Hello, I am new here, got questions, need answers. I have a 1978 Fairmont with the 200 cu.in. engine and automatic trans. Son-in-Law threw rod through oil pan, Can anyone advise as to which engines are bolt-in replacements with very little-to-no modifications? six cyl or v-8, I am disabled, not able to complete intense mods on my own, do not wish to send this old 'survivor' to the scrap-pile just yet. Need to know what engines/parts to search for. Thanks. Darkrider56
Fairmont engine swap/replace
- Thread starter darkrider56
- Start date
8) basically any 1980 or earlier 144-200/3.3l will swap in place with an oil pan change as needed. if you come across a later 3.3l(aka 200) with the low mount starter, get the transmission as well as the bell housing is different. it will otherwise swap in place also.
the 250 is the only small six that wont swap over easily as there is no rear sump oil pan that i know of for that motor.
as for other engines, the fairmont came with an inline four and a V8, and other fox body cars came with V6's, but to use those engines you would need to swap out the K member as there are a few differences between the inline six K member, and the K member that allows all the other engines to bolt in.
hope that helps.
oh one more thing, if you pick up a 200 from something earlier than 1967, the bell housing you have will be slightly large. the top two bolts are higher up on the bell that the earlier engines are. you can easily overcome that by drilling and tapping the block for those upper bolt as the rest of the bell housing bolts are in the same location otherwise.
the 250 is the only small six that wont swap over easily as there is no rear sump oil pan that i know of for that motor.
as for other engines, the fairmont came with an inline four and a V8, and other fox body cars came with V6's, but to use those engines you would need to swap out the K member as there are a few differences between the inline six K member, and the K member that allows all the other engines to bolt in.
hope that helps.
oh one more thing, if you pick up a 200 from something earlier than 1967, the bell housing you have will be slightly large. the top two bolts are higher up on the bell that the earlier engines are. you can easily overcome that by drilling and tapping the block for those upper bolt as the rest of the bell housing bolts are in the same location otherwise.
Don't know where yo live but here's a national search engine:
Search for fairmont, zephyr, mustang, capri from '78 - '83.
A later big bell might have a C5 attached.
http://www.car-part.com/index.htm
If you can't find a six you can always put a 302 in it, that's a common swap.
It would require a crossmember swap. Plenty of aftermarket stuff out there for that.
Search for fairmont, zephyr, mustang, capri from '78 - '83.
A later big bell might have a C5 attached.
http://www.car-part.com/index.htm
If you can't find a six you can always put a 302 in it, that's a common swap.
It would require a crossmember swap. Plenty of aftermarket stuff out there for that.
The easiest thing to do is to buy a wrecked Mustang GT and bolt on everything. It all swaps over with very little modification and you end up with a "Fairmont GT". It's still a good bit of work, but relatively easy to do. Best year Mustang to find would be 87-93, but the later 94-04 cars would work too.
darkrider56":1tgthogb said:
Any 200 from 1967 to 1980 should bolt in. The later models have the larger carb hole if you want to use the one from your 200. The 200 can be found in Mustangs, Falcons, Comets, Mavericks, and Fairmonts. Granadas came with the 250 only, and in some of the previous cars mentioned, so be careful and make sure it is a 200 and not a 250. The quickest way to identify the engines is that the 200 has three bolts attaching the water pump, the 250 has four bolts. The 250 has a low mount starter, the 200 your looking for has a high mount starter. Stay away from the 250 since it is too tall to fit in your Fairmont without mods.
Use http://www.car-parts.com if you can't find an engine close by. I'd stay away from the V-8 swap since you have to change out the front crossmember.
Hope this helps.
Thanks to all who posted info, it is of great help. I am certainly glad I 'stumbled' across this site and am glad for all the knowledgable willing-to-help folks who frequent it, Thanks again! darkrider56.
