Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #15 – March 23, 2007, 10:42:30 AM I suppose that for the majority of the people who bought a Tbird or Cougar who didn't place a priority on going faster than the speed limit, the 3.8 was good enough, indeed, mine was plenty fast enough to get me in serious trouble, had I chosen to be stupid.I'd have another one, if the whole car was in decent shape, my ONLY gripe with the V6 cars is that they have the column shift, and the non-TC/XR7/Sport interiors stock.As for the older carb 3.8, I don't know, because all I've ever had were '88 versions, with the balance shaft, and I found that both of mine were smooth, reliable, and yeah, 140 HP may not seem like so much, but on a closed road, I was able to get my white Bird up to 127 mph, per W2 mod. I won't say the car did that actual speed, but it indicated it. Anywho, for just a daily, or an older person, or a young driver, the 3.8 is a good engine if properly maintained, but beat on it hard, and it WILL fail.As with every engine, it has good points and bad both. And on, and on, and on.......The ONLY 2 times mine failed to get me home was when I replaced the water pump, and didn't get the fan bolts tight enough. Fan came loose at idle, chopped up the upper rad. hose, and tore the shroud to all hell. I had the parts at home, but it was dark, and raining, so it sat till the next morning in my friends yard.The last time was when the car caught fire from the oil leak from the PS and burnt the fuel lines...I have no doubt if I had new lines under it, it'd start again, busted rod notwithstanding.Basically, it's never let me down due to something other than my lack of preventing. Fan bolts, and low oil, which busted a rod. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #16 – March 23, 2007, 10:59:06 AM Quote from: ZondaC12;135871-practically no hop-ups, so good luck getting more than that 120 hp out of it!Yet again I will post up links to 3.8 hop up parts.http://www.supersixmotorsports.com/http://www.moranav6racing.com/ Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #17 – March 23, 2007, 11:44:15 AM Quote from: slamedcat;135984Yet again I will post up links to 3.8 hop up parts.http://www.supersixmotorsports.com/http://www.moranav6racing.com/ZondaC12 is referring to the CFI 3.8s. His quote would be more accurate if it read:"practically no useful hop-ups without major upgrades, so good luck getting much more than that 120 hp out of it!The CFI is limited by the EEC. '83-'85 cars don't have adaptive strategy. Any mods will lean out WOT, since the EEC cannot adapt to the greater influx of air. You can bypass this limitation by installing a '86-'87 EEC...but you're still limited with a non-tunable speed density EEC. At best, you can add about 25 horses before you run out of the adaptive limits. To get any real power out of the 3.8, you need to go MPFI...preferably with a MAF. Then you can add the go-fast parts from the above links and have fun, fun, fun (until the po-pos take your Tbird away) Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #18 – March 23, 2007, 11:59:20 AM Quote from: JeremyB;135986Which Super Six Motorsports parts or Morana part help the CFI?http://www.moranav6racing.com/category.html?CategoryID=2#69The first intake in the list.http://www.moranav6racing.com/category.html?CategoryID=8 Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #19 – March 23, 2007, 12:09:27 PM You quoted an incomplete thought from me. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #20 – March 23, 2007, 12:10:00 PM The 3.8 engine is a good one. Look at the v6 aftermarkets for the F bodies?? Where is it? Now look at the aftermarket for v6 Mustangs...... Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #21 – March 23, 2007, 12:11:41 PM Quote from: JeremyB;135986To get any real power out of the 3.8, you need to go MPFI...preferably with a MAF. Then you can add the go-fast parts from the above links and have fun, fun, fun (until the po-pos take your Tbird away)I completely agree. But you can upgrade the intake and exhaust and gain a few more HP. A free flowing engine is a happy engine.You can also replace your 3.8 with a 4.2 and get more power that way without even touching the insides. Plus you can stroke the 4.2 to 4.4. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #22 – March 23, 2007, 02:36:59 PM my buddy has a f body v6 with heads, cam, intake, and exhaust, among other things goes pretty good, but he put like 8k in it which to me was a waste Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #23 – March 23, 2007, 02:38:23 PM The 3.8 engine is what it is. When it debuted in the early 1980's it was going head-to-head with GM's 231cid/3.8 V6. Now my folks had one of those in their old 1980 Bonneville. You want to talk about a motor that absolutely sucks...worthless pile junk. They had that car when I got my '84 with the 3.8. They couldn't believe the difference in power and quality in the Cougar vs. the GM 3.8 in the Bonnie. So as bad as some people think the Ford 3.8 is, for its time and against the early GM 3.8 it was the clear winner.Throughout the 1980's GM sunk a LOT more money into its 3800 program, though, especially when it became the powerplant of choice for their FWD cars. They really made that engine into a real performer (heh, and let's not forget the turbo 3.8's in the GNs). Ford, on the other hand, seemed satisfied with their 3.8 enough for minimal changes for almost 20 years. The only "all new" 3.8 was the supercharged SC motor. All new block, heads, etc. Two different manufacturers, two very different paths for each motor. GM had a lot more advantages with their engine, plain and simple. When the 1994 Lincoln Continental had a whopping 160hp 3.8 V6 as its only engine, you know that Ford slacked off in a big way.The sad part is, a 1998 Windstar with the 200hp 3.8 will blow away nearly any other Ford 3.8-equipped car. My buddy's friend used to race 4.6 stock V8 Mustangs in Detroit with his frickin' Windstar minivan. And nearly win every time. That, boys and girls, is pathetic.Unfortunately we have a legacy 3.8 engine with pretty much no support and no hope (sort of like the whole car in general...why would the engine be any different LOL). But for what it is--a basic commuter engine--it does the job well enough. It's not a spectacular engine, it's not a remarkable or noteworthy engine, it's nowhere near a performance engine...but it is the engine that's installed in roughly 60% of these cars. Like it or not, it's the majority. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #24 – March 23, 2007, 03:04:22 PM Quote from: EricCoolCats;136009The sad part is, a 1998 Windstar with the 200hp 3.8 will blow away nearly any other Ford 3.8-equipped car.Until 1999. The 99+ split port Mustangs made 190 hp and 225 ft-lb of torque, compared to the 200/240 from a Windstar.The reason the Mustangs had less power was due to shorter intake, in order to fit under the hood. QuoteMy buddy's friend used to race 4.6 stock V8 Mustangs in Detroit with his frickin' Windstar minivan. And nearly win every time. That, boys and girls, is pathetic.Eh?The weakest 4.6 Mustang had more HP/TQ, and weighed less. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #25 – March 23, 2007, 03:06:51 PM QuoteThe weakest 4.6 Mustang had more HP/TQ, and weighed less.Um...I was in the van. The Windstars are no slouches. They don't BEAT Mustangs but they do piss off Mustang owners. Stoplight-to-stoplight, the Windstar jumps ahead every time. Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #26 – March 23, 2007, 03:52:00 PM It also beats out the lowly 255 V8 it replaced... Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #27 – March 23, 2007, 04:52:09 PM Quote from: V8Demon;135908I've been pondering the idea of finding a V6 Fox T-bird or Cougar and performing a split port swap on it. Of course, there would be a computer issue. I don't know how an EEC-v would react if it did not see an electronically controlled transmission. I suppose a computer from an '99-up 5 speed V6 Mustang would work, not sure though.It's definately unpossible, you should give up. ;) Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #28 – March 24, 2007, 12:28:01 AM Let's see hows this go ..... Fast, Cheap, Reliable.....Pick Two Quote Selected
Why you hate the V6 (232/3.8). Reply #29 – March 24, 2007, 12:41:27 AM Quote from: JeremyBIt's definately unpossible, you should give up.For some oddball reason, I think you're being sarcastic:hick: Quote Selected
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