[Cruznlife1]

I've done some searching....

First car is my dads old car, it's a 93 3.8 auto, red, bad paint.... He lost oil pressure and overheated it blew headgaskets etc. Than knocked... I pulled the motor myself, put a new crank in it, new oil pump, new bearings, put new headgaskets in it, had the heads rebuilt, replaced all the gaskets, filters etc.... And my buddy who does trans work rebuilt the trans and put a new converter in it... Also put a new water pump, and radiator in at the same time.... Car runs Excellent, a/c also works etc....

Second car, grandmothers old car 95 v8 (4.6 I beleive) auto OBD-2, new dash etc... She wants 1500 for it. Decent paint nice interior....

Interior and paint isnt an issue, this will be project car.... I'm very turbocharger fluent, had an old turbocoupe, put the turbocoupe motor in both of my rangers, had a turbo 300 I-6 F-150, and did a mild twin turbo setup on my buddies 5.0 mustang....

I also have some basic knowledge of standalones, as well as OBD-2, I've setup two microtech standalone systems so far, and played with proracerpack for OBD-2 on a friends 99 Turbo Ranger.....

I can have my dads car for FREE, I can build motors, and do all the work myself it's not an issue. But it'll still be a v6... Would I be better off with grandmas v8 car and blow more money ? Both need a little work to be perfect, but I plan to pull the motor and build it either car I get.... Both will have forced induction, and the obd-2 car would be nice because I wouldnt have to go to a standalone to tune it (thank god for xcal)

I can get grandmas car and my dad is going to give his bird away probably, but if I get grandmas car I'm out 1500 right off the bat. I could probably do a mild build on dads free car for the price of grandmas car.... See my predicament ?

 

[jeleighlover]

y dont u get dads car & sell it to have money for gram's car???

 

[Southpaw]

Which interior style do you prefer? I can't believe you put all that work into salvaging a ford 3.8 btw. lol

I wouldn't want to own a forced induction '93 ford 3.8 but ymmv. Between an '85 bird and an '89 cougar i've had enough of wrenching on ford 3.8's for one lifetime.

If dad is going to give the car away to someone it may as well be you. Just ask him up front if he'll be upset if you decide to sell it to put the money towards another car, perhaps grandma's.

 

[Nativedetroiter]

I say sell the 3.8, you will eventually want to go bigger anyway. So go with the 4.6L.

 

[sniper77]

3.8 = yucky IMHO.
i had to do enough head gaskets on those motors.
unless its a supercoupe i steer away from 3.8L.
actually, i dont even know........do the s/c have the head gasket problems?

 

[twin turbo 281]

boost the 4.6 theres so much more you can pull out of the motor.

 

[MadMikeyL]

Take the free tbird as a daily driver and buy the V8 one as a project car. You basically just rebuilt the motor and trans in the 3.8, so it should be plenty reliable, and while a 3.8 sucks for performance, it is just fine for cruising around in a beater car.

Mike

 

[Chris_Murder]

I have 1 3.8 bird and 2 4.6 birds and I must say if its power your looking for the 4.6 is where you want to be, and if you want a little more out of it you can do a pi head and intake swap like I did which will give you more compression and hp, but if you want better handling and a little more power in the 4.6 than swap in an aluminum 4.6 pi motor like something from an explorer and you'll love the power improvement and weight savings on the front end.

 

[Cruznlife1]

Take the free tbird as a daily driver and buy the V8 one as a project car. You basically just rebuilt the motor and trans in the 3.8, so it should be plenty reliable, and while a 3.8 sucks for performance, it is just fine for cruising around in a beater car.

Mike

My 03 Lifted Tacoma is my daily, it's in the beginning stages of turbo too....

I'd still like dads car just because I've done so much work on it already and it's been dads since brand new

 

[Cruznlife1]

My 03 Lifted Tacoma is my daily, it's in the beginning stages of turbo too....

I'd still like dads car just because I've done so much work on it already and it's been dads since brand new

Interior styling is completely irrevelent for how I want to use the car, but gram's car is nicer

dads car has faded to a pretty horrid pink color though, grams car is not perfect. It's gonna be 1500 for the car, it's got motor problems, and she was told it needs a trans. I think it drives like CRAP to be honest. our 3.8 feels quicker... I know her car has some electrical gremlins

I'm thinking about throwing a bunch of boost at the 3.8 with some tuning just to see what it does.

 

[Southpaw]

You obviously know far more about the condition of these two cars as well as what you want to do to the one you get, and what is and isn't important to you.

besides seeing your predicament what's the point of this thread?

I don't see how we can help you decide what's best for you.

 

[Bangster]

4.6 car. Sometimes life is too short for free stuff that just don't do what we want. If you were looking for a daily driver, the 3.8 car hands down. You will end up spending more money on the 4.6 car, but sounds like what you want anyways.

If the 3.8 feels stronger, there is certainly something wrong with the 4.6. I have one of each (89 NA 3.8 and 97 4.6) and they both have strengths and weeknesses, going beyond just the engine though in my case. My 89 is a cushy cruiser, comfortable, does well in incliment weather, feel more at ease parking it in a parking lot. It also gets worse mileage the the 97, is slower 0-30 than the 97 is 0-60. The 4.6 is a good engine. Obviously it is still under powered for the cars but has potential. My 97 rides harsher, more tempermental, but is way faster and easier to drive when the going gets tough (tight onramp into 65+ mph traffic, U-turns on busy streets, etc).

It is tough for me to get back in and put miles on the 89 after spending a bunch of time in the 97. I haven't let the 89 go by any means, it has a decent sound system, remote start, all the stuff works in it, but it is a dog.

 

[MadMikeyL]

My 03 Lifted Tacoma is my daily, it's in the beginning stages of turbo too....

I'd still like dads car just because I've done so much work on it already and it's been dads since brand new

Well if your dad is willing to give you the 3.8 bird, then you have nothing to lose by taking it. Get both of them, and have fun with them however you want. As for boosting the 3.8, an SC crank with aftermarket 351W rods and some forged pistons will make a nice strong bottom end for whatever you may want to throw at it in the future.

Mike