com/collections/pigtails-connectors
You should be able to find the stuff that you need to cure what ails your relicated harness. If you're not good at or don't have the tools to do a proper crimp and solder then get some help. Few things are worse than chasing electrical gremlins from a botched installation of harness gear.
What these guys are telling you about converting to carb is troofs! There are not many circumstances where that swap will make it better for you. All is not lost however...
Take a look here : http://www.rjminjectiontech.com/collections/pigtails-connectors
You should be able to find the stuff that you need to cure what ails your relicated harness. If you're not good at or don't have the tools to do a proper crimp and solder then get some help. Few things are worse than chasing electrical gremlins from a botched installation of harness gear.
You can prob pick up a used harness for $100 or so. The engine could be any 87-93 Engine, and doesn't need to be from a Mustang. You didn't really give enough info to confirm and just assume it's a 5.0 HO. the 86-88 speed density setup will work with any engine, even a 1993 Cobra. Mechanically they are all similar.
Converting to carb just to make the car streetable is not the answer...especially a stock engine. One of the reasons the 87-88 Mustang is considered the fastest year stock is due to the Speed density EFI setup. Going carb on a stock motor is a step backwards IMHO
Converting to carb just to make the car streetable is not the answer...especially a stock engine. One of the reasons the 87-88 Mustang is considered the fastest year stock is due to the Speed density EFI setup. Going carb on a stock motor is a step backwards IMHO
It is a HO 5.0... from what i can see it is off an 87, but looking behind the starter is a pain. It may sound dumb to many, but I took off the e7 heads and i'm in the process of rebuilding them as I don't feel like buying used gt40s and rebuilding those. so far so good, to me, I think these heads were somewhat recently rebuilt as none of them are bent, burned, stem necking or scored, the valve guides are PERFECT and the stem to guide clearance is about .002" on EVERY valve. The only hard part was getting the valve keepers out of each intake valve... really had to hammer them out. all the springs are straight and within spec, the pushrods are within spec as well. other than that, i have them in the hot tank right now and debating on taking the time to port and polish them for the couple extra cfm. I did notice that cylinder no. 5 had a detonation problem... induction through the cables? But if i keep the efi, can i go to a local yard and pick up an 89-93 harness and it will be the same with exceptions to the maf connector and maf pcm? ive never done the swap before and I need to know exactly what I need to convert it. is it best for me to get an exploder intake and plenum? also, which maf should I get? Thanks to anyone who had helped me!
I think you're making a big mistake wasting your time on the E7TE heads when Explorer castings can be had for next to nothing. Especially considering you're going to need to rebuild your E7's anyway. And now you want to waste even more time and money porting and polishing them?
You're leaving an easy 20hp on the table....more if you concentrate your port and polish efforts on the better GT40 head to start with.
...but hey, it's your money.
You're leaving an easy 20hp on the table....more if you concentrate your port and polish efforts on the better GT40 head to start with.
...but hey, it's your money.
i dont have to rebuild them, just new guide seals and they cost less than any sensor. I can port and polish myself as i have the tools but its just a little time consuming. i cant find any gt40s under 250 around here in decent shape. rebuilding them would cost a bit as well. im not planning on doing anything big with this car as its a convertible and im just making it a cruiser. if i can find any heads, i want the gt40 irons and not the p's as i dont have the time and moeny for what else i need for them. ive read that porting and polishing the e7's give about the same flow numbers as the gt40's stock. i may be wrong but thats just what ive heard and read from a couple sources. im not actually rebuilding the e7s, just cleaning and measuring for spec to see if theyre still good and they are
If you're dead set on using the E7TE's, have at it. But you should know, with a quick 2-minute search, I just found no less than 10-sets of used GT40's within 100-miles of your location for $150 and under and double to triple that amount if you're willing to drive a little further. Many of which are said to be in Grade "A" condition. You're obviously looking for better performance than stock, otherwise you wouldn't be thinking about porting the stockers. Bur for the above price, it's really not even worth buying the carbide bits and sanding rolls to port the E7TE heads for that price. And like I said, if you do decide to port...starting off with a better head is always going to have a bigger pay off in the end.
http://car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?userSearch=int&userPID=1000&userLocation=USA&userIMS=&userInterchange=>CE@&userSide=&userDate=1996&userDate2=1996&dbModel=27.15.1.1&userModel=Ford Explorer&dbPart=306.1&userPart=Cylinder Head (Engine)&sessionID=600000000000000000097973604&userPreference=zip&userZip=18966&userLat=40.1871&userLong=-75.0054&userIntSelect=398962&userUID=0&userBroker=&userPage=1&iKey=
BTW....this would be an excellent opportunity to pick yourself up an Explorer intake and throttle body to go along with it. Adding 40hp in one bolt on for under $300 is probably going to be one of the best bangs for the buck you'll ever see.
I've just been basing my search off of CL, not the best place in the world. I haven't checked local yards either. My biggest mistake was letting go of my 98 mountaineer, probably the best SUV i've been in IMO. I just don't like the P heads as the plug angle is straight and I would need to get different headers = more money. That site you gave me, are they 125 a piece or a set? if it's a set i'd go tomorrow and rebuild those/polish and port. I'm not going on ebay or any other online site as i'm not purchasing online lol. Doing the gt40 upgrade, can I use my stock 19lb injectors with no problem?
65ShelbyClone
Founding Member
If you could, there wouldn't be any head room. The Explorers used 19lb injectors, but I'm not sure how they got away with it other than with a truck cam. Pushing ~60psi through a 19 will get it to flow 24lb/hr, but raising rail pressure substantially decreases the pump output. 19s are good for about 240bhp at the rated pressure.
I made the mistake of trying to save$$ and ported my stock heads 3 years ago when I put an e303 cam in. I only picked up .20 in the 1/4 mile. Don't waste your time/money go with the gt40s or save some and buy some aluminum heads. You'll be much happier if you do IMO.
f8tlfiveo
My wife likes my spool and blow-off valve.
Yes you can use the 19's I did it no problem. I even had mine tuned and my tuner didn't tell me I needed bigger ones..look at car-part.com for used parts.. It's a database of junkyards. You don't have to buy online, but you can if you want.
ratio411
Founding Member
RJM has a "universal" 5.0 EFI harness that is totally complete plug n play.
I know it's 500 bux, but it was the best 500 bux I ever spent on a car.
I was determined to make a stock harness work and save that money, but in the end I was so glad I bought the harness.
If you do decide to go carb, use a Holley vacuum secondary. They are light years better than an Edelbrock/Carter/Federal Mogul design.
Have you priced carbs and intakes lately? If so, I think you'll see that the cost of EFI, even with the RJM wiring, is the same price, if not more. The price of heads doesn't matter either, you need those with either induction.
U-pulls around here are always well stocked with V8 Exploders, and the intakes/TBs are dirt cheap. I haven't priced the heads.
I know it's 500 bux, but it was the best 500 bux I ever spent on a car.
I was determined to make a stock harness work and save that money, but in the end I was so glad I bought the harness.
If you do decide to go carb, use a Holley vacuum secondary. They are light years better than an Edelbrock/Carter/Federal Mogul design.
Have you priced carbs and intakes lately? If so, I think you'll see that the cost of EFI, even with the RJM wiring, is the same price, if not more. The price of heads doesn't matter either, you need those with either induction.
U-pulls around here are always well stocked with V8 Exploders, and the intakes/TBs are dirt cheap. I haven't priced the heads.
