New member, been lurking around lol

S

SC_Shi

Newbie
Joined
Jan 1, 2025
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10
Location
Ft. Lauderdale
Vehicle Details
93 Super Coupe
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Checking in from sunny south Florida. Had a 96 lx as my second car awhile ago, sold it and regretted it ever since. Picked up a 93 SC a few months ago from a buddy for a decent price. Under construction now, still can’t decide what I want to do for power but I have this LS I’ve been sitting on for a few years so that’s a possibility.


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Are those lights smoked? I know firsthand that works without degradation on the later clear lenses but how’s the output with the fresnel lenses?


LS swaps are drastically overrated, don’t listen to the internet, for what it will cost you the LS, a trans that bolts up, driveshaft, motor mounts and engine management you can match the power on the existing platform, and it won’t be a mutant in the end.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Are those lights smoked? I know firsthand that works without degradation on the later clear lenses but how’s the output with the fresnel lenses?


LS swaps are drastically overrated, don’t listen to the internet, for what it will cost you the LS, a trans that bolts up, driveshaft, motor mounts and engine management you can match the power on the existing platform, and it won’t be a mutant in the end.
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They’re actually homemade black housing headlights, the Sealant on the lens was messed up when I got it, so the lens were coming off and the chrome on the inside was basically gone, just tried something and sprayed the inside gloss black and resealed the lens. Turned out pretty decent for a $10 job lol

The more research I’m doing I think I’m going to change directions maybe SBF I just am not to fond of the sc motor and all its little niches, also thought about maybe obd2 swapping it , possibilities are endless once I make up my mind
 
Not sure what niches you are referring to, but you could go turbo on the SC engine. There are a few guys doing that and making really good power.
 
Nice looking SC ! I'm near Gainesville.

Manual SCs are hard to find, have you considered restoring it stock? Not that these cars are really collectable yet but that is definitely a desirable model you have! Never have driven a supercharged 3.8 before but I imagine they are a quick fun car.
 
Oh yeah with a 5 speed stay 3.8 or 5.0(Windsor) that transmission is pretty stout and will bolt up to either. Manual transmissions are more fun than horsepower anyway.

That said Turbo 3.8s are absolutely the route I’d take if I had a SC, you have a stout bottom end, it lets you use better flowing splitport heads and there’s tons and tons of room underhood to mount and pipe turbos. I respect the hell out of guys who keep the S in SC but for power that engine likes turbos, and if you can fabricate that’s definitely the way to go.

So you painted the entire innards of the housings black??? I like the look but how’s the light output?
 
XR7-4.6 said:
Oh yeah with a 5 speed stay 3.8 or 5.0(Windsor) that transmission is pretty stout and will bolt up to either. Manual transmissions are more fun than horsepower anyway.

That said Turbo 3.8s are absolutely the route I’d take if I had a SC, you have a stout bottom end, it lets you use better flowing splitport heads and there’s tons and tons of room underhood to mount and pipe turbos. I respect the hell out of guys who keep the S in SC but for power that engine likes turbos, and if you can fabricate that’s definitely the way to go.

So you painted the entire innards of the housings black??? I like the look but how’s the light output?
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Put the LS up for sale today to try and gain some capital for either a 5.0 swap or turbo 3.8 if you can steer me in the right direction? I know probably stud the block, new gaskets, 3.8 n/a intake, fab some turbo manifolds? fmic and fab piping? What’s my options for tuning?


Painted the whole insides correct, and the corner lights aswell, then resealed them. Light output isn’t too bad honestly, I’m in the city so ambient lighting is pretty great, I’d prefer HID bulbs but I’ll get those when I start driving it more
 
Kenz said:
Nice looking SC ! I'm near Gainesville.

Manual SCs are hard to find, have you considered restoring it stock? Not that these cars are really collectable yet but that is definitely a desirable model you have! Never have driven a supercharged 3.8 before but I imagine they are a quick fun car.
Click to expand...
It’s fun to drive , torquey, hoping that they open up PBIR down here again so we can have a track back in south Florida.
 
SC_Shi said:
Put the LS up for sale today to try and gain some capital for either a 5.0 swap or turbo 3.8 if you can steer me in the right direction? I know probably stud the block, new gaskets, 3.8 n/a intake, fab some turbo manifolds? fmic and fab piping? What’s my options for tuning?


Painted the whole insides correct, and the corner lights aswell, then resealed them. Light output isn’t too bad honestly, I’m in the city so ambient lighting is pretty great, I’d prefer HID bulbs but I’ll get those when I start driving it more
Click to expand...

The biggest thing with the block is to get it machined for MLS headgaskets, that with studs basically fixes the 3.8s primary intrinsic faults to make it an ideal motor for boost. For me my strategy would be 99+ splitport heads, intake(or at least the lower with a custom plenum for the upper), stock exhaust manifolds(from anything that fits right really) flipped forward to feed the turbos and for me only out of familiarity a 96-97 OBD II computer swap with SCT PRP and a Xcal flasher. The biggest tuning hurdles is finding someone/someplace competent. I don't recommend DIY with boost. I've been messing with tuning for a decade+ and I'd still never trust myself tuning power adders, I know the fundamentals but the margin for error is just that narrow before piston meltage if the A/F is not right on the money.

My thing with the lights is the housings essentially expand the output of the bulb where the lenses then scatter the light appropriately where it needs to go for you and others to see, 100% black housings then would severely limit that in my mind. Later headlights that used clear lenses with housings designed to scatter the light(as 96-97 Tbirds use) are a different story, you can black out the surrounding areas no problem, and Ford themselves took advantage of that on 01-04 Mustangs and Marauders but that was with retention of the chrome refraction portion of housing being there. I think it looks really cool and unique like that but its not something I'd risk a potential accident over, I'd check outside the city with a buddy to see both how visible they are in car and out of car.
 
XR7-4.6 said:
The biggest thing with the block is to get it machined for MLS headgaskets, that with studs basically fixes the 3.8s primary intrinsic faults to make it an ideal motor for boost. For me my strategy would be 99+ splitport heads, intake(or at least the lower with a custom plenum for the upper), stock exhaust manifolds(from anything that fits right really) flipped forward to feed the turbos and for me only out of familiarity a 96-97 OBD II computer swap with SCT PRP and a Xcal flasher. The biggest tuning hurdles is finding someone/someplace competent. I don't recommend DIY with boost. I've been messing with tuning for a decade+ and I'd still never trust myself tuning power adders, I know the fundamentals but the margin for error is just that narrow before piston meltage if the A/F is not right on the money.

My thing with the lights is the housings essentially expand the output of the bulb where the lenses then scatter the light appropriately where it needs to go for you and others to see, 100% black housings then would severely limit that in my mind. Later headlights that used clear lenses with housings designed to scatter the light(as 96-97 Tbirds use) are a different story, you can black out the surrounding areas no problem, and Ford themselves took advantage of that on 01-04 Mustangs and Marauders but that was with retention of the chrome refraction portion of housing being there. I think it looks really cool and unique like that but its not something I'd risk a potential accident over, I'd check outside the city with a buddy to see both how visible they are in car and out of car.
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Ive been trying to find info on the obd2 swap, but come up with conflicting answers, some say you have to swap timing cover and sensors from 96+ aswell as harness and pcm, but then I saw something else that said the sensors are basically the same just need an obd2 harness and PCM with a reflash if you wanted to still run SC. Can you clarify? I see you have vast knowledge, I need to absorb it.
 
This is the guy for tuning. Several of us here do our own tuning, but like Brandon, I wouldn't try a supercharged or turbo engine; my 4.6 is tough enough. Trunkmonkey is running a 4.6 with an svo blower, and 500+ hp. I've tuned my cars, swapped intakes,engines, and other stuff, and am currently working on a 4v like Matt's. (XR7-4.6)

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Don also writes some excellent "getting started" guides for the PRP; it's enough to get you into the software and familiar with what you're looking at, and is a great foundation for learning to tune.

As far as I know for an OBD-II swap, if you get a later PCM for a 3.8 you just won't have any provisions for the SC specific sensors, for example the knock sensor. You should still be able to tune it for a FI setup.
 
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