5.0 is Go: How a Ford Coyote 5.0L V8 Swap Compares to the LS V8 and Why You Should Do it (DrivingLine)
When it comes to modern V8 swaps, the General Motors LS engine is the undisputed king — having made their way into just about every type of vehicle under the sun.
But what about the Ford side? Developed specifically to combat engines like the GM LS3, the Ford 5.0 liter “Coyote” engine has now been on the scene for a decade, winning over countless enthusiasts as the powerplant of the Mustang GT since 2011.
But is the Coyote a good candidate for a swap into an older car? Let’s take a look.
In DOHC We Trust
While they are both modern American V8s, the Coyote is a very different engine from the ones GM uses. At 5.0 liters it’s significantly smaller in displacement and also uses an overhead cam design vs the OHV setup on the LS and LT engines.
The DOHC design of the Coyote has both advantages of disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage when it comes to a Coyote swap is going to be its physical size. With it’s big, wide heads, the Coyote is going to be a tighter fit than a traditional small block in a lot of engine bays.
On the other hand, most would agree that the Coyote is a bit more “exotic” than those OHV V8s, not just in the way it looks, but in the way it performs too. The Coyote loves to rev, and with a redline of 7,000 RPM on the earlier engines and 7,500 RPM on the later ones you get a V8 that behaves much more like a “sports car” engine than a traditional OHV V8 — pulling hard all the way to redline.
