Can I swap my GT drivetrain into a v6

So I totaled my 06 GT. Insurance company said I could keep the car for $933. I just replaced the bad 4.6 with a used 4.6 with approx 80k. New oil pump, head gaskets, ang so on. Engine has headers, flow masters, cai, short shifter and nice interior. I found a 2005 V6 with a bad engine with automatic. Is it it worth pulling my 4.6, tr3650 and rear end and using the V6 car? I could just sell my parts. Not sure what to do. I have the shop and tools to do the work and I have had the engine and transmission out of the GT before. Let me hear from y’all

The V6 car is same color and is 1500-$2000.

As long as your harness/computer from the GT is good you could but just know it's going to be a LOT of Work. If you're up for it though have fun.

only a bunch of threads on this swap being done..... so yea... ya can

So use the GT wiring harness and computer box. Is everything else just a bolt on change?

If I found myself in your situation I would probably do it. I would approach it like you are doing a complete color change on the V6. Disassemble the entire wrecked GT first. Take note of what is damaged and needs to be replaced and box/bag/organize everything you are taking off. Now disassemble the entire V6. Except for obvious things like the glass/headliner/etc. Now start transferring everything over from the wrecked GT. Get the drivetrain started and running first. That will motivate you to finish up with the suspension and interior being last on your list. Don't throw away anything until you have a complete running car. Whatever is left over after that can be sold for parts and hopefully make your $933 back and maybe even some of the $1,500 you spent on the V6. How much is a complete running V6 drivetrain worth anyway? And the extra set of seats you will have leftover. Those are worth some coin too. And the extra set of V6 wheels. Somewhere out there is a kid with a 4cyl Ford Ranger that would love to have that stuff.

If you have the skills, tools, and time then make lemonade out of lemons. Shops that specialize in restoration do this stuff all the time. It could be a good learning experience for you. Hopefully you don't have a wife that disapproves of two complete non running cars lying around for a few weeks.

Should be a relatively easy swap. As long as the gt still starts and runs. Looks like a prety hard hit. Better be sure there is no hidden drivetrain damage.

Yea, if the frame rails are bent bad enough that could reveal a cracked mounting point on the engine block or transmission to engine mounting surface cracks and transmission mount surface cracks.

rocky61201 said:

Yea, if the frame rails are bent bad enough that could reveal a cracked mounting point on the engine block or transmission to engine mounting surface cracks and transmission mount surface cracks.

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True, both engine to mm brackets were cracked as was the transmission crossmember on the wreck I used to build up the drivetrain on my 2011gt/2014gt (i think) frankenbuild. I also ended up having to swap ALL wiring harnesses over to keep it simple and not deal with repinning between engine and body harnesses.

But maybe you don't have to worry about that last part with your early gen.

I think the C175B (body) side pcm connector should be the same v6/gt. And you will need to use the gt engine and trans harnesses. Easy enough to check. From an assembly line point of view, the more parts interchange, the better and cost effective.
Does the v6 have abs? If not, using the gt cluster will have abs/trac control lights on. (Can be turned OFF in the cluster by hacking it)

Juice brings up a good point. If the v6 doesn't have abs I'd check to see if it's salvageable and swap it over if it were me. My son has a v6 base and the brakes are terrible compared to a GT. Rocky lays out a good roadmap to follow for the swap if you have the space and time to pull it off. Good luck.

Abs retrofit will require fitting brake lines. V6 has only one line for the front and one for the rear brakes with a T built into the left flex hoses. ABS cars have 2 lines for each, front and rears.
And that is the reason, (if you look for braided lines) it is stated "will not fit" non-abs cars.

In addition to all of the great advice above, you need to think about yourself. Some guys are monsters, nothing stops them, everything is fixable, doable and they will do whatever it takes to get the job done. If that is you, than yeah, have at it. Its a lot of time but it can be done.

On the other hand, some guys get stuck on a stripped bolt. Or give up halfway through because its harder than they thought it would be. Or don't have the tools or knowledge or the time or just plain give up easily. If that's more like you, than sell everything and just buy a different car. There are plenty of them around.

One last bit of advice. Something I wish I would have done on my last build. Go to the airport and steal a bunch of those luggage tags. Use them to label all of your wiring harness connections when you start disassembling the cars.

Before I rebuilt my GT I bought a ‘06 V6. Pulled engine and trans. Replaced the timing setup and fixed the base mustang. From what I remember, everything was the same. I started the GT as soon as I finished the base. All of this was in January through March. I even considered making the base into a GT after I finished the GT. Decided that I would need too many GT parts. I know I need the engine with harness, transmission and rear end with driveshaft. I now have all of that from my crashed doner. I’m hoping that what I have is not broken. I plan to pull the engine and transmission before I buy another car for the swap.

Sounds like you know what you're doing and on the right track. Good luck. Like I said, maybe you can make some money out of this deal. I wasn't kidding about the kid with the ford ranger deal either. My son has one. If he came to me and said dad I found a killer deal on everything I need for a V6 swap, I would probably help fund it and work on it. Can't think of a better way to spend time and pass on some knowledge.

Thanks Rocky, I really have not though about that v6 parts being worth much. If I can fix the v6 engine, that might get me some of my money back.