supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

vroomzoomboom · December 16, 2014

ahodges said:
Sooo, did you go with a forged crank Tim? Are those I beam rods or H?

nooo. i wanted to replace everything it came with, so i bought the cast crank.
i also called a few more shops today. i am going with one shop a few friends have gone with, and they never had any problems. the guy was even trying to help figure out what went wrong with it over the phone as well. so next week when the crank and bearings come, i will pull the heads, look at the bores, any cam bearings as well. i probably will, depending what the bores look like, take the block to them and get them to look it over and replace the cam bearings if they need. on a brighter note, my cam, lifters and gaskets came in today.

vroomzoomboom · December 18, 2014

curiosity was killing me, so tonight i went out to the gas chamber (my new name for my propane heated shed), and pulled the heads off, and yanked out the pistons

cant really tell if they can be honed or not. i know the pic is crappy. i sprayed the cylinders with penetrating fluid then thought to take a pic. i will find out i guess when i take the block in and get them to check the cam bearings.
however, this also goes to show how bad the crank was walking around.

from right to left, top row is 6-8 cylinders, and bottom row is 1-4. the center bearings are from the rods, the outer row is from the caps.

however, my cam, lifters gaskets cam tuesday, the crank, and bearings came today. thought that was fast because i ordered them on monday. my spare bedroom is now my parts warehouse.

i called the shop that i will be taking everything to. they said i can drop it off when i am ready, so i may do that not next week, but the week after that, and hope whoever is working on it isnt hung over from new years.

ford99_1979 · December 19, 2014

Tim, sorry it worked out this way man... Glad to see you are on the right track and doing it right.

Merry Christmas

vroomzoomboom · December 19, 2014

Don't be sorry brad. It's not like either of us knew what was wrong with it. Hell, if you go back a few pages, I even said it drove home like a champ! Just glad I caught it now, and it not getting worse.
I'm going to see if I can find some steel at work today so I can make a engine cradle for it when I take it to the machine shop, and for when I get the 302 out and have something to set it on instead of the stand

4pointslow · December 23, 2014

Flexplate

What flexplate was on the back of that engine?
Mankorn's was a 28 oz.

Out of curiosity what fits on the back of those cranks anyway, is it supposed to be a regular 302 flexplate?

Have you checked the trans coolers for restrictions? How many do you have on the explorer that had the 347.

vroomzoomboom · December 23, 2014

by the looks of it, it is a a factory flex plate balanced to the stroker kit.
i would think it will except a regular 302 flex plate. there is one way to find out, i have a bone stock one off either a 96 or 97 explorer 302 kicking around in the shed. i will go and check it later, and take a pic or two.
as for the cooler, it had the stock one in the rad, and the stock external one mounted in front of the rad. IIR, it did have different rubber lines either going to, or coming out (red in color not black) that looked like they had a leak at the fitting (more then likely loose, but i never did check).

vroomzoomboom · December 23, 2014

so for what its worth, here are some pics

torque converter. this came from lentech. there are no visible signs of it pressing into the crank

flex plate. 347 on the left, 302 on the right

this is the side that faces the motor

backside

once again, nothing is showing it hitting the crank

and the depth of both of them. it is hard to see, but they both are the same height

i also found a few numbers on it. one on the plate

and one on the ring gear

if you ignore the weights on the 347, i cant say if that would look like a stock ford number. i know the numbers on the flex plate are not ford engineering numbers, google will become my friend later.

and the cradle i made so the block wont be flying around in the back of my ranger when i take it in, and also will be what i store the 302 on when it comes out.....and never has to go back in. or thats my story and im sticking to it.....

vroomzoomboom · December 23, 2014

and google comes up nothing for those number.......

Turdle · December 23, 2014

The cradle looks great Tim. Only thing I can suggest is to add wheels to it. you will be glad you did. :thumbsup:

Dono · December 23, 2014

I have a question.
How do you check and make sure there isn't pressure forcing the crank forward when the motor is seated to the trans in the vehicle? this is seeming to be something pretty important.
Ive just never read of how, or if its possible.

vroomzoomboom · December 24, 2014

thanks jon, and i will add those when the motor comes back from machining.
don, i think if you dont have a certain clearance between the flexplate and converter....i think....

CDW6212R · December 24, 2014

Dono said:
I have a question.
How do you check and make sure there isn't pressure forcing the crank forward when the motor is seated to the trans in the vehicle? this is seeming to be something pretty important.
Ive just never read of how, or if its possible.

The torque convertor, with the nuts not yet installed, should be able to move slightly back and forward. I've never seen the case we keep reading about, where the TC is not seated yet they got the engine in and bolted it all together.

I've been part of installing about 12 engines or so, and each time when the TC nuts went on, there was a little play available(not enough for the TC studs to go back and out of the flexplate) for the TC to move backwards. The nuts would pull it up to the flexplate.

BTW, the 347's that Woody builds are 28oz engines(unless you pay big for an internal balance), the flexplate will be a common aftermarket 28oz unit. Mine is too and he bought it(and balanced with it) for me.

vroomzoomboom · January 5, 2015

2 small little updates
the first one is something that goes back to the beginning of summer with the vibration i had. i up to now normally pull the front drive shaft out for the summer, but put it back in for the winter (it doesnt get driven a lot anyway, but it dose get driven). i put the front back in about a month or so ago, but didnt really drive it to much. i took it for a ride, and the vibration felt like it got worse (i figured because i tilted to diff to the correct angle as the rear of the transfer case). so i had the front shaft from the 347 in the shed and figured i would try that. i remember reading in brads thread that they were high speed balanced, where mine were not. put the 347 front shaft in, no vibration, or whurling sound most guys get. yay me!
the second was also some good news. i called the shop today to see if they had found anything with the 347. to my surprise they had already tanked the block, and honed it, and all is well with that. block checked out a o k according to them. the cam bearings are also good, same with the pistons. they did say they ordered new rings for it. they said the old ones were kinda on the meh side. that and i am sure the ring gaps changed a little after honing it as well. they will be balancing the crank in the next day or two.
so, so far so good.

Dono · January 5, 2015

That's not just good, that's great!
You just might not have to sell your house after all!!

CDW6212R · January 5, 2015

Excellent, and a great way to say Happy New Year!. I hope it keeps going that well.

ahodges · January 6, 2015

Awesome! Also, now to find a shop to do a high speed balance. Most shops look at you with a tilted head when you ask them to do that on an explorer drive shaft. Is that a double carden or single now?

4pointslow · January 6, 2015

shaft

I am glad you got the shaft. lol. The high speed balanced one that is.
That is very interesting. I know that from the factory the shafts used to be marked and installed a certain way to reduce vibrations. R&R instructions always had you mark the shaft so you could install them the same way as well. There were sometimes weights on them that would fall off causing nasty vibrations too. Having one high speed balanced might be the fix everyone was looking for with these transfercase swaps.

How fast have you had it up to with the balanced shaft?

I used to deal with a place called "Rebuilt Parts", they used to rebuild axles and drive shafts. I remember them getting this expensive high speed balancer. I wonder if they are still in business, I will have to look them up again.

Glad to hear the engine is starting to get some work done on it. I can't wait to see what this thing will do with a boosted stroker.

vroomzoomboom · January 6, 2015

ahodges said:
Awesome! Also, now to find a shop to do a high speed balance. Most shops look at you with a tilted head when you ask them to do that on an explorer drive shaft. Is that a double carden or single now?

no kidding andy. i know when i had both front and rear made, i used two different places. when i ask (after i paid for it

) if they did a high speed balance they said yes. when i asked what speed it would equal to on the road they told me 45mph. i told them they should have done warp speed, and walked out unimpressed. lucky for me Don found a place here that can do a actual high speed balance.
the one i have now is a single. the double i gave to don last winter when we did the 4406 swap in his truck. he has also removed it, and went to a single. he had said he would sometimes hear a clunk, and could feel a vibration form it. i also think he said it was making a whurling sound as well. chime in and correct me if a am wrong don.

4pointslow said:
How fast have you had it up to with the balanced shaft?

Glad to hear the engine is starting to get some work done on it. I can't wait to see what this thing will do with a boosted stroker.

i had it up to around 80mph before i ran out of nerve. with it being winter with snow covered roads in spots, and also realizing the winter tires i have on right now are all season, if things where to go bad, they would go bad in a hurry! lol. that and everywhere around me the posted max limit is 60mph. if i got caught (or if the cops even knew haft the crap i pull with that truck around here) i would be greeted with the uncomfortable end of a billy club.
as for the motor, yea. in a way i cant wait to see what it will do, and in a way i am worried. even though the motor is apart, the shop was asking what kind of boost numbers i was looking at. the reason is the compression of that motor. i would change the pistons, but that would break me. he told me he had priced a set for another customer a few weeks ago, and they were around the $800 range. when i told him i might be around the 10 pound range running a meth kit, and also having tuning done with a wide band, he said i should be ok then. what i am going to do is put the motor in, and run the crank pulley thats on it right now and see what it makes for boost. if it makes what i think it might (like in the 2-3 pounds) then i will go to a larger pulley. once again, nobody can tell me what will happen if the alt., water pump, and power steering are overdriven and if i can help it, i really dont want to spend what may turn out to be $800 in pulleys.

Dono · January 6, 2015

I'm watching closely to see how you make out with that machine shop. Going thru fordstrokers is turning out to be very cost prohibitive with our exchange rate on our Canadian dollar. Add close to 20% to their costs in exchange rate alone. I might look closely at just having a nice 302 rebuild (Tim has offered up a core I could build on).

Yes, the double cardan front shaft did some weird things. It would give an odd clunk and shudder(Not a nice feeling from it) sometimes at higher speeds when I would let off the gas. With the new f-150 shaft, there is a bit less vibration at 75mph also. I did not have the front shaft high speed balanced, I just used it as it came out of the donor with a coat of paint and the u-joints changed.

vroomzoomboom · January 12, 2015

well i am off work again for what hopefully will be only a few days because of back issues. i popped a few pain killers, and went for a ride to the machine shop to see how things where going. they just got the rings this morning. he said they have a few other jobs they need to get out, and will start putting it together mid/end week.
so this is what the block is looking like as of today

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