I am going to part it out.

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.

Awesome!

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.

Did you prime it before you started it?

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.

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.

This thing running yet?

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:

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

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.

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.

Change the heater core now...

:iagree:if you have not done it recently.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Gotta love junk yards for things like that.

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.

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.

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.

www.car-parts.com ???

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+.

Just giving you potential options, i'll keep looking

I found a BW4406 on Ebay and ordered it today.

Nice, how much?

$325 shipped.

Not bad

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.

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.

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.

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

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.



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




This is the drivers side.