XR4Ti 302 V8 swap

[nathankershaw]

This has been on Merkursport for a few weeks so here's an abbreviated version of what has gone on so far in my very educational SBF V8 swap.

Dropped the engine in to see what it would look like.



The Mustang sump really does look like its designed for the Xr!

[nathankershaw]

Next thing I threw the T5 in to get the motor kinda straight and badge a mount up.



So I slid the engine back and bolted them together, the center lined the bay with a piece of string so the motor was in, sitting on blocks of thin wood on the crossmember.

[nathankershaw]

My original mount design was going to be this. Longings that would extend to the crossmember mounts.





So on I went and cut some steel.



This what I ended up with.



I was going to put strengthening ribs all over it, but at this point several people had voiced concern over the amount of "leverage" this design would have on the block.

I did go a little further though.

I got to the point wherei bent them slightly and had them sat on hockey pucks.

[nathankershaw]

I myself was loosing faith at this point and realized I would have to break out my cheapo MIG and do it properly!

Had a little practice and thought, what the hell lets go!

[nathankershaw]

I got the F150 mounts that are used in the mounts we can buy.

[nathankershaw]

And sparked up the welder.

Passenger side.

[nathankershaw]

Drivers side

[nathankershaw]

The twins together



I'll probably add some more gussets.

Next is to take the engine back out and add the feet to these to bolt to the crossmember.

[$KRILLA]

Great work

[lucky87]

Nice, but are you sure you have full penetration on all those welds? it would be a shame if they snapped after all that work

[hEaT]

Nice, but are you sure you have full penetration on all those welds? it would be a shame if they snapped after all that work

X2. Can see the heat on the backside, but looks like it didn't burn in too well, more sitting on top. Welding with flux core it appears? Just looks like some contamination on the pieces before hand. With that thickness plate and a 110v MIG, crank the amps up all the way, grind and pre-clean with acetone and really burn it in.

[nathankershaw]

Yeah I hear you on some of the early welds.
I'll go back over a lot of them and add yet more gussets!

This is my machine



I have the power up and the rod really slow, I'll try slower to give it time to get more heat in, but it did protest a little whn I did it last time.

Welding is still a little like golf, some times fairly good, sometimes awful! And I have no idea why yet! Lol!

[hEaT]

Welding is still a little like golf, some times fairly good, sometimes awful! And I have no idea why yet! Lol!

A lot of that has to do with pre-cleaning. The cleaner the metal, the better your welds will be. Hit it with a sanding disk, no matter how clean it looks. Always wipe it down with acetone or similar as well to remove any oil and dust. It makes a HUGE difference. Also, keep the cup and tip clean. Even though you aren't using gas, a clean tip is necessary since that's how the amperage is going to the wire. When using flux-cored wire, I clean it almost every seam since it gets build up fast.

Crank that wire speed up too. More wire speed will help it burn in, but not too much where it starts pushing the torch away from the material. Go slow, weave in an arc.

[nathankershaw]

Welding is still a little like golf, some times fairly good, sometimes awful! And I have no idea why yet! Lol!

A lot of that has to do with pre-cleaning. The cleaner the metal, the better your welds will be. Hit it with a sanding disk, no matter how clean it looks. Always wipe it down with acetone or similar as well to remove any oil and dust. It makes a HUGE difference. Also, keep the cup and tip clean. Even though you aren't using gas, a clean tip is necessary since that's how the amperage is going to the wire. When using flux-cored wire, I clean it almost every seam since it gets build up fast.

Crank that wire speed up too. More wire speed will help it burn in, but not too much where it starts pushing the torch away from the material. Go slow, weave in an arc.

Excellent!

Thanks for the tips. I'm probably doing everything not quite well enough, metal not quite clean enough, tip not quite clean enough....etc.

[whitelx]

just don't use brake cleaner to clean the material.