Simple clarification of ideal 3.0L build.

[Kresnik]

The stock differential is very weak and I've seen first hand several that have blown up. One of my buddies who used to be on here quite a bit bought his SVT with a blown differential years ago. The white Cougar I swapped the motor and rebuilt the trans in had a differential that was damn near about to blow as well and that was a completely stock 2.5L with only 80k. But, when I installed my torsen in my SVT the differential looked like new. It's all in how you drive the car, if you're going to hammer on it or drive it hard, expect the differential to blow if you don't upgrade it. You've gotta pay to play!

On a side note, holy crap did this thread turn into a big pissing contest! Everyone does their builds or swaps for different reasons and each person needs to do the research about the types of swaps and determine how they want to do their build. I have my opinion on which swap is better and someone else has different goals for their swap or build and therefore has a different idea of what they want to do. There's nothing wrong with that.

Yea, the pissing contest something more than I expected, but I should have known better about. People tend to get real personal with their cars and quite often feel the need to defend any decision / part / project that they did. I know I'd be tempted to do the same if there was a debate of roots-type vs centrifugal blowers.

In regards to the differential, I'm not sure if I posted it or not, but I do fully intend to upgrade to either a Torsen or Quaiffe -- so the extra power will be compensated for.

[Kresnik]

The 3.5L is also VVT. It just isn't worth all the work to try and get a VVT motor to function. Run a normal 3L, do some head work, gasket matching, etc. and get the most out of it. You could potentially create a piggy back system to control VVT. Pull in the signals needed to control it and output what is needed to the actuators. I thought about building something to sell to the NECO/CEG crowd but there wouldn't be enough demand.

Yea, doing the piggy-back isn't very difficult. Though, for the effort of a piggy back to be worth while, to me it makes more sense to convert the system over to a dedicated wide-band and to control the ignition and spark as well - so she'd end up being a stand alone anyhow.

Is the 35 block similar enough to bolt up to the mtx-75 transaxle, or is it really entirely a different motor? If so, then starting with megasquirt&S completely negates any electrical and control compatibilities.

So if I want to run vvt (30 or 35), I need to invest into megasquirt to both retain and enhance upon its OEM performance.

Lastly, has anyone examined the Cam Torque Actuated (CTA) Intake Variable Cam Timing (iVCT) of the latest generation of the 30? I wonder, if in its name that it does imply that the timing is controlled mechanically, rather than electronically? If so, then that might simplify things for us.

Thanks again for hte feedback and input guys.

[Blackcoog]

The 3.5 is a completely different design with no relation to the 3.0 so I don't think the MTX-75 would bolt to it.

The VVT consists of two actuators. A 12 Volt square wave is sent to them. Oil pressure is changed based on the duty cycle which changes the cam timing. The signal must come from a table in the ECU that is calculated off of RPM, load, engine temp, etc.

[Kresnik]

The 3.5 is a completely different design with no relation to the 3.0 so I don't think the MTX-75 would bolt to it.

The VVT consists of two actuators. A 12 Volt square wave is sent to them. Oil pressure is changed based on the duty cycle which changes the cam timing. The signal must come from a table in the ECU that is calculated off of RPM, load, engine temp, etc.

Well, if indeed the transaxle will not bolt up, then that narrows down things for me; thanks!

So after some careful thought, I'm pretty sure that I'll go with an '09 or newer 3.0L with the CTAVVT. The price difference between that and something like an '04 is within a couple of hundred dollars, although the difference in mileage is as much as 100,000 -- WELL worth the additional cost, even if the performance gain is only marginal.

So at some point here, I'll need to look into borrowing a newer / well running car equiped with the ctavvt motor, pull the signals for any additional sensors and then determine if I need to build a simple piggy-back ecu to control it or if i'll go 100% standalone.

[Blackcoog]

Read this: http://www.newcougar.org/forums/thread2052.html

There are quite a few other changes after 06. Issues I can think of:

-The water pump was moved to the exhaust cam instead of the intake came like it is on the previous motors. This creates clearance issues for a few things including the water crossover pipe (won't fit at all).

-You'd still have VVT on your motor if you bought a 09 motor. I'm not sure what it would do if you didn't send it any signal. I'd imagine it should default to a safe timing point but you might want to verify before running it. Of course, you would loose all the hp that those motors gain by using VVT 20-40hp.

-The VVT timing cover/valve covers are a bit wider where they mate up to allow clearance for the VVT setup. It might not fit around the back side near the power steering tank. It would be very close anyway. You can't use the 2.5L or previous 3.0 timing cover or valve covers. The bolt pattern is different.

-The alternator mating point is different so you have to fab up alternator mounts.

-The timing cover doesn't have an opening between the heads for a powersteering pump or engine mount so there is no easy way to install these.

There are other changes but most won't know what they are because nobody has done it or posted about it online. Also some changes will depend on which motor the 3L VVT was originally intended for.