2001 Mustang GT 4.6 VS 1997 Thunderbird LX 4.6

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mysterymau0521

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1997 Thunderbird LX 4.6L OHC
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I have a 1997 Tbird LX with rod knock and I have a 2001 Mustang GT as a donor car for a project. We aren't going to use the engine out of the mustang so we want to put it into my car.
My dad has been looking at water pumps and gaskets and such and he says that the part numbers don't match up between the two engines.

What are the differences between these engines?

From What I've found it is called an NPI to PI swap but I haven't found any details on how to do that swap or what I need to do for it.
 
There’s not many differences other than what you mentioned, the mustang has PI heads where as the Thunderbird has NPI heads.

You’ll have to convert from coil packs to COP.

Water pumps are the same, I’m running a ‘99 cobra vane style water pump in my ‘94 tbird.

It’s pretty much a direct swap other than a few small differences.
 
Coil packs can stay, converting to coil on plug is adding unnecessary complication. You may have to modify the brackets due to differences in the timing covers, but that isn’t a big deal. On an 01 Mustang, it will be a Windsor motor, which have slight differences in valve covers, timing cover, flywheel bolt pattern, etc, but since you have the whole car, you can just use everything from the Mustang and make it work, assuming the Mustang is an automatic. Use the Mustang torque converter as well, since the tbird converter is larger and won’t bolt to the Mustang flexplate. If the Mustang is a manual, you will need to purchase a flexplate and torque converter for an 01 Mustang. The oil fill is kind of in the way of the air intake tube, but it will work, it just rubs up on it. The water pump may be a different part number, but they pretty much all interchange. There are long snout and short snout pumps, but their corresponding pulleys both put the belt in the same place, so as long as you use the pulley that matches whatever pump you go with, it will be fine. Keep the Mustang timing cover, belt tensioner, and valve covers. You may need to keep the Mustang belt tensioner as well, not sure if the tbird one bolts to the Mustang timing cover. Use the T-bird oil pan and exhaust manifolds, the Mustang ones look similar, but won’t fit in the car. You will definitely need a tune since the timing curves for the PI engines are significantly different from the NPI, and since you will be getting a tune, might as well use the Mustang MAF sensor. I think that’s about it, honestly it is a pretty straight forward swap.
 
OK so it's also a Romeo. Pretty close to a direct swap. As has been said you can convert to COP or reuse your existing harness and keep the coils. You'll need your fuel rail, throttle cables, EGR and exhaust manifolds, and some heater core plumbing, and other stuff that I don't have the experience to list. :)
 
MadMikeyL said:
Coil packs can stay, converting to coil on plug is adding unnecessary complication. You may have to modify the brackets due to differences in the timing covers, but that isn’t a big deal. On an 01 Mustang, it will be a Windsor motor, which have slight differences in valve covers, timing cover, flywheel bolt pattern, etc, but since you have the whole car, you can just use everything from the Mustang and make it work, assuming the Mustang is an automatic. Use the Mustang torque converter as well, since the tbird converter is larger and won’t bolt to the Mustang flexplate. If the Mustang is a manual, you will need to purchase a flexplate and torque converter for an 01 Mustang. The oil fill is kind of in the way of the air intake tube, but it will work, it just rubs up on it. The water pump may be a different part number, but they pretty much all interchange. There are long snout and short snout pumps, but their corresponding pulleys both put the belt in the same place, so as long as you use the pulley that matches whatever pump you go with, it will be fine. Keep the Mustang timing cover, belt tensioner, and valve covers. You may need to keep the Mustang belt tensioner as well, not sure if the tbird one bolts to the Mustang timing cover. Use the T-bird oil pan and exhaust manifolds, the Mustang ones look similar, but won’t fit in the car. You will definitely need a tune since the timing curves for the PI engines are significantly different from the NPI, and since you will be getting a tune, might as well use the Mustang MAF sensor. I think that’s about it, honestly it is a pretty straight forward swap.
Click to expand...
will the oil fill be in the way? on both cars the oil fill is on the right side whereas the intake tube is in the left
 
theterminator93 said:
OK so it's also a Romeo. Pretty close to a direct swap. As has been said you can convert to COP or reuse your existing harness and keep the coils. You'll need your fuel rail, throttle cables, EGR and exhaust manifolds, and some heater core plumbing, and other stuff that I don't have the experience to list. :)
Click to expand...
Thank you So much!
 
theterminator93 said:
OK so it's also a Romeo. Pretty close to a direct swap. As has been said you can convert to COP or reuse your existing harness and keep the coils. You'll need your fuel rail, throttle cables, EGR and exhaust manifolds, and some heater core plumbing, and other stuff that I don't have the experience to list. :)
Click to expand...
out of curiosity, will i have to use the other motor mounts too?
 
If the oil fill is on the driver’s side, it won’t be in the way. I thought in 01 the Mustang had it on the passenger’s side, but maybe that was only 99/00.
 
MadMikeyL said:
If the oil fill is on the driver’s side, it won’t be in the way. I thought in 01 the Mustang had it on the passenger’s side, but maybe that was only 99/00.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but in my observation the only New edge Mustangs with it on the driver side were the 01 Bullitts, everything else had it on the passenger side be it Windsor or the later Romeos through 04. The Romeo valve covers with the pass oil fill are an improved design with a better gasket design(not reliant on the grommets for sealing) and improved baffles so oil doesn’t get so easily sucked by PCV
 
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