6.8L Triton in s197?

Justin Bradford

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Ok not that I would go through with this but this idea has been popping up in my head a few times. I have a 4.0 right now and am at the point between putting my turbo kit in or doing something crazy with it. I could do a 4.6 or 5.0 swap relatively easy. However something wants me to shove a 6.8L v10 under the hood. I’m wondering if this is even reasonable assuming I get a junkyard motor for a couple hundred dollars. What is the wiring situation? Transmission? Stand alone ecu? Motor mounts?
 

RED09GT

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The length of the motor is probably the biggest issue, the motor would come out almost 5" to the front of the car. It might be possible since a turbo can fit in front of the motor but it may require some trickery with the radiator mounting.
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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Don't bother. If you want a bigger displacement motor, the 7.3L Godzilla would be a much better option. It's also more compact than any Modular V8 and fits easily into the S197 engine bay with room to spare.

https://www.s197forum.com/threads/godzilla-swap.138368/

Ford Performance has also just released a low profile intake manifold that'll fit under the S197 hood, so that remaining issue has been covered.
 

Danny Paladino

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The V10 is NOT a performance engine - there are no parts available to turn it into one - it filled the gap when the 460 went away for those that wanted to stay with gas instead of going diesel on their tow rigs - while the "cool factor" of having a V10 sounds good, you will not end up with a "Ford viper" more like a "mustang f250" might as well swap in a power stroke
 

Tman

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There was a video on YouTube of a guy that swapped in a V 10 into a S197. He Had a video of it running but not driving.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Joe combs

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Now.... there is a current series on youtube called "We are building what ford never gave us!! (But should have).... they are building a 6.8L DOHC ... by cutting heads in half and joining them back together, custom cams...etc.
A V-10 DOHC would be an interesting build for sure...
 

TARA-fied1

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as a fellow engine swapper doing a swap that is not popular, I think the idea is pretty cool. I also agree it would be more of an F250 Mustang than a Viper. The cost of a Ford V10 should be pretty low as they aren't in demand. As for how and if it would fit, I do not know but it is supposed to be a "modular" engine. With that said the motor mounts might be the same as the 4.6/5.4 since Ford stuff all those in pickups. The V8 trans should also be the same. Sometimes the cool factor alone could be worth the effort and a V10 is WAY better than a 4.0! That said, the 4.0 trans is different and they had a 7.5 rear as well. Your cost will start to rise as you upgrade and collect parts. The Godzilla is still a bit like a Coyote swap (very expensive) so I get the low budget approach but I'd think you would want a wrecked or cheap truck as a donor for trans, ECU, etc. Just my 2 cents...
 

Dino Dino Bambino

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It might be cool to try to shoehorn a 3V Modular 6.8 V10 into the S197 engine bay, but the extra two cylinders add 4" to the length of a Modular V8 so the fit would be as tight as a cow's ass at fly time.
If you want to stick to an engine from the Ford Modular family, you could go for a 5.4 3V from a truck. There's plenty around and they're as cheap as chips. If you rebuild it with some performance parts, 400rwhp NA would be easy to achieve.
 

Justin Bradford

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Oh I forgot I posted this! So the engine fitting will be an issue then as to where to Lou t the radiator however the car is not planned to be a street car to having no front bumper to extent out the radiator and such wouldn’t be the biggest issue it would just be unfortunate that the bumper could not fit. In terms of performance I already understood that this engine is not a performance oriented engine I just thought that it would be a cheap v10 base to put in the mustang. And in terms of swapping in a 5.4 that is also a very good option as well as I do agree those are in junkyards everywhere and I could just pull one out and rebuild it. That would be a good option as well if I went the v8 route and hopefully cheaper than a coyote swap. Only benefit of the coyote is if I get a gen1 donor car everything should be pretty much bolt on in terms of engine mounts and such. But that is for the responses guys I was just toying with the idea and seems that the triton v10 is going to be a bit too big and too long to have as a reasonable swap. I’ll keep looking down the 5.4 and 5.0 swap ideas as I recently drive a 3v and was a bit disappointed in its performance compared to my tuned 4.0 so I lost hope in a 4.6 swap there.
 

Midlife Crises

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Stuffing the V10 in a S197 could be fun if you were willing to move the firewall . Having the engine more forward would screw up the weight bias something fierce. I would add that if you drove a 3 valve recently and were unimpressed you drove the wrong one.
 

Justin Bradford

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The 3v was stock from what I could tell so unfair in a way to compare my modded 4.0 against a stock 4.6.
 

whitmanink

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The 3v was stock from what I could tell so unfair in a way to compare my modded 4.0 against a stock 4.6.


to be fair,, all bolt ons for the 4.0 will net you maybe 210 -225ish rwhp.. a stock gt will net you 276-285 rwhp. (we wont even talk tq numbers)

im already seeing an problem,. when i went from my 4.0 to the 4.6 , all i could do was smile,, sooo much better and faster ect,ect,than when i added my cai and tune ,, it ws really fun,, and at about 305 rwhp,,,
 

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