Questions and Answers
Ford Engine Swap
Q. I need to ask you a few questions. Hopefully I can get pointed in the right direction on this. I am needing a truck for use on my farm. I have a ford 3.8 injected V6 complete with the automatic transmission that came out of a wrecked Thunderbird (not sure if overdrive or not) I got the engine/trans for doing some bush hogging work from the man who rolled the car. I need to find out what would be the easiest to swap into truck? I assume a Ford but with all the aftermarket swaps I don't know for sure. Did any year Ford trucks come with this 3.8 V6? I'm sure it should be 2 wheel drive. I need a full size truck so the little Ranger would be out. I hope you can advise me on the easier swap options I might have.
Most sincerely,
JohnA. Since you didn't tell me what year or kind of truck it's going into, and the Ranger is a pick up, I'm going to assume you're talking about a Ford F150/350 series truck.The only years Ford used a 3.8 liter V6 in an F-series was 1982 and 1983 and it was in the F-100, F150 and F-250 and it was not a fuel injected engine. From 1984 to 1996 they used a 4.9 liter inline 6 cylinder. From 1997 to the present they used a 4.2 liter V6. As for their other truck models, my references show no 3.8 was used in any of them. They were used in almost all of their cars, but not in their trucks, SUV's or vans.
I have too little information here to determine if the swap is possible. If it is going into a truck that had the 4.9, then I would say it is not possible without extensive modifications. It should fit in as a replacement for a 4.2, if the years are close. You may need to change the motor mounts, but that's a minor problem.
