Engine Converting An Explorer 65mm Tb To Work On A Fox

This will be a few parts, as I make a little progress. I already have a converted explorer TB on my car but it's a later version with the enlarged TPS sensor mount.

Please note, this process is easiest with an early 96-97 explorer throttle body. The later ones have a revised TPS mount that the fox TPS will not bolt to. Also, the taller mount means the Mustang shaft will be too short. In that case you need to grind and weld the Mustang throttle linkage to the Mustang shaft.


So anyway, here we are. This method will focus on the earlier 96-97 throttle body. Easy way to tell is these have the little vent tube that connects to the valve cover on a fox. The later ones lack this


Explorer on left, stock mustang on right. You can see the difference in the throttle linkage.



TPS sensor is 100% exchangeable on the 96-97 versions.



This particular TB came off an early 5.0 explorer...probably one with the internal EGR. Part number F67U-BA. The later TBs feature a taller TPS mount, and lack the TB vent tube.


Idea here is to swap the shafts, flip the TB vent, and call it a day.

So we disassemble both




Blade size comparison



With the mustang shaft in the explorer body , you can see the area that will interfere with the larger 65mm blade




That's it for now. Time to clean the parts, trim the blade shaft a bit, and paint.

Adjusting the PCV tube.

Grab a torch and apply some heat to the base area around the tube. Grab some channel locks and the tube should twist.

On the early explorer TBs you just need to spin the tube 180*.


If you have a later TB that lacks the pcv neck, you can twist it out of you stock TB as shown above, drill a hole in the boss there the tube normall mounts, and either press the tube in or apply a little JB weld to secure it.



PS I will clean and paint this TB to make it look nice, just making it functional first.

Back at it. Trimming the fox blade shaft for the 65mm disk.

This was fairly simple and took 10 mins. After marking where my cuts would be, I started the cut with a dremel cutting disk, and finished with a hack saw.



A little sanding and buffing to clean it up, and disk drops right in. This seriously took no time at all to do. Just cut slowly and straight.



Final assembly coming up

Install throttle stop screw. Reinstall shaft into body and attach blade. The screws are designed to be pinched on the backside. So make sure that is done





Finished 65mm mustang compatible TB. Now to disassemble again for paint.



@Noobz347 tech thread??

Btw if you have an issue with the shaft bearings, the brand is NMB and the p/n is L-19100W

Hard to track them down so the specs are

10mm ID
19mm OD
7mm thk

They can be tapped out but it's a little tricky to not damage the AL throttle body, so only attempt if necessary. As of right now I don't have a vendor

One more piece of information.

Correct gasket for the larger 65mm TB is a Ford Explorer gasket

Felpro 61082 or equivalent

You would have to convert to a fox TB setup on your SN95 first, but it wasn't really a hassle. Less than an hour to do this minus painting.

Just check if your TB is early or late as the later ones lack the oil vent tube and more importantly, have a raised TPS mount that won't work with the fox shaft. For that tb you'll need to weld the fox linkage to the explorer shaft

I haven't looked at enough explorer intakes to know every variation, but as far as I know there are two different 65mm TBs on the explorer.

Early model has vent tube like mustang and tps mount that is at proper height for mustang.

The later models are some point went to a taller tps mount that just won't work. I just happened to notice they also lack the vent tube, so unsure if they are always connected to each other.

I did convert one of these and it's what is currently on my car, but I had to mill the tps mount down lower...not worth it.

Here's the later TB. You'll notice no vent tube but more importantly the TPS mount is very tall.