My car has been down since the 1st weekend of Jan since I tore the motor down to install the combo in my sig. Looking back, I really wish I had pulled it out completely from the get-go. Especially after finding that BOTH my motor mounts were totally SHOT. The engine was even sitting sideways in the bay and I didn't even realize it. But after that and lots of screwing with the valve train, I finally got it figured out and now I'm waiting for new springs from Comp 
and new valve covers from AFM.
I took a look at my engine wiring harnesses since I'm stuck without the springs and they had some issues (frayed injector wires, frayed sensor wires, corrosion, oil all over the main harness) so I decided to rebuild those as well.
Last weekend I got the timing cover torque'd (what a bitch to get on), lower manifold on and torque'd and the A/C + PS bracket and pumps on. So far, all without a hitch (cross my fingers). I've been tapping threads and die'ing the bolts as I go just to make sure. I also fitted the upper plenum and found that the frontmost bolt hits the hood with the 3/8" spacer (without the heat shield thing) so I took the grinder to the hood and notched a hole in the rail so the bolt won't hit at all when the motor torques on the mounts. Pluss the TF spacer kit didn't come with the right bolts for the Explorer intake. I need to find two more of those really long ones somewhere so if somebody knows where to buy those let me know
I also figured I would clean up the engine bay since I was in there. I ended up spending hours messing with things and try to remove the battery tray. I ended up having to drill out the bottom bolt to get it off
only to find some nice rust underneath it from the piece of crap battery leaking 
Anyway, just wondering what you guys have in the works. It always seems this kind of stuff is just one can of worms after another! The little things are frustrating but in all it's still a lot of fun. I'm so glad I bought my truck when I did
and new valve covers from AFM.I took a look at my engine wiring harnesses since I'm stuck without the springs and they had some issues (frayed injector wires, frayed sensor wires, corrosion, oil all over the main harness) so I decided to rebuild those as well.
Last weekend I got the timing cover torque'd (what a bitch to get on), lower manifold on and torque'd and the A/C + PS bracket and pumps on. So far, all without a hitch (cross my fingers). I've been tapping threads and die'ing the bolts as I go just to make sure. I also fitted the upper plenum and found that the frontmost bolt hits the hood with the 3/8" spacer (without the heat shield thing) so I took the grinder to the hood and notched a hole in the rail so the bolt won't hit at all when the motor torques on the mounts. Pluss the TF spacer kit didn't come with the right bolts for the Explorer intake. I need to find two more of those really long ones somewhere so if somebody knows where to buy those let me know
I also figured I would clean up the engine bay since I was in there. I ended up spending hours messing with things and try to remove the battery tray. I ended up having to drill out the bottom bolt to get it off
only to find some nice rust underneath it from the piece of crap battery leaking Anyway, just wondering what you guys have in the works. It always seems this kind of stuff is just one can of worms after another! The little things are frustrating but in all it's still a lot of fun. I'm so glad I bought my truck when I did
Now, I just need someone to help me.
