My new Comet

Hello all. My first car was a 71 mav and I just stumbled onto this 71 Comet and it's now in my driveway. The body is rough, but intact and no cancer rust. Most unique is the fact that the PO installed a 3.8 V6 (with electronic OD trans) from a mid 90s T-bird. The rocker panels, door wells, underside, trunk is rust-free which made me giddy as heck. The PO already did the 71 mav front end swap.

So, since mine is the first Mav (or vintage Mustang as well) that I've seen with a 3.8, if anyone has any questions about it let me know. It's not running right now since a head gasket is blown, but I got a lot of info from the PO. I mentioned on another thread that since the Mustang is still coming out with this motor, a lot of guys are building these things up to stomp the V8 Mustangs. I've seen some V6 mustangs pulling 9-10sec with this motor, so it's a matter of how far I want to take it. I can't wait to see what the improved weight/power feels like on the road.

A couple observations so far:

1. This car is a 302 Comet, so the V6 makes the front end stand up a bit. I need to cut the coils to level it out.

2. The PO claimed the motor mounts worked and needed no modifications.

3. Computer is hidden in the dash. Someday I'll get pics of the wiring.

4. Battery was re-located to driver side. Intake is in front passenger side.

5. PO made his own exhaust manifolds, as he said the stocks wouldn't fit. He didnt know about the coil tower notch, so after I do the notch we'll see if the factory ones fit. I suspect they will fit fine.

6. The left side tower brace has been notched to make room for the intake tube.

7. I will play around with aftermarket cold-air intake systems when I get back from overseas to see how it can fit up. This car has the mass air sensor mech down at the end of the tube, so I'll see how they get it to fit.

I've seen a few people ask about this swap, but nobody do it so I if anybody needs any more info let me know. I am leaving the country in about 5 days, but at least while I'm here I can field any questions. After that, I'll rely on memory.

Thanks and I look forward to working with everyone on getting this thing restored.

 

I think you got a smoking deal. Great find. Congratulations.

 

very neat car!!!

 

Whoa! A few weeks ago some people were discussing about shoehorning a 3.8 into a Mav and it ended up being that it'd be difficult to make it. We need more pics of that engine bay dammit!

Congrats on the purchase, btw!!!

 

What do you wanna see? Tell me where, and I'll take the pic.

Cya

 

Welcome!
That's a cool swap you got there.

This didn't surprise me... I don't know about later models of this engine, but these were notorious for blowing the head gaskets. Also for stripping (or even blowing) out the spark plug threads. So be careful!

Good luck and keep us up on what you are doing. Alot of folks like the idea of that swap.

As for beefing that one up, the head gasket issue is important to fix and beef up in strength first. Then a nice junkyard turbo, equivalent to a Buick T-Type, would be awesome.

 

I was thinking of a turbo, but I'm really not sure how well it will fit in there. The engine is tight enough as it is and there's obviously a lack of support online for this config since it's so uncommon. I can find 20,000 sites telling me how to put a 5.0 in this thing, but nothing on the 3.8.

But ya gotta admit, a "3.8 turbo" badge would look kinda nice on that fender.

 

couple pics of the engine. One shot shows how they notched the left side tower brace and the other shows where they put all the underhood electronics.

 

That added to the fact that the PO made his own mickey-mouse exhaust manifolds then anything goes. When I get back I'll pull the block and hope that it's just a head gasket.

Thanks for the advice.

 

Oh yeah, read through my post and forgot to mention that I got her for $450.

 

i started thread a little while back on the subject

and another member was intrested in using a s/c t-bird 3.8

it seems like every engine swap we discuss the header/manifold.shock tower clearence seems to be one of, if not the biggeest issues

if you can get a camera in there i'l love to see what it looks like between the motor and shock towers

 

Swap the manifolds left to right, put an electric fan, and stick the turbo in front of the engine.

 

And everytime someone considers EFI, the tower braces are in the way.

 

wow....it's tight. Here's the best I could get.

I doubt I'd be able to slip my fingers in between the manifolds and the towers, and that's the PO's custom low-profile manifolds. It will definitely take an agressive tower notch. I will probably go with a 2.5" notch to make room for the stock manifolds. We'll see how it works then.

 

Hmm...you've got me thinking. Oh well, I have 6 months left in the desert to gather plans and parts. We'll see how this works.