Ported 3.0L engine Daily Driver Upkeep/Repairability

[actionleaguemat]

Hey guys, I'm currently looking at buying a 3.0L with the ported swap (2.5L intake).

While I'm pretty good with cars and do a lot of my own work on them as a hobby, I don't have specific experience with an SVT or anything similar.

So my question is, is the 3.0L swap something that could be some-what daily driven, and what is the maintenance, reparability of the car? If something goes wrong with it, is the swap understandable enough that any decent mechanic would be able to fix common issues with the car, or am I basically on my own as far as repairing the car if anything goes wrong?

I really like the SVT's (been a FORD SHO enthusiast for years, mainly 89-91's, owned/own them currently) and I'd like to take the plunge on this as my DD recently gave up the ghost and I'm looking to use the car for probably 8k miles a year, primarily on back road country daily commutes to work.


The car currently is in great shape and needs nothing, so I don't think I'm buying a project, but I want to make sure that if things go wrong as they tend to do with older cars, that it'll be repairable by a mechanic as I typically don't do my own work on DD's.

Thanks for the advice and input!

 

[montrese04]

If it is a ported swap then everything will be kosher. you could still take it to the dealer and they really would not know any difference. Congrats on the newly acquired car. Should be just fine as a DD by the way.

 

[BrApple]

Basically everything external to the engine, and most of the engine can be treated like stock. It should also be a stock 3L engine, so the reliability should be just as good as any factory engine.

Personally I would be hesitant to take the car to a dealer for any work. But it should be ok. As noted chances are most will never know the difference.

 

[2000ZxT]

Very much so daily drivable. My 3.0L has been through many renditions. The last being naturally aspirated daily driver as I dealt with multiple other projects. Ive been driving it for 2.5 years now every day without any issue what so ever. I just finished my other car (again) and the contour is finally just about to go back under the knife AGAIN to be a fun car. I learned how to tune on this motor, I even cracked a piston and replaced it a few years back its still fine. Motors are pretty stout for what they are. I would not hesitate to do the swap, just make sure your mechanic is qualified as there may be a few things you need to get clever with and don't look bad.

I think hes just saying that when you port the 3.0 for the 2.5L manifolding/fueling, working on he car is basically the same as the factory service manual, not the case for a full 3.0 .