I wish I had more gear or a higher redline for this one. Not quite enough time to add an upshift and then another downshift.

I have tried, and failed; it's a skill I really need to work on and implement, but at this point it just takes my concentration off things and gives me nothing but trouble.

3.0 long block will certrainly fit, but it takes a lot of fiddling with the intake and throttle body to get the cables and vacuum lines connected to it. Best choices are the 2004/2005 Taurus/Sable, or Escape/Mariner/Tribute, or Mazda MPV. But anything before 2006 that has 4 cams and a plastic intake manifold will work fine. See www.newcougar.org/threads/faq-most-of-your-3l-questions-answered.2050/ - that should answer most of the questions you run into.

Thanks!!! I couldn't really find the specific thread(s) where they answered that, just a bunch where noobs like me asked ,and got dressed down for not already reading all the archives,and thus asking a question already asked..."Inquiry is the most sincere form of flattery" is how I hope to be taken.

Ease of installation for one - all the factory vacuum lines and throttle linkages connect as normal to the 2.5 top end; no cutting, no hacking. Secondly it creates a high-compression build, since the 2.5 heads have smaller combustion chambers than the 3.0, so theoretically there is a better power capability. Tuned factory ECUs are used in either scenario, so that's not an issue.

@@Bennett9000 Great stuff - thanks for replying!

Sure, thanks! MSDS headers, Weapon-R y-pipe, Magnaflow high-flow cat, Trubendz 2.5" single-exit exhaust with Borla ProXS muffler.

16x8 Rota Grid. 235 tire, maybe? It's been a while, don't remember for sure...

Couldn't say for sure - the Taurus version is rated at 200 HP in the US, although that could just be due to restrictive exhaust and intake compared to the ST220. Regardless, I would imagine it's the same 3.0 DOHC Duratec with a different state of stock tune.

@@Bennett9000 Is the swap itself easy?

I thought so. Maybe 20% more work than doing a straight like-for-like swap, if that - totally worth the extra labor for a 35% power/torque increase.

Depends on your experience and your facility and what kind of 3.0 you want. A straight-up drop in swap from a Taurus requires some re-routing of fuel rail, vacuum lines, throttle cable, and some other extraneous bits. If you remove the 3.0 cylinder heads and install 2.5 heads, you can use everything else straight off the 2.5 and it drops in like the original 2.5 did with pretty much no other modification. Some folks grind out the intake ports on the 3.0 heads to bolt on the 2.5 intakes, too. There are a lot of variables and each type of build has different kinds of gotchas, but if you read up and know ahead of time what you're looking at, it's not hard at all. NEWCOUGAR.ORG has an entire section on 3.0 swaps where everything is discussed in great detail. I recommend doing some research over there.

It's in the description. 197/204 at the time; has since been modified a little further.

@@Bennett9000 thx. I'm just trying to find a base line before the turbo goes on my eacape

2.0 is harder to swap, as the transaxle and subframe are not compatible with any V6 swaps. Best thing for that cast-iron 2.0 is some boost; a boosted Zetec can easily make WAY better power than a V6.

but how? @@Bennett9000

Yes

I tell you why