Engine Comparison
Well more lack thereof. I was sitting around one day and I asked my wife what I can do to make my car more appealing to take road trips in. She said, it needs to have A/C, more comfortable seats, and not so loud. Well I'm well on the way on making at least 2 of those 3 come true. Still haven't quite figured out the "not so loud" part, just because I had V-8, 4-barrel carb, and side pipes that ended right at the windows, doesn't make it a "loud" car. :-) Either way, I'll see when it comes ot the exhaust what I'm to do.
I actually came across this engine on eBay. I was watching it for a few weeks and everytime the auction ended it would be relisted cheaper. So I waited till I sold my old house (yes you have to sell one of those to have money to built a car now-a-days), and then I called up Cleveland-Pick-a-Part and I was the proud owner of one of the oddest motors I have ever seen. I've been doing some reading and saw where they stuck a 4.6L Cobra motor into a 1966 mustang, and I thought, hey why not get a new 5.4L GT500 motor and do that same. Well it's easier said than done, as these webpages will attest to. But your along for the ride as much as I am, so it will be fun one way or another.
I actually came across this engine on eBay. I was watching it for a few weeks and everytime the auction ended it would be relisted cheaper. So I waited till I sold my old house (yes you have to sell one of those to have money to built a car now-a-days), and then I called up Cleveland-Pick-a-Part and I was the proud owner of one of the oddest motors I have ever seen. I've been doing some reading and saw where they stuck a 4.6L Cobra motor into a 1966 mustang, and I thought, hey why not get a new 5.4L GT500 motor and do that same. Well it's easier said than done, as these webpages will attest to. But your along for the ride as much as I am, so it will be fun one way or another.
The Old
This was my 289 baby. I tore that thing down to the short block once before, and it was a really stout engine. It had a Lunati camshaft, 302 Heads, roller rockers, Edlebrock RPM Airgap intake, Edlebrock Thunder 4-barrel carb, Pertronix electronic ignition, and other goodies that made it defintely a reliable engine. I was never stranded while I owned it (running out of gas while pulling into your driveway or gas station does not count as being stranded). The four-speed transmission was very fun to drive, though it lack a nice overdrive gear, hence the running out of fuel bit. I was debating on building up a new Boss 302 block but then the Shelby came a calling.
The New
Ahh just a baby with only 5,000 miles. This was pulled from a 2008 Shelby GT500 that somebody obvious decided to see if the car worked without wheels. I looked at the crashed pictures and it seem that they just drove into a guard-rail or something. Anyways, I ran the numbers and I could just get this engine and all the stuff that goes with it for several thousands less than I could build a comparable Boss 302 engine. Yes it really does have that many hoses and wires on it. I still think they had the engineer build a really awesome engine, and then after they did all the design work they said, BTW how are you going to cool it? Needless to say there is a spider web of hose on the front. But at least now I have EFI, a supercharger, and a 6-speed transmission to those nice long cruises.
It is really interesting to see just how many little things it takes to run a newer car these days. But anyways, I'm an engineer by trade so I'll fix up anything that comes my way. Here are a few more pictures to really show the difference between the old one and the new one. Enjoy!
