What’s the best v8 donor car for me?

[carlosivanpiment]

So glad to finally have something to post here instead of just fan girling everyone else’s posts, just picked up this cream puff 1981 hatch 200ci with 99k original miles free of rust barring some under the doors and paint but a straight little body and As far as my title What do I mean ? Well I’m trying to pin down someone who has experience swapping these early inline 6 cars and before I purchase the wrong donor car I would like to know what the most ideal car would be for me to search for so that I can use as much of it as possible to make my swap simpler. I know the 302 came in a lot of different cars and there’s also some other swap options
but I’d like to accomplish a swap that retains all the integrity of the original interior(gauges dash and especially that sweet sweet shifter) while also converting to EFI. I would like to learn how to work on the motor and do the swap my self having never taken on an endeavor this large I want to have as much info as possible. Thank you everyone for any contributions in advance






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[83 4SPD GT]

Welcome aboard! Your 81 looks well kept.

I would think a 87-93 5.0 car would be the best donor car for your project. You would get a fuel injected 5.0 and you would need to swap the straight 6 k-member for the v8 k-member. You could use the whole front suspension from the donor, that would give you 11” front brakes, and swap the 8.8 rear from the donor to yours. Hell you would just swap the whole drivetrain and suspension over.

If you wanted to do 5 lug wheels instead of 4 lug then use a 94-95 mustang as the donor, you would bigger front brakes and rear disc brakes.

Do a little research on the site here and you will find a wealth of knowledge that the members have shared on here.

[carlosivanpiment]

Welcome aboard! Your 81 looks well kept.

I would think a 87-93 5.0 car would be the best donor car for your project. You would get a fuel injected 5.0 and you would need to swap the straight 6 k-member for the v8 k-member. You could use the whole front suspension from the donor, that would give you 11” front brakes, and swap the 8.8 rear from the donor to yours. Hell you would just swap the whole drivetrain and suspension over.

If you wanted to do 5 lug wheels instead of 4 lug then use a 94-95 mustang as the donor, you would bigger front brakes and rear disc brakes.

Do a little research on the site here and you will find a wealth of knowledge that the members have shared on here.

Thank you so much for being the first comment and offering me some more direct clarity I tried searching specifically for things about a swap in a 1981 and if there were any specifics to worry about for that year but most of the info seemed to do with newer cars or 4cylinder to v8 instead of inline 6 to v8 so thank you again for simplifying some of these things , Also mobile searching sucks on the Tapatalk app lol excited to be here though and learn as much as possible


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[wraithracing]

As mentioned the 87-93 V8 cars are probably the best bang for the buck. I did the same thing to a 1981 straight six hatchback many years ago and used virtually everything off the donor 89 GT. Keep in mind that most items are bolt on, but there have been engineering and slight design changes over the years that make some "bolt-ons" more of a tweak/modify and then bolt on.

If you want to use the OEM EFI, that can be done, but you will have to do a lot more modifying to fit the electronics, wiring, etc. You can keep your stock instruments and just rewire as needed for them to operate properly. The EFI fuel tank sending unit will not work with the 79-86 fuel gauge so you will need the 83-86 EFI fuel sending unit/pump setup for the gas gauge to read properly. You will also have to cut a hole in the firewall on the passenger side to feed the computer harness through and then do some modification if you want to run the computer in the passenger kick panel as the Aero cars do.
You will want to use the EFI fuel lines as well as the brake lines if you are doing a full brake swap and swapping in the 8.8 and the dual exhaust. The early cars such as yours have the rear brake line in the wrong location for the dual exhaust. Easier to swap the lines than to modify yours if the lines are in good shape. You can also buy new from different companies too. You will need to modify the transmission crossmember to fit the narrower mounts on the body or save the mounts from the donor car and swap into yours. You will need the rear exhaust hangers too for the dual exhaust especially the one on the back frame rail. Swap the throttle cable too and the pedal box if you change out to a 5 speed. If staying with an automatic, I am not sure exactly how the OEM shifter will match up, but I am sure it can be made to work with the later model AOD. I know there are things I am forgetting, but that's a good start. A full complete donor car is your best option otherwise the small parts will kill your budget and your time line for this type of project. Good Luck!

[OX1]

Welcome aboard! Your 81 looks well kept.

I would think a 87-93 5.0 car would be the best donor car for your project. You would get a fuel injected 5.0 and you would need to swap the straight 6 k-member for the v8 k-member. You could use the whole front suspension from the donor, that would give you 11” front brakes, and swap the 8.8 rear from the donor to yours. Hell you would just swap the whole drivetrain and suspension over.

If you wanted to do 5 lug wheels instead of 4 lug then use a 94-95 mustang as the donor, you would bigger front brakes and rear disc brakes.

Do a little research on the site here and you will find a wealth of knowledge that the members have shared on here.

We were always partial to the Mk VII's. Much less desirable (read $$$) than V-8 fox mustangs, and come with 5 lug setup already.
(although you have to use ranger axles and move caliper mounts slightly inboard, if you use the Mk VII 8.. Not sure on K-member
with Mk VII, we modified the one we had drilling now holes for MM's (we started with 3.8 V6 though)

[emerygt350]

Hard to tell what state/province you are in but it looks northern. Make sure you know what your local laws allow as far as mods go. Unless you are in a couple of odd places you should be clear for anything on an 81 though. Looks great. What a nice car to start with. I would definitely go carbs or tbi (Holley sniper etc) and if you can, manual transmission although that will mean more work under the dash for the pedals.

You could go all retro and try to hop up the 6. They are light and simple....