Terminator engine swap begins… and will take a while.

[01vert]

Some background. I bought an aluminum block, forged rotating assembly 4v over a couple years ago with the intent on swapping out my stock but procharged 01 cobra motor. Since then I sold off the 99/01 cobra KB 2.1 kit that came with that motor and, for now, will be going with a Steig ported Eaton with ported BBK throttle body and liquid cooled snout instead.
I wanted to document the swap / Eaton conversion as I am hoping this motivates me to keep working on it as I am way overdue on this project.

Parts so far include the Steig ported Eaton, a 6lb lower kit, a BA3000 MAF. JLT cold air intake, new gaskets, anll new
cooling hoses and misc fasteners. Motor is a 99 cobra motor that has aftermarket cams as well as forged, look to be 8.5 to 1 pistons, and forged rods.

Plan now begins with front bumper cover removal to start the process of removing the procharger kit

Currrent motor:

Parts and the new motor after removing th KB kit

To be continued

 

[01vert]

Removed the front bumper and all of the piping for the procharger and the intercooler. Car would still run like this as the MAF was a blow through and still in place.


Bumper coming off is relatively easy but the two studs on either side of the bumper are the worst part unless you have long skinny arms. The car being lowered certainly didn’t help and blower piping on the passenger side made that side more difficult.

Next was the foam and metal bumper support. When I installed the procharger a few years ago I cut away part of both to give the intercooler a better shot at fresh air.

You can see the cut on the metal support here. Strange part was when I originally cut it the support started to distort and you can see where I had to hammer it relatively flat again. This was covered by the styrofoam cover so I didn’t care about repainting it.

Pipes came off and here you can also see I had to cut the mounting pads for the blower piping to fit properly. Plan is now to use a tubular bumper support I already bought

Here is all the piping after removal.

Next up is to drain the coolant and start on removing the blower and the coolant crossover.

Not sure if I am going to be selling the procharger kit and / or the original motor which has 42k and only 12k on the short block. I may keep them and see what project they could go into. Won’t have to worry about that till spring is my guess as I have no way of removing the engine in my garage as it’s WAY to small to do any work inside it during the winter.

Thanks for looking.

 

[DSG2003Mach1]

That bumper stuff is why mine now uses quick latches

 

[01vert]

Small update. Removed the procharger and bracket as well as some of the timing cover procharger specific parts.

VMP blow through MAF was removed as well as the adapter to run a slot MAF. Everything I removed is now in bins and I have bagged and labeled the small parts and bolts etc. Not a fan of the time needed for labeling all the electrical and vacuum lines but it’s really needed. Only issue is I will be looking for a blown fuse as when I disconnected the hot wire on the alternator it hit the case for a second, grounding it out.

Next weekend nothing will get done as I am going down to Imports vs Domestics in Maryland to watch some records get broken.

 

[01yellercobra]

You didn't disconnect the battery before disconnecting the alternator?

 

[01vert]

You didn't disconnect the battery before disconnecting the alternator?

Like a dummy, no. Battery was on a tender and I wasn’t expecting to remove the plug and hot wire. Zoned out while pulling stuff and kept going.

 

[01yellercobra]

We've all been there. The sparks wake us up.

 

[01vert]

Minor update today. Drained the coolant and removed the On3 coolant crossover delete and disconnected the lower hose which is a 2001 GT hose so it deletes the thermostat housing from the stock lower hose package but still connects properly. On3 crossover kit has the thermostat in the housing on top. Just like every other coolant crossover delete kit has. Originally I added a tee to the upper line and a cap so I could burp the system. You can see it here.

A better looking solution is to run the lines below the supercharger and to the far side of the motor, coming from below to hide them somewhat, like this pic from a different car:

Now back to the work. Drained about two gallons of coolant and then learned the lesson the same way I did when installing the procharger. If you use the drain in the factory radiator you will eventually have some dribble out the holes along the radiator support as it will get onto it and spread lengthwise along it. No big deal if you’re waiting for it with some rags.

I also test fitted a tubular bumper support bar I bought a while ago to check on what I will need for mounting the heat exchanger:

Bar needs a bit of tweaking as one mounting hole is slightly off. Looks like the bracket on one side is slightly tilted but flush with the actual bumper mount on the car.

Also wanted to mention I had removed the factory power steering cooler for the procharger intercooler and added a small cooler to the drivers side core support vertical. It gets fresh air from the hole in the bumper next to the fog light

After getting that all done I ended up with some stuff out of the way up top. Had to call it quits at this point. Next up is removing the power steering bracket and getting the reservoir out of the way.

Thanks for looking.

 

[52merc]

We're all still watching.

 

[01vert]

Nothing got done this past weekend as I was busy prepping for thanksgiving so I thought I would go over where the swap idea came from, some of the parts and goals as well as what I expect to encounter or have to do for the swap. I have owned my 01 since spring of 04 and it currently has a procharger P1SC HO kit, 60lb injectors and a DW300 pump making 451hp. Car has 43k on it. It’s tuned by Pete at Performance Dyno who is now retired from tuning unfortunately.

First, a few years ago I bought a motor with a KB blower on it, complete from a guy who was swapping out to a coyote. Motor started life as a 99 Cobra motor and then had forged pistons and rods installed as well as cams. The motor has under 1500 miles as it was in a fast back mustang show car and rarely driven.

I was told they were bullet supercharger cams iirc and I confirmed they are aftermarket cams by pulling the valve covers. Numbers are supposed to be under the cam gears and I am not pulling the chains and gears so the mystery will continue. A full metco idler kit came with the Eaton swap as well.

I then decided to drop the small KB kit that uses the 01 Cobra front cover and a single belt and convert the motor to a proper Eaton kit with a dedicated drive belt and the ability to upgrade to a bigger blower at some point. This, and project creep, delayed me quite a bit and I acquired a full Eaton swap and then purchased separately a Steg ported Eaton and a Fore hat with supercar pumps set into it in a returnless configuration. A 6lb metco lower was also bought to try and spin the blower without worrying about belt slip. I have a metco 2.8 pulley on the Eaton but plan on going to a 3.0 possibly or just run torco all the time. A BA300 MAF and a JLT cold air kit were also purchased. New gaskets for the front cover, valve covers, intake, coolant hoses, etc were also sourced as well as new ford exhaust gaskets, studs and nuts to go with my existing JLT full length headers. I have refurbed a bunch of parts by either sandblasting and powder coating or painting

I will be keeping my 3650 as I really don’t have the money for a T56 conversion. For now the stock 3650 along with my Spec 2+ light pedal fell clutch will be used with the plan to sort everything out and then start saving for upgrades in that area afterwards.
I knew at this point if I was going to pull and swap the motor myself as money has gotten tighter. Removing it from the bottom with the k member is the plan. A two ton engine crane will be used on the body and a couple dollys from Harbor Freight will be used for getting the K member and motor out from underneath. I will also be raising the rear once the k member is on the ground unattached.

This summer flew by as I took a new job and by the time fall rolled around I knew I ran out of time for a driveway swap over a weekend (seemed like a tall order as I will be doing a lot of this solo) seemed like a losing proposition so the plan is to get it fully prepped for the actual swap at the beginning of the spring. I started this thread to kinda guilt myself into moving forward every weekend as I am a huge procrastinator and without some motivation I would be looking a next fall with little done.

Other things to get done is to install a raptor shift light and to relocate my Aeroforce Interceptor gauges currently sitting in my middle vents.

Thanks for coming along.

 

[01vert]

Small update from today. It’s been cold here and today I was able to get a propane heater going and warm the garage up into the 50s and got to work.

Started to remove the power steering reservoir and separate the PS bracket as the Eaton conversion uses a different bracket on the new front cover. Got stuck at the end as there is a battery cable that goes through a squished tight “U” on the bracket that I can’t get open without risk of damaging the cable itself.

After that I started looking at the rest of the engine harness and vacuum lines that need removing from the engine. Pulled off the fuel line to fuel rails spring lock connector and pulled the fuel line out of the way. FYI it’s a 9/16” connector and my metal set only went to 1/2” but fortunately I had an old plastic set that had a 9/16” removal tool. Removed the vacuum harness that goes to the EGR controllers and moved that out of the way as well as the larger vacuum line that is connected directly behind the throttle body on the 99/01s. Worked my way around the motor disconnecting and labeling until I reached this:

Yep, wiring harness goes under the manifold to connect to the knock sensors in the valley. Now I realized the intake has to come off…..

First the upper alternator mount was removed and then I took the throttle body and cables off to get more access to the rest of the harness including the injector connectors. Then the EGR a valve was unbolted as well as the EGR piece at the rear of the manifold. Upper manifold “hat” was also removed at this point. 8mm nuts including one in the front drivers side that has a threaded part sticking out to hold a wiring harness clip and the one roughly oriented in between the throttle body blades which is much longer than the others.

One thing I am curious about is whether the Terminator has the injector wiring for #1 cylinder going along the same route as all other injector wiring (from the rear of each bank) or is it like my 01 where the #1 injector wiring comes along the front edge of the motor with the knock sensor wiring and other stuff which I believe is the AC compressor wiring and at least one sensor (crank?).

At this point I realized I needed to clean up the junction between the intake and the cylinder head as some residual gunk had accumulated and I didn’t want it to fall down into the ports when I was removing the manifold. Done for the day as I only had a little while to work on it today but that was more than I have had for several weeks.


Random observations:
Amazing how much oily residue these intakes drag in from the PVC…. Thinking the new motor will get a set of catch cans. I only added a single breather on the passenger side once the Procharger was installed

Most of the bolts are 8, 10 with a few 12mm with I think a single 13 along the way.

I will need to pull the coil covers and unplug all the COP connectors.

Some will ask why not just unbolt the engine harness at the firewall connector and drop the engine with it. I am trying to get through as much of the work that takes up time in between dropping the motor and getting the other one back in as I will be on a time crunch trying to get the car to a point of being able to roll again once I start the actual swap. Stuff like having to remove the intake manifold to remove the knock sensor wiring would have been a time sink if I waited / noticed while in the middle of the actual swap.

Thanks for reading. Hoping to get more accomplished this weekend unless my wife has me doing stuff.

 

[01vert]

Minor struggle getting the intake off and I found that I will need to remove the EGR fitting and possibly the metal pipe to pull the intake off as it is too deep to simply slide out at an angle without getting trapped by the EGR in the back. Got all the bolts out and was puzzling it out after several tries when my entire tray of 1.4” drive sockets fell from the fender and landed under the engine bay, scattering everywhere. That was the end of my night after collecting about half that were more easily accessed.

So instead:

Partsmas!

Ended up with a used intercooler tank in gloss black powder coat from eBay, a Roush tensioner from CJ Pony parts as well as the factory plug for the Terminator IAT2 / MAP sensor again from eBay and a Bosch relay for the intercooler pump wiring from Amazon.

The IC tank is in great shape for a used part and I may now look for a gloss black coolant tank as well. Although the cheaper ones all seem to be in semi gloss. I will also be using Gates Power Grip heat shrink hose clamps in most locations as well as a full HPS silicone hose kit. These were originally used on the motor I bought and they looked really nice versus standard clamps in my opinion. I also didn’t want to use the used hoses I have and some of the hoses are not produced in a ”regular” rubber hose.

The IAT2 connector is about $45 from Ford but can be found on eBay around $20. On my 01 Cobra the IAT1 sensor wiring is connected to a sensor separate from the MAF unlike the next years mustangs that incorporate the IAT1 into the MAF. This wiring will be extended around the back of the motor to the Terminator IAT2 sensor and use the Terminator style plug.

The Roush tensioner is a “low buck” tensioner improvement and is actually for the later mustangs but can be adapted to the Terminator cover with a bit of spacing (3mm from the back side to the timing cover IIRC) and using the original pulley from the factory Terminator tensioner.

Thanks again.

 

[5.0 Hatch]

I think I bought the kb from you if I remember right. Out of curiosity, where’s the procharger you removed?

 

[01vert]

I think I bought the kb from you if I remember right. Out of curiosity, where’s the procharger you removed?

I am boxing it up as I go. Not sure if I am keeping it and my original motor to drop into something (doubtful the more I think about it) or sell it off.

Did you get the KB kit installed? How did it work out?

 

[5.0 Hatch]

I am boxing it up as I go. Not sure if I am keeping it and my original motor to drop into something (doubtful the more I think about it) or sell it off.

Did you get the KB kit installed? How did it work out?

I ended up having to replace my engine right after buying the KB so a buddy of mine ended up with it and all is good. If you decide to sell the procharger, message me, I may be interested.

 

[01vert]

I ended up having to replace my engine right after buying the KB so a buddy of mine ended up with it and all is good. If you decide to sell the procharger, message me, I may be interested.

Will do. Should know before spring hits.

Good to hear the kit was put to good use at least.

 

[98 svt]

Why sell off the KB for a ported Eaton?

 

[5.0 Hatch]

Will do. Should know before spring hits.

Good to hear the kit was put to good use at least.

Appreciate it!

 

[52merc]

I hate to see anyone spend good money for highly over-priced OE pigtails. WPT-1339 is a EPC E-3166 available from Corsa Technic for about $5. If you need any other connectors, post your needs, and I will try to help you out.

Keep up the good work and find all those 1/4" Dr sockets. They can roll under the most unlikely items. I lost a 1/2" shallow 1/2" Dr after working on my daughter's car. Found it 2 years later under the hood of her car. I now have two of those.

 

[01vert]

I hate to see anyone spend good money for highly over-priced OE pigtails. WPT-1339 is a EPC E-3166 available from Corsa Technic for about $5. If you need any other connectors, post your needs, and I will try to help you out.

Keep up the good work and find all those 1/4" Dr sockets. They can roll under the most unlikely items. I lost a 1/2" shallow 1/2" Dr after working on my daughter's car. Found it 2 years later under the hood of her car. I now have two of those.

Happy as I already found most today and they all will be on the floor, luckily. Issue is I THINK I was missing at least one deep and now second guessing the exact count. I was going to go with an aftermarket plug but when this one came up under $20 with the proper part number on eBay it was an easy buy.