Shop Fits ‘Godzilla’ 7.3-liter Crate V8 into a Fox Body

‘Godzilla’ V8 is supposed to be in a Super Duty cag, but one of them broke loose and invaded the engine bay of this Mustang.

Ford offers a wide array of Mustang engines and power-adding options. You can get the EcoBoost 4-cylinder engine in two states of tune. The 5.0 makes 460 horsepower in the GT and an extra 20 in the Bullitt. Ford’s 5.2-liter V8 is available with and without a supercharger. But as this video from the YouTube channel REVan Evan (hosted by Evan J. Smith) shows, one shop in Taylor, Michigan area went a completely different route with their Mustang project vehicle. Team Z Motorsports dropped the all-new “Godzilla” 7.3-liter V8 made for the 2020 Super Duty into a Fox Body.

As you can imagine, fitting such a large engine into a space originally designed to hold a 5.0 wasn’t a completely trouble-free process. Team Z’s Dave Zimmerman tells Smith, “We had to make a slight modification to the oil pan and then drop the steering rack about an inch and a half so that we could get the crank centerline in the determined area that we thought would be optimal for the Fox Body and SN95.” Zimmerman and his crew also fabricated solid motor mounts and a custom K-member. Zimmerman adds, “The oil cooler was a bit of a challenge because of the steering shaft location.” Luckily, he found a way to relocate it and even delete it outright.

Team Z didn’t do all of this work just for fun. They’re going to sell hardware and kits that will enable power-hungry Fox Body and SN95 Mustang owners (so…all of them) to give their cars Godzilla grunt. According to Zimmerman, a stock radiator will fit up front. Installing the headers will only require bolting them in. Team Z will eventually offer the motor mounts and K-member designed to fit this 445-cubic-inch beast, as well as a transmission crossmember.

Under the hood of the 2020 Super Duty, Godzilla generates 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. That means it’s down on ponies compared to the Coyote V8, but way up on pulling power. But Team Z’s Brian Wolfe points out something important about those stock figures. Those were generated when the engine was connected to a full exhaust and truck air inlet system. If you swap in less restrictive, more aggressive hardware, those numbers will go up substantially. Wolfe tells Smith, “You start putting some camshafts in here, start doing some port work on the heads, I think up the compression ratio a bit, I think that a 600-horsepower type variant is going to be pretty easy to come across with just very simple bolt-ons.”

So there you have it, folks. If you were thinking about what to put in your next Mustang project, the new 7.3-liter seems to be a viable option. Why are you still reading this? Whip out that credit card and get started!

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum, H-D Forums, The Mustang Source, Mustang Forums, LS1Tech, HondaTech, Jaguar Forums, YotaTech, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts. Derek also started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.