5.0 swap vs building the 6.2

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Cody Templeton

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If I was to do the 7.3 swap I would stay NA and just run a cam. It will make 600/600 like that and run shiiit Mexican fuel too.
If all out power is your goal, don't expect to run that south of the border in the dirt.

It might be a good idea to just do the swap to start with a a few upgrades to the engine, and then add the Whipple down the road. I know there's just not a lot of aftermarket support for the 6.2, whereas there is a lot more for the 7.3. People have said the 6.2 could be built to push the Whipple as far as it could, but on a cost analysis I'm wondering if that even makes sense to do. If the 7.3 is going to be plenty durable at the same power levels for a lot less money, then why not just do the swap.
 

EricM

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If you want a really high output engine, I'd go 7.3L. You get a forged steel crank vs cast steel in the 6.2L, which is key. No point in building anything for big power w/o a forged steel crank.

Ford Racing is selling parts for the 7.3L. The aftermarket is fully on board with the 7.3L. Molnar has their bad ass H beams for cheap https://molnarrods.com/ford-godzilla-rods You got more dispalcement, it's smaller and lighter as well. The only downside is trying to figure out how to run the 7.3L with, or within, the facory 6.2L electrical system- of which there are two (10-12 and 13-14).
 
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Cody Templeton

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Some quick info - swap kit for the 7.3 into the 6.2 truck is about $4500. You need to provide engine assembly (obviously), a throttle body to filter tube with MAF mount (not too difficult), a setup to attach the exhaust manifolds to the rest of the exhaust (any exhaust shop can probably build this), and re-route the trans cooler lines (also not difficult as you could just bend and make new ones). Figure around $1000 for all of that. There's a few misc. parts you'd still need from the 6.2 as well. The tuning is about $1500, uses the stock 6.2 PCM so that everything else via the CANBus still works as stock in the truck.

A stock 7.3 without any aftermarket modifications will do 800HP @ 10PSI, and still be pretty "safe." From what I've seen you can get 700HP out of a stock 6.2, but it's not going to last very long, at which point to push 700HP reliability, or go anywhere beyond that, you need to build the engine. If we are talking a Livernois built 6.2 for $22k minus supercharger, you're still only talking about making 500HP. The full 7.3 swap, assuming you pay around $7000 for the engine, and with a Whipple kit, would put you around $22k with 800HP. As EricM above stated, you're not just talking way more power at that point, but also an engine that has full aftermarket support, is lighter, smaller, and way more displacement. It just doesn't seem like it's worth trying to really push on the 6.2 at that point.
 

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The juice isnt worth the squeeze for a 6.2, the 5.0 has way more aftermarket parts and support though the 7.3 looks promising. Also not to mention probably needing to upgrade the trans and driveshaft.

Isnt a built Livernois 6.6L?
 

EricM

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The extra 2.3L of displacement from the 5.0 to the 7.3 is worth it. Ford gets 300+ HP from their 2.3L engine with boost. I know it's not a direct corallary due to bore size and RPM limitations, but still- you'd be crazy not to go 7.3L if you had the chance vs the 5.0L. It has nearly 50% more displacement than the 5.0L.
 
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Cody Templeton

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The juice isnt worth the squeeze for a 6.2, the 5.0 has way more aftermarket parts and support though the 7.3 looks promising. Also not to mention probably needing to upgrade the trans and driveshaft.

Isnt a built Livernois 6.6L?

If the 5.0 was an easy drop in I'd definitely lean more that way, but from the sounds of it it's not just swapping the ECM and engine assembly, there's some differences in the dash/body harness. The way the 7.3 swap kit gets around this is using the 6.2 PCM with a tune on it, and then it's own engine harness. I would assume you could get the 5.0 in there to work, but you would most likely end up having to swap everything from the 5.0 including the full engine assembly, PCM, engine harness, body harness, cluster, BCM, etc. It starts getting into headaches when you're talking about VIN match on modules as well.

The built Livernois is a 6.6 yes, but the crappy part is it's still not really a "built" engine considering the crank is still a stock crank. I don't really think the heads are really "built" either.
 
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Cody Templeton

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The extra 2.3L of displacement from the 5.0 to the 7.3 is worth it. Ford gets 300+ HP from their 2.3L engine with boost. I know it's not a direct corallary due to bore size and RPM limitations, but still- you'd be crazy not to go 7.3L if you had the chance vs the 5.0L. It has nearly 50% more displacement than the 5.0L.

I would agree that the displacement increase would probably suit something like the Raptor well. Also, with how much easier it looks like the swap would be, that's going to weigh heavy on things as well. The 7.3 just seems like it would be a lot more "at home" in the Gen 1 than the 5.0.
 
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Cody Templeton

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For about the same price as a 6.6L livernois


Yeah, I had seen that as well. Obviously you're going to have additional cost for the swap kit for the 7.3, but you're also talking about starting out 100+ HP ahead of the Livernois 6.6, as well as a lighter, more compact, and higher displacement engine. I would imagine 1000HP wouldn't be too tough on the Megazilla with a Whipple considering a stock 7.3 makes 800HP @ 10PSI.
 
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