So I changed courses a little bit. I ended up selling some cars, and projects which gave me some extra space here at the house. I took some time off and got some stuff done on the project.
I ended up re adjusting the custom plate mounts i made, pushed as far back as i could. the passenger side still has about an inch of valve cover before being able to go under the a/c box. I ended up taking the piece off and taking a heat gun to it to reform it. which allowed me to push the engine over to the passenger side another inch. After forming i was able to keep the valve cover with roughly 1/2 inch of wiggle room.
I also ended up taking the 91-94 exploder radator, cutting the top mounting tabs off, cutting off the bottom of the stock radiator support, then cramming the radiator under the top radiator support. I then cut u shaped hole in the top of the radiator support, then boxed it in for the radiator cap. I fabbed up a lower radiator support with 2 ears to hold the radiator up. I then moved the condensor infront of the radiator support and currently making some tabs/mounts for it. but it fits
Its going to get a little close to the front grill and bumper when I put the trans cooler and pusher fan on the front, but we will make it work. This yielded about 3.5 inches between the spout on the water pump and the face of the radiator. I think ill be using a volvo fan as its super thin to begin with.
I also mounted the explorer manifolds on the engine to test the fitment. they seem to clear which is extremely nice. I will probably end up either buying the jegs/summit pre bent 2.25 or 2.5 exhaust tube kit and piece mine together. I have a set of Flowmaster 40's off my mustang that i think will work and sound quite nicely on this project.
Biggest issue im having is the lack of room under this bad boy with a 208 transfer case. I ended up notching the frame so that the 208 can sit slightly below the frame. Its just too fricken big to hide above the frame. Im currently in the process of building a crossmember for the trans and cant quite figure out if I want to put the loop under the front drive shaft or above. Im leaning more towards underneath the drive shaft and moving the crossmember towards the back of the vehicle (offset a few inches from the mounting pad on the transmission) This will give me a little more room for the drive shaft and allow me to build the crossmember mounts pretty beefy. Im thinking of building the mounts beefy enough to also support the extended radius arms for the D44 down the road.
progress is slow, but its getting somewhere.
