5.0 ford racing crate engine

[silver87]

I just bought a '87 GT with 77k miles on it and I'm looking at dropping in a ford racing crate engine. It's got a GT-40 aluminum head long block, 345 horsepower, compression of 9.0:1. It has GT-40 aluminum cylinder heads and GT-40 valvetrain with a SVO B303 cam. You can find this engine at summitracing.com for $3200, item #fms-m-6007-xb3

Has anyone heard anything bad regarding these engines or the swaps? I'm hesitant about buying a long-block because I've always heard that a short block is alot better for racing.

I'm also going to do a conversion from speed density to mass-air. Would a 70mm or 75mm throttle body work better with this set-up (with the crate engine)?

Any comments would be helpful, thanks.

 

[281pony]

i've heard that they are overrated on the power, but overall a pretty decent engine for the money.

i would also go with the 70mm throttle body.

 

[makoto]

only 77k miles and your dropping in a crate? why so soon?

 

[silver87]

It'll be cheaper then fixing up this one. Plus, the last owner was just a little shady. Who knows what he did to it.

 

[makoto]

I understand that. I dont want to spend the money on freshening up mine either, might as well just go get a long block and drop it in. But, mine has twice as many miles, so thats why I asked....

And 88SC_GT is right. Those Ford crates have much less HP when thrown in. I think Ford rates them on a bench with nothing else running, ie, no accessories. Too bad, because it would be nice if they actually came out with 345 fwhp with accessories. Great way to freshen things up however...

 

[281pony]

if you have a little more money, i would build up a stroker.

wouldn't be awhole lot more expensive in the end if you already have all the bolt-ons. that would be a good foundation though for starting over with a fresh engine.

also you could do what i am since i dont have alot of money. buy a brand new 302 shortblock for 1000 or less, and add your heads/cam/intake to it. good place to start and you can later add your nitrous, blower, or even stroke it if you want.

 

[silver87]

What kind of stroker kit is the best for the car. I was looking at a 347 stroker. I was wondering how much I woud be looking at if I were to take it to a shop to put it in?

 

[281pony]

347 strokers dont get very many miles on them before needing a rebuild. i think the most ive seen someone get is 20k and it was showing symptoms. probably varies on the quality of the kits and how they are driven, ect.

if you drive the car often i would go for a 331. you can get longblock strokers for 5500 i think it is through dss. shortblocks are 2500 also i believe, and you could build it the way you wanted.

not sure how much a shop would charge for the complete install. i would guess 1500 though with everything

 

[mooktank]

www.mustangengines.com has some expensive but nice motors.

 

[Jo_885o]

I have spent close to 4200 for the mods in the sig. So if that helps any. I thought about that also about a year ago but came to my senses and shoped around for shortblocks. My motor set up compared to the FRPP motor should have more hp and tq. Thats why i choose to go with what i went with. I was lazy and wanted to go with the first thing that sounded good, then i decided to actually get down to buisness b/c i fried the stock block. lol

 

[tjm73]

I've never heard anyone claim that FRPP crate motors are underrated. Also if you think that the rating they give is for rear wheel horsepower, your fooling yourself.

 

[kevsstang]

I have one with the E 303, Cobra intake and 30 jects. I like the engine it definitely is an improvement over stock. If I had to do it all again i would not buy it. I would go with a short block, maybe stroker kit, AFR 165, Edelbrock or Trickflow Intake, and a Custom Cam. Ford should atleast put forged pistons in their crate engines. Don't get me wrong I am happy with it I guess i was hoping for more power out of it but then again doesn't everyone
good luck and do some research before making a decision, I wish i had.

 

[AndFuelFor..All]

only 77k miles and your dropping in a crate? why so soon?

Maybe it's 177k.

 

[bt15]

I've got the xb303 engine in my '85 for now. It's a he[[ of an improvement over the stocker. I am VERY happy with it thus far. I've put about 3K on it and it's really starting to pull hard. The thing fired right up on the first turn and it has been very easy to tune. It was DEFINITELY worth the lack of hassle to have a turnkey engine. I initially rebuilt my stock carb and ran EGR. I've since put on BBK unequals, an Accel 300+ ignition, an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake, BG Speed Demon carb and a Crane distributor is on the way. Every little tweak has added a noticeable improvement and I'm still wringing out little bits through tuning. How much time do you want to spend getting it running, and how much time do you want to spend getting it running just right? It started on first kick, now I'm just having fun making it run right!

 

[silver87]

Has anyone else had any experience with dss engines. How do they perform and would it be ideal for daily driver as well as a racer on the weekends? I am looking towards the dss pro bulllet 306 or 331. Let me know what you think. I am in a tough situation right now.
Thanks

 

[drgn5.0]

i would stay away from ford crate engines, they aren't that hot.