What engine?

[grouch]

I've got a fellow wanting to swap a 1995 Mustang GT for my '84 Lincoln. I'm leaning towards it because I can get all sorts of parts for a Mustang and the Lincoln is made mostly out of unobtainium. The Mustang has a lot of miles but not many on the engine.

Now, the engine is SUPPOSED to be a rebuilt engine out of an SVT. However, I know SVT just stood for Special Vehicles Team. I don't know what year or what engine is in the car. I'm pretty sure some of the SVT engines were 351's and there are some 4.6 engines running around. I know what a 4.6 looks like but can anybody tell me how to find out what year engine I have as well as what engine it is?

My main interest is it's a 5 speed and my niece still hasn't learned a stick shift yet. It has a miss at all speeds and I'm thinking it's dumping too much fuel into the intake for some reason. Too cool a thermostat, leaky injector, miss flash on the computer or possibly too low an octane and the computer is retarding the timing too much.

[Eric]

I've got a fellow wanting to swap a 1995 Mustang GT for my '84 Lincoln. I'm leaning towards it because I can get all sorts of parts for a Mustang and the Lincoln is made mostly out of unobtainium. The Mustang has a lot of miles but not many on the engine.

Now, the engine is SUPPOSED to be a rebuilt engine out of an SVT. However, I know SVT just stood for Special Vehicles Team. I don't know what year or what engine is in the car. I'm pretty sure some of the SVT engines were 351's and there are some 4.6 engines running around. I know what a 4.6 looks like but can anybody tell me how to find out what year engine I have as well as what engine it is?

My main interest is it's a 5 speed and my niece still hasn't learned a stick shift yet. It has a miss at all speeds and I'm thinking it's dumping too much fuel into the intake for some reason. Too cool a thermostat, leaky injector, miss flash on the computer or possibly too low an octane and the computer is retarding the timing too much.

The Cobra Mustang (during that era) was produced under the auspices of SVT. If it's '95 model SVT Cobra or Cobra R, engine was either a 5.0 (302) or 5.8 (351) V-8, the old pushrod engine. This was the last year for the pushrod V-8 in a Mustang. It's visually very easy to tell these old engines from the new "modular" 4.6/5.4 OHC engines, which have much wider valve covers, for one.

Again, this assumes the engine you're dealing with is in fact an SVT Cobra engine - and is correct for the year (1995).

From what you describe, it sounds like it's not the correct engine for the year, since it appears to be a 4.6 (which first came out in the Mustang the next year, 1996).

Later SVT versions of the 4.6 had three valve heads, I think - so that may be one way to figure out whether that's what you have..

[grouch]

The engine was an SVT 5.0. That's about all you can say good about the car. I drove 350 miles and spent an afternoon that I'll never get back going to look at it. The car was basically a pile of used parts. It would run me $900-1200 to get it in decent running condition. Thermostat either missing or stuck open so it doesn't get out of open loop mode, stuck injector, suspension problems, lousy paint, a seat all the way up and not moving, cracked windshield, 186K on the clock, exhaust hanging about 6 inches too low ans held up with coat hangar wire, dead battery, mickey moused wiring from a amp system, bald tires, half the lights were burned out, etc. It did have a nice radio though. This was to be traded for a pristine Lincoln coupe.

[Eric]

The engine was an SVT 5.0. That's about all you can say good about the car. I drove 350 miles and spent an afternoon that I'll never get back going to look at it. The car was basically a pile of used parts. It would run me $900-1200 to get it in decent running condition. Thermostat either missing or stuck open so it doesn't get out of open loop mode, stuck injector, suspension problems, lousy paint, a seat all the way up and not moving, cracked windshield, 186K on the clock, exhaust hanging about 6 inches too low ans held up with coat hangar wire, dead battery, mickey moused wiring from a amp system, bald tires, half the lights were burned out, etc. It did have a nice radio though. This was to be traded for a pristine Lincoln coupe.

That's a long drive for a big disappointment! Sorry it turned out that way; had the same experience myself more than once.

If it had been a Cobra R (351 V-8) it would have been worth grabbing. Those were very special cars, built for road-racing. Last Mustang to come with the "big" small block, also a Tremec 5-speed and stripper interior with no AC, minimal insulation, thin carpet and so on. Ford only sold them to actual racers and I don't think they built more than 1,000 of them - maybe fewer.