[dashboardgyno]

If you saw my pther post in the drivetrain section. you will see, that I am in a tough situation. Do I rebuild the tranny on the 3.* supercharged cougar ( 89) or put in the 5.0 and tranny ( from an 89) Which has more power, and which will save less headache. Is the switch easy??

 

[Kevin]

Hi - I'm sure the 3.8L supercharged will whoop the 5.0's ***, but it's probably alot more expensive to get it rebuilt.

However, 5.0's are cheap to buy, fix, and mod, but the work involved in putting it in will not be easy or cheap. When we put a 3.8L NA engine into a 3.8L SC'd car (SC engine blew), there was ALOT of wiring to figure out, and it takes alot of time and patience.

My suggestion - bite the bullet, and pay for the rebuild. It's painfully expensive, but straightforward and simple .

 

[GreenBird]

I agree. Since you will rebuild the entire motor, you can spend some $$$ where ford didn't. Like on the head gaskets.

 

[dru440]

simple solution...

cheaper to put the 5.0 in .. more longterm potential from the 5.0

 

[jturmel]

Re: simple solution...

cheaper to put the 5.0 in .. more longterm potential from the 5.0

Wrong. He already has a 3.8 in there, it's going to cost more switching over to a 5.0, different wiring harness, different EEC, all other sorts of junk you'll run into, rebuild what you have.

 

[Gary Bitzer]

dont ruin another SC man... theres not very many left!!!

 

[dode]

Re: Re: simple solution...

Wrong. He already has a 3.8 in there, it's going to cost more switching over to a 5.0, different wiring harness, different EEC, all other sorts of junk you'll run into, rebuild what you have.

Not necessarily true. He never said it would be fuel injected.

Plus, I couldn't find this post he is talking about, but he said the tranny needs rebuilt in this post, not the engine. I don't know where anyone got that from.

John

 

[JSGAuto]

I am not sure about the trans in the SC. But I know that the 3.8 trans has less clutches in the clutch packs then the 5.0 does. So yes the 5.0 is stronger then a 3.8 n/a trans, but I don't know about the SC trans.


Jim

 

[jturmel]

Re: Re: Re: simple solution...

Not necessarily true. He never said it would be fuel injected.

Plus, I couldn't find this post he is talking about, but he said the tranny needs rebuilt in this post, not the engine. I don't know where anyone got that from.

John

Maybe you should read the ENTIRE post John Choad!

He says he either wants to rebuild the trans for his 3.8 SC or put in a 5.0 with its trans in the car instead, what did you miss about that?

------------------------------

I cleaned up the irrelevent posts in this message from me, how about you do the same John.

 

[dode]

The second part of my post was directed at EVERYONE for talking about rebuilding his 3.8 SC engine and not his tranny. Everyone in this thread seemed to think it was his engine that needed rebuilt, not his tranny. At least I realized that. I never saw you mention anything about rebuilding his tranny Mr. Smarty Pants. Go ahead, flame me for actually reading what it was he was saying. It only makes you look bad.

John

 

[dode]

By the way, if the AOD behind that 5.0L is good, pull the A-servo out of your SC tranny and put it in and install. You should be good to go then.

John

 

[dode]

Re: Re: simple solution...

Wrong. He already has a 3.8 in there, it's going to cost more switching over to a 5.0, different wiring harness, different EEC, all other sorts of junk you'll run into, rebuild what you have.

Your whole post is related to engine, and I am suppose to infer that "rebuild what you have" is talking about a transmission? That's almost as funny as the you referring to the TCCoA membership as being a "Waist of money" on your profile. Ha ha ha.

John

 

[dode]

Well you sir are the one that has resorted to name calling, not I. Personally, I think it is funny as hell. Generally little kids resort to name calling when they can't come up with anything else. It seems to work in this case too.

In any case...you should be a little more clear in your post. You just said yourself that you were talking to dru about engines, and then without even making a new paragraph, you started talking about transmissions again, without ever mentioning the word transmission.

John

 

[Moneymaker]

Alright, for one thing, yes a 5.0 would be cheaper to BUILD, but build only. To swap it in is another story. Really it would be cheaper to keep your 3.8 and rebuild your trans than to rebuild a trans and change the engine , and from what I've read here and other places, that swap is a pain in the ***. Another thing is that he has the 3.8 supercharged which means his trans should already be the same as the 5.0, there is less clutches in the regular 3.8 trans for the huge torque difference between the 3.8 S/C\5.0 and the 3.8 N/A. The 5.0 and the 3.8 sc are allmost the same when it comes to hp and tq if you look at it. you're only 20hp lower than a 5.0, and 15 ft.lbs less tq. so really either engine is going to perform similar to eachother just the 5.0 is going to cost you to put it in. And last, your 3.8s/c is a rare engine, if you look at the model percentages @ www.kbb.com of all the t-birds and cougars 7% were super charged 3.8s. I guess in the end it all comes up to you. rebuld the trans for a few hundred or spend a few thousand to swap in a Fuel injected 5.0. There always is the carb route, but personally, that would be a bad choice.

 

[dode]

Very good post...I agree, with a couple of amendments. First, I am not an SC expert by any means, but I believe that they are rated higher than the 5.0's in both torque and hp. Secondly, you are correct about the trannies, but the SC came with an A servo, while the 5.0 came with a B.

I also agree with you on the 5.0. I prefer fuel injection for most stock and mild modified applications, but if you plan on building a stout motor, a carbed 5.0 might be a good option for you. I too would agree though, stick with the motor you have and either swap in that 5.0 transmission or have yours rebuilt.

John

 

[Moneymaker]

he sad his car was a 89 cougar right? it should be about 215 hp and 305 ft.lbs of tq. until '94 with revisions the car made 230 hp and 330 ft.lbs of tq. and if I can remeber correctly the 5.0s usually hovered around 230 hp and 315 ft.lbs of tq. Im not too sur this is correct, the last 5.0 car i had was an 89 gt mustang and that was the ratings for it. I also know of a few guys that custon fabricate the same parts that some of the supercoupe companies make for a hell of a lot less. (just about half price on some parts) So in all truth, if you find the right place you can build the 3.8 for almost the same price as the 5.0. Its just the fact that the 3.8 S/C reacts to hp parts differently than the 5.0. take like a header, 5.0s benefit alot from this, supercoupes are marginal, then take something like a supercharger inlet on the s/c, huge gains are made. If you want to compare something of that nature to a 5.0 it would haveto be the inake manifold itself. I purchased the holley lower for my old 5.0 w/o cam and stuff for a dynoed 3 hp gain. So you see, it goes both ways. I'll always be partial to the 3.8 SC just because of the fact that it made almost the same power as an engine 1/4 size larger and was supposed to be the company's "fast car" engine.

 

[dode]

Like I said, it really wasn't any of your concern. It's your fault you misunderstood me, not mine.

None of my concern huh? Is this your own private forum? I don't think so. It is not my fault that I misunderstood you. It is yours for not knowing how to convey your thoughts. End of story.

John

 

[dode]

Alright, for one thing, yes a 5.0 would be cheaper to BUILD, but build only. To swap it in is another story. Really it would be cheaper to keep your 3.8 and rebuild your trans than to rebuild a trans and change the engine , and from what I've read here and other places, that swap is a pain in the ***. Another thing is that he has the 3.8 supercharged which means his trans should already be the same as the 5.0, there is less clutches in the regular 3.8 trans for the huge torque difference between the 3.8 S/C\5.0 and the 3.8 N/A. The 5.0 and the 3.8 sc are allmost the same when it comes to hp and tq if you look at it. you're only 20hp lower than a 5.0, and 15 ft.lbs less tq. so really either engine is going to perform similar to eachother just the 5.0 is going to cost you to put it in. And last, your 3.8s/c is a rare engine, if you look at the model percentages @ www.kbb.com of all the t-birds and cougars 7% were super charged 3.8s. I guess in the end it all comes up to you. rebuld the trans for a few hundred or spend a few thousand to swap in a Fuel injected 5.0. There always is the carb route, but personally, that would be a bad choice.

the 5.0 was only rated at 200 hp and 275 ft lbs of torque in the 91-93 Tbirds and Cougars. There were a few differences between our engine and the mustang engine.

John

 

[Moneymaker]

Well in that case, the 3.8 s/c could smoke the tbird 5.0 in stock form.

 

[Guest]

go with the 302! the parts are cheap and easy to install