found a couple of 5.0 HO cougars thunderbirds at a junkyard. do these motors have forged pistons?
I believe they do. Anyone feel free to correct me if im wrong. Keep in mind they would be TRW pistons. Kinda heavy actually.
Yep. 5.0 HOs (all Ford/Merc/Linc) through 92 had forged pistons. 93-95 HOs (all cars) had hyper pistons.
cool!
now i just need to decide if i want to get that motor or a roller block 351W from a '94 F150.
On a similar subject, are the Explorer GT40 engines forged?
Hyperutectic pistons i believe in the GT40 Exploders. Still a roller block though
explorers didn't get the V8 until '96, so hypers would make sense.
Ford went with hypereutectic pistons with the reasoning that they were better as far as oil control is concerned.....They've also been said to show longer service life. We all know even a cast 5.0 piston has the ability to last a LOOONG time though.
They WILL take a decent amount of abuse -- even boost -- contrary to what some people say.
^+1 Another reason for the Hyper pistons was lower cost and less consumer complaints. The TRW forged slug have some piston slap till they get heat in em.
I know the stock pistons in my 130,000mi SO motor took a 200 shot like a champ repeatedly.