Yea, it happened 2 Sundays ago at Fayetteville. A little detonation and boom went the dynamite. It will be coming to PCM for a tune when I get it all back together. Matter of fact, I'm probably going to swing up that way to talk to them about tuning it tomorrow afternoon during my junkyard diving hoopla.
I'm still definitely going to the dyno day. I want to see Joe crack the 400 rwhp mark on his Bullitt. There's still a VERY remote chance that I'll have my car back together in time for the dyno day. Slim, but if I find a motor this week, get the old one out this weekend, get the new one in next weekend, and get some miles on it/tune it the following week, it would be ready by the 29th. Very doubtful, though.
I'd hold out for another Explorer engine if given the choice. Even if you've got to drive a couple of hours to pick it up, it's worth it. People pay near $1,000 or more to install tubular K-members under their cars just to knock off the same weight from the front end, that you'd be losing for free with the aluminum block in the Explorer.
There are a boat load of them here, for about the same price you were looking at within a couple of hundred miles of you. Search Results
I don't know man. I've looked all over, and the going price seems to be $1200+ for a higher mileage Explorer motor. If I was doing a build, or if I was really going for all out performance, it wouldn't even be a question. BUT, because my long term plan (read: 1-1.5 years from now) is to upgrade to another car, I just can't justify spending that much extra money on something that I'll never get back out of the car.
My grandma's 'Vic has 105k and hasn't had any problems. Even if they do fail at 75k, that gives me 35k left to go on this set. I probably won't have the car 35k from now.
Regardless, I'm planning on making a plug-and-play harness for the COPs that plugs into the existing coil pack connector. This way, if I have problems that aren't easily fixed, I can just unplug them and swap the plug wires back on.
I think I'm going to go ahead and do the COPs. It is just so much I was originally worried about the wiring, but that actually seems very straightforward. I also heard that boosted waste spark setups (i.e. 96-98 GTs/Cobras) can have problems when doing the COP swap, but I haven't seen anyone prove any problems with it. Several folks have said that it works just fine under boost.
I think we all feel we won't have our cars for very long. I honestly never thought I would still have my car @ 156,000 Miles.... But now I installed that Kenne Bell I know for sure I will have my car till it ticks past 200,000.
My parents expedition had a c.o.p fail on cylinder #6 this weekend @ 130,000 miles. costs $50 for the coil from the dealership WITH a discount. Would have been $75 without a discount.
The reason I like having plug wires is because if one fails, I can even Custom cut and crimp a new one anytime. Even while i am in the middle of nowhere.