Last weekend we saw one of the most-talked about events of the summer car show season take place at the Ford Nationals at Carlisle. Over the course of less than five hours, the Kurgan Motorsports team, in conjunction with CJ Pony Parts, tore out an old 5.0/5-speed V8 engine from a 1992 Mustang, and swapped in an all-new Coyote 5.0 crate engine.

Kurgan Motorsports performed the swap live in front of everyone as part of a contest. Contestants submitted estimates of how many hours and minutes it would take Kurgan to perform the whole swap, and the winner got $1,500 in Ford Racing performance parts. Quite the prize, and we’re sure people were shocked at how quickly the original 5.0 engine came out, and how fast the new 5.0 engine dropped in. Thanks to Ford Racing’s hot rod harness, there were just six connections to make on the engine in order to get it running right.

http://youtu.be/5QsIUMZevb0

It only took Kurgan Motorsports a total of four hours and fifty-two minutes to install the Coyote 5.0 engine. Here is a quick breakdown of how the whole swap went down.

Pre-Swap: Before being driven to the show, this 1992 Mustang was done over with a new interior, fresh paint, shiny wheels, and what have you, since such things would add days, if not weeks, to the build time. But the drivetrain was left completely untouched.

Hour One: It took the Kurgan crew less than an hour to completely remove the old engine and transmission. This removal went as smoothly as one could hope, allowing them to make quick progress on the install.

Hour Two: By the time the second hour rolled around, the Kurgan crew was working hard to prep the engine bay for the new engine, which included a new K-member, motor mounts, a brake booster from a 2003 Cobra Mustang, and plenty of other preparation parts.

Hour Three: It was about this time that the Coyote engine was dropped into the Mustang, which is actually one of the easiest parts of the swap. Connecting the new Coyote 5.0 engine to the Mustang’s wiring harness required just six connections, which didn’t take all that long. However, a hangup with the transmission cost the team about 30 minutes before they were able to get it to connect correctly with the engine.

Hour Four: With the engine in and connected, the Kurgan team finished off the final touches before trying to start the engine. But it wouldn’t start. So the team unplugged all the wiring, and plugged it back in, and sure enough that was all it took to bring this Coyote to life. Total time, from start to finish; 4 hours, 52 minutes.

According to one of the techs who worked on the car, they actually made an effort to go slow, so the whole thing wouldn’t be over too quick. The only real issue they ran into was the transmission being stubborn for those 30 minutes. And before you ask, yes, it runs and drives and sounds awesome. They even brought the car out for the burnout competition at the end of the day on Saturday.

Ford Racing added this video to YouTube to help those who weren’t there understand what went into this swap. With little more than a lift and some tools, these dedicated gearheads were able to do the engine swap in a matter of hours, not days. It wouldn’t take much more than a weekend to do this swap by ones self. Don’t believe us? Watch the video, and make sure to stick around for the awesome ending.