Hey, I'm new here, thought someone would be able to answer a question of mine.

I have a 97 Ford Thunderbird with the 4.6L V8. The body isn't in great condition, and it is just far too heavy for its own good (3700 lbs). I work at a Mazda dealership, and I was talking to a technician buddy of mine about looking for new cars, and he suggested an engine swap, into an Escort or a Focus. Neither of which are cars that I am much fond of.

My question is, would I be able to swap the engine into one of the newer mazda's, like a 3 or Protege, From like 2000 onwards? I know that the 3's have Focus engines, but I don't know when they started installing them, or what not. I love the styling on these Mazdas, and if I could do it, than I would have a lot of car in a pretty small package.

The 4.6 puts out about 200 hp / 275 torque. As far as altering the vehicle to rear wheel drive, etc, I would wait to think about that until I'm certain that the engine would, in fact, mount in a Mazda. Or, for that matter, if I should just stick with a Focus.

Thanks a lot for any help!

-JCruiza

 

i dont think there is any way a V8 would fit into a mazda.
why dont you just save ur pennies and get a hiboost kit??
it'll bump a stock mazda3 (150/160 hp) up to about 300whp.

just a thought.
and i think the V8 would be WAY to heavy for a mazda3/focus

 

Well I figured that I would have to do a bit of structural modding, suspension upgrades, etc. And my tech friend was sure that it would fit in a Focus, and so I figured I'd might as well ask if it would fit into the 3 as well.

Thanks for the response!

 

no prob...
it just seems like your doing all of this work, just for 50 hp, and a bunch of torque.

 

Well with such a large engine in a lightweight vehicle it should be able to really take off. In that thought, there would be a lot more performance gain than 50 hp andlike 80 tq.. I've heard of a guy who did a similar swap with a focus, and that it just blew everyone away by how much get-up it had. It's kind of the heart idea of having a sleeper. The power of a V8 in the shell, and weight, of a car that should have a 4. I mean I could get the 4.6 for some 800 bucks on ebay, less if I just went to a junkyard, and then I would do most of the work myself, so it would be a serious performance boost for around a grand put in. Considering the mounts and what-not to be paid for, and not considering the suspension/frame upgrades that would be necessary to adjust for so much sudden weight in the front of the car.

 

The for dfocus has been made to accept V8s and the MAzda3 platform is the same. It's possible.