Old wagons, new engines?

not a wagon but how a bout this old monte carlo?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO_kjaxIDzc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9--ISeNexM

one thing id like to do is put a 6.0l LS2 in a clamshell buick wagon. multiport injection and more hp/torque than the 180hp 455ci that came out. just need more of that pesky money...oh and a clamshell wagon!

 

Wow nice swap.

 

WOW!!! See I like to know these kind of things. How reliable is a 351W and how easy is it to maintain?

 

The 351 is a kick-ass motor.
It's as easy as any other sbf, not much different than the 302, just taller due to the increased stroke.

 

I absolutely LOVE the FI 300 4.9 ltr inline six in my '92 F150. It currently has a 5 speed manual OD tranny. This engine is so stinkin' reliable. I would not have issue sticking this in ANY old wagon be it Ford, Chevy, or Chrysler. In fact I believe when I'm done with this pickup I will pull the motor and transmission.. and use it in a classic car.. wagon or other.

Another option is the Chevy V6 and OD tranny in an S10. Great little motors with long life if taken care of. Can slap those things in anywhere.

You can stick any motor/transmission combo in anything.. just need to fab up supports and mounts. That's not difficult. Of course you need the room in the engine bay, but most classics have that.

 

I love the Chevy 5.3L in my 87 Eagle. Lots of horsepower and gets decent MPG with the 35" mud tires. I would love to put one in an older wagon.

 

Hey here's a new LT1 replacement motor if anyone is interested :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/36046938124...43&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK:MEWAX:IT&vxp=mtr

 

I love the idea of a 5.3 in a G.M. car. That engine is terrific, if you do the right exhaust, a SuperChips tuning for torque, and a good cold air intake. A friend of mine has it in his Tahoe, and the gas mileage is really good, so I can imagine how much better it would be in a wagon, not a 7,000 pound truck!

 

There are lots of great modern motors that can be put into a vintage wagon. Most of them can be picked up at the local wrecking/salvage yard for a grand and give you years of good performance, dependable service and economy only dreamed about with a vintage carb'd and cammed thumper.

What you choose depends a lot on the make and the theme of the car.

I wanted to stay as vintage as much as possible so I hope that ol'390 never breaks 'cause I love it despite the meager mileage.

For the Ford guys a good 5.0 Mustang motor is probably the best value for the buck.
For the Chev guys a 350 LT1 out of a Camaro or Crown Vic would be their choice.
For the MoPar guys the new Hemi can be found in lots of newer vehicles currently creating shade on gravel salvage yards.

But keep the hood locked shut when I come around, because I am a "VINTAGE GUY" from the word go!

Last year at Rusto-Rama there was a rusty old '30 Ford fenderless street rod that had the hood tack welded shut. I kid you not. When asked why, I was told that he had a hot rodded Buick V6 under there and the look with the hood open with all that modern wiring and EFI gear spoiled the look. Sure was loud tho...

 

I'm a big fan of the DOHC 4.6Ls. If you were looking at an old wagon that was body on frame I don't think it would be a bad swap. If you were looking at something late 60's Fairlane based it requires some shock tower modification or removal. Not the best for modifying and making big power but sure looks a lot cooler than an old 5.0 and will still gets you a good mileage improvement. The Mark VIII engines are dirt cheap too. If you don't mind parting a car out and selling some stuff, you can have one for free pretty easily.

 

I was talking about bang-for-buck. A Northstar or a Modular GT motor is going to cost you big bucks and provide nothing that a cheap and plentiful 5.0 pushrod engine can't get at bargain prices.

But I do agree with your premise other than the word "Free". Nothing is free anymore.

 

My definition of free definitely doesn't include my time to part out the Mark VIII. But I bought a Mark VIII for $860, kept the engine, extracted the wiring harness so I had everything I needed, sold anything else of value on it that was good, the interior wasn't and didn't really sell any of it aside from a couple small pieces. Didn't ship a single part to anyone, all local sales. I made $1160 selling parts and scrapping the cut up shell and catalytic converters. So I actually made $300. Still really doesn't pay for my time but you can definitely do a mod motor on a budget. If you want performance aprts, sure, they aren't cheap, but you get some good power from the motor to start with, you don't need to go crazy on other stuff really. Cheap Mark VIII's are easy to find. Lots out there with flat air bags that are expensive to fix.

 

Figured that is what you were talking about. The math works out of course... if you have the storage space, time and patience to do so. Personally, I would love to part out a car and sell the bits, but don't have the space. Heck, MY daily driver sits at the curb!

But, that said... I have one huge warning for those wanting to put modern engines in their car. If you do you are tied to that damn computer and such a simple thing like spark or fuel problem is now clouded by engine codes being broadcast by the computer when something goes wrong.
With my car I have one idiot light that tells me when the fan belt falls off. That's it! By the seat of the pants I can tell where a squeek, a vibration or a clunk is coming from and figure out the problem in seconds. I like the basicness of an old car and so far that love has never let me down.

 

My Lightning sat outside for a while in order to cut up the Mark VIII but it wasn't a big deal. Wasn't out there that long.

That said, Mark VIII's also end up in upullit yards. I bought a Mark VIII engine out of a U pull it for under $200. Again, you've got some time invested pulling it but still a cheap engine. Talking to a friend recently I was looking at car-part.com prices for Mark VIII engines and there were a ton of them for under $500 all over the country.

At this point every chain part store everywhere has a code scanner. Might be easier to diagnose a problem with modern engines at this point than even the simple old stuff.

 

Unless it's the sensor that is actually the problem...