1993 Taurus SHO ATX to MTX conversion

I’ve always wanted a 5-speed SHO, but my ’93 ATX has deep sentimental value and is in great condition. And I certainly can’t afford to be fixing/modding two SHOs, so what to do? Take a rusted-body $150 MTX SHO, $3k in new/used parts, and several long days to realize that dream! 1993 Taurus SHO 3.2L ATX – 116k miles (original transmission) Before he passed away two years ago, my younger brother poured his heart and soul into this car. No way could I ever get rid of his baby.. so lets make it faster instead (he woulda loved this). 1990 Taurus SHO 3.0L MTX – 160k miles (mechanically sound, body = New York hard life) Purchased for $150 from my buddy, AP. I was disturbed by how much quicker it was than the ATX. I kept telling myself it was the corrosion lightening mods that made it faster.

The basic plan was to drop the entire engine, transmission, front suspension and subframe assembly from each car, swap the necessary components, and reinstall back into the ’93. “Dropping” the subframe is actually a misnomer since we used a two-post car lift to raise the body off the subframe, which was supported on four jackstands:
Dropping the entire assembly in this way took about 4 hours, mainly spent trying to remove the corroded subframe bolts.
Of all the issues I faced, the one that held the greatest potential for disaster is not keeping track of inventory. I took the extra time early on to make my life easier when putting things back together by using several sizes of labeled Ziploc bags to keep track of each part and the fasteners associated with it.
The following is a list of all the parts I took from the MTX donor. Generally, I also used the fasteners from the 3.0L unless there was a matching fastener from the 3.2, which weren’t as corroded. All of the parts on the list are unique to the MTX and are needed to do the swap the way I did (double belt accessories, 3.0L timing), but some should be purchased new when possible for obvious reasons.

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