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Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:35 pm

I went to a friends party yesterday, and one of his family members owns a Sandrail. This Sandrail has a engine from a 5.0 Ford Mustang. I talked to the guy for a while and he said that it was an easy thing to do. In a nutshell... He bought a fully running Mustang engine with the computer and everything. He was using a Bus Transaxle and used a Engine Swap kit from Kennedy Engineered Products. I cant tell you how cool it was seeing a dune buggy and hearing a V8 engine in it.
Has anyone ever done a Engine Swap in Buggy like this? If so how hard was it to get it running?

Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:46 pm

It's not too difficult, just larger than an aircooled powerplant. Kennedy and Esslinger make adapters for lots of different engines. I personally have built a few rails with 13B rotary engines. I would imagine the weak link in a big HP V8 application is the transaxle. And Mendeolas ain't cheap...

Tue Sep 02, 2008 6:27 am

There was a fiberglass buggy in TN that had a 505 Caddy motor in it with a Tornoto (sp) front wheel drive unit. I think it was discussed on here a long time ago, it started out on ebay I had pictures at one time.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 3:05 pm

Back in 71 my friend Larry Hunt had a Chevy 327 fuelie engine out of a 'Vette in his Terra-Buggy. He used a KEP adapter too.
I REALLY wish I had pics.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 7:12 pm

I need to find a Mustang forum to see how heavy a Mustang engine is. A guy a respect on another forum brought up a point in that he didnt think the front end would ever be on the ground.
Anyone know what a fully dressed out 1835CC VW engine weighs.

Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:35 pm

A fully Dressed 5.0L is between 450Lbs and 500Lbs.
A fully Dressed 1835cc VW engine is between 390Lbs and 425Lbs
I dont know... Do you think this is correct?

I plan to put the gas tank under the hood, and I guess I could add weight to the front if I needed to. But I want to do as many wheel stands as I can! I am in this car for fun, not to worry about it breaking it. If I break it, I will fix it and make it stronger!

Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:24 am

A fully dressed VW 1835 is about 200lbs, tops.

Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:12 am

found a couple pictures none or what I would want to do.

Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:53 pm

Does anyone else have photos of tub style Dune Buggy with a V8 engine?
I like the idea of pulling up next to someone.... They laugh at my silly little Buggy. Then watch the expresion on their face when they hear it has a V8 power. HaHaHa

Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:58 pm

Ive got a Ford turbo 4cyl. with adapter plate and flywheel on it already...
save some weight by going with the smaller motor.

its located in the off road parts classifieds

Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:57 pm

We do engine swaps all the time at the shop. We have a buggy with a buick 3.8 grand national turbo motor in it. over 500HP on pump gas. We swap in Mazda 13B rotory motors @ 400 HP on pump gas & they are 25 LBS more than a vw motor. Acura V6's, Ford pinto motors & a couple Honda motors too. There is a lot of fab work when the new motor needs a radiator. It's not hard to do it's just hard to make it look nice. Shear Speed (760) 871-1087

Sat Sep 06, 2008 10:14 pm

My head is trying to figure out how to shift a backwards 5.0 unless its an automatic. There are also some oil return issues with an engine like that installed backwards because the oil return holes are at the backs of the heads(which are now the fronts of the heads). The rear sump pan is also now a front sump which defeats the purpose of the rear sump pretty much.

The radiator and an electric fan could have been done better. I've seen better installs with the radiator and fan bolted to the backs of uprights on the rear roll cage bars. That looks pretty good.

#1 rule for all things mechanical: never ever say it can't be done because there will be somebody somewhere that has done it or is in the process of doing it.

I saw a bug chassis on a very short rail frame once with a 454 sitting in the middle of it. The driver sat in the back. Why somebody would do that I have no idea but there it was. 8 single header pipes curled out from under it and when he cranked it up you went deaf.

Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:37 pm

hottarod wrote: My head is trying to figure out how to shift a backwards 5.0 unless its an automatic. There are also some oil return issues with an engine like that installed backwards because the oil return holes are at the backs of the heads(which are now the fronts of the heads). The rear sump pan is also now a front sump which defeats the purpose of the rear sump pretty much.

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No trouble shifting it there still using the VW trans you can flip the ring gear for rotation issues if you chose an engine that turns the opposite of a VW. The trouble is get ready to rebuild the trans a lot if your not easy on the go peddle. For oil and every thing else there is no change I don’t see why you would want to build an engine cradle that would make you have to modify the oil pan to use.

Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:55 pm

LI think it will be cool as heck...I look forward to driving down the street in my Buggy with a V8 Sound.