The First official, un-official 3L conversion FAQ

ver 1.666  last updated April 17th 6th, 2003 * indicates new

Q. I want more power but I love the sweet sound of a n/a or I don't want to subject my engine to a beating by a S/C,T/C,NOS or I'm just a plain cheap bastard. How do I get more power? A: Simple.. add-on the correct bolts ons and swap in a 3L engine. Simple eh!? :) When I mean correct, a Cat-back exhaust exhaust comes to mind along with a open element filter and headers or Y pipe (I reconmend MSDS good bang/buck ratio)

Q. How much of a power increase would I expect with a 3L swap? A. A completely stock 98 SVT made around 189hp/189tq to the wheels. With the above mods I would say 210-20hp is very possible. As of March, 6th my 3L is making 245hp, 215ft lbs-tq at the wheels

Q. How much does the 3L block or engine cost? A. Expect a low milage used 3L to run about $8-900 bux and a new long block to be anywhere from $1400-2500

Q. Besides the 3L engine what else is needed? A. Swap all the 2.5L parts to the 3L block including the timing chain cover, oil pan and pickup tube. New head bolts, head gaskets from 3L engine, 2.5L timing chain cover gaskets (3) and oil pan gaskets are needed. Also the oil/water cooler has to be pulled from the 2.5L if from a SVT engine. The stock ECU can be used, but should be re-tuned. Also use your car's ECU, harness and fuel system. Retrofitting to the 3L or a newer year system would be a major PITA.

Q. Is the 3L block prone to oil starvation from long handed right turns? A. yes, (no if u use 2.5L heads of 2001 or newer, Ford undid the mistake of taking out 2 oil return holes in the heads in the original 2.5L heads)*

Q. Would any 3L engine work? Let say a 96 Taurus Duratec? A. No, only 99 (mine had a build date of late 98) and newer Duratecs from a Taurus will correctly connect to a MTX75. Its possible that 3L from an Escape/Tribute might work. And possible the 3L from the X-type might work

Q. Can I swap a 3L into my pre-98 contour? A. Yes there has been some one who has already done so, goto the Contour.org forums and do a search. But once again use your car's engine control system, upgrading is a PITA.

Q. Why do I need a 2.5L oil pan and pickup tube? A. The 3L oil pan has the holes in the incorrect posistion to accept a MTX75 tranny and the 3L pan is deeper so the oil pick up tube is also longer and hits the bottom of the oil pan. Thus the 2.5L oil pan and pickup tube needs to be used.

Q. Since the 3L was used with a auto tranny, will it have any problems accepting a manual tranny and clutch? A. No, but the crank has to be ground down a little to make room for the MTX75 input shaft.

Q. * What affect does the increase on engine size have on the ECU? A. VE (load) is calculated by the airflow, the RPM and the engine_displacement. Engine_displacement/(Airflow/RPM)=VE. This might have a small effect on the ECU, since engine displacement is programmed into our ECUs as a static value, more so on non-svt cars since the ECU as SVT ECUs seem to run on the rich side. My stock SVT ECU seems to handle the 3L just fine, but it still needs to be retuned to get the most out of the 3L.*

click here to page 2 >