Engine swap
Here's the story---
Back in '01-'02 I was in the midst of writing what turned out to be a 14 part series on the build-up of an FE engine. We started writing this for Mustang illustrated Magazine and finished-up in Mustang and Fords Magazine. Two articles were in regard to the C-6 trans (with GearVendors OD) and to do it right I needed a planetary kit from Motorsport. When I called regarding availability, the result was to arrange to meet one of the Motorsport-connected engineers at the Mclaren prototype fabricating facility in Livonia. While I was there, I not only got my trans parts, I got a comprehensive tour of the shop. They had two '02 LSs there. They were busy shoehorning a pair of 5 litre versions of the 4.6 into them. As I said, above, this necessitated the use of specially-cast intake manifolds. Cast from magnesium, they looked slightly 'squashed' but had no reduction in flow characteristics.
During this first visit, one car was just setting to one side and the other one had the front sheet metal removed and the engine was in place. I asked how soon they expected to have it running and was told that it was to be finished within a few days so as to be ready for a 'presentation to management'. The worst that could happen would be a 'no', so I asked if I could 'take one around the block' at sometime in the near future. It must have been about two weeks later that I was invited back. The facility was located on a dead-end street to the north of Plymouth Rd., so we went out on the main drag and up a couple of miles and back, in the mid-morning traffic.
The word around town was that FoMoCo had produced an experimental run of nikasil-process blocks for the 4.6, resulting in a displacement of 5 litres and that they'd been 'tuned' to 400HP. I was told that this design was the engine swapped into the LSs. I hadn't yet bought my own LS but if memory serves, the test car, during the short trial, seemed to pull as you'd expect from 400 HP.
Although I'd driven an LS from a local dealer, I was unfamiliar with the details of the controls. I can't say that the rear-view mirror memory worked or the pre-sets on the radio. But the engine ran just fine and the transmission shifted. And I personally know people that would be capable of programming such a combination without any great effort. The 'One Lap' guys might not have had time to get things together but it's completely inaccurate to say that it couldn't be done just because they didn't get it done.
Among other reasons, I have no interest in a 4.6 because the classes I 'own' are limited to 4.2 litres. (E/F CC & E/F SS).
KS
