Modern police motor swap into 1999 V6 mustang?

blastercize

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May 17, 2023
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I've got a '99 v6 and I'm trying to make it something like the ultimate GT car, built solely being a driver's car. I don't want a lot of power, but I want fuel efficiency/emissions performance. Now, this may be a dumb question, but can I swap a police motor out of newer explorer that's crashed? How much would it cost? Is it worth it to just get my stock motor to 400 hp with boost, maybe with ecoboost turbos, or a 4.6l swap? I'm gonna be doing some weird experimental stuff with this car anyways lol and I know a machinist so maybe I'm deranged but why not ask esp since I'm doing an onboard biofuel farm (not deranged) and a potential wagon conversion (possibly very deranged)
 
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Which motor specifically? A few could be had in the PI Explorers. I assume you don't mean the 3.3L hybrid drivertrains, so that leaves the 3.5L TT?, 3.7L? or 3.0L TT depending on what generation explorer you are talking about?

3.5TT and N/A 3.7 swaps (not worth doing) have been done, but there is far less out there in terms of swap parts and engine management systems for these engines. I have yet to see a 3.0LTT swap into a Fox/SN95 yet, and i doubt there is any support for non-native vehicle platforms for this engine yet. Most likely you will have to custom make pretty much everything, as well as figure out the electronics.
 
I'm thinking the 3.0/3.7. Ideally the latter, but from the looks of it, getting it legal boils down to having a legal ECU and specific engine equipment. That's gonna make it pretty expensive, from the looks of it.
 
You’re going to want a 3.7 out of a Mustang if you go this route. The transverse 3.7 out of a police car has the engine mounts on a place that doesn’t really work when you flip the motor the “right” way

The 3.0 comes pointed in the right direction, but I’ve yet to see anyone adapt that to the fox/sn95 chassis. Lots of custom work for that. The ECUs on both will be the challenge as you state
 
You’re going to want a 3.7 out of a Mustang if you go this route. The transverse 3.7 out of a police car has the engine mounts on a place that doesn’t really work when you flip the motor the “right” way

The 3.0 comes pointed in the right direction, but I’ve yet to see anyone adapt that to the fox/sn95 chassis. Lots of custom work for that. The ECUs on both will be the challenge as you state
understood. there's also the option of getting a motor only somewhat newer, such as the 3.7 in the s179s or its 5.0, or go completely off my rocker and design/build a toroidal engine
 
There is a stroker kit that makes the 4.2 f150 engine a 4.9 v6. A supercharger really makes them come alive. The v10 swap is complicated because there's no aftermarket stand alone support. The Ford v10 firing order is weird and most computers can't run it. The factory computer needs info from the transmission and is hard to get around. I thought about and researched these odd ball swaps.
 
There is a stroker kit that makes the 4.2 f150 engine a 4.9 v6. A supercharger really makes them come alive. The v10 swap is complicated because there's no aftermarket stand alone support. The Ford v10 firing order is weird and most computers can't run it. The factory computer needs info from the transmission and is hard to get around. I thought about and researched these odd ball swaps.
thanks for that info o7
 
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dumb question, it's not legal to swap a truck motor into my car, right? I've been looking into cali laws because I want this to be legal there, simply so that the cops can't complain, but I don't know...

I really don’t know. Not from CA so I don’t know how to navigate those complex laws.

While my state has annual inspections, they don’t pop the hood and do not hook up OBD2 scanner to anything older than 15 years from current date. I can stick a Godzilla 7.3 under the hood of either of my cars and inspector will never know, but will bitch if I have a license plate frame on the car.