94cobra69ss396's Explorer V8 Conversion
 

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

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?

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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_BARR...C_Fall2009.pdf

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 ;)

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

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.

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:

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

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.

Nice work bench, wanna loan me that lift plate?

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

Sure.

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.





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.


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.



Intake after blending.



Intake after shaping the valve guide. This is all that was done to the intake.

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.

Are you gonna need a decking and valve job?

Lurk

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.

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.

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.

You don't say. :smack:

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

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.

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.

No problem

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?

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