JoeyICU

Whoa, there is a lot of misinforamtion being thrown around here. I have had 2 4.6L powered thunderbirds, and have in the past modified them signifcantly. I also currently have a z. I will give a breif run down of the 4.6 There are two very different variations of 4.6, the SOHC motor found in Mustang GT cars, and the DOHC found in Mustang Cobra's. (there are a ton of other vehicles these motors come in, but we will talk stangs for right here. The dohc is a moot point as you have a GT car, and being that the Tbirds I had where SOHC motors, I am well versed in SOHC stuff, but not to knowing on DOHC stuff. There are 3 generations of SOHC 4.6, the first generation witch people dont really talk about because they just arent a factor, the non-PI motors, and the PI motor. The 2001 mustang GT was the best factory SOHC motor ford produced power wise (3 valve head SOHC motors made there way into the 2005 Mustangs.) The 2001 motor is widely known as the "PI" motor, pi is fords acroynm deignating 'performance improved'. The motor looks the same as the previous non pi motors but differed from them because of the signifcantly upgrade intake manifold, camshaft improvements, and an increase in cylinder head flow. Hence the 50 or so extra horsepower gained vs the previous year mustang GT's. Your transmission is not a t56, that is a 6speed transmission. The 2001 mustangs came with either a t45, witch I dont care for to much, or the Tremec T3650. You can find that out by the door tag on the stang. See ME Having dealings with the 4.6 over the years IMO, would be a horrible swap into a Z car. They are BIG and heavy. You could source a factory aluminum block (the DOHC motor Cobra's, and some of the lincolns came with stock aluminum blocks) I think there are better small block V8 swaps, and if you wanted to put the effort to shoehorn a mod motor into a z, the effort would be better spent tracking down a big block, making a trade for your mod motor, and trying to swap a big block into the Z. The physical demensions of the 4.6 rival that of some of the latter day, and current 'big blocks'. But that is soley my oppinion. I would part that mustang out, people always want parts off them, the stock pieces are quite strong.

if the modular motors had the displacements the LS motors have seen, i think they could easily make the same or more power, plus it would have that sweet sweeping powerband modular motors tend to have im not sure why you think the early NPI motors had reliability issues with alot of power, i have known of many people running boost on the motors and who had years doing just fine running 6-12psi of S/C boost with no major failures to speak of. Another popular thing to do was to take an npi bottom end and running the PI heads/Cams/Intake manifold, they offered considerablly higher CFM flow vs npi, and the swap on top of a NPI bottom end yielded a C/R of 10.8 to 1, so it was an awesome N/A motor. Alot of people made really fast cars from that combo, and they handled spray well to, even with the hypertunic pistons. Neo, i suggested the Mark 8 motors because they are more plentiful then the cobra motors, and less a few things, are almost identically spec'd, so bang for buck factor goes up

yep exactly the best motor bang for buck to search for a swap would be the teksid mark8 DOHC motor. I don't know if anyone is familiar with those motors, and I don't know if they have been topped yet for modular aluminum block strength, but these where italian cast aluminum blocks (same casting company casts ferrari blocks) that came in all mark 8s 93-98, and i hear they are STRONGG. That coupled with the fact mark 8s see junkyards alot more then they should, bang for bucks way up there

ya that's the one of the points i was trying to make, the SOHC motors could be lighter, because of the cylinder head being lighter, but you do gain a bit more of HP with the DOHC configurations, or a 3v vs SOHC Also to note, SOHC stuff can be had a lot cheaper then DOHC if say someone where on a budget

The Thunderbird SOHC motors where identical to the Mustang GT motors 96-98, ya they didn't make a lot of power but it didn't take much to get them moving along, the last time a Thunderbird was made as 1997, that was more then ten years ago, so of coarse there is new stuff making more power, I know that, I'm not saying there terror on wheels, I'm saying Ive dabbled in 4.6s for a long time before Ive gotten into the Z32 cars and the duramax i have now The best I ever got out of my 96 Thunderbird(npi motor, 4r70w 4speed automatic) was a 14.6@99 spinning 1st and 2nd gear, the car was pretty quick, all i had done was full exhaust, a built transmission with an aftermarket torque converter, intake, 3.73, and a Superchips piggyback ecu tune. The car weighed 3800lbs give or a take a few pounds, nothing to set the world on fire but still not to shabby, the car also got 18city and 26 highway, on 87 octane, again not to bad at all, so i do love these motors, just never really consider them as quality crate motors, but i havent messed with them since 2005 Ive had experience in Mark 8's Cobras Crown Vics, Marauders, mustang gt. Having a modular motor for as long as i did, i got to know a lot of people, i also took a lot of ride in cars, the mod motor is a superbly unique V8 in its power delivery I didn't know the harness were so readily available, Ive never really looked around for 4.6 crate motor information as Ive always counted them out as a descent swap motor because of there significant size and that they where a little heavy I love modular motors, I'm still looking for another Thunderbird to buy, I'm not pooing on them, so no need to defend them, it was just my opinion, i have no idea the world that has opened up since leaving that 'scene'. Im merely under the opinion that these motors are handicapped vs the LS series, but i think that is swaying now that these motors are seeing more displacement, but each to his or her own

aren't the new 5.0 going to have the 3v varible cam cylinder heads? thats more what i was refering to with the wiring issues an iron block dohc motor vs an iron block sohc motor the dohc motor is always going to weigh more. Not all pi motors are iron block motors, the 03-04 exploreres had aluminum blocks and would probably weigh a little less then a dohc motor. if something says it weighs less, then i guess im wrong, but im pretty sure, aluminum block to aluminum block comparison the sohc motor will weigh less

p.s. i just realize you guys probably arent z32 guys and dont have to worry about weight or room like i do lol my bad, modular motor a way

i have had 2 4.6 powered tbirds and i was a fully certified ford tech, im kind of a ford guy in disguise ive lost my way recently but... i think shoving a 4.6 into the z's would kind of be a waste. If anything just buy a PI motor SOHC motor and get a stroker kit for the engine and be done with it. Those 5.0 motors are going to probably have way more electronics in them compared with the older 4.6 motors, meaning more complicated to operate at the correct factory HP. That coupled with the size to, i think it would be a PITA to do any work on the motor where anything to break don't get me wrong i love the modular motors, but damn are they heavy, thats a big penalty in a little car that is already a little porky