Well, buddy, unfortunately, you are very limited in what you can do to your engine - not because it's a bad engine or anything, but because very few people make performance parts for the 3.8V6.For now. Now that it's been the base engine in the Mustang for several years, some manufacturers have started producing parts, but they are few in numbers.
Pictured above is perhaps the weakest link in the 3.8 - the areas pointed to (A) are prone to cracking. Also, these engines have been known to spit head gaskets out, due to the different expansion rates of the heads compared to the block. In fact, Ford had announced a sneaky recall of certain '94 and '95 3.8V6 engines in which they'll replace the head gaskets free of charge. Unfortunately, this recall expires Dec 31, 1998. Keep this in mind if you ever rebuild one - make sure you use high quality head gaskets!!! Other than that, these are tough little engines - I had an '85 T-Bird with 280,000 miles on its 3.8 2bbl without ever having been rebuilt.
Performance mods: There are a few relatively simple mods you can make: K&N Filter, underdrive pulleys, hi-perf ignition coil, wires, and plugs, less restrictive exhaust, etc. Of course you could use a set of SN95 Mustang V6 headers, and it has been recently brought to my attention by someone named MonoPed that you can use the Supercoupe headers, or a set of Racer Walsh headers. The regular cast iron manifolds in the MN-12 T-Birds look to be a lot less restrictive than the Fox ones, too. The Racer Walsh headers are full length, so you may be in for some clearance problems.
Some more involved modifications will perk up your 6-holer, but they ain't simple, and they ain't cheap (but then again, speed is never cheap).
- Consider putting a supercharged 3.8 out of a Supercoupe in. This is probably the most difficult of your options, but it's also probably the biggest single performance gain - 230 horsepower and 330 lb-ft of
torque. This modification would require extensive rewiring, but man, it would work! You could also consider bolting an aftermarket supercharger on your engine...Vortech has developed a supercharger for the 3.8 Mustangs. You may run into problems applying
this to your '88 or older Bird or Cougar because your car lacks mass air (get
a mass air computer system from a '91-'95 V6 Bird or Cougar). Also, remember the aforementioned head/head gasket problems - a supercharger would greatly increase this problem!!!!
- Nitrous. Not a really big shot, mind you - maybe a 50 - 100 horse kit. Anything more than this would greatly reduce the reliability of your engine! (Again with the head gasket problems)
- You could consider going with the '98+ Mustang Split-Port-Induction setup, but this would be a very difficult swap. The '98+ Mustang engine produces 200 horsepower, but it uses a returnless fuel system and OBD-II electronics. You would have to re-engineer your entire fuel system and underhood electrical system - a lot of work for 200 horsepower!
- And here's one you probably haven't heard of. It's not really simple, but it's not really hard, either. If you're considering a performance rebuild, I would recommend you consider this: Stroke your 3.8 out to a 4.2. Sound crazy? You'd be surprised how similar the 4.2 truck engine's bottom end is to your 3.8's. Consider the following:
| DISPLACEMENT | BORE | STROKE | DIM. A | DIM. B | DIM. C | DIM. D | DIM. E | DIM. F |
| 3.8 | 3.810 | 3.390 | 4.193 | 2.5194 | 2.3107 | 5.9135 | 9.232 | 1.602 |
| 4.2 | 3.810 | 3.740 | 4.193 | 2.5194 | 2.3107 | 6.0910 | 9.232 | 1.273 |
DIMENSION C: Rod journal diameter DIMENSION D: Rod length DIMENSION E: Deck height
DIMENSION F: Compression distance (piston pin to top of piston)
So you can see, the only major differences in the bottom ends of these engines is the crank, rods, and pistons - the block is the same. If you could get these parts, you could bump your displacement up to 4.2 litres, which would give you a nice increase in performance. Plus, the truck crank would almost certainly be stronger than the 3.8 one. Now, if you wanted to get really serious, you could use the induction and computer off a Supercoupe - just imagine!!!
Well, that's all I've got for tips right now. If you've got anything you'd like to add, or if you'd like to dispute any of this stuff (I wasn't making it up - honest!) e-mail me at sammy@accesscable.net
If you would like to contact Vortech about their 3.8 huffer, you can at:
Vortech Engineering's Home Page
Vortech Engineering
5351 Bonsai Avenue
Moorpark, California
93021