Duratec 30

[PapaSmurf]

I've been thinking of doing a very mean spirited thing to my Z. It all started this weekend, my 10 month old son was at the baby sitters. He ate a watch battery, it got stuck in his throat, the emergency room didn't see it and discharged us, I took him back demanded they do an xray and a helicopter ride later we were at oshu getting it removed surgically. My grandmother tried to be helpful and tried to drive my 96 taurus to the hospital. She took it on the freeway in first gear (automatic but in 1) and she had to be towed home. My son and I finally got home today, they had to install a feeding tube going to his stomach through his nose. I checked out the taurus and it is quite dead, no oil in the engine after putting oil in and cranking it for a few seconds transmission fluid started flowing in my carport and the engine never caught. I found the issue with the engine - a no spark condition probably a sensor is pissed off.

 

I just put this transmission in and owe 600 bucks on it still. This car is dead, but the engine may not be. I've been looking around and the only rwd transmissions for the duratec 30 come on lincolns and jags, not the most common vehicles in the junk yard. I know it's a dirty ford engine but it's a smooth dohc v6 that gets great mileage, is silent, and can put out more power than an l28. I was imagining how nice it would be to have a more modern engine under the hood of my Z. Has anyone even thought of doing this? I need to pull it out and take some measurements, get a hold of another 5 speed and see how much machining would be needed and how difficult the adapter would be to make. It seems doable though! These 3rd gen tauri have famous transmission issues that put them in the junkyard all the time. The engines are very cheap and put out between 200-250hp depending on what dyno you ask and have been known to put out far more with a little tuning. I'm thinking it would be a nice alternative to the more expensive engine swaps out there, but some of the initial steps have probably not been made yet as far as mounts and transmission adapters. Is anyone else interested in this swap? Have any of you done any research on it?

 

 

If it won't fit or the transmission adaptor isn't going to work I'll just gut the car and see whats there for the Z, I'm eying a/c, electric fan, seats, brakes, wiper motor etc there's lots of stuff to pull and measure. It'll all have to wait until my son gets better - for now I have to watch him around the clock because if he pulls this hose out of his nose we have to go back to that damn hospital. Just looking for feedback. I know some of you are going to vomit on me for suggesting the use of ford parts on a Z.

[randy 77zt]

i hope your son heals up back to normal soon.i have a 2 year old grandson and watch him carefully while he is here.about the duratec-its a good engine.there is exoticbritish sports car called a noble that uses a duratec turboed.basically its the fact that most modern engines are dohc and the heads flow well.i think the 3.0ranger v6 will have a trans that will work-5spd mazda.ford came up with this after giving up on buying expensive yamaha engines for a taurus sho.if you do this swap get a book from ford called evtm-its the factory wire diagram book for the car.that will make it easy to dissect the engine wiring from the car .i use masking tape and a pen to tag the wires.i used to be a ford dealer tech.good luck-i think you will enjoy the car when it is done.