4.6 from Crown Vic to F150

[bigj-dog]

Hey - a friend of mine has a '97 F150 4x4 w/ a 4.6, he has a blown head gasket, at least, and we're looking at swapping in a 4.6 out of a '97 Crown Victoria. Does anyone know what the differences are? I'm planning on reusing the trucks intake and exhaust and all accessories, if possible. Are the long blocks the same or am I going to have to switch heads too? Also, if there any way to tell the difference between the 6 bolt and 8 bolt 4.6s w/out splitting the engine/tranny? thanks a bunch for your input.

[2.2 Straight six]

why doesn't he just change the headgasket? it's a lot less hassle than swapping in a whole new engine.

[bigj-dog]

I was under the impression that you pretty much had to pull the engine to take off the heads on a 4.6, or is that only true of the 5.4, or am I smoking crack? I spend most of my time on GMs, so I'm a little (others would utter 'a lot') under informed and unknowledgeable in the instance. I'll present that option to him if it's easier. He's got like 227,000 on it and was also looking ahead a bit, thinking of another engine instead.

[2.2 Straight six]

well, in just about any V8 you have to pull the engine to remove the heads and replace the gaskets. but putting a new engine in still means you have to pull the one already in the truck.

if the engine has 227,000 miles on it he could have it stripped and rebuilt, if need be. otherwise, i see no reason to replace it.

[bigj-dog]

Yeah, he was just concerned that we'd end up putting it back together and then pulling it again in 10,000 miles or whatever, but there's no guarantee a used engine will make it 6 months either. We're going to yank it next weekend and I'll try to convince him to keep the one he has. Thanks for the input 2.2.

[2.2 Straight six]

just do some regular maintenance work, change the head gaskets (assuming you guys know how to do all that) change the oil and stuff.

with good routine maintenance there's no reason you should have problems 10,000 miles down the line.

My mate's Hilux engine went strong for 920,000 miles, he only took it out because he wanted to drop a 5.9 in his truck. all he did to the original engine was maintenance and routine servicing.