i recently aquired a 1997 f150 fairly cheep. it has no engine. it had a 4.2 in it and i priced a used 4.2 and all wanted way to much for them.... i have complete acess to a few mid to late 80s cars and trucks with the 5.0 EFI engines in them.... i now the 5.0 will bolt directly and the engine will mount in the truck... i no i will have to change the pcm. and wireing harness in the harness in the engine compartment... my question is if the harness in the mid to late 80s vechicles will plug into the 97 harness or do i have to get a harness out of a 97 to 2003 truck with a v8

 

say what????


the 4.2 will not bolt to the 5.0/5.8w bell housing and motor mounts as far as I know, since you have acces why not get the complete motor and trans from a 5.0 efi vehicle and then build a custom dash panel to hold the cluster and have a driveshaft modified/made if needed

 

also, I'm pretty sure the engine harness from a modular motor won't interchange with a pushrod motor

and wouldn't it be better to go with an EFI 351w or an EFI 460 for the amount of work it's gonna be???

 

I was under the impression that the 5.0 would bolt in and it shares the same bell house bolt pattern. Way back when I was a young newb to this site, I too researched a V8 swap for my truck. I'm fairly certain I read on here it will bolt in. However, that was the only positive piece of information I could find about doing a V8 swap. The rest was too much of a hassle and just not worth it. It's also the reason I didn't search for any information to back up my statement on this.

Edit: Oh and besides, I also read that the HP\TRQ numbers are not all that different between the 4.2 and the 5.0... so there's another reason why it's just not worth it.

 

the only reason i want to put a 5.0 in the 97 is that the truck has no engine at all. i have at least three complete 5.0 engines and transmissions still in the vehicles. the cheapest 4.2 i can find was $1400. i dont want to spend that much.... i only paid $1000 for the truck

 

oh, that makes a lot more sense now


if you can make it work but it'll probably cost you at least double the 1400 to make a 5.0 work

 

To my understanding if you have to go through inspection you will NEVER pass, since you have to go forward in years and have it been installed in a stock vehicle from the same manufacturer.

 

$1400!!!!
You will get into so many issues trying to get a conversion complete that you may abandon the project.
Almost nothing is a bolt up or plug up.
The computer systems are no where near close.
Dash gages won't work, exhaust would be custom.
$1400 for a 4.2 starts to look pretty good.
$1000 + 1400 is about what the truck is worth so it's not out of line.
It's all in how you look at it.

 

Idea: Sell "at least three complete 5.0 engines and transmissions" and do a Lightning swap for all that effort.

Really? 205 horsepower 5.0L v8 swap for that trouble?

 

Haha I paid $2000 for my 01 regcab, long box, 2wd, with an engine 4 new tires and the truck has 180,057km. Oh and all it needs for a safety is wiper blades and 1 brake line.

Either I got a really good deal or you got ripped off.