Hey.. Im kinda new to all this stuff and am learning as i go on. I read a lot about how PI swaps are a very good mod to start off with. I have a 1996 mustang GT. It is bone stock as o f now. 1st question is... is the PI swap a good mod as a first mod? My friend has a buddy that works only on mustangs and he said he can do the PI swap for me for 500$ if i supply the parts, and $1,000 for him to supply parts, and install. Is that too expensive or is that a good price? Also, if i supply the parts what all would i need?
My fiancee and I did this same swap about a year ago.As far as price goes really cant help u their because we paid maybe 500 bucks for parts.We just happened to find really good deals when he was ready to do the swap.That and we didnt have to pay for labor.Now if u were thinking maybe of doing it for yourself Im sure we'd be able to give u the run down on it.As far as is it a good place to start well yes depending on what u want to do with it in the end.No use in spending time or money with a motor u may end up not using (this is what happened with him) Hes putting a 5.4 in it now...But the swap in its self made a pretty good difference.
Cams and a tune afterwards. Not some mail order or canned tune from a handheld tuner. Take the car and have it done by a professional that monitors A/F ratio with a wideband sensor.
Beware though, the PI swap will raise your compression ratio so you need to decide now whether you plan on doing a power adder down the road. If you think you'll go with a power adder eventually, just do the PI intake and cam swap. That alone will give you about 20rwhp and leave your compression ratio alone so you can do a power adder down the road.
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Sometimes I think that government fits that old-fashioned definition of a baby: An alimentary canal with an appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
- Ronald Reagan
You can do a PI head swap or just swap the entire engine. By doing that, you gain life back into the car and it'll last that much longer. That what I did, then I bought a S/C.
This is an excellent post from ModularDepot.com regarding the PI swap. I've done the harder of the two several times (Windsor Heads), so if you can find Romeo heads use them over Windsors.
you can run a romeo block under windsor heads. the only thing you need to buy is timing chain guides. I have the part numbers the guides if you want them as Ive done this before.
Do the install yourself and save that money for cams. You can look on ebay for a set of heads. It would be nice if the heads you buy have the cam in them already that way you dont have to worry about the lash adjusters and all that other crap.
I would just find a wrecked mustang and buy the engine from them, when i did the pi swap for my 98 gt, i found an entire engine with about 38k miles on the clock and picked it up about 10 miles from the border of mexico, in chula vista, california.
I would recommend a tune, however, there has been some people who went along with it on their stock tune for a 96-98 GT.
btw, since the motor is out, i would think about Headers, clutch, flywheel, etc. You'll be saving more money down the road if you take care of this stuff now.
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-2003 Ford Mustang GT 5-Speed
Mac X-Pipe, Mac Straight Shot intake, Magnaflows, Sportlines, Tokicos, MM C/C Plates, Tint, Mach 1 Lip, and some bald ass tires.
-1998 Ford Mustang GT Convertible 5-Speed
FULL PI SWAP
FULL BOLT-ONS
260 hp / 302 Trq
PI swap question 
