Hello!
I am new here. I am from Estonia, sorry if my english is not correct.
My car is: Mercury Cougar 86, 3,8ltr, N/A, CFI.
I planning to do engine overhaul with some little mods: port matching, multi angle valve job, wintage tray, headers.
The engine is not disassembled yet and I wish your recommendations about some parts.
I suspect that engine need to be overbored and have new pistons. What pistons you recommend?
I cant find from internet "low range perfomance camshaft" for this engine. Exist this at all or is better to use original camshaft?
Can I use hydraulic roller lifters and must I also use new pushrods and rocker arms with them?
What other parts you recommend change during overhaul, where are weaked points of this engine?
Already I have mac headers (http://"http://www.macperformance.com/store/product1.cfm?SID=3&Product_ID=320"), low and upper end Fel-Pro gasket kits.
In future surely I will have more questions :)
Thank you!
Well let me say welcome to the board . And also I dont think there are to many parts for the 3.8 that really make it better.
Check out http://www.coolcats.net (http://"http://www.coolcats.net") there's alot of info on there about these cars. It may tell you a little more on what you want to know as well as give you more ideas. In my personal opinion and that's all it is, the 3.8 isn't worth the time and money to rebuild. But if you're dead set on rebuilding it perhaps someone else can be more helpful then me.
Man I wish people would quit raggin on 3.8's. Its the engine in his car for f**k's sake and it needs work.
If you need to bore it over, just go to your local autoparts store. They should have a means of ordering them. If at all possible do not bore it out, being over seas it will (I'm assuming)be harder to get parts like pistons and rings.
Make sure you install a new oil pump.
You can find cams, but most of them probably will be unstreatable.
I didn't see anything in his thread that appeared to me like he was raggin on the 3.8...
Just stated a fact, that there's not as much support for the V6 as there is for, say, a 5.0
As far as I'm concernd, however, the 3.8 is a flawed design, headgaskets notwithstanding.
They are pr0ne to oil leaks, cracked heads, and alternator fires (I've had all 3 happen to me on well maintained vehicles)
I feel like i have a little room to talk here, as I own 3 V6 Tbirds (and 1 Taurus, with the 3.8, as well)
Bu on the other hand, some day soon, I'd like to build a 4.2 stroker out of a 3.8...
I'm not trying to start an argument here, but for such a "Personal-Luxury" car like Cougars, and Tbirds were supposed to be, why did Ford stick the 3.8 in em in the first place?
I was simply stating that in MY OPINION which is what it is the 3.8 is to expensive and time consuming to rebuild. Most of the people on the board have swapped or thought about swapping engines because their 3.8 was wore out. the main point in my post was to direct him to coolcats where he could find more information about his car and the engine in his car as well as possibilities for other engines that arent as costly to maintain.
Check this site out;)
http://www.moranav6racing.com/
*sigh* Looks out window at 241,000 mile 3.8 Cougar.
yeah, my 87 3.8 has 187,000, All that has gone wrong since I had it was a water pump. The 3.8 aint bad. It aint no sports car, but it aint bad.
If it was delivered in a Ford's engine bay, I love it. My Thunderbird sports a worked 3.8. Check out my cardomain page for details.
Chris
It was also the only engine to make the entire 83 -97 run. It outlived the 5.0, the supercharged 3.8, the 5.0 again, and finished with the 4.6.
In one of my mm&ff mags i saw a mustang with a 3.8 in it that ran 10's
Z
Hello!
Thanks to everyone for replys.
This weekend I searched information mainly about camshafts.
Hard to find parts for this „old type” engines.
From Coolcats tech (http://"http://www.coolcats.net/tech/general/v6.html"): Camshafts with those part numbers from Comp Cams and Clevite like dont exists at all. At least from their catalogs I cant find them. Same story with Lunati, Crow Cams and others.
From Morana Racing: (http://"http://www.moranav6racing.com/") It seems to me like they are specialised basically to engines 88 and newer.
Also I find this place:http://www.flatlanderracing.com/camshafts.html (http://"http://www.flatlanderracing.com/camshafts.html"). Did somebody has made buisness with them ? They offer cams from other manufacturers for engines like mine is. Two cams started to interest me.
1 – Manufacturer: SCHNEIDER. 1000-4000 RPM, Adv.Duration (248 256), .050" Duration (192 204), Valve Lift (.450" .480"), ValveLash 110.
I am little afraid about exhaust valve lifting. If I understand right, they are 0,480” versus 0,415” stock. Can I use with this camshaft also stock pistons or must I use „cutted” pistons to avoid piston and valve contact at TDC ??
2 – Manufacturer ISKY. RPM-Range (1500-4800), Valve Lift (.450 .450), Valve Lash hot (.000 .000), ADV Duration (256 256), .050 Duration (202 202), LC 112.
I am little worry about rpm range. It is 1500-4000rpm. How this cam and engine will work when engine idles and rpm are 500-1500rpm ??
I cant deicide which to choose. What You recommend?
I also sent a mail to Flatlander Racing, but not answer yet. Maybe to try contact directly with manufacurers…
To Chris1987LX: What kind camshaft and pistons are in Your engine. Stock ??
You can look for more info and package deals here. (http://"http://http://www.supersixmotorsports.com/")
At last I started my engine removal and overhaul.
Working terms are very tight.
And belive or not I did it alone.
No-one helped me. I am so proud of me.
Starting
(http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/3478/motoroff032zn9.th.jpg) (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff032zn9.jpg)
Securing transmission
(http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/9861/motoroff033xv4.th.jpg) (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff033xv4.jpg)
Almost out
(http://img343.imageshack.us/img343/9397/motoroff046du3.th.jpg) (http://img343.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff046du3.jpg)
(http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/4337/motoroff045lg7.th.jpg) (http://img62.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff045lg7.jpg)
And after 3hours it was out
(http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/7886/motoroff050ce6.th.jpg) (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff050ce6.jpg)
(http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/4296/motoroff051zb8.th.jpg) (http://img65.imageshack.us/my.php?image=motoroff051zb8.jpg)
To be continued:
But very slowly :D