Zenith
It's the fact that GM put them in everything and made a diverse range of motors. No matter what you're building the car to do and no matter what your budget, you can put an LS-ish in it.
Windsors are pretty much the same in that regard, I've yet to see differently.
No they're not. Ford stopped using them a decade and a half ago. You can't find junkyard or crate engine seller Windsors in the same quantity or condition that you can with an LS pattern engine. It's just older. The engines weren't designed with modern cars in mind, so naturally they fit less well. Case in point, my rear steering Mustang. Hardly anybody uses a rear-steer layout anymore, but tons of Windsors were designed with this in mind. Things like this make swaps harder.
Slash
Zenith
Only have a couple thousand to spend on the entire powertrain? Salvage an iron block 5.3 with an auto from a van.
I can pull a complete drivetrain from a box van for less than $1000 with Ford parts. Couple thousand? LOL
I didn't say the pull would cost that much, I said the powertrain swap would cost that much. That includes all the wiring, mounts, and drivetrain mods. You can probably grab GM stuff for just as little or (probably) less than Ford Windsor stuff. Where are the HybridZ forums that have dozens of members who can tell me exactly how to put a Windsor V8 in my old Datsun?
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Zenith
Building a general use sporty road car? LS1/2/3.
Windsor...
I can lift a 430hp LS3 out of a wrecked Camaro and change nothing on it and have a kick-ass sports car. Where are the 430hp Windsors sitting around? In order to get performance worth swapping an engine into your car, you need to go to the expensive aftermarket. The Windsor is needlessly expensive when compared to a similar performance LS.
Also fuel injection, why would I want to mess with crappy old carburetors if I can have stock factory fuel injection? This is a general use car. I want to make things easier on myself.
The transmissions that come with the LS engines are newer. I don't have to get some custom deal to hook up a 6 speed to my LS, it was basically designed to work with it like peanut butter and jam.
With Windsors I am fighting age at every turn. I'm trying to adapt them to modern electronics, modern transmissions, modern fueling, modern ignition, and modern driving.
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Zenith
Super high performance track build? LS7 with titanium connecting rods.
Windsor with Scat/Eagle stuff.
Factory engine vs full aftermarket engine. Why would I pay $4,000 for an aluminum Windsor block alone when I can just buy something that was engineered in the 2000's and get the same performance easier and cheaper?
Zenith
Drag car? Iron block with huge turbos.
Can be done.
For crap-loads extra money for the same or worse performance.
Can be done, but it's not the best way of doing it. Why would I do things worse and harder when I can do them easier and better?
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Zenith
No other motor has such a broad range. The broader the range, the more people will adopt the motor, the more people adopt the motor, the more other people will join in. It's a snowball effect. The dude who's trying to decide between a Coyote and an LS knows that he'll be able to use the experience of everyone from the high profile speed shops to the junkyard dumpster diver if he chooses the Chevy.
And why exactly would this not work with a Windsor? It seems like you're not going for a high HP build, and in that aspect the W has just as much if not more aftermarket support than a comparable LS. The only thing the LS series has is that parts are $25 (example) cheaper.
It just doesn't. There are LS swap "kits" for all kinds of cars including old GM's, Fox Bodys, MX-5's, 240's, and more. There aren't many for Windsors. There are hundreds of shops who build and are currently researching aftermarket parts for the LS. The LS has huge popularity, the Windsor doesn't outside of Ford groups.
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Zenith
And since everything basically bolts up to everything, you can always upgrade your cheapie build or find an oil pan, intake, and accessory set to fit your ride like I did. Mixing and matching parts allows the engine that little bit better.
This also applies to Windsors.
Not to the same extent. Ford doesn't make cars with them anymore. Sure, I can find aftermarket stuff that might fit my ride well for a Windsor, but that's much more expensive than getting some used parts off of some dude's part-out on LS1Tech.
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Zenith
The aftermarket support is obviously a huge factor, but a big reason why it's so massive is because the engines are a universal swap option.
So are Windsors
They're not unless you want to take your car back to the 1960's in terms of tech. Generally people like making their cars newer and better. The only way to do that with a Windsor is to spend thousands extra, and even then you won't get the same array of sensors and 21st century engineering.
The only MAJOR factors a typical iron block LS has over a W is the factory horsepower and parts are ever so slightly cheaper.
More aftermarket support as I covered above, modern design, fuel injection, better parts availability from your corner auto store, existing swap popularity.
It comes down to this:
Slash
I can't see why you couldn't do that with a Windsor.
Of course it
can be done with a Windsor,
but why would I want to? To be a contender, the Windsor can't just work as a substitute for the LS, it needs to be
better than the LS in at least a few ways. In what ways is the Windsor a better candidate for a variety of engine swaps than the LS for people who don't bleed Ford blue? It's a great engine, it's still a 50 year old engine that you're comparing to a 10 year old engine.