Explorer 5.0 + MS + Old Car = Questions

I am thinking about swapping a 5.0 explorer engine into my Fairlane so I can upgrade to fuel injection and try my hand at ECU tuning. The current engine in the car is a 351W with a carb on top, and finding a GT40 intake to fit the larger windsor would cost me just as much as a complete 5.0 or possibly even an entire running explorer. It turns out I bought the right headers years ago that will even clear the GT40P heads.

First off, since I want to run MS would there be any reason other than cost to find a donor vehicle rather than an engine with harness? I wouldn't be able to transplant the fuel system or transmission unless I found a 2wd explorer which is rare in my area.

In terms of controlling the engine, does the EEC-V based engine controls system and harness pose any problems over an earlier mustang based harness and sensors?

Diving into the engine itself for those who may be familiar with them, I know I would like the change the cam, valve springs, and oil pan. Any suggestions on the valvetrain selection? I have a middle weight 60s sedan 3400lbs?, with an AOD, and 3.90 gears. Its not a drag car, just a quick cruiser that makes a little noise. Also, can I adapt the larger explorer throttle body to give line pressure inputs to an AOD?

One last thing, when prepping the fuel system on a car that never came with EFI, is my simplest option to run an external pump below the level of the tank and very close to the tank?

Thanks for all the help.

Not to try and change your mind or anything but I have an FI manifold from a 351 collecting dust in my garage. Can't remember how complete it is but I can dust it off and get some photos some time this week.

I did some research on swapping a EFI 5.0 into a 60s Ford a little while back. The short version is: buy a late LTD/Vic as a parts car. The intake manifold goes the right way for brake booster clearance (the manifolds are not handed but the throttle/trans linkage is), the wiring harness is more advantageous as far as finding a place to put it in an older chassis, and there was also something with the way the accessories were laid out that made sense. My notes are at work.

The project went stillborn and I never got to do anything beyond research and plan.

For EFI, the simplest yet best option is to get a fuel surge tank from an '85-91 Golf or Jetta with CIS injection, and mount it somewhere under the hood. Probably no room under the car unless you want a single exhaust, and why would you do THAT? It's a 1 liter capacity box with a high pressure pump built in. The CIS cars all had ridiculously oversized pumps for EFI because CIS requires 90psi or so. You could feed the surge tank with a low pressure pump mounted back by the tank... or the mechanical pump would probably work too.

JThw8 wrote: Not to try and change your mind or anything but I have an FI manifold from a 351 collecting dust in my garage. Can't remember how complete it is but I can dust it off and get some photos some time this week.

If you have a truck intake with the vertically stacked twin-blade throttle body, I don't think it will fit under my hood. If its anything else let me know, I'll actually be in the tri-state region later this week.

Knurled wrote: I did some research on swapping a EFI 5.0 into a 60s Ford a little while back. The short version is: buy a late LTD/Vic as a parts car. The intake manifold goes the right way for brake booster clearance (the manifolds are not handed but the throttle/trans linkage is), the wiring harness is more advantageous as far as finding a place to put it in an older chassis, and there was also something with the way the accessories were laid out that made sense. My notes are at work. The project went stillborn and I never got to do anything beyond research and plan. For EFI, the simplest yet best option is to get a fuel surge tank from an '85-91 Golf or Jetta with CIS injection, and mount it somewhere under the hood. Probably no room under the car unless you want a single exhaust, and why would you do THAT? It's a 1 liter capacity box with a high pressure pump built in. The CIS cars all had ridiculously oversized pumps for EFI because CIS requires 90psi or so. You could feed the surge tank with a low pressure pump mounted back by the tank... or the mechanical pump would probably work too.

I've mixed and matched quite a few ford models to get to the combination I have now, which does include the accessory drive from a 5.0 crown vic. But the engine itself in the vic is a 150hp 5.0L that I'd like to avoid. I've got a buddy into VWs I'll look into that fuel system setup.

Okay, that makes life a LOT simpler swap-wise. The idea with what we were doing was that we'd get the best combination of "stuff" all at the same time so we didn't have to buy things twice. Base HP didn't matter because of our application, which was more of a modern re-drivetrain than an out-and-out power build: classic looks with modern turn-key-and-go drivability. The one downside, IIRC, was that the LTD was speed-density so not as conducive to modifications, but again for the app it was fine.

In reply to Nitroracer: 2wd exploders are a dime a dozen around here, cheap too.