Engine Swap Questions

My wife won't approve the extra $500 right now. She isn't real happy with what this is going to cost. Like I said. On a budget and can't blow it too bad.

I have the timing chain and gears in the list of items I have to be replaced. no reason not to change them since they have to come off to replace the cam. The cam will be a stock HO cam.

Maybe when I can get her to forget about how much I spent on this, I may be able to put a cam in it.

The other added expense I have is rebuilding the Auto Transmission. At minimum it is getting a torque converter and shift kit. Most likely rebuilt.

Thanks

95snoozer said:

i would definitely go with 97+

And I would go ahead and pop in a cam while you are in there and replace the timing chain AND balancer. If you use yoru stock cam, use crane cobra 1.7 RRs and a retard your stock cam by 2 degrees.

The explorer lower is Crap, but the upper is GREAT. either buy a gt40 lower or have your lower ported by tmoss. Do it right now and spend the extra 500 dollars while you are in there and it could make a 30-50 HP difference.

My car ran amazingly well.

Just think, the only difference in my setup and the one you are planning is the intake manifold and the cam and a tiny bit of home porting. The explorer intake will actually work best with these heads with the properly flowing lower...better than my typhoon.

Click to expand...

Update on engine swap

This weekend I ripped apart the explorer engine to get it ready to go in the mustang. Got the cam and timing chain with gears installed. At I this point we are changing the valve springs with the heads still on the block.

For those that didn't know already, they make a tool that will put air preassure in the cylinder to keep the Valves from falling. Don't waste money on this tool as it doesn't work on the explorer head. Instead head to the local Walmart and buy the $1.50 clothes line rope. This works like a champ.

One other thing. Don't ever just assume that your spark plugs are going to come out without any problems. I had one shear off in the head. Yes you read that right. It broke just behind the area the socket grabs to tighten/loosen.

I was about to freak out on that, but luckily with some pb blaster and an easy out, we were able to remove it.

I will be back on upholstry thanksgiving weekend. I need to get the 95 running to be a daily driver. That is why she approved this.

Here is an update on this.

Some things I have found out. The waterpump on the mustang and explorer are different. They have the same bolt pattern, but the front pully bolt pattern to the waterpump is different. This results in having to use the front pully off of the explorer engine. It is a hair smaller, so hopefully that doesn't cause a problem.

I have the engine assembled and it should be ready to go back in once I get the torque converter installed.

I have run into another problem though. I noticed when taking the engine off of the stand that it appears as though the front of the oil pan gasket has ripped. This scares me. I realize it is cork and that it stretches and whatnot, but the front of it is ripped up by the front bolt under the timing chain cover.

I think I may end up changing that again now while the engine is out instead of having to deal with it later.

Has anyone seen this before?

One other thing I have noticed is that the heads on my 95 had an emissions tube that bolted to the back of them. The 96 explorer engine does not have this. Is it going to be a problem if I don't have this hooked up? What kind of modifications am I going to need to do? Is it just plugging the hole that comes off of the polution pump?

I did end up changing the harmonic balancer. I will edit that parts list with the other stuff I have bought and changed. It is mainly maintenance stuff like plugs and wires and thermostat, and oil.

Thanks,

Keith

Update Once again...

On the water pump... Make sure that you use a water pump from a mustang... I found out that the coolant lines are different sizes as well. This caused a coolant leak when we were filling the radiator. I ended up using the hoses off of the explorer engine instead and I was still able to use the explorer water pump. But to save yourself some headache, just get the right water pump in the first place and you won't have to worry about it.

One other part that I found out that needs to be purchased is the strut support brace. Yeah, I could go without one, but it was put there for a reason so I bought a new one. I found a new one on Ebay for about $105 (includes shipping) It should arrive at my house between now and Tuesday. The official part name and number for this is Ford Racing Strut Tower Brace - M-20201-A51.

When I had the engine all bolted in the car and looked at it with the explorer intake sitting there, I was afraid it wouldn't clear my hood. Don't fear, the slight arch in the hood is enough to clear this.

Although the explorer engine came with an engine plaque, it says "Explorer V8" on it. The plaque that is on the 94-95 does not fit. If you are ok with this, you are fine. If not, you will need an engine plaque off of an 86-93 GT or other ford product that will say 5.0 HO to get it to be accurate.

I also decided to go ahead and change the exhaust now on this. When I was under the car and unhooking the cats, I found that the mufflers were rusted and had some holes in them. I ordered the Flowmaster American Thunder Cat back kit from advance auto parts online. I had a coupon code over thanksgiving weekend that didn't have a maximum amount of discount so I was able to use that and get the kit for $221. That saved $75 over their listed price. They installed really easy and have a good sound to them.

I have the engine in and running now. I was able to drive it today. The power difference is night and day.

Next step is to get the shift kit installed. Although this seems easy enough, I don't have a car lift so I will let the professionals do this. Hopefully it will have a lot more kick after that.

I hope this thread helps someone in the future.

Thanks,

Keith

here is a quick video of the car now that it is finished (minus the strut support as it hasn't come in yet)


this is a video of the engine running while I am waiting for the coolant system to "burp"