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What to tell the mechanic?

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Lt_hailBob

Veteran CEG'er
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Oct 27, 2007
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Location
Charlottesville
I can't get the archives to load so....

I've found a 2004 Ford Taurus engine to replace mine (stripped spark plug hole- It's a good excuse for a 3L), but I am not mechanically inclined and don't know what modifications need to be made to make it fit.

Which variation of 3L (hybrid, full, etc...) is easiest and what should I tell my mechanic? What changes need to be made? I'm working with a budget....
 
well hybrid involves the heads from your 2.5 so I think that is out

so you are left with full or port match

both present challenges

port match requires porting of the intake ports to match your LIM from your SVT easiest way is to get bugzuki plates

other than that you need to make the taurus engine look like the contour engine by cutting some pieces of the block away where the alternator mounts changing the front cover swapping over the oil cooler etc coolant crossover tube etc.....

the full 3L means you will use the taurus intake so there is some customizing to make that work

fuel rail mods or a npg adapter

throttle cable bracket egr tube etc.....

plus all the aforementioned mods to the block

neither are particularly hard but they do require some custom...

is your mechanic up for that?
 
I don't know if he's up for it:shrug:....I'll ask tomorrow.:shocked:

If there are any shops who can do a Full 3L (experienced) within 250 miles of 23093 I could do that too... My AAA premier allows one 250 mile tow a year!

I have a little over $2,200 for this project.... recommendation?
 
http://www.3lduratec.com/engines.html


you may be able to find someone on here to do it for you.

I was going to do one for like $1200-1500

talk to your mechanic print some pages off of here from the stickies and see if he is up for it.

getting an 01-04 escape 3L will make it simpler. 1 it already has the oil cooler, passenger motor mount, correct front cover and with the 3L conversion parts from nautilus it is almost bolt in still a couplepeices to cut for the alternator...

http://www.nautilusperformance.com/id77.html
 
The only thing that HAS to be done for a simple port-matched setup is cutting injector valleys!!! (Alternator tab and oil cooler tab still need to be removed from the block)

It is so often said that porting the 3L heads is hard/time consuming/blah blah blah... If someone is looking for an 'easiest' route. Throw on the Bugzuki plates and JUST CUT THE INJECTOR VALLEYS. You do NOT have to hog them out to exactly match the SVT LIM. Sure, it probably flows better when they are ported heavily, but if someone is looking to simply add the 3L torque and/or replace a blown motor, I see no reason not to take this easy route.

And, the motor/engine bay will still 'look' stock. You will even be able to take it to a regular shop for maintenance if need be.

.02
 
SHOgoFast said:
It is so often said that porting the 3L heads is hard/time consuming/blah blah blah... If someone is looking for an 'easiest' route. Throw on the Bugzuki plates and JUST CUT THE INJECTOR VALLEYS. You do NOT have to hog them out to exactly match the SVT LIM. Sure, it probably flows better when they are ported heavily, but if someone is looking to simply add the 3L torque and/or replace a blown motor, I see no reason not to take this easy route.
Click to expand...

I can't agree with just cutting the injector valleys. The oval port is way smaller then the split port. It needs to be openned up to the size of the plates, otherwise its pointless. it doesn't take that long to work it all out. take the time to do it right.

but I do agree you don't have to spend alot of time polishing everything out if you dont want to, but again the more time taken the better its going to be.
 
Brapple, I totally agree that it 'should' be ported out to match. But, at the same time, if someone is looking for the easy-way-out. All that needs to be done for it to work is cut the injector valleys.

I find that route to be much more simple that the Full 3L modifications.

BrApple said:
I can't agree with just cutting the injector valleys. The oval port is way smaller then the split port. It needs to be openned up to the size of the plates, otherwise its pointless. it doesn't take that long to work it all out. take the time to do it right.

but I do agree you don't have to spend alot of time polishing everything out if you dont want to, but again the more time taken the better its going to be.
Click to expand...
 
yeah but i still say that some effort needs to be made to open the oval port up to match the split port. just cutting the injector valley and dropping the intake on is then putting a wall in the intake and who knows it might even loose power ...
 
I have a nautilus LIM for sale if you want to go that route.

I straight up told my mechanic what I wanted to do. A full 3l swap. He was fine with it. I helped him with any questions he might of had, and I had some info form the forums printed on what needed to be done to make it work.

There were somthings that were left for me to finish off but were really easy to fab up (ie throttle cables, vac lines, intake,egr, fuel line). Working together with my mechanic made it pretty painless and fun experiance. Hell even the mechanic enjoyed doing somthing different for a change.
 
BrApple said:
that would be the easiest way to assemble the engine. however you will need a tune right away because you will be using the 3L fuel injectors and you will not have an imrc anymore.
Click to expand...

Can you tune the stock ecu, or do you need an Xcal?

Nezerconezer said:
I have a nautilus LIM for sale if you want to go that route.

I straight up told my mechanic what I wanted to do. A full 3l swap. He was fine with it. I helped him with any questions he might of had, and I had some info form the forums printed on what needed to be done to make it work.

There were somthings that were left for me to finish off but were really easy to fab up (ie throttle cables, vac lines, intake,egr, fuel line). Working together with my mechanic made it pretty painless and fun experiance. Hell even the mechanic enjoyed doing somthing different for a change.
Click to expand...

I would prefer the Full 3L.... If you don't mind, howmuch did your 3L swap cost. (engine price excluded)
 
Lt_hailBob said:
I would prefer the Full 3L.... If you don't mind, howmuch did your 3L swap cost. (engine price excluded)
Click to expand...

Don't mind at all, acctually I made a tread for anyone looking for costs of a build. Just take out items you won't be using and add stuff you used that I didn't. The cost of installing the engine also includes some transmition work ie diff and forks. But that only added $400 to the total bill.

http://www.contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=31806
 
For a few hundred dollars more I can build you a motor and install it for you. Pm me You would need to pay all auto transport fees though.
 
BrApple said:
you use the xcal to tune the stock ecu
Click to expand...

Or you can have someone program your ecu. But you need a guy with the correct tuning software to do this.

You could also get a simple chip....from nautilus that you plug into your pcm.

Last you can get an xcal and load the tune ourself into the pcm.
 
Harrry said:
Or you can have someone program your ecu. But you need a guy with the correct tuning software to do this.

You could also get a simple chip....from nautilus that you plug into your pcm.

Last you can get an xcal and load the tune ourself into the pcm.
Click to expand...


I would really skip over a chip for the xcal. heard of to many stories where the chip falls out when the key is on or when the car is running and screws the pcm
 
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