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Forged Cougar S engine

F

FastFord

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
1,003
Location
Denver, CO
I have the opportunity to buy a cougar S engine. As far as I know it was from one of the few prototype cars ford had made that had a 3L block with svt cams and intakes. The current owner has 2.5L heads on it that were P&P'd with 3L valves, will update with what heads originally came on the engine. The current owner also installed Pauter rods, Sealed Power pistons, and Knife-Edged crank. I am still working on getting more details but wanted to post and get opinions from CEG'rs before I make the decision.
1. I couldn't find really any info about the Sealed Power pistons, like what compression they are, if they are a quality piston, and are ideal for an all motor setup?
2. And was wondering what the benefits of the Knife-Edged crank are on our engines if there is any?

This engine has under 2000k miles on it from new, and about 900 since the internal work. If this goes through I will be selling the 2.5 heads and porting and polishing my 3L heads, and hoping to find an ST220 UIM for extrude hone. A set of SHM longtube headers are coming from the same seller. And I might look into the idea of custom cams for the build, but am pretty sure it would be waay to much $ and hassle. Anyways please do post any comments you have about this as I know I am venturing into uncharted territory with this.
 
The Cougar S was just a SVT motor. I wouldn't pay any more for it vs. another motor with similar parts. Does it really have 2 million miles on it (2,000k)? lol

I'd say get your own 3L and build it up unless it's a really good deal.
 
so basically the engine has been rebuilt and isn't what it originally was? As noted I would just pass on it and build your own 3L engine.

Sealed Power is a good name, but nothing special I believe. Like we used some sealed power parts when we rebuild the 289 in my dad's 66 Mustang.
 
Sealed Power pistons are fine. My guess is that they are stock compression ratio and cast/hypereutectic in construction. I do not know if they have the better lands for the piston rings if you were thinking about forced induction.

This motor certainly has been properly upgraded on the bottom end - the factory powdered metal connecting rods have been replaced with the Pauter Rods which run around $1300 a set these days! You almost certainly do not have to worry about spinning a rod bearing with this motor!

If you do grab this Cougar motor but later choose to go with a 3L set-up in the end, you should extract the Pauter rods from that Cougar motor and put them in the 3L. The 3L uses the same crappy rods as the 2.5L. Don't forget that the 3L will have to be rebalanced and there will be a chunk of change going into all the 1-time replacement bolts plus gaskets at a minimum due to the teardown / reassembly requirement.
 
Hahahaha no not 2 million miles, it was late when I posted this. I am 98% sure that it is a 3L as the seller said, and when I did some research about it on NECO finding out where the current owner got it from it also stated several times that it was a 3L with svt items. I also read that the cougar S was going to be a 3L with awd and the few cars they made had everything but the awd system. I found posts on NECO about serial numbers proving that this engine is indeed a cougar S engine and the car it came out of was probably crushed due to regulations and things like that. Obviously I will make sure that it is everything its said to be before I make the purchase.

As far as I know the current owner which is DeviousDev a moderator over on NECO never had intentions of forced induction, and neither do I besides a nitrous setup one day. I do realize that its not original now that it has all this work done to it, but for $1k an hour away from me its a damn good deal. As that is only $400 more than what I paid for my current low mileage 3L, and this one is basically brand new with more than $3k worth of parts already installed ready to go.
 
There were a lot of random Cougar one off cars. The Cougar S that was supposed to go into production was with a 2.5L SVT motor. They even had brochures out for it at the dealers but canned production at the last moment. There are supposedly a few Cougar ST200's over in Europe which have the 2.5L SVT motor. The Concept Cougar S with the AWD system is actually owned by someone that has posted on NECO and was a one off concept. While they said it was supposed to have AWD it didn't.

BTW that motor is going to need a lot of work: http://www.newcougar.org/forums/videos-pictures/149849-rip-cougah-2-2-2000-5-25-2011-a.html
 
Hmm, it will be interesting to see what he gets back to me with on the full story, maybe he has two different engines. Even if it isn't the cougar s engine its still worth it in my opinion. As far as it needing work from the accident, he stated it won't come with cams or intakes which tells me those were the damaged items, but I can't see the head being 100%.
 
honestly, I wouldnt use that engine without doing a complete tear down, cleaning, inspection (including having it magna-fluxed), and rebuild. between the impact it took, and the shattered valve cover right over the timing chains, you have no idea what might have gotten down into the engine or worse, if the block is cracked.
 
not to mention the sealed power pistons are nothing great for boost... they are just like the OEM hypereutectic pistons, not forged by anymeans. the rods however would be a good thing if they are ok and not damaged
 
If impact in an accident is an issue then why isn't it an issue with all these 3L engines we buy out of cars that I am sure were wrecked. The open valve cover does worry me as well as the fact that the uim was ripped off of the heads, but if the heads aren't being used and the oil pan and timing cover can be taken off and cleaned of any debris then I still don't see extreme issues with it. Most important I need to figure out exactly what engine it is first.
 
Ok I was definitely mistaken, I knew it was too good to be true. After a lot of reading there is no way its a 3L, he must have two different engines or something, but reading his previous posts and threads doesn't really clarify anything.
 
He indeed has two separate engines, one being the 2.5 cougar S engine, and the other being the 3L with all the work done to it that is in the car. He did use the cams and intakes off of the S engine on the 3L, so thats why those are not included with the 3L as he plans to put those back on the S engine that he doesn't know what hes doing with yet. I will be helping him with the partout, which will make me much more comfortable making the decision of buying the engine or not. I cant see any damage being done to the bottom end which is all I will be using, and the sealed power pistons will be just fine since it wont see any boost.
 
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