94cobra69ss396's Explorer V8 Conversion

[94cobra69ss396]

As I mentioned before I'm currently doing a V8 conversion on my Explorer.

So a little background on my truck. It's a 1995 Ford Explorer XLT 4x4 that started off as my wifes daily driver shortly after my first daughter was born. It came with a 4.0 V6 that was rated at 160hp and 225tq. After my second daughter was born we bought a suburban and the Explorer became my offroad vehicle. My first mod was a torsion bar twist, home made rear springs with Warrior shackles and 31x10.5x15 tires. I wheeled it like that for many years before I decided that I wanted to do a solid axle swap on it which I believe I've already posted on here.

On to the donor truck. It used to be Eric's 1997 Eddie Bauer edition 5.0 V8 AWD that he graciously gave to me when he just moved to FL. The v8 was rated at 210hp and 280tq. Quite a bit more than my V6. He bought the truck back when he lived in NY so that should give you an idea of what I'm in store for.

So here are trucks and the start of the engine/transmission/t-case removal. What should have only taken a couple hours took about 16 because everything was so rusted.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-11140614.jpg?t=1313461961

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-11140637.jpg?t=1313461757

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-15182648.jpg?t=1313461560

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-15182704.jpg?t=1313461547

[Shaolin Crane]

That exploder engine should be worth more than 210hp. The intake is identical to the cobra in design and the heads are iron castings of the gt40 SVO heads. Toss some head work, and an e-cam with a healthy bump in compression 9.5:1-10:1 and you'll make 280-300rwhp

[94cobra69ss396]

I believe they had a 9.2:1 compression ratio just like the Mustang did. The issue is the ehaust manifolds are pinched and the cam is pretty small. Headers add 20rwhp and 20rwtq with no other mods. I have a set of headers for it but I have to wait until after I get it BAR certified. Then I'll do a cam, headers and a tune.

[Shaolin Crane]

That car will pass with shorty headers and a cam, and as far as i remember they were 9:1 compression. The heads, while better than E7's are still very shitty castings, my SVO heads are only a few years old and have the revised X casting without the port work and were still poor in terms of flow ability. Add a port job while you're able, it will really wake that engine up.

[94cobra69ss396]

I plan to but I can't do the headers until after I have it BAR certified. I know it will pass tailpipe with them but they don't have an EO number so if I install them before I get it certified I will fail the certification.

[Shaolin Crane]

Just go online to the CARB website and print out the certification page for any header that passes then stamp the number onto the headers. If you'd like I can even "find" a tag for you...

[Vettezuki]

Ron, if the original heads I have off of the Snake are of any value to you, you're welcome to them.

[94cobra69ss396]

The Explorer came with either GT40 or GT40P heads which are decent. My Cobra came with GT40 heads and with a couple boltons it put down 254rwhp which should be around 300hp at the crank. I'm just looking to make more than I do now with the V6 so even if I only make 220hp at the crank at first I'd be happy.

You went through the BAR cetification with your Vette didn't you? How picky were they and where did you take it?

[Vettezuki]

. . .You went through the BAR cetification with your Vette didn't you? How picky were they and where did you take it?

Yes. I took it to the auto department at Fullerton College where they have an inspector on staff.

They are PICKY. They took about 90 minutes as I recall, here's stuff I had to change after the first attempt.

Remove the more advanced C5 Vette PCV and put on the 2001 F-Body. He caught this by looking at diagrams. Yes, that's correct. The state made me put on the system from my declared year (2001 F-Body) even though it technically was a less efficient system.

Replace the stock 82' Charcoal canister with an F-Body unit. Apparently the charcoal is different. :smack:

I don't remember what I originally had, but I had to relabel my check engine light with "MIL".

I passed on the second attempt as I recall.

What they didn't catch is that I was running 4.8L truck heads. I restamped them with the correct casting numbers. :)

They were curious why the computer wasn't throwing any codes for a pressurized gas tank, but I played dumb and they let it go.

I recommend calling the place you intend to go, talking to the inspector who will do the inspection, and make sure you're reading from the same music. I did this and I'm sure it helped to move things a little bit. If I just scheduled and showed up out of the blue, they may well have been more of a PITA. They will NOT give you a concrete list of "do this and you will pass", some areas are grey and open to interpretation, but they should at least be able to offer guidance.

[Shaolin Crane]

Ron I have someone that can help, guaranteed. Text me for details

[kdracer73]

Just go online to the CARB website and print out the certification page for any header that passes then stamp the number onto the headers. If you'd like I can even "find" a tag for you...

If they do not look legit-- he is F'ed. Not going to Juans smog shop...going to the state Ref...They can be hard assed mofos.

[Shaolin Crane]

Im not saying to stamp them after a bottle of jack and using the one eye with a smile technique. Some good steel stamps and a line of tape will keep them looking legit. I also have aluminum ID tags that could be fashioned for use as well.

[94cobra69ss396]

I'm just leaving it all stock until after it is certified.

[Vettezuki]

Im not saying to stamp them after a bottle of jack and using the one eye with a smile technique. Some good steel stamps and a line of tape will keep them looking legit. I also have aluminum ID tags that could be fashioned for use as well.

Mine are stamped. Not perfect, but looks like they could have come out of a factory. I'm not sure he checked casting numbers, but if he did, he would have seen the correct numbers stamped into the side.

For a guy like Ron who can and enjoys wrenching all the time, leaving it stock and keeping it simple as possible to begin with is a good way to go to get through the state refs, who as Paul pointed out and I can personally attest to, are NOTHING like your average smog tech.

[Shaolin Crane]

I agree, but i make ID tags all day long that need to look factory, and been doing it for years. Smog stuff is no different, so it could be in theory used in a similar situation, not that I have ever done so

[kdracer73]

And talking bought this on a open forum....not recommended...got this email after answering a question on the z28 website
"Hi,

I saw your post regarding the smog check stuff. I work for BAR . Anyway, The fines/training for a shop or tech certifying a vehicle not in compliance are as follows:

first time: $500 fine to the shop, 8 hours training for the tech.

2nd time $1000/16 hours training

3rd time $2000.clean air car course (currently 68 hours)

4th time-file for revocation.

And BAR never buys cars off of Craigslist.


Anyway, I believe you're a tech in OC? I work in the Placentia field office.

Doug"



I was responding to a question about why a smog shop refused to smog a car that had aftermarket parts with EO#s. What I told him was that smog tech was either lazy, or scared it was a undercover car. The process we are supposed to go through to verify parts with EO# can be a PITA. And I mentioned that BAR has been buying cars off craigslist that should not have passed a smog check. And busting the techs for felonies. I sent him this link to their own newsletter....scroll down to page 7
http://www.autorepair.ca.gov/80_BARResources/ftp/pdfdocs/ARSC_Fall2009.pdf

[Shaolin Crane]

Yeah I didnt want to either, maybe a mod should go back and delete them. But I also didnt do, or have been proven to do anything illegal, so im probably safe, hypothetical evaluations dont warrant a crime ;)

[Kozak]

And talking bought this on a open forum....not recommended...got this email after answering a question on the z28 website
"Hi,

I saw your post regarding the smog check stuff. I work for BAR . Anyway, The fines/training for a shop or tech certifying a vehicle not in compliance are as follows:

first time: $500 fine to the shop, 8 hours training for the tech.

2nd time $1000/16 hours training

3rd time $2000.clean air car course (currently 68 hours)

4th time-file for revocation.

And BAR never buys cars off of Craigslist.


Anyway, I believe you're a tech in OC? I work in the Placentia field office.

Doug"



I was responding to a question about why a smog shop refused to smog a car that had aftermarket parts with EO#s. What I told him was that smog tech was either lazy, or scared it was a undercover car. The process we are supposed to go through to verify parts with EO# can be a PITA. And I mentioned that BAR has been buying cars off craigslist that should not have passed a smog check. And busting the techs for felonies. I sent him this link to their own newsletter....scroll down to page 7
http://www.autorepair.ca.gov/80_BARResources/ftp/pdfdocs/ARSC_Fall2009.pdf

He's proud of that shit, being a lackey, what a homo :theehee:

[94cobra69ss396]

One of the guys in our 4x4 club works for BAR which is why I'm doing the swap with everything stock. I plan to do upgrades with E.O numbers later but I don't want to go through the hassle of proving they're legal with the swap.

[kdracer73]

Good plan ^
....Don't mean to be the party killer, but I just spent a week in
smog lic update training. The whole week was spent on how thw BAR is increasing enforcment and cracking down on all the shady stuff they know goes on. The old laws made enforcment hard for them. AB2289(now signed into law) has lots of changes that make enforcment much easier for them. They talked about how they doubled enforcment staff and spent the week scaring the crap out of us:crutches:

[Vettezuki]

. . .They talked about how they doubled enforcment staff and spent the week scaring the crap out of us:crutches:

Good to know they have priorities in the middle of economic Armageddon.

[94cobra69ss396]

Back to the conversion. I pulled the engine tonight and I'll start disassembling it tomorrow. Hopefully the cylinders are in good shape and it will just need a hone. I'm going to wait until I have the engine rebuilt and ready to drop in before pull the engine out of mine and then I'll switch the wiring harnesses and computers.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-17182046.jpg?t=1313637666

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-17182059.jpg?t=1313637666

[Shaolin Crane]

Nice work bench, wanna loan me that lift plate?

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks. I find the Chevelle makes for a good work bench and storage.

Sure.

[94cobra69ss396]

Here are a couple more of the engine. Externally there is a lot of rust but internally it looks good. There's little wear on the cylinder walls and the valves look good.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-18141239.jpg?t=1313817195

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-18141251.jpg?t=1313817196

I also disassembled the heads today to do some mild porting on them. I finished one and started the other. I'll finish it up tomorrow and post some better pictures.

This is a stock exhaust.
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-19130312.jpg?t=1313817604

I concentrated on the roof and pocket and didn't make the port much bigger. To my surprise the short side radius on both the exhaust and the intake didn't need to be touched.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-19165504.jpg?t=1313817209

Intake after blending.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-19183817.jpg?t=1313817224

Intake after shaping the valve guide. This is all that was done to the intake.
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-19183847.jpg?t=1313817223

[94cobra69ss396]

I still didn't finish the second head but here are some more pictures of the finished one. I also ordered new springs and valve stem seals today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143529.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143510.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143317.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143350.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143408.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143443.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143642.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143550.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-20143605.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Are you gonna need a decking and valve job?

[enkeivette]

Lurk

[94cobra69ss396]

Are you gonna need a decking and valve job?

This is going to be a budget build so I'm just going to clean and lap the valves myself. I discovered yesterday that I have an issue with the Cobra that I thought was the radiator cap but isn't so it's going to have to be torn down. So what I'm going to do is build this engine for as little as possible and get it in the Explorer so I can drive it while I go through the Cobra. A 331 might be in it's future.

[Shaolin Crane]

cough 347 cough

[Vettezuki]

cough 347 cough

Rod angle? I thought that was more of a race only mod that will need more regular attention . . Ron beats the fu*k out of the Cobra pretty much daily.

[Shaolin Crane]

Rod angle? I thought that was more of a race only mod that will need more regular attention . . Ron beats the fu*k out of the Cobra pretty much daily.

Its only a smidge more than a 331, and its never been proven that rod angle is what causes premature failure of a 347. Actually no one has proven a 331 is mkore durablw than a 331, the only advantage there use to be was the 347 had the oil ring intersection the cross pin so the motors used oil, but nothing that would be considered a race only mod, besides, thats been fixed for a long time now, also now the pistons are offset compared to the old pistons bringing rod angle nearly identical to the 331. no reason to not gain all the extra cubes possible. There are plenty of higher mileage 363's, higher mileage and higher horsepower, the problem isnt the rotating assembly, its the pos block. Ron is at about the limit with his block anyhow, might as well gain the extra torque.

[Vettezuki]

...Actually no one has proven a 331 is mkore durablw than a 331,...

You don't say. :smack:

[Shaolin Crane]

Tis what happens when you post from your phone on the shitter after eating dairy

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished porting the heads yesterday I got the rest of the block torn down. Everything looks good. I took the block, heads, pistons and lower intake to Guy last night and we hot tanked them. I'm going to have guy's machinist install new cam bearings and do a light hone on the the block.

[94cobra69ss396]

Guy dropped the block off this morning for the cam bearings and hone (thanks Guy). Now I just need to start picking up the other bearings, piston rings, etc.

[Shaolin Crane]

No problem

[94cobra69ss396]

Change in plans. The block has to be bored. So I'm getting new pistons and I'm having Guy's machinist do a valve job on the heads.

[Vettezuki]

Change in plans. The block has to be bored. So I'm getting new pistons and I'm having Guy's machinist do a valve job on the heads.

Guy's machinist does boring too don't he?

[Shaolin Crane]

He does, he's doing the boring, hanging the pistons and getting him the pistons, rings and bearings

[94cobra69ss396]

Pistons and rings arrived at the machinist today. Also, my valve springs and valve stem seals came in but I need to take them to the machinist so he can finish up the valve job.

[94cobra69ss396]

I picked up my block, pistons, rings, main/rod bearings and heads from the machinist yesterday. I had to work on the Cobra today so I didn't get much done on this engine but I did manage to clean it along with the crank and then installed the main bearings and crank. Tomorrow I'll get all the pistons installed and check to see how far down in the hole they are so that I can order my head gaskets.

[94cobra69ss396]

I got the short block assembled today. I'll post up pictures tomorrow because I'm too tired to do it tonight. I cc'd the combustion chambers and checked to see how far down the new pistons are so that I could order my head gaskets. The new pistons are .030 down, have +3cc valve reliefs and the heads have a 60cc combustion chamber after some unshrouding of the intake valve and being milled .020. So I ordered .039 (stock is .050) gaskets which should give me 9.11:1 compression.

[Shaolin Crane]

Should easily run on 87, and should still make 250rwhp

[94cobra69ss396]

With the stock exhaust manifolds I'm thinking 235-245 at the crank.

Here are some pictures.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-28103742.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-28103756.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-28185112.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-28185123.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-28185138.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Im talking the big picture after tha BAR

[enkeivette]

Exploder manifolds are some of the worst I've ever seen. Don't you dare run them! :nutkick: :D

[94cobra69ss396]

Exploder manifolds are some of the worst I've ever seen. Don't you dare run them! :nutkick: :D

I have no choice. I have to run them to get the truck BAR certified.

[enkeivette]

Can't you run mustang manifolds and notch the frame or something? What the hell is bar certified?

[Vettezuki]

Can't you run mustang manifolds and notch the frame or something? What the hell is bar certified?

Bureau of Automotive Repair. They're the ones who do the engine swap certs.

[enkeivette]

OIC, a lesser known bar. Haha. Well be sure to junk them 4 hours after you get it certified ;)

[94cobra69ss396]

For your amusement. Stock header (top) versus FRPP.

http://home.comcast.net/~rwenzing/FRPP_headers_vs_factory_Explorer.jpg

[Leedom]

For your amusement. Stock header (top) versus FRPP.

http://home.comcast.net/~rwenzing/FRPP_headers_vs_factory_Explorer.jpg

WOW! those things do suck. Engine looks good though Ron!

[94cobra69ss396]

My head gasket arrived today so I went this afternoon also picked up some ARP head bolts from GTR High Performance. Tonight I installed the heads, pushrods and rockers and set the preload on the lifters. I also installed the lower intake which I painted black and the camshaft position sensor. Pictures from tonight. Sorry that they are so dark. I'll get some better ones tomorrow.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-31193149.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-08-31193133.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

I'll walk over to my machinest and ask him about the bolts and what not, they probably took them off as a precaution

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks. I didn't know if you maybe took them off before you hot tanked it or if they did.

[94cobra69ss396]

Here are more pictures.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-01121440.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-01121427.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-01121512.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-01121411.jpg

[Leedom]

That thing looks sweet. I know where I am going when my truck needs a rebuild.

[Shaolin Crane]

That thing looks sweet. I know where I am going when my truck needs a rebuild.

Oh but if you do it here we'll have the fun times of taking it in and out a few times, :lmfao:

[94cobra69ss396]

That thing looks sweet. I know where I am going when my truck needs a rebuild.

Thanks. I took a page out of the Shaolin Crane book of engine colors.

[Shaolin Crane]

:).

[Leedom]

Oh but if you do it here we'll have the fun times of taking it in and out a few times, :lmfao:

:jester:

[94cobra69ss396]

I haven't worked on this for a while but I got back to it today. It went a little slow today but only because I was training some new hired helpers. We picked up some new valve cover and exhaust bolts along with gaskets. What took the most time was getting the rusted exhaust flange bolts out. Worst part is I can't find anyone who carries replacements.

Here are some pictures from today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132407.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132424.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132433.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132520.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132524.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132533.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132542.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24132547.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24145757.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-24145807.jpg

Tomorrow I'll start pulling the engine/trans/transfer case out on my truck.

[Shaolin Crane]

King bolt in covina will have all that stuff, its walk from our shop. Give me the size and i'll get them for you

[94cobra69ss396]

I think the ones one the 4.0 are the same size. If so, I'll be able to just use those. If not, I'll let you know.

[94cobra69ss396]

The bolts for the 4.0 are the same so I'm going to use them. I worked on it all day today and got everything pulled. I only took a couple pictures which I'll post up later. If I have time tomorrow night I'll start swapping everything over from the '97 to the '95.

Before I started to remove anything from the '95 I measured the front and wrote down the height. This way I can see how much lower it ends up with the V8. I can already tell you that the V8 is quite a bit heavier.

[SeanPlunk]

The girls are so grown up!

[94cobra69ss396]

I know. Only 6 more years and Kylie will be driving.

Here are the only pictures I took yesterday.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-25181135.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-25181221.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I was able to work on it a little tonight. I moved the throttle cable, cruise control and EVAP from the '97 to the '95. I also removed the complete engine/lighting wire harness from the '97. Next up will be to remove the one from the '95 and then install the '97 harness into the '95. Here's the only picture I took.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-26193215.jpg

[enkeivette]

Ug, I hate wiring harnesses. Does it all plug in to the V6 chassis?

[94cobra69ss396]

I got the engine harness out of the '95 and found that the pins are different on the dash harnesses. So I pulled the dash harness out of the '97 and I'm comparing it to the one in the '95. The '97 has a lot more options on it so it has more connectors but I think I'm going to be able to use the one that's in the '95 and just add the OBDII connector along with a few additional things that it needs for the OBDII. Last night I traced the wiring that goes back to the fuel pump/rear ABS/EVAP canister purge valve.

Here are some various pictures.

4.0 engine harness.
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-29154538.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-29154523.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-29154513.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I was able to get some work done on the wiring harness today before it started raining. It was actually well timed because I had things to take my kids to and forgot about them. Luckily the rain made it so I was on time. Anyways, I traced down some of the wires that I don't have in the '95 that are in the '97 dash harness and moved them into the '95 dash harness. I was tracing the wires for the OBDII connector that is under the dash when I dicided to quit before it started to rain. Once I trace down all those I'll move them over to the '95. Here are a few pictures of the mess.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-10-06113153.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-10-06114418.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-10-06142201.jpg

These are the wires that I had to add. I just added the wire to the factory connectors so that it was clean. These wires go under the drivers seat and then back to the fuel pump/EVAP purge/fuel tank pressure. There was one more wire that I connected but it is on the top side of the grey connector behind all the wires in the picture.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-10-06162212-1.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I got a little more done today after I prepped the Cobra for the autocross tomorrow. I was able to pull all the needed wires from the OBDII connector and install them in my harness. It turned out that I only needed to add three wires because my truck has an OBDII connector under the dash and it had 4 of the 7 already. They were in a different location than they were on the '97 so I moved those as well. Here's what the connector looks like and the dash harness that I had to trace them in.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-10-08125353.jpg

This is where I had to add the three to match the engine harness.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/2011-09-29225059-1.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I got a little more done on the truck. First, I dropped the tank on mine, pulled the fuel pump and drained it. Then I removed the bracket for the EVAP canisters. I didn't want to use the one off Eric's because it was rusted so I modified mine to fit the canister off his.

Here's mine after I cut it in half.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010065.jpg

Here's the one off Eric's. As you can see the bracket is terrible.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010066.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010067.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010068.jpg

This is what mine looked like after modifying it. I cut the end off the side I wasn't going to use and welded it on to the end of the side I used because I needed the canister rotated 90 degrees.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010070.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010069.jpg

After I reinstalled my EVAP bracket I removed the old wiring harness for the fuel tank/ABS sensor and installed the one from Eric's truck because it had the extra wiring for the EVAP canister and fuel tank pressure sensor. After that I moved to the inside and started cutting/splicing the old harness with the new one.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010072.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010077.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010079.jpg

I finished splicing in all the wires that I had in my old harness. Next up is to splice in the new ones that I had to add to my dash harness.

[Leedom]

Looking good Ron. I just can not believe that you are doing this. I do not think I would even want to try and do what you are doing.

[94cobra69ss396]

I wasn't really nervous about this conversion. I was when I cut the front end off to do the solid axle swap but not with this. I had a complete V8 Explorer so I knew if worse came to worse I could just move everything over. Plus if I did run into something computer wise that I couldn't figure out I have Phil. There isn't anything that he wouldn't be able to help me with. So far I've been able to figure out all the wiring and it looks more complicated than it is.

[Shaolin Crane]

I dont want to try that, i cant even see the colors :smack:

[94cobra69ss396]

I got some more done today and tried to take a lot of pictures. Nomally i'm so busy that I just don't get to them but I did today. So I started by installing the harness that I spliced together yesterday and then spliced the remaining wires into the harness.

Here is the harness installed, it goes through the floor and down the frame to the back of the truck.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010082.jpg

Here are the remaining wires that needed to be spliced together.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010081.jpg

I tried to make it look as clean as possible.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010083.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010084.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010085.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010086.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010087.jpg

Then I spliced them together and finished tucking them away.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010088.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010089.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010090.jpg

After that I moved to the engine harness. Here's the one from the V8 that going in my truck.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010094.jpg

And here's my empty engine bay.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010095.jpg

I started with switching the computer over.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010096.jpg

Then I dropped the V8 harness in. Doesn't that look fun?

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010097.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010098.jpg

Kylie wasn't much of a help today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010099.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010100.jpg

And here's some of it done. I still have a lot more to do but soon I'll be ready to see if the engine is going to clear my steering box.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010101.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010102.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010103.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010104.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished running the engine harness today and then picked up some new motor mount and dropped the engine in.

That looks better.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010105.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010106.jpg

Here's how the steering box looks in relation to the oil filter location. I think I'll be okay with a remote mount filter. I'll order one from Summit and see.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010108.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010109.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010107.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010110.jpg

I still have a ton to do but I'm realy excited to have the engine in the truck.

[94cobra69ss396]

I was going to install the trans today and started with instlling the flexplate and filling the converter up with ATF. However, while doing the remote oil filter kit arrived. So I held off installing the trans so I could check and make sure there was going to be enough room for the adapter plate. Unfortunately there isn't enough room to install the lines with the adapter plate on the engine. So I pulled the flexplate back off and pulled the engine again.

It's sad to be back on the stand.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010204.jpg

I've decided what I'm going to try is to notch the frame to and move the steering box away from the engine some. Here's what I did so far.

The bracket in the old position.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010203.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010205.jpg

The hole in the frame.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010206.jpg

The piece I removed.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010207.jpg

I'll reinforce the inside of the frame before I weld the bracket back in and I think with a couple 90 degree fittings that I'll have enough room to clear it.

[anthonydalrymple]

Wow..... Coming along nicely! :thumbsup:

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks. I was going to work on it today but the wind out here was just way too strong.

[94cobra69ss396]

I think I have the steering box bracket where it's going to clear now. However, I'm not going to use the block adapter that came in the kit I ordered. The one in the kit comes straight out and Summit carries a low profile one that exits at 90 degrees. It's also only 1 3/8 tall and I have 2 inches of clearance now at the closest area. As you can see in the before and after pictures I moved the bracket about an inch inside the frame. I still need to weld the bottom though.

Before:

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010203.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010205.jpg

After:

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010214.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010215.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010217.jpg

[enkeivette]

You're a really good welder Ron. I want a gas setup.

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks, but I'm only an okay welder.

Here's the relocation kit I bought from Summit.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/trd-1127_w.jpg

But this is the block adapter that I'm going to use instead.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/trd-1413.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished welding up the underside. I hate welding upside down! I also took a look at the gas tanks because mine doesn't have the pressure sensor on it and Eric's is rusted to shit and I was going to just cut the mount for the sensor out and weld it to mine. However, while I was cleaning them out I discovered that his tank has a built in sump to help keep the fuel at the fuel pump. Mine doesn't have this but instead uses a plastic sump that is part of the fuel pump. I don't want to use mine with the V8 pump because it could starve the engine of fuel on the steep angles I put this truck in. So I've decided that I'm just going to buy another tank that has the sensor.

Here's pictures of the completed steering box. Part of the reason the welds look like shit is because I added plate between the frame and the mount to fill a gap near the front. The two beads v together and make it look terrible. I should have cleaned it up but I realy don't care what it looks like on the bottom.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010232.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010233.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010234.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Welding upside down is fun, nothing like catching your goatee on fire.

[enkeivette]

Welding a gas tank is no fun. I did one that was so thin, it looked like I closed up the hole, but the water managed to find little air bubbles to sneak out of. So I chased the air bubbles, and one spool worth of chasing and a mound of steel later I gave up and got a new tank.

[94cobra69ss396]

I'm actually just going to use Eric's tank for right now. Only because a new tank is almost $300 and the new fuel pump is $200. I have to buy the fuel pump but I'm going to hold off on getting a new tank for a little while.

[Shaolin Crane]

Why so much for the fuel pump?

[94cobra69ss396]

Why so much for the fuel pump?

Because I have to buy the whole assembly. If his wasn't in such bad shape I could buy just the pump and that's only $85.

[Shaolin Crane]

If you'd like me to, i can check the cost with my parts guy.

[94cobra69ss396]

Sure, but it will be after the new year before I'm ready to buy it.

[Shaolin Crane]

Thats cool, wont hurt to check. What year and setup before i call?

[94cobra69ss396]

1997 Ford Explorer AWD V8.

[94cobra69ss396]

Worked on it again today. I was able to drop the engine in and bolted up the trans. Moving the steering box mount inside the frame and using the low profile adapter worked perfect! There is now plenty of room.

Pictures from today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010246.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010247.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010248.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010249.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010250.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010252.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010251.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

I'm liking that relocation kit, i might get the same one for my car when i set up the oil cooler.

[Damian]

The only thing that I dislike about the relocation kit is I had a hose clamp come loose and dumped oil all over Mitsubishi headquarters parking lot. Wasnt sure what it really was until I had it towed home. So keep an eye on them. I was going to hard pipe them in with nice compression fittings.

[Shaolin Crane]

Those are threaded, no need for hose clamps

[94cobra69ss396]

The only thing that I dislike about the relocation kit is I had a hose clamp come loose and dumped oil all over Mitsubishi headquarters parking lot. Wasnt sure what it really was until I had it towed home. So keep an eye on them. I was going to hard pipe them in with nice compression fittings.

This kit doesn't use hose clamps. The below image is what came in the kit and the only part I changed was the block adapter. I'm using everything else from the kit. Also, if I find that I need longer hoses I'll have them made.

http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/trd-1127_w.jpg

[Damian]

Thats a nicer kit than I got!

[94cobra69ss396]

The one I bought was made by Trans Dapt. Summit had one that was their own brand that was $25 cheaper and it came with hose clamps but I didn't trust a hose clamp with supplying my engine with oil. When I added an external oil cooler to the Cobra I used AN fittings instead of hose clamps too. It cost me about $50 more than it would have if I had just used hose clamps but I don't have to worry about a clamp coming loose.

[Shaolin Crane]

I would never use hose clamps for engine oil, or any type of oil for that matter.

[94cobra69ss396]

The stock external transmission cooler on the Explorer came from Ford with hose clamps and I'm going to use it on mine.

[Damian]

I just doubled up on the hose clamps and didnt have anymore issues.

[94cobra69ss396]

No pictures today because I didn't have much time to work on it. I did manage to bolt the torque converter tot the flexplate, connect all the harnesses for the trans, install the shift linkage, install the starter and fix some corroded wiring. I also found that's it's so much easier to install the starter without all the IFS crap in the way.

[94cobra69ss396]

Got more done today. I finished installing the injectors, upper intake, egr and sensors, and the TB. I also installed the drivers side accessories so I could see how much room I was going to have for the power steering lines and mock up lines to be made. I will only have to have a high pressure line made because I was able to cut and bend the low pressure line. Tomorrow I'll go to The Hose Man and have the line made.

Getting closer.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010298.jpg

Here's the mocked up high pressure line. It's the one with the hose clamps on it.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010299.jpg

The green arrows point to the low pressure hose and hard line and the yellow arrow points to the high side line that I bent to crap fitting it where I wanted.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010302.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

You should have told me the intake was going to be black, i would have powdercoated it while i had it. Are you keeping the a/c? And if so when do you want me to charge it?

[94cobra69ss396]

Yes, I'm keeping the AC. Once I have it running I will still need to wire the blower motor before doing the AC. Eric's truck had climate control and mine doesn't so his has more wires for the blower motor than mine. Once I figure out the wiring and have it all working I get with you to charge the system. I want to get it BAR certified first, then do the transfercase and then move on to the blower motor. But I have to get it running frist, lol.

[Shaolin Crane]

Just let me know when so i can track down some r12

[94cobra69ss396]

It doesn't use R12, it uses R134.

[Shaolin Crane]

Oh, did your v6 engine also use r134?

[94cobra69ss396]

Yep. So does the Cobra. I believe '94 was the year Ford started using R134. I had a '94 T-bird and it took R134 as well.

[Shaolin Crane]

Odd, i know the trucks use r12 up to 95

[94cobra69ss396]

I dropped the power steering hose off at The Hose Man to have it made. I should have it next week. I got some more done today as well. The only things I have left to do is install the MAF, radiator overflow, trans cooler, transfer case, rear driveshaft, exhaust, fuel pump, fuel tank, power steering hose when I have it and then fill it up with oil and water. I'm hoping to have it done in a few days. Then I'll break the engine in and then take it to be BAR certified. I'll post up some pictures tomorrow.

[94cobra69ss396]

The only things I have left to do is install the power steering hose when it's done and install the fuel tank and pump. I went to install Eric's tank today but the filler connection broke off it. It's just too rusted to use so I ordered a new one tonight. I should have it in a few days.

I again didn't take any pictures but I'll try to tomorrow.

[94cobra69ss396]

Picked up the power steering hose today and installed it tonight. Here are some pictures.

The new hose.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010306.jpg

Upper portion.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010314.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010313.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010315.jpg

Lower portion connected to the steering box. It is very tight in there and hard to get to to install the line.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010312.jpg

Here are pictures of how I mounted the remote filter.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010321.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010320.jpg

The filter will be behind my skidplate so it will be protected.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010310.jpg

The finished product. All I have left is the fuel tank which is supposed to be delivered on Monday next week.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010307.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010308.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010309.jpg

[blackax]

Looks good

[Leedom]

Very nice.

[Shaolin Crane]

What is to become of the 97 once the swap is completed? I now need the entire brake assembly for the rear if you're going to part it out.

[94cobra69ss396]

I am going to part it out.

[94cobra69ss396]

The fuel tank arrived today and I had time tonight to install the fuel pump in the tank and then the tank in the truck. The hoses on the used filler I bought at the wrecking yard were cut and therefore not long enough so I need to pick up new ones tomorrow. Then I need to add all the fluids install the battery and fire it up. Hopefully it will be running tomorrow.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010322.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Awesome!

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished up the truck yesterday and it fired right up. However, it had really bad lifter tap so I shut it down. The first thing that came to mind was that there might be an issue with the remote oil filter so I started unscrewing the oil filter to see if it had oil which it did. It was late by that time so I left it for today. Tonight I pulled the driverside valve cover which requires removing the upper intake so it took a little while to do. I wanted to see if it had any oil in it and it was dry. So I'm assuming that I made a rookie mistake and left the oil galley plug off in the front of the block. I know that I didn't even check it when I assembled the engine so it makes sense that it's not there. I'll be pulling the front of the engine apart over the next few days and hopefully that's what it is.

[Shaolin Crane]

Did you prime it before you started it?

[enkeivette]

Ya, prime it. I fired my Vette up after an intake change when it had been sitting for a few months, and I cleaned off all of the lifters, and one of them tapped for a minute or two till it got fully pumped up.

Prime it off the starter, then let it idle for a few mins, should be right.

:beer: To your success.

[94cobra69ss396]

I usually prime and engine right before I start it but that is not possible on this engine so I didn't prime it. I did let it idle for about 30 seconds though before shutting it down. I know it's not right and the oil pressure never came up. I had this same issue with the Cobra when I first put the 302 in it. I should have checked this engine but I didn't think about it. It shouldn't take me long to pull the front apart to check it though.

[Leedom]

This thing running yet?

[94cobra69ss396]

Nope. It's been too windy out here to work on it. I'm helping Guy pick up his truck today but after we get back I'll start on it again.

[Shaolin Crane]

Nope. It's been too windy out here to work on it. I'm helping Guy pick up his truck today but after we get back I'll start on it again.

:drink:

[94cobra69ss396]

I just got hom so I won't be working on it tonight. I'll work on it tomorrow though.

[94cobra69ss396]

Well, it's running. There are still wiring issues that I need to figure out though like the turn signals don't work, the tach reads way off, etc. It also has a weird noise that goes with the rpms when I turn left or right and get on it a little. If I back off the throttle and go easy it doesn't do it.

[94cobra69ss396]

I've decided that instead of trying to rewire my dash harness that I would just get another one that matches the '97 engine harness. I figured that it would save me time since I was going to have to pull the dash to rewire mine anyways. So today my wife and I went to Pick-A Part and pulled a dash harness. Then tonight I started disassembling mine so that I can install the correct one. This is what it looked like when I quit tonight.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010369.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010370.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010371.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010372.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Change the heater core now...

[Leedom]

Change the heater core now...

:iagree:if you have not done it recently.

[94cobra69ss396]

Too late, I put it back together yesterday but ran into a couple more issues. First, as soon as I hooked up the battery the right turn signal was on and it was solid. Since it was light outside I didn't notice and it ended up draining the battery. So I hooked up my charger and started tracing the wiring to figure out why it was on. Turns out that the harness on my steering column had two wires that were different than the '97 harness. So I switched those and now the turn signals work correctly. So I put the rest of the dash together and when I shut the door to take it for a test drive the interior light didn't shut off. So I need to figure that out. The final issue is that I converted the heater/AC over from the manual dials that I had to the climate control that the '97 had. Everything lights up but the heater wouldn't blow hot air. I'll start tracking down those issues this week.

[Shaolin Crane]

Sounds like a vacuum problem. Might be digital controls but its still a vacuum system.

[94cobra69ss396]

I drove the Explorer out to see a customer on Tuesday which was a 162 mile round trip and it runs great. Still have a bunch of little things to fix but I can at least drive it around now.

I also drove it the past two days to drop my girls off at school. This morning after dropping them off I was at a signal waiting to enter the freeway onramp when a 2002-2005 Explorer pulled up next to me. When the light turned green he punched it so I did too. By the time we entered the freeway I had him by about 5 car lentghs. It made me feel a lot better about my build because my 5.0 only had 211hp stock and the 4.0 SOHC had 210hp. Since all my porting was done and the exhaust side and I'm stuck with the stock exhaust headers I was pretty impressed that I was able to pull him. I figured that we would be pretty close but we weren't. A set of good headers should really help this engine on the top end.

[Shaolin Crane]

You have more torque, gearing and less weight, get a good exhaust on there and you'll notice a huge difference.

[94cobra69ss396]

You have more torque, gearing and less weight, get a good exhaust on there and you'll notice a huge difference.

More torque, yes. Gearing, maybe a little. I have 4.56's instead of 3.73's but I'm also on 33's, not 27's. The 33's are also heavier plus I have a bunch of tubing in bumpers, rock sliders, spare tire carrier as well as a full size spare so I think we would be pretty even there.

[94cobra69ss396]

I've been driving the truck around for the past couple weeks and it has been running great until yesterday. After filling it up with gas the Check Engine light came on. I figured that I just didn't get the gas cap tightened enough but that wasn't it. So I pulled the codes which came up with P0340 which came up as a malfunction for the camshaft position sensor. This morning I pulled the sensor off and found that the magnet had braken off and bent the synchronizer. So I went to Pick-A-Part and pulled one from another Explorer and installed it on mine. It's now running great again.

[Damian]

Gotta love junk yards for things like that.

[94cobra69ss396]

I picked up a transfer case today. I'll try to get it installed this weekend and then measure to have the driveshafts done. Hopefully I'll have four wheel drive again soon.

[94cobra69ss396]

Phil came over today to help me figure out why the dome light stay on and why the heater doesn't work. Thanks Phil! While he was looking over the schematics I started removing the AWD transfer case. I was only able to remove the driveshaft, exhaust and some of the bolts before he needed a hand with the wiring. He was able to find why the dome light was on and we fixed that wiring. We were still working on the heater issue when it started to get dark so we'll continue on that and I'll continue with the transfer case.

[94cobra69ss396]

So the BW1356 is too big. That was a waste of $160. So now I'm on the look out for a manual shift BW4406 that has the speed sensor hole. The issue with that is they only came in the '97-'98 F150.

[Damian]

www.car-parts.com ???

[Shaolin Crane]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-FORD-F150-PICKUP-4X4-TRANSFER-CASE-/330680270976?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1997%7CModel%3AF-150&vxp=mtr&hash=item4cfe148080

[Shaolin Crane]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/99-00-01-02-03-FORD-F150-99-F250-Warner-4406-MANUAL-SHIFT-Transfer-Case-0110322-/280791048682?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item41607361ea

[Shaolin Crane]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/96-97-98-FORD-F150-TRANSFER-CASE-WARNER-4406-MAN-SHIFT-/180708926734?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a1317650e&vxp=mtr

[94cobra69ss396]

First one is electric shift and too much. Second one doesn't have a speed sensor hole. Third one is the right case but again is too much especially since shipping is another $160. I'm looking for around $150-$200 max because I still have to have two driveshafts done which will run another $400+.

[Shaolin Crane]

Just giving you potential options, i'll keep looking

[94cobra69ss396]

I found a BW4406 on Ebay and ordered it today.

[Shaolin Crane]

Nice, how much?

[94cobra69ss396]

$325 shipped.

[Shaolin Crane]

Not bad

[94cobra69ss396]

My transfer case arrived today. It even has a new speed sensor on it. I'm meeting a friend at a shop tonight to take a look at an engine for him so I'll start installing the case tomorrow. First measurements look good though because the case is 3 inches narrower than the BW1356 and it was only about 1/2 inch too wide.

[94cobra69ss396]

I started installing the transfer case today. I went pretty good. I clearanced the body so that the case didn't hit the floor in a couple spots and then bolted it up to the trans. Next up is modifying the front mount for the fuel tank so that it clears the new case. I already pulled it off and cut a section off that wouldn't clear. I also cut a little peice of plate and welded it to the bracket. I still need to shape it and cut some areas of it to clear the tank but it's a start. Below are a few pictures of the bracket.

Another clearance issue I have is the tranmission crossmember because of my SAS. The new case sets the front driveshaft further rearward so the shaft will hit the crossmember. I'm going to have to figure out how I want to redo the crossmember.

The other thing I still need to do is measure to have new driveshafts made. I'll most likely do that before I do the crossmember so that they are being made while I making the crossmember.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010472.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010475.jpg

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010476.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished up the bracket tonight and reinstalled it along with the tank and skid plate. I'll try to get some pictures of it tomorrow. I also did some trial fitting for the front driveshaft and it looks like I might not have to make a new crossmember. I may only have to modify mine a little more than what I did back when I did the SAS. I won't know for sure until I get the shaft made.

[94cobra69ss396]

Driveshafts are being made. They should be ready on Monday.

[94cobra69ss396]

Here are some pictures of the finished tank support and what I did to the cross member. I dropped the front an inch and the rear 3/4 of an inch. The driveshafts aren't done yet but they said they should be tomorrow.

Tank support.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010486.jpg

This is the passenger side but the drivers side was the same way.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010488.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010489.jpg

This is the drivers side.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010491.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010493.jpg

[Leedom]

Looking good Ron!

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks. I picked up the driveshafts today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010494.jpg

[blackax]

Thanks. I picked up the driveshafts today.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010494.jpg

Damn that is a huge front drive shaft!


It looks great and your almost done (well as done as a project can ever be)

[94cobra69ss396]

Well, the rear driveshaft is too long so I dropped it back off today. The front one is perfect though.

[94cobra69ss396]

I picked up the rear driveshaft a couple days ago and had been working on installing the shifter for the transfer case. I finished it all up yesterday. Well except for making a shifter boot for it. Below are various pictures of the modified fuel tank mount, shifter, shifter linkage, etc. The shifter and shift linkage came out of a early to mid F250 and I had to modify it a lot to move the shifter closer to the center of the truck. I didn't take any pictures of it but I wish I would have because I made the arm that the shifter mounts to. The old one was about an inch and a half longer.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010563.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010564.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010565.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010566.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010567.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010568.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010569.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010571.jpg

I spent the whole day today tracing wiring in the dash harness. The reason is because there were a few things that weren't working. One was the heater blend door. I could turn the heat on and have it blow on the floor but it would blow cold. Another issue was the controls rear blower motor weren't working. The final issue was that the digital temp/compass in the overhead display wasn't working. I figured that there had to be some wires in the dash harness I installed that didn't match the one from the donor truck. It turned out that they were all the same. So I started looking at the wiring diagrams that Phil printed up for me. I started with the blend door actuator and found the the power wire didn't have power. After some trouble shooting I ended up finding this:

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010573.jpg

That's right, I spent the whole day on an incorrectly installed fuse! When I pulled this harness from the wrecking yard it already had fuses in all the ports. So I just used my DMM to make sure none of them were blown. The ones that were I replced. Well this one wasn't blown but someone installed it crooked so one side had power but the other side didn't. So I replaced the fuse and now everything works. I just need to charge the A/C and I have heat and air again. Next up will be getting the BAR certification!

[Shaolin Crane]

What are you going to do for a selector boot?

Seems the one in my truck would work well, i'd find one of those.

[94cobra69ss396]

That's where the rubber dust boot came from but it was just too big for me to use the whole thing in my truck. I'm going to pick up some material to make a boot out of and Amy is going to sew it up for me.

I need to get with you now so that we can charge the A/C.

[Shaolin Crane]

One of these would work well I think.
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc322/ShaolinCrane/IMAG0906.jpg
Before the refinish
http://i524.photobucket.com/albums/cc322/ShaolinCrane/IMAG0887.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Even if you cant use the whole base the rubber portion comes off by removing the little metal tabs.

Let me know a day when you want to charge it.

[94cobra69ss396]

That's what I have. I pulled the rubber boot off and am using it as the dust boot. I know in your truck it doesn't seem that big but in my Explorer it is. Right now my leg hits the shifter when it's in 2 wheel drive. I don't want to take up any more room. I just want a simple shift boot.

[Shaolin Crane]

Redline goods make very nice boots. Custom anything if you want it, I plan on ordering some soon for the blue car, we can place an order at the same time to save on shipping and lead time.

[blackax]

Looking great ron. You always find a way to make me feel like i don't get enough done on my weekends.

[94cobra69ss396]

Switch the rims from the donor truck onto mine. The backspacing is less than the stock rims had so they stick out a bit further. I'm not sure if that is going to make them rub but we'll see.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010586.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010589.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010587.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010588.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Looks good

[blackax]

Nice.

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks guys. I took it up Silverwood today to make sure everything works and it did great. We went to the top and then hiked around for a while.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010592.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010591.jpg
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010601.jpg

Kylie and Mya as The Lion King.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010609.jpg

As Alex the lion from Madagascar.

http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp40/94cobra69ss396/P1010610.jpg

[Damian]

I need to work on the Jeep now. I haven't done any off roaring in a long time.

[94cobra69ss396]

Well get it done before May 26th so you can make the offroad run with us.

[Damian]

I haven't even pulled the head off to see how bad things are yet. Plus the tires suck and will get me stuck fairly quick.

[94cobra69ss396]

Can we have a moment of silence for Eric's Explorer?

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/2012-05-10_12_45_17.jpg

I took it to the scap yard today.

[Vettezuki]

I haven't even pulled the head off to see how bad things are yet. Plus the tires suck and will get me stuck fairly quick.

I see you've typed something but all I got out of it was "wah wah wah."

[Damian]

I concur but the in-laws took it back so their incompetent daughter has something to drive. I'm gonna try and buy it from them or get one that doesn't require a motor swap.

[94cobra69ss396]

Sorry but I would have already torn into it to see what was wrong already.

[Damian]

I wanted to but I barely have time to work on my truck. I'm replacing the power steering pump tonight after everyone goes to bed. I don't have time during the day.

[94cobra69ss396]

I'm lucky that way because I work from home so at 5pm I can start working on my cars.

[blackax]

I'm lucky that way because I work from home so at 5pm I can start working on my cars.

I work close to home but i still don't have time to get everything i want to get done.

[Shaolin Crane]

I guess i work at home, shit, i'm at the shop more then my house.

[94cobra69ss396]

So as usual, I get one running and something has to happen to another. Amy drove the Explorer today to go meet her sister for lunch. She called me just a couple minutes after leaving and said she heard a big bang and lost all gears. I told her I'd be right there. I tried to take the Suburban just in case we needed to tow the Explorer home but the battery was dead. So I jumped in the Cobra and drove it over to check out the Explorer.

Just as she said, it had no gears. I tried shifting the transfer case in 4H and 4L but still nothing. So I put the transfer case in neutral and rolled it forward to make sure it would roll which it did. When I put it back in 2H, it had first gear again. There was traffic though so I couldn't go. By the time traffic cleared it lost gear again. So I did the same thing with neutral but this time I had to go to 4H to get anything.

Traffic was clear so I flip a U turn and headed home. Luckily it kept gear for most of the way home. As I pulled into our housing track it lost the gears again. So I did the same thing only I couldn't get it to engage. On the third try though I was able to get it to grab in 4L and I made it home.

I pulled the transfer case out tonight and will take it apart tomorrow. I also charged the battery in the Suburban but it's bad and would only hold 10 volts. So tomorrow I'l also be getting a new battery for the Suburban. The worst part about that is this is the battery out of the Chevelle. The previous 8 year old battery that used to be in the Suburban went out about a year ago and since the Chevelle wasn't running I stole the new battery out of it. It's only about a year and a half old.

[Vettezuki]

If the battery is that new from purchase (may be a bit older from manufacture) and you got it at AutoZone, etc., you should get a pro-rated refund for dying so early.

[Shaolin Crane]

We have similar luck.

[94cobra69ss396]

If the battery is that new from purchase (may be a bit older from manufacture) and you got it at AutoZone, etc., you should get a pro-rated refund for dying so early.

It has a 5 or 7 year free replacement warranty from Autozone and after that is pro-rated. It was the highest cranking amp battery they carried at 1000amps. I was having trouble with the Chevelle starting after it was warm and the 1000amp battery took care of that issue.

We have similar luck.

Yes we do.

[94cobra69ss396]

I pulled the transfer case apart but it was fine. I did discover though that it uses an electro magnet to engage 4H. With that knowledge the issues I had with it driving home made me think something could be wrong with the rear end. So I pulled the cover off and discovered the pin broke and the spider gears were laying it the bottom of the case. So I pulled the transfer case for no reason. The worst part about it all is that Amy told me she thought something happened to the rear end but since it rolled fine and didn't make any noise I told her it probably wasn't the rearend. I was wrong. So my plan is to pull one from another Explorer at Pick-A-Part and swap my clutches into it. Mine only have about 30,000 miles on them.

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130209_120007.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Oh that's not good.

[94cobra69ss396]

It's better than being the tranfer case or transmission.

[Shaolin Crane]

That's true, less expensive parts and labor.

[Leedom]

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130209_120007.jpg

Sorry to hear about that Ron. At least it will be cheaper and you can have some more practice before I ask you to help me with mine again. I need to fix the shim or whatever is causing the rear end to make so much noise. It is louder than before. I was also thinking while we are in there we can replace the clutches as well. I only have a little 70K but since we are in there might as well. Carbon fiber make sense or is that overkill?

Need this thing to last until I drop this one (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/dtl-913a561/overview/) in. Hoping my old company will do this for me for an article.

[94cobra69ss396]

Did you pull the cover off like I told you to see if a shim slid out? I wouldn't waste the money on the shims unless you have noticed it frying one tire. I have over 193,000 miles on the ones in the Cobra and they still hook. I replaced the ones in the Explorer a while back but it sees one tire in the air a lot so the old ones wore out. Since the cars tires are always both on the ground they don't wear out as bad.

[94cobra69ss396]

I went to Pick-A-Part yesterday and pulled a carrier from a '96 Explorer. I made sure that it was a 3.73 carrier just like mine was because they are different than the lower geared carriers are. Then I pulled my carrier out and disassembled it. I had to grind down the pin hole because the ring gear wouldn't go past it from the damage. Then I reassembled the new carrier with the thickest clutches between the two carriers. All I need to do now is pick up some new bearings and have them pressed on. I don't have a press so I'm going to give Gonzalo at GTR a call and see if they have one and if they'll let me use it.

[Shaolin Crane]

I have one.

[94cobra69ss396]

You're further away but if they don't have one or won't let me use it I'll call you.

[94cobra69ss396]

I put the rear end back together on Saturday. I went over to GTR Friday night to use their bearing removal tool and press but the tool they had was rounded on one side and it didn't work. So Saturday morning I took my grinder and cut the old bearings off. I cut them down so there was just a thin bit a metal left and then tapped them with a hammer which cracked them thin metal. Then I just slid them off by hand. Before I installed the new bearings I clearanced the teeth on the ring gear so I could install the pin. Here's how it turned out.

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130216_112910.jpg
http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130216_112923.jpg
http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130216_112933.jpg

Then on Sunday I put the transfer case back together, which was a pain to do without a good pair of snap ring pliers. I had to remove a snap ring on the main shaft so I could remove it from the rear portion of the case to reassemble it but my cheap pliers would just bend. The only tool I had that I could spread it far enough with was a pair of small needle nose pliers. So I had Amy use a flat head screw driver to push it while I used the needle nose pliers. Once I got the case back together I installed it back in the truck along with the front and rear driveshafts, the exhaust and the fuel tank.

Everything is now working again. Well except that the amp went out so it doesn't have a radio but that's just how it goes. The truck has been sitting for a couple weeks and I forgot that the amp quit working. It's a 5 channel Sony and is about 11 years old. I'll have to wait for my income tax return before I can replace it with another 5 channel amp though.

[Vettezuki]

I was thinking of turning the conversion part of this thread into a video podcast. Whattaya think Ron? It would be like an hour or two max of me recording you basically just talking the text of this thread, then I'd lay it into a slideshow of the pics you took and put on our YT page.

[94cobra69ss396]

Maybe, do you have an example I could watch of what you're thinking?

[Vettezuki]

Sorta like this, but with, err, car stuff. Maybe some underscore music if you want. Nothing too fancy, just another way to present the information and get it to the world.

A Walk Through Dysart Woods - An Ecological Tour - YouTube

[94cobra69ss396]

I think that's doable.

I also scheduled my appointment to have the truck inspected for the engine conversion. My appointment is on March 6th so hopefully all goes well and I'll have a BAR cert for it.

[94cobra69ss396]

So no certificate for me today. Everything was good except that the exhaust exits just before the rear axle which is right above the roller for the dyno. Because they have had the probe fall out before onto the rollers and get damaged they said I had to either extend it back or bring it out the side. So I have to get the exhaust extended and then schedule another appointment to have it inspected again.

[Vettezuki]

Always something. . .

[94cobra69ss396]

Yes it is but it's okay. On the way home the Check Engine light came on. When I pulled the codes all 4 were for the back O2 on bank 2. It turned out that I forgot to reconnect the harness to it when I put the exhaust back on after doing the T-case. So as soon as the exhaust cools down I'll go plug it in.

[94cobra69ss396]

Got the exhaust done today and scheduled a new appointment for the 20th.

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/medium/20130307_151136.jpg

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/medium/20130307_151114.jpg

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/medium/20130307_151104.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

So my conversion is now BAR certified.

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130320_142553.jpg

[Shaolin Crane]

Congrats

[Leedom]

Congrats Ron!

[BADDASSC6]

Great Job Ron!

[Vettezuki]

Congrats. I know how difficult those can be to get!

[94cobra69ss396]

Thanks guys.

[94cobra69ss396]

So I ran into an issue with the Explorer a couple months ago. It got a vibration which I though was the transfercase but is actually from the trans. So it's has been sitting so that I could get the Cobra done. Now that Cobra is running (well except for the throwout bearing going out) I pulled the trans to have it rebuilt. I dropped it off today and it will be done sometime next week. Tomorrow I plan on pulling the trans in the Cobra so that I can replace the throwout bearing and get it driveable again. If all goes well I may have three out five vehicles running again.

[94cobra69ss396]

I fixed the Cobra last weekend, it only took me about 3 hours to pull the trans, replace the throwout bearing and reinstall the trans. So I at least have two running vehicles. Today I picked up the Explorers rebuilt trans and new converter and I'm going to try to get it installed this weekend. It take a lot more time to install it then it does the T56 in the Cobra.

[94cobra69ss396]

I got the trans and transfercase installed and all the connectors and brackets connected. I also reinstalled all the exhaust. I still have a couple hours worth of work to do but I need to go tomorrow morning and pick up new torque converter nuts because I rounded a couple trying to get them off.

Everytghing went pretty smooth tonight. I usually have to use two jacks and I have Amy come out and operate them while I postion and move around the trans but I was able to install the trans and transfercase together using only one. I managed to get it balanced just perfect and it didn't slide off.

[94cobra69ss396]

What happened to Ford parts being made in the USA?

http://www.motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20130810_110259.jpg

[94cobra69ss396]

I finished this up yesterday and the vibration is now gone. however, now that trans isn't making noise and the vibration I can now hear that the rearend is. It has a hum which I'm fairly certain are the pinion bearings but at least it's driveable. I have some things that I need to fix on my Suburban now before I dig into the rearend on the Explorer so I'll probably have to wait a month or so before I do it.

[94cobra69ss396]

Time for an update. I replaced the pinion bearings but the rear gears still hums on the coast side. When I did that I also found that it needed new wheel bearings so I replaced those at the same time. The gears looked good so I'm not concerned about the little bit of noise.

Now on to the front diff. Back when I had the issue with the trans I also had a light vibration in the steering. I figured that it was either caused by the hubs or carrier/pinion bearings. So I pulled the axles and installed just the outer stubs and the vibration went away. I then picked up new carrier bearings and took the carrier out to replace them but the old bearings looked good. That's when I discovered the pinion had 3 (out of 9) chipped teeth.

I'd left the carrier out of the front and was driving it that way until I had the cash to buy the new ring and pinion but one day Phil called and asked if I'd fixed the front end yet. He wanted to go wheeling in his new 2007 Land Cruiser FJ100 but wanted me to come along just in case. I reinstalled the carrier so I could go with him but we ended up not going. So now that it's back in I have a light vibration in the front end. I should be able to buy the new ring and pinion after the holidays but for now it's at least drivable. Below 60 mph it doesn't vibrate at all, you can only feel it above that so anytime I drive on the freeway it's there.

[94cobra69ss396]

Update: I got tired of the vibration a long time ago so I pulled the axles shortly after I installed them. I was finally able to pick up a new ring and pinion so I'll probably install them this Saturday if we don't have anything else going on. It'll be nice to be able to go four wheeling again.

[94cobra69ss396]

Spent all day today setting p the new Motive ring and pinion in the Dana 30. I hate that they use shims instead of crush sleeve. Anyways, I know Nordy had issues with the Motive gears in his car but mine are perfectly quiet. I found that they prerun them and stamp the install depth on the pinion gear. Mine said the depth was 2.261 and I ended up at 2.256 which was as close as I could get with the shims I had. I also set the bearing preload at 23 in/lbs and the backlash at .009. Here's why the old one was causing a vibration. It broke another tooth from the last time I looked at it.

http://motorgen.com/pic/data/500/20140406_115929.jpg

[Vettezuki]

Ouch. Yeah, that'll do it.