410Fortune - 96 5.0L XLT refurbish (making 1 great Ex from 2)

Okay here we go 09/13/05

In march of 05 I rolled my new to me 96 5.0L AWD 86K miles, just after driving it back to CO from OR and putting $1000 into it. You see I bought this truck from my brother with 86K miles on the clock, it would not pass emissions for him and he drove it into the ground. This was the same explorer he bought new when I got the BII from him for $500 12 something years ago.
Well I payed him $500 for the green Explorer and $1000 later (shocks, tune up, 02 sensors, etc) it was in primo condition. Then I rolled it in an ice storm...
RIP 96 EB:

So in April my buddy Brett found this great deal here in town for a 96 XLT 5.0L AWD, $900 is what I paid, it has front end damage and air bags deployed, picked it up from a fellow board member:

After the wreck the owner put in a new radiator and battery so it could be driven.
The truck has sat since April of this year, untouched, until this morning.
I have been preparing my new garage to accept my new project, and well she's ready, so today is the day I am driving this truck home.
To my disbelief this truck had no problem and started right up after sitting since April!

Here are some "before" shots:
Font end damage, sagging T bars, new rad:

No airbags, interior is in great shape! (just needs TLC):

Rear:

It has some "issues". Like steering extension is rubbing the manifold (3" body lift), no dipstick:

No fan, No ac condensor, and no trans cooler:

This is a 1996 5.0L AWD XLT with 151K miles on the clock.
Truck is loaded with sunroof, leather, tint, etc.
Previous owner installed 3" body lift and 33" tires.
Alot of things have been "rigged" but it runs and drives fine!

I will be completely removing the front clip, everything except the frame and inner fenders will be cut out. The entire drivetrain will be pulled (too many miles), the entire front end will be fixed, new bushings, bearings, new steering rack, torsio bar twist, shocks, brakes, etc.

the body lift will be fixed and or reduced to 1-2". the rear bumper will be re-located.

The drivetrain from my green 96 will be installed into this truck, along with alot of other "donor" parts.

The front clip will then be replaced using factory metal replacements, welding in new rad support, and then prepped for paint.

truck needs new windshield, airbags, and alot of TLC.


My long term plans for this truck include: "long travel" 4x4 IFS suspension lift (dixon bro's Camburg, etc). Stereo, tow package, SOA, low range T case, and custom everything else.
This is my "other" baby, and in keeping with tradition she will have the heart of my brothers old truck, just like the BII was his and run into the ground, so was "part" of this one.

Still no car payment after 12+ years.

 

[410Fortune]

rynstvy,

All 96-2001 Explorer 5.0L 's are either 2wd or AWD, this is a full time AWD t case, no shifting. I assume Ford did this because they did not have a T case that would bolt to the 4r70w transmission that would be small enough to fit in the explorer frame. It looks to me like they made a vrey simple small t case for this application, full time AWD. Also AWD was newish to Ford 4x4s in 1996, so its likely they were giving the people what they wanted. Ford likely figured 4x4 low was not needed anymore in a 4 door SUV built for soccer moms.

The IFS on these trucks has no vacuum disconnect like the other 95-01 trucks with a true low range case, so true 2wd is impossible without swapping this out as well (meaning disconnecting the wheels from the front diff)

The secondary cat converters are not required in colorado to pass emissions nor are they required for the computer. The secondary cat converters on these trucks are mounted down stream of the rear 02 sensors (catalyst monitors) so the computer could care less what happens to the exhaust past this point.
I do not have the secondary cats on either of my 5.0L trucks, just the primaries built into the down pipes.

 

[rynstvy]

i was looking and there are explorers with auto 4x4high and 4x4 low shifting switch to the left of the radio,i was looking at a 2000 explorer on ebay
that one your aloud to shift in and out of 4x4 with low 4x4 also

 

[chrisis]

410fortune mean that all All 96-2001 Explorer <<<<<5.0L>>>> 's are either 2wd or AWD.

all 4x4 they came with 4.0 ohv or 4.0 sohc engine

 

[james t]

i was looking and there are explorers with auto 4x4high and 4x4 low shifting switch to the left of the radio,i was looking at a 2000 explorer on ebay
that one your aloud to shift in and out of 4x4 with low 4x4 also

Yes, but it was a V6 and not a V8.

 

[rynstvy]

ohh the engines make a diff i didn't realize that and 410 did say that, thanks guys,
so i been wonderin some more, but is it possible to get a transfercase to hook up to a 5.0 2wd expo?

 

[Cali' Explorer]

If you do a search, you will find this topic has been covered many times.

The short end of it is that you can attach a Transfer Case to a 2WD Explorer, but it typically requires changing the output shaft on the 2WD Transmission to a 4WD/AWD Output Shaft. Although, I seem to remember Advanced Adapters having a setup that requires the 2WD Output Shaft, but my memory could be going.

 

[rynstvy]

kool thanks ill be shearching
i was on AA.com and i can get a adapter for an 2wd expo and adapt to a bronco xfer.

 

[rynstvy]

Daily Driver

Shes drives great! Lots of power compared to a stock 5.0L AWD for sure.
The powerband is really nice!

First I needed to make brackets to re-locate the bumpers, I had a friend cut these on a CNC Plasma from an Autocad drawing I sent him. Also this is no Mercury its a.....

With some adjusting and creative mounting:

Rear with Hitch:

Yesterday I started off with new exhaust thanks to my buddy Chuck at Discount Muffler in Denver:

First they hacked off the secondary cat converters:

Ran dual 2.5" pipes along the frame back the muffler hangers:

Flo Pro dual 2.5 inlet single 3" outlet

2.5" single pipe over the rear axle and out the side behind the pass rear:

Simple and it sounds MEAN, definatley picked up some low end with this single 2.5" pipe. I wanted a 3" but Chuck knows his stuff and suggested the 2.5", he was correct.

After the exhaust was done I headed up to Midwest Frame and Alignment for a quick front end align, then ran home to meet Elite Auto glass for a new windshield.



More to come.....

where did the 3" outlet change to 2.5?

 

[410Fortune]

when I went to the exhaust shop I ended up using a dual 2.25 inlet single 2.5" out muffler instead of a 3" out muffler like I have on the BII, BECAUSE my exhaust guy recommended it for this truck.
I can tell you he was right! I have more low end torque on this truck then I do the BII, but then the BII is so light it doesnt really matter.
I go to my exhaust guy for a reason, because he knows his stuff.
Also routing the 3" pipe on the explorer would have been more difficult (no suspension lift) they do not have a dye for 2.75" otherwise I likely would have settled for that, but I am super happy with the 2.5", the exhaust sounds mean mean mean, I attribute this to the cam, roller valvetrain, intake, TM headers and the single 2.5" exhaust with a flo pro muffler....

 

[rynstvy]

when I went to the exhaust shop I ended up using a dual 2.25 inlet single 2.5" out muffler instead of a 3" out muffler like I have on the BII, BECAUSE my exhaust guy recommended it for this truck.
I can tell you he was right! I have more low end torque on this truck then I do the BII, but then the BII is so light it doesnt really matter.
I go to my exhaust guy for a reason, because he knows his stuff.
Also routing the 3" pipe on the explorer would have been more difficult (no suspension lift) they do not have a dye for 2.75" otherwise I likely would have settled for that, but I am super happy with the 2.5", the exhaust sounds mean mean mean, I attribute this to the cam, roller valvetrain, intake, TM headers and the single 2.5" exhaust with a flo pro muffler....

kool did you have a sound clip on your exhaust?

 

[410Fortune]

Not yet, I dont really have a good way to get one, unless somebody has some suggestions
I would like to get a sound clip while actually driving under load, not just sitting in the garage, but I guess I could do that using what my camera? It's sound mic SUCKS

The Explorer is/has been getting some nice upgrades

First I just gone done tuning my stereo, and Oh my what a difference.
First I ditched the Panasonic head unit I had, it was okay but no where near what I am used to. So I picked up a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X790 hehehehe

5.0V pre out, tons of features including making my own movies and wallpapers for the screen
Then I spoke with some reps at Stillwater (kicker) regarding my Impulse 405D amp that Boomin sold me regarding tuning it. I just spent an hour in the garage with some techno, some rap, and some chilipeppers tuning the gains and level boosts on the amp.

The gains are set to almost the lowest setting for the front and rear speakers with the sub gain being at about 1/4. Needless to say I can crank my kenwood up to 30 now and its LOUD and clear, 35 is max volume, it will rarely see above 25.
Up front I have Diamond audio 5x7 coaxials, in the rear Infinity 5x7 coaxials, no factory amps in this system. This Kicker amp has some huge potential, currently I am at 4 ohm on all 5 channels with no capacitor. Eventually I am going 2 Ohm sub and adding 6" diamond components in the front and rear doors in addition to the 5x7's
I will need a 1/2 farad capacitor as well to maintain 14.4V and possibly an alternator upgrade.

So that takes care of the audio for now

My warrior shackles are in and will be installed this weekend hopefully, that should take care of the butt sag

I am picking up my 4406 low range transfer case this evening with an additional builder case for the speedo fitting I need. My t case comes from a 2001 F-150 and is a manual shift version.
The other case is another 4406 but with a ton of miles, however it has the speed sensor and tone ring I need for my 2001 unit, so I will have to make one good case from the two.

After all this is done I will begin to strip off the factory paint and prep the fenders & hood for paint. I plan to run a 99 style bumper cover in the future and paint it to match as well. This I am hoping will allow me to finally mount my PIAA fog/driving lights, they are friggin HUGE and I would have to cut up the factory metal bumper I have to fit them and it would look ghey IMO, so they can wait.


I plan to do the paint myself It doesnt need to be show quality, just as good as the OEM 96 paint on the back half of the truck.

She's coming along real nice! I also will be finishing up my two tone interior project in the next couple months, I need to grapht the grey leather arm rest portions from my grey door panels onto my blue panels, this will match the seats, center console and carpet nicely.

Also I need to fit a 33" spare UNDER the truck, thats right folks a 33" will fit with some help from a grinder.

 

['97 V8]

Can you be very detailed when you do the tone ring swap thingie?

 

[Turdle]

Tone ring thingy?

 

['97 V8]

Tone ring thingy?

yeah. Its what our vss sensor has to spin on. You are lucky and dont have to deal with this, since you get your speedo signal from the diff.

 

[410Fortune]

I can try but the inside of a t case is greek to me, really I have never had to open one up, in fact I have never had any issues with my old 1350 or my super reliable 1354 and if i did i can grab another for $200 or so here in town

I understand the mechanics involved, but um yeah...still when I open them up I will be learning at the same time you do

 

['97 V8]

well i guess we'll be learning from each other. you see its a give take relationship we have here. You learned through my misfortune that the f-ups at ford didnt put a tone ring in the rear. Now i'll learn what to and not to do when you open your case. See the love? hehe. I know im smoking crack

 

[410Fortune]

Oh baby the ex got some love this weekend.

First a full detail Friday after work
Today I installed the rear door panel grey inserts (front have been done)
I re-wired the ground for my amp, it was not in the best spot.
I extended the hose for my brake booster, with the body lift it was too tight

Then I installed my Warrior shackles, sitting almost perfectly level now!
Finally I installed my Mercury running boards and trimmed them for the front tire clearance. I also discovered my pass side front tire is back about 1/2 from the drives side, at the ball joints...I am going to crank the T bars just a bit then get another alignment.
It looks 100 times better, hidden frame and no more ass sag...

Pics tomorrow

 

[section525]

I was meaning to extend that brake booster hose for about four years.

 

[410Fortune]

Section my brake booster was losing vaccum overnight making stopping first thing in the am interesting

rear door panel done for now (next step to replace the blue leather with grey leather, all 4 doors)

Warrior shackles installed, they actually give more clearance then stock at the hitch. I found the shackles REALLY improved the ride of this truck and she's sitting almost perfectly level now:

I plan a 1" torsion crank up front next to help clear the 33's


I installed my running boards, I was surpised I really like the way they look on this truck, hiding the frame:

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

very nice looking