His list is makes me jealous 60 chevy,65 chevelle, 70 charger 383, 65 impala he put in a 402, 86 vette, and currently has a 73 sprint and a 58 vette.
Dont you hate when people hack up rare cars?
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My Wife has a Ecoboost MKT (think Hearse/Station wagon) and its a solid mid 14 second car that launches like a mid 13 second car even though its almost 5,000 lbs, and that is stock.
The Power Transfer to the Rear wheels is Sketchy as heck on these new Fords, however. They just Bolt a right angle gearbox to the side of the FWD transmission that splines into one of the 1/2 shafts. This Gearbox holds about 2 quarts of oil and sits right above the cats. There is no pump, no cooling and on early cars, there was no recommendation/means to ever change the fluid.
Like a CVT, this system was designed to last the length of the warranty and sometimes doesn't even do that. Long Term prognosis is "junkyard".
I am looking forward to when the V6 rental car s550 mustangs hit the bottom FB marketplace prices and ecoboost SUV's hit the junkyard. Ecoboost v6 s550? yes please.
Ive done some looking into an f150 ecoboost 3.5 swap into a 3.7 s197 and it looks like the bellhousing, oil pan, and block are the same. The s550's just look so much better.
I had fun with my l67 3800 firebird, but the body is shot and clean v6 semi affordable 4th gens have disappeared up north.
I know it's totally not worth it since GT 5.0's will be available and faster for less work than hacking an ecoboost into a NA v6 chassis, but I like doing things the hard way so I am keeping it on my to do list.
Ive done some looking into an f150 ecoboost 3.5 swap into a 3.7 s197 and it looks like the bellhousing, oil pan, and block are the same. The s550's just look so much better.
I had fun with my l67 3800 firebird, but the body is shot and clean v6 semi affordable 4th gens have disappeared up north.
I know it's totally not worth it since GT 5.0's will be available and faster for less work than hacking an ecoboost into a NA v6 chassis, but I like doing things the hard way so I am keeping it on my to do list.
Back when I was a doorman/bouncer for a bar a guy I worked with had one of the old SHO cars... regularly broke down. We called it "all SHO, no go"...eventually he became a good sport about it
Over the next ten years, there will probably be thousands of 3.5L Ecoboost SUV's that are in the junkyard for the AWD PTO gearbox+Carboned valves and people don't want to spend $5K to repair a $6K car. Pull the heads, clean the valves, put on new timing chains/guides and its will good for another 150K miles
I have a collection of both, s197s and s550s, v6s and v8s. Range from the 2013-14 body and the 2015-17. Can't speak to the 2018-up body.
The late s197 have a significantly better build quality than the s550s. S550s handle much better than the s197s with the independent rear suspension.
550s have many more fitment issues with interior pieces leaving gaps, coming apart, and surfaces degrading.
197s weigh slightly more, partly attributable to more options/equipment on equal cars.
197s are also easier to modify. One stupid and simple example is the battery - on my 197s I ditched the 390/590 cca batteries for 780cca. I COULDN'T go as big on the s550. The 197 used a classic tray with bolt down spacers to hold the smaller factory size. On the 550 it's a molded box that restricts dimensions to the original battery group size. Remove the box and there's nothing left to p UT a battery on. Neither is more secure for movement in aggressive driving, just the 550 makes it harder to modify things. Same thing continues throughout the car.
One more thing I left out, if you get a chance to look in the junkyard you'll see what I mean...
The s197 has a BIG open cavity behind the grille/bumper shell in front of the radiator you could stick a front mount IC into. The layout/assembly of the s550 eliminated much of that space. Looks so inviting for mods.
Rebuildable s197s are already getting cheap in the salvage auctions. Relatively minor front end cars going 2500-4500 for 60k mile cars. Stick to 2011-up, and preferably 2013/14. Find a premium trim coupe for loaded options. Im looking at buying some to strip for spare parts already, trying to find local j4 blue and gotta have it green to match our cars.
That is interesting. All of the Car Magazines show the S550's weighing about 100-200 lbs more than a similar S197. I need to weigh my 2013 GT Premium. I just assumed it was 3600 lbs. I haven't seen a road test that lists less than 3700 lbs for a S550 GT.
There was a black '12 stick premium 3.7 for 6 grand locally last fall with a blown 3.7. Under 80k miles if I remember right. Nice car but it sold FAST.
Honestly I am looking for a fun winter car to replace my l67 4th gen. Need to drive in the winter and not care a ton if it ends up in a ditch or rear ended.
Plan B is ls4 swap a gen2 CTS wagon or coupe and try to keep AWD. Northstar shared the similar bellhousing as a 60 degree GM which an ls4 is. Can take a bellhousing off a n* SRX and bolt to the CTS 6l50 trans. Basically just have to fab an oilpan that holds the starter since the ls4 block doesn't have provisions for a starter since in the fwd application it's bolted to the trans.
Saw a guy swap 6.0 from a G8 GT into a gen2 v6 CTS and it was surprisingly easy electronically.
Not sure what the magazines were smokin...
Ford's released numbers on a 2014 vs 2016 (years I own) mustang:
Curb weight s197 v6: 3,501 to 3,630 lbs
Curb weight s550 v6: 3,469 to 3,530 lbs
Curb weight s197 v8: 3,618 to 3,735 lbs
Curb weight s550 v8: 3,705 to 3,729 lbs
I included the GT specs even though we were talking v6 cars just because...
Now, I WOULD believe magazine idiots would compare a s550 ecoboost 4 cyl with a s197 v6, even though thats not a direct comparison and the v6 was avail through 2017. Ecoboosts are fat pigs and weigh more than v6 counterparts.
When I had mine weighed both with full tank of gas (excluding what was used to drive equal distance) my 2014 weighed in about 70 pounds heavier from my memory, v6 to v6.
Interesting note, the s197 cars are also rated to carry more and have a higher gvwr. My s550 GT is in the shop for free body corrosion hood replacement so I can't compare, but, here's stickers off the doors: gotta have it green is 2014, deep blue impact is 2016.
As you can see, everything else s197 is rated higher, including occupant/cargo ratings, and, memory serves that the gts were higher similarly as well. These are both v6/at cars.
Like I said though, magazines may have tried comparing ecoboost cars to v6 cars skewing the results??
Also cant speak for the 2018 redesign... bought into the f150 lineups that year, and 2020 is looking the be the year of a used purchase tow pig instead of something brand new...
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