What Common Mistakes are Made Swapping a Ford 5.0L Fuel-Injected Windsor V8 into Older Ford Muscle Cars?
Q:
I just bought a 1987 Grand Marquis with 48,000 miles for cheap! I plan on putting the 5.0 engine and AOD trans in my 1962 Comet. I will be using the TCI [Total Coast Involved] frontend and already have an 8.8 rearend with 3.55s. [See “TCI Suspension Upgrade—Get a Handle on It” on HOTROD.com for a complete TCI IFS early Falcon installation. —Editor.] What are the main mistakes made when doing a swap like this? Also, (plug ears) I would like to get rid of all emissions stuff without ruining the engine.
A:
Excellent question, Redharry. There are at least 25 mistakes or fallacies commonly made when retrofitting mid-’80s to mid-’90s Ford 302 EFI V8 engines into earlier Ford muscle cars, including “wives’ tales” that some think are mistakes but really aren’t. For a real-world fix-it on a 5.0L-HO Ford SFI engine swap into a ’77 Mustang with many of the errors discussed here, see our online article from 2015: “HOT ROD to the Rescue—This Late-Model 5.0L SFI System Runs Terribly.”
With the help of Ford EFI expert Mark Sanchez (Advanced Engineering West/AEW), I’ll answer your question generically, as well as provide some specifics for your swap. For reference, your 1987 Mercury Grand Marquis 5.0L Windsor V8 is a sequential fuel-injection (SFI) non-HO engine that uses Speed Density metering: The car’s electronic control unit (ECU) has pre-programmed fuel and spark tables referenced to a MAP sensor that reads engine vacuum. Your engine does not have a mass airflow (MAF) meter in the inlet duct, which measures actual airflow through the inlet duct to help the ECU determine the right amounts of fuel, air, and spark advance.
It helps to have the service manual and
