Thinking of v6 in XR

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I am sick of the old 4 cylinder turbo lump in the XR and strongly considering putting a 24v V6 out of a Taurus in it. I have a C3 in the car, freshly rebuilt, but will jerk that and use an A4LD out of a Scorpio with the V6. The 2.9l photos in the Canada XR made me start thinking of this again. I have a few questions I need to resolve, obviously. Anyone done this?

I am wondering if the stock fuel pumps are enough for the changeover and wondering about exhaust manifolds. Anyone have helpful ideas? I will use a stock computer for the model year motor so OEM can control it without issues. I am guessing I will need a wiring harness of some sort for the computer as I expect connections to be different from the XR loom.

Thoughts?

Cheers

[john keefe]

Well, the first thing to consider IMHO is whether your state allows swapping a transverse engine (FWD) into a longitudinal layout. CA is pretty restrictive about that.

Whatever you decide, IMO its worth the time to compare EEC schematics, and draw your own integrating the "old" wires in the XR's main harness' that you'll need to retain with the newer main harness. Makes not just for a simpler, cleaner engine bay, but simpler troubleshooting later. Plus, if you're worried about strict smog certification, its probably a plus if the ref sees a clean install, rather than a cluttered one, which might make him think you've cut corners elsewhere. When I did my 5.0L swap, I had two XR and one 5.0L harnesses laid out on an 8' folding table.

[my8950]

Will that V6 even fit in there being much wider than the 2.3T and the 302/5.0?

[john keefe]

Yeah, its a little tight around the steering shaft with shorty headers on the 5.0L. Good room on either side to do work, though, so maybe there's enough room "under" the 24V valve covers to do service (I imagine the 24V is wider at the top than a 302/5.0L, about the same around the block).

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

This same motor family was used all through the early 2000 Fords. It is a small 180 cu v6 like the 2.9 liter Scorpio motor. Trucks, vans and FWD all used the same basic 24v 3.0l motor family.

Most states out of the Cal area allow anything you wish in the motor bay and very many of them have no smog checks at all on antique and older cars. This is not an issue for this project. Over regulation in the few states that do it is one reason to never live there. I visited them for business but never thought of living in any of them. NY, CAL would be on that list and apparently CO as well. Not MO or OK.

The wiring loom will be the most fun I suspect. At least with the A4LD I won't have to worry about computer control of the transmission. Thanks for ideas.

Here is a link to an article about these motors. 200hp/200 ft lbs of torque, no overheat everything unshielded turbo. What's not to like? I have 227k miles on one of these in a Taurus and it is a great little motor and gets better gas mileage with lower emissions than the turbo 4 banger...

https://fordauthority.com/fmc/ford-moto ... 30-engine/

Cheers

[my8950]

Hi all,

This same motor family was used all through the early 2000 Fords. It is a small 180 cu v6 like the 2.9 liter Scorpio motor. Trucks, vans and FWD all used the same basic 24v 3.0l motor family.

Most states out of the Cal area allow anything you wish in the motor bay and very many of them have no smog checks at all on antique and older cars. This is not an issue for this project. Over regulation in the few states that do it is one reason to never live there. I visited them for business but never thought of living in any of them. NY, CAL would be on that list and apparently CO as well. Not MO or OK.

The wiring loom will be the most fun I suspect. At least with the A4LD I won't have to worry about computer control of the transmission. Thanks for ideas.

Here is a link to an article about these motors. 200hp/200 ft lbs of torque, no overheat everything unshielded turbo. What's not to like? I have 227k miles on one of these in a Taurus and it is a great little motor and gets better gas mileage with lower emissions than the turbo 4 banger...

https://fordauthority.com/fmc/ford-moto ... 30-engine/

Cheers

Ah, ok...I have a 2008 Fusion with this. Agreed, it is doing good still at 177k.
Best car I've ever owned, bought new.

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I should mention the motor was a design from Porsche and the head work by Cosworth. They rev freely to 7k if you wish but really are good all through the range and use regular unleaded instead of premium so that will be nice as well. I have regularly done 28 mpg or higher on road trips with the Taurus and the XR has usually been around 20 mpg with premium. I think the best with the XR was around 23 mpg and I had one road trip with the Taurus at 33 mpg so that is quite a difference. Oh, the Taurus has a lower CD than the XR. The '99 was 0.29, I believe vs 0.32 for the XR.

I will start amassing parts for this now and the exhaust manifolds are what I will be looking for next I guess. This will be a warm weather project as the car is in an unheated, no AC power building for storage.

Cheers

[DPDISXR4Ti]

https://fordauthority.com/fmc/ford-moto ... 30-engine/

It's hard for me to take an article seriously when they can't even correctly match a picture of the engine they're discussing. Note, that's a Vulcan 3.0, not the Duratec.

But any way, maybe I missed it but how are you planning to attach an A4LD to the Duratec V6 block?

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

I didn't worry about the photos in the article as the various versions of the VIN S motor have slightly different intake manifolds and therefore look different anyway. The transmission in the Lincoln LS is a follow on later generation from the A4LD/AOD etc transmission versions (with computer control added) and I am thinking it will not be an issue to match it up. I will see when I start looking at the engine itself and the A4LD I have. The starter is located like the 2.9L was so I am hoping to get lucky. This is a work in progress mentally at this point but I am convinced the combination would be very nice in the car and look forward to getting rid of the turbo four banger.

I might be wrong but I believe the V6 is quite a bit lighter than the Lima four as well since it is all aluminum with steel piston liners liners instead of cast iron block and head. A better link for the motors is probably the wikipedia one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Duratec_V6_engine

Cheers

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

Looking around for specs I find the following which might be correct or perhaps not but listed on a site that is showing motor weights for many vehicles.

Ford/Mazda Mondeo V6 225 lbs 60 deg, all aluminum, 4v (not fully dressed)

Ford Duratec 2.5/3.0 V6 360 lbs ("fully dressed")

Ford 2.3 L4 Turbo 380 lbs Turbo T-Bird engine w/turbo, flywheel (this would not be fully dressed)

I added the lbs to the spec listings as the site leaves it off for whatever reason. Fully dressed means with all needed parts like alternators, power steering pump, fuel rails, whatever needed to run, as I am sure all of you know when seeing this. Looks like the VIN S motor is over one hundred pounds lighter than the Lima lump. I like that as it will more evenly match weight front to rear balance with that in there.

https://www.gomog.com/allmorgan/engineweights.html

I have been thinking of a question mentioned about the width of the 3.0 liter motor. I will have to measure the head dimensions and measure the engine bay in the XR when I am back over there. As a part of that, how wide is the 5.0 liter V8? Surely the V6 is not as large as that? When you used the V8 what changes were needed in the computer controls that were not easy to fix with the newer ECM?


Cheers

[porlinski]

This has been done many years ago by David Godfrey

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

Cool. I am not interested in the turbo aspect but that is the motor...

I must say that the work he did looked like mechanical art from what I have seen in photos.

Cheers

[Bob Weir]

You might find some interesting info here

http://www2.merkurclub.net/pages/resources.html

[milehighXR]

Will that V6 even fit in there being much wider than the 2.3T and the 302/5.0?

Yes, the SHO V-6 has been done before. Dunno who did it. He did a manual with it IIRC. I saw it at Carlisle in 04 or 05.

[zxr250cc]

Hi all,

As a follow up to the question about the A4LD and the VIN S 24v motor, what transmission did David Godfrey use in his car? Any transmission, manual or automatic, from an XR would be adaptable to other Ford engines as they are used in many different cars. I am believing this is possible at this time.

Cheers