Will a 5.0 crate motor swap in a 95 Mark?

dosMarkos8to's

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I'm tired of messing with 4.6 Gen 1 Mark engines, ate 2 many valves and mine have been to temperamental. Maybe I drive them harder then their original owners did and they seem to need TLC that cost me $$$$. I want to swap my 4.6 for a 5.0L -340HP Ford crate motor, carburetor, and hopefully as little electronics as possible.

Anyone ever done this swap? Feedback appreciated.

DosMarkos
 
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coyote: yes. apparently its not too bad with the stand alone controller.
5.0 pushrod: i've never seen it done. given the size of the 4.6 you would be removing, i have little doubt that it could fit in there somehow.
i have occasionally thought about snagging a k member from a 5.0 powered mn12 chassis, and wondered if it would bolt to a mark chassis. but those never became more than thoughts.
 
I don't see why not, because early nineties Thunderbirds came with 5.0L's factory. The MN12 Thunderbird is almost the exact same car as a Mark chassis wise. The k members might be different between a 5.0 and 4.6 though? You might want to check out tccoa.com for more info...

Why not get a 1996 and up Mark that have the beehive springs
 
Pushrod. The motor I was considering is actually rated at 306 cubes and 340 hp.

I have a 98LSC that I recently bought w/108K on it. Basically a good daily driver. Had to have the differential rebuilt and new rear shocks and mounts.

The 302/306 motors I am considering is for my '95 base. I have wanted that car to have more mojo and I want to be able to work on the engine myself. That's where the idea of a pushrod/carb/distributor set up came from. I am old school but not confident enough to even begin the timing of DOHC's, Italian/computer controlled engines...just where I'm at.

That crate motor from Ford comes in @ $5k.Maybe it would be worth looking at finding a good used 302 and rebuild it myself. I will go over to
tccoa site and snoop around.
Thanks for all the input.
 
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Just my 2 cents go with any of the bigger 351W like 408 418 and such. Torque is crazy and heavy cars need torque. You will pay the same for both engines so why not go 400+ CI?
 
Ok..so will a 351 fit in the hole? will it mount on the k member. I believe the hood clearance can be an issue but that can be modified pretty easily.

If i had my ruthers I just want to get rid of the 4.6, gain performance ( I am thinking 340-360 bhp)
and maintain some level of decent fuel economy. Not thinking of an all out all engine....just a bit more
performance from an engine I can work on (push rod)....I can't do that to the 4.6, Hell I can't even take the DS valve cover off let alone know how to do anything but look at the valve train and go "yup,that looks real smart....smarter than me...if I could get it off.

If the car hadn't come to me from my Dad...I'd sell it and get a '66-'70 mustang that I can work on.
That's pretty much the long and short of why I started this thread.
Thanks to all.
 
If a 302 will fit a 351 will too, as long as you don't mind a cowl hood. Seriously though I think the 302 thunderbirds have a different k member so that, correct me if I'm wrong, will have to be swapped.

You might also want to look into a Ford Explorer 5.0 1996-2001. I hear they can make 300 horsepower fairly easily with a nice camshaft, headers and intake. They come with gt40p heads from the factory. It's a roller cam block too.
 
The T-Bird & Cougar 5.0 were OBDI but used an AOD transmission.

Only later production 1997 Explorers & up have the GT40P head. Early versions were just GT40. The GT40P have an external EGR whereas the GT40 used an internal EGR. Also the GT40P plugs were angled and the exhaust manifold flange is different. GT40 headers won't fit GT40P heads & vice-versa.
 
I used to have a 93 Tbird LX 5.0 - it was slightly modded, but still moved like molasses compared to my 94 Mark. The 93 Thunderchicken was one of the best cars Ive had. It was very easy to work on like my 92 LX 3.8, but the 302 was a lot more durable than that stupid headgasket eating 3.8 slug (0-60 was about 12 seconds in the 3.8 LX), as my 3.8 blew the HG's in the worst way possible and destroyed my bearings. My 302 had over 180k miles on it, with the last 80k put on by me, and it was relatively trouble free and I really drove the car a lot all over Los Angeles every day for my job.

When I first got my Mark and had to deal with dumb things like a stuck cap on the crossover pipe, I was very discouraged. I wanted the simplicity of my old Tbird back. But after a while I got used to the motor, and I am a lot more familiar with working on it now, and have had my car parked for 10 months now while slowly fixing all the millions of issues so it can be a reliable daily driver again.

I didn't expect my Mark to feel lighter, but it DOES feel lighter the way it handles, especially when compared to the Tbird because the Tbird is heavier. My 3.8 LX with the stereo included was over 4100 lbs! The 302 LX was roughly 50 lbs more. As far as the motors are concerned, the 5.0 is a more relaxed kind of thrust, much slower revving. The Mark motor is much more free revving, and has a very strong lively top end all the way to redline. If my Honda came with a V8, it would probably be like the motor in my Mark.
 

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