My explorer motor/gt40p buildup and drop into 86gt Vert PICS!!!

ECU5.0 said:

looks good man, i wish i could have found a motor out of an explorer like 4 months ago when i started building mine. oh well i got a block for free and than spent about 900 on everything else to freshen it up and get the heads done.

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I was hoping you would see this

that's ok, because it sounds like you wound up with a completely rebuilt engine, which is great. I'm running it with the original miles from the explorer roll over (60k) which is low, but not virgin. Hell, I could fire it up and the engine be bogus. Hopefully not though.

This is gonna be fun, i've been driving my wifes turbo jetta, my 5.8L bronco, and my work truck a ford escape 3.0 for way too long, I need this burst of power. I'm real scared I'm gonna go out and drive it like a teenage the first time out since there are technically no new parts to break in.

I wish to hell I had the dough to buy your tremec 500.

ECU5.0 said:

haha, i was hoping you would see that my tranny was for sale. its probably going to be forsale for a long time, ive had one person express interest but they didnt have any money. im trying to get a c4 since i dont drive the car but like 2 times a week now.

good luck with that motor, dont go blowing it up just yet...haha.

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i've got a mustang guy local who wants to sell me a small bell c4 and the necessary 50 oz 157 tooth flexplate for $100. what a deal. I can't believe I've never taken him up on it.

jackchan said:

awsome thread.....v8only! congrats on the explorer engine. I'm in the process of doing nearly the same thing. I have a 91 GT with a 86 engine in it (previous owner)....that I am about to swap out with something. Right now I just previously bought a 1990 GT with 125,000 miles on it but man it looks bad! prolly because of all the oil and filth on the engine. Thinking now of buying an explorer or Mountaineer engine from a junkyard and going nearly same route as yourself. with a few exceptions...

According to what your posted above I have to change
1.the oil pan, pump,oil pump drive, and oil pickup correct?
2. the dist.
3. what about the waterpump, timing chain, etc...fan spacer?
4. my buddys telling me to leave the stock valve springs on the engine, but I'm wanting to upgrade them.......guess I could get it running and do that later?
5. my car is a daily drive and I know the P heads have different exhaust header because of the spark plug angles but did any ever consider that the P headers will fit a regular E7 set of heads if ever then went back to those or wanted to upgrade headers then later on buy a set of p heads??...they do I've done it before, and actually they have longer runners which help promote scavenging! kewl stuff!
6. currently I plan on running a stock T-5 with a freshen up as well. Best money you can spend will be on a after market shifter (with stops if you dont already have it). I power shift every now and again, and get this 12 years driving later model stangs (82 Gt thru 94 cobra) and I've never broken a T-5 yet! LOL.........I think the positive stop shifter makes all the difference in the world.

I'm prolly gonna leave the stock explorer cam in my rig for the time being.....and just wanted to state......dude if you have all of what you say you have you should have NO trouble running high 12's on motor alone.

awsome post and great pictures..........good luck and keep us posted. I'll try to throw up a few pics myself when I get my swap started. I've actually debated on rebuilding the 90 model motor vs. swaping in the explorer/mountaineer engine and have just about decided to go the way you have..........because of the engines being newer etc....
thanks for the insperation!
Jack

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thanks!!! If you use the stock explorer cam, it's ok to use the valve springs. However, I wouldn't suggest using that explorer cam, it won't rev at all, neither will the valve springs. I'd use, at a minimum a ho cam and ho mustang springs (I went tfs springs) my bro, doing the same swap went with a tfs stage one cam. Now, after all the dough I've spent, i'm wishing I would have too.

You're gonna have to swap the mustang timing chain cover and water pump/brackets and accessories on anyhow, so may as well swap out the cam and valve springs, it'll be WELL worth your time. I found out, the oil pumps in the explorers are the same as mustangs, it's only the pickup tube that's different, but you'd be crazy not to spend the $20 on a new melling autozone oil pump. ALso, spend the $20 on the frpp oil pump driveshaft, it'll ensure safety, and it not twisting. don't use the arp driveshaft for the oil pump, only the frpp claims to be exact fit height wise ( i verified this claim) where the arp, you'll have to grind down to fit.

Everything is straight forward. pull the pain, oil pump, pickup tube, swap the mustang stuff on, yank the intake, lifters, accessories, timing cover, and cam, swap the mustang cam on, better valve springs, mustang timing chain cover and water pump, and go.

the frpp shorties that are built NOW (some of the olders won't work) will fit ALL heads, p or not.

also, you'll be using the complete ignition system and fuel rails from the HO mustang engine. (explorer injectors are 19 pounds with a better spray and will work fine with the mustang fuel rails) the explorer is distributerless obd2, and you'll be converting back to an eec IV setup.

important to note for ALL 96 and some 97 explorers got the gt40 heads. mid 97 or so to 01 got the gt40p heads. ONLY 96 and early 97 motors had the intakes drilled for the egr necessary for smog. My gt40p 97 motor DID have the internal egr passeges, but I was lucky to find a crossover engine, as most of the gt40p engines won't have the egr ports in the intake (I'm from cali, god bless the smog program)

You'll need to drill the heads for the smog tubes in back. However, I did not. the smog tubes ONLY work when the engine is cold, and when the engine warms up, air is diverted to the cats, SO, to pass smog functionally speaking, you never smog your car cold, therefore those smog tubes on the heads won't matter, as the air from the smog pump will already have been diverted to the cats. just make it "look" functional to pass the visual.

i'm in process of writing a massive writeup with TONS of pictures on this, but it won't be done for a couple of months yet. It will be on my 50stangs site along with my clutch adjustment article that most have seen here already.

Ok, I get it, thanks for the info on that.

I'm hoping for 225 at the wheels, but trying to be conservative so I don't get disappointed.

you can re use the 65 mm throttle body from the explorer, but have to adapt it, I haven't done that yet, and not sure if i'm going to bother.

those 24 pound injectors are going to be likely too much, unless you're making in excess of 300 horse.

I used summit for the valve springs. don't have the part #s offhand, but it's a very common kit.

yea, that explorer throttle body is 65 mm vs mustang, 60 mm

http://www.50stangs.com/picturehosting/jeremy/EXPLORER97/Explorer_throttlebody_fix.pdf

click on that link. This is NOT my article, it was borrowed from another site, and I uploaded to mine for convienance

that article details supposedly how to modify the explorer throttle body for use in a stang. I haven't tried this yet.

tmoss said:

Drilling and tapping the throttle body shaft can be a tricky situation - I also have a how-to convert it on my website under "tech" that shows another way to do it.

If you need to retain emissions function, you need to find a 96-early 97 Explorer intake with the internal EGR passages like the stock intake. It's a bolt-on after drilling and tapping the ACT and EGR coolant return line holes in the lower. Use your old EGR spacer if your using the stock 60mm TB or buy a 65mm EGR spacer if you use the Explorer 65mm TB.

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Thanks for the tip. I'd like to re use the explorer thrtottle body, so I'm going to check out your link, and follow that. WOrst comes to worst, I'm local to brothers, and they have a sidewalk sale in a couple of weeks, and i'm hoping to find a used cheap 65mm throttle body.

ALso, In all my eagerness, I kinda let myself down on my research. ALthough I knowingly did NOT drill for the act sensor (I'm going to put it elsewhere, perhaps the airbox? Can I let it hang?

HOWEVER, I didn't even think about that darn coolent line for the egr, and now that everything is pretty much together, I certainly don't want to pull it apart at this moment in time to drill (in the future, no doubt I will)

being in california, with fair warm weather, will the egr function properly still without these coolant lines? I'm thinking of connecting dummy lines for smog, or taking it apart and drilling at that point, but I'd like to be sure my egr setup now isn't going to make the car run like crap or anything.

great info, thanks for that. I'll be doing this before my smog, but that's a year away (unless I've got to do it earlier.)