410Fortune - 96 5.0L XLT refurbish (making 1 great Ex from 2) | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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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:
2893expldr-med.jpg

exafter.jpg


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:
2893drives.jpg



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:
beforework1.jpg

No airbags, interior is in great shape! (just needs TLC):
interiorbefore1.jpg

Rear:
rear.jpg

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

No fan, No ac condensor, and no trans cooler:
nofan.jpg


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.
 



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rookieshooter said:
:thumbsup:

Personaly, I'd rather see it step by step and learn from this :thumbsup: And then you can really appreciate the finished product. From his past project he set a standard that no dought will be matched or exceded.


i understand an agree.....but you gotta love the pics when a poject is just finshed an it rolls outta the shop :D
 



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a project rolls out of the shop one day and rolls back in the next. Neither of these suckers will ever be "done" :p

Progress made this weekend was minimal.
I actually spent some time on the BII.

The explorer however did get the entire front end power washed, degreased, and ready for more work. I also drained the water cooling and trans cooler as well as unplugged/unhooked the wiring harness so the rad support can be cut out.

Oh how I would so love to just cut the whole truck up right now and install a sport trac front fiberglass clip from Perry's.
I am going to try and use another set of Torque Monster headers when I install the new 5.0L drivetrain.

$$$ is tight these days, and the main goal is to get her back on the road, so we shall see. :p

Sawzall comes out TONIGHT :p
 






subscribing...(and dont hate on the green interior ;) )
 












i know....im jsut saying because it was discussed earlier....
 






hey! Some "light" progress, she is ready to be cut.
I need a new sawzall blade, so the cutting will happen today after work.

I drained the radiator and the trans cooler lines. I removed the horn assembly, battery & tray, EVAP bracket, and wiring harness retaining clips.
Removed the hoses and trans lines on the radiator and pulled it out.
cutready1.jpg

(cant see well but the 35's are on the BII, perhaps for the final time ever, no more 33's?)
cutready2.jpg

This truck was dunked in mud, snow, or originated somewhere other than CO. You can kinda tell, it appears the fender skirts were removed at some point which may have something to do with it, might explain alot of the discoloring on the engine/frame/etc.
cutready3.jpg



Now funny thing to note, on my BII anything on the chasis is standard and anythnig on the drivetrain was metric. On this gen II explorer it is a mix match of standard and metric. I had to get out the 10mm and 12mm sockets for the radiator and battery tray bolts, where as the rest are all standard. hahaha figures
 






This should make it "slightly" easier to remove the engine and trans, wow I should do this more often!

I think I can swap the V8's in a weekend with this method.
took all of 8 minutes, mr sawzall:
cutup1.jpg

cutup2.jpg


Now that it is cut a hammer chissel, air chissel and grinder will get the remainder of the rad support off. Basically breaking and removing the factory spot welds in prep for the new metal:
cutupdet1.jpg

cutupdet2.jpg


New garage is coming along so nice! next project is adding a fold up workbench and sink/wash basin.
cutupgarage1.jpg

cutupgarage2.jpg


This weekend = drivetrain OUT.
 






This truck was dunked in mud, snow, or originated somewhere other than CO. You can kinda tell, it appears the fender skirts were removed at some point which may have something to do with it, might explain alot of the discoloring on the engine/frame/etc.

Hahaha! Com'on man, you gotta see what some of these southern guy's trucks look like underneath. Dunked in mud heheh, that thing looks new.
 






are those 33s on the ex?
 






Yes 33's. It has a 3" body lift, which will eventually come off in favor of suspension lift.
 






Your moving at a fast rate on this project. Looks good. Sounds like garage is going to be a nice place to work the way you have plans for it. Don't see a fire extinguisher, don't want to burn the knew house down. But I bet it's there.
 






yup two extinguishers actually, hahaha

I have the drivetrain out, left pics at home.
Worked on it all day Sat, went and got the hoist from my parents on Sun, pulled the T case, d shafts and trans X member then BLAMO swung the entire assembly out of the truck.

This week = clean up the engine compartment, get it ready for the new drivetrain. Next weekend I get to do this all over again in the green truck, cut the front off, yank the drivetrain, etc fun fun.
will be ready for welding in new body panels in less than 2 weeks (goal)
 






you are the engine swap master...if i ever need one im driving the 10+ hours to you ;)
 






actually this is probably the easiest big project I have ever done. Cutting the rad support out makes it really easy to get in there and work, I had all fluids drained, all wiring and hoses undone, etc and the engine ready to come out in like an hour.
the exhaust, skid plates, etc of course took a bit more work. ON this truck with the body lift it it was even easier then normal...

Me likey! This is the first time I am going from 96 to 96, hahaha we shall see, I suspect everything will plug directly in, but with FORD you NEVER know.

Blue truck was build 5/96 I am going to check the computer calibration code and build date ont eh green truck today, out of curiosity I wanna know how close they were.
 












410Fortune said:
Yes 33's. It has a 3" body lift, which will eventually come off in favor of suspension lift.

how much lift will the camburg kit give you? you said you planned on doing a SOA so you might want to think about keeping half the body lift and doing this: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127121

I personally really like having the body lift in front still because it makes it so much easier to work on things and get your hands in places that would normally require disassembly of half the truck.
 






I am not sure the camburg 4x4 kit is still being worked out.
I would imagine 4-6" based on the rest of their kits.

5" would match a SOA conversion just fine, could even lower it a bit with some shorter shackles.

I have been anti body lift all these yers because there are a few basic rules to wheeling that I try to follow as much as possible, low center of gravity (fiberglass, trim for clearance), keep a wheel on the ground (long travel suspension) and lots of ground clearance (big tires)

This truck is more of a street queen. I am keeping the BL now basically because I have 3 ea sets of 33" tires I need to eat up, now that the 35's oare on the BII, I will wear out these muds then run my AT's

For all I know I might get a wild hair and lower this truck, go with like 18" rims, etc....(brett is pushing me down this road)

But if not it will get a suspension kit of some sort and a low range t case. I just love the way 4 doors look lifted, but since I have the BII (trail, 4x4) and plan to build a 2wd Ranger (desert) this Explorer might get the "Street" treatment, but one thing at a time.... hahaha
 






Are any sets of those 33s for sale? ;)
 






410Fortune said:
I have been anti body lift all these yers because there are a few basic rules to wheeling that I try to follow as much as possible, low center of gravity (fiberglass, trim for clearance), keep a wheel on the ground (long travel suspension) and lots of ground clearance (big tires)

an ifs lift raises the cog a lot more than a body lift though. fiberglass fenders/fender trimming is ofcourse the way to go for clearance.
 



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I understand, but suspension in additon to the BL is what I am getting at. I see no real dis-advantage to a 1-2" body lift, in fact a really well built rig will have the body set on the chasis to match the suspension work done and the cage work done. the 3" BL is kinda sccrewy, at least on this Gen II, it causes a few issues with some wiring, hoses, cables, and especially the steering extension! I will be addressing those as I do this swap and I expect using some TM headers will help at the steering shaft. I won't be using the supplied extension, I will modfiy the shaft/column setup to delete it.

Now if this was a high speed desert truck then it would be really important, but she's a long way from there!

the suspension does lift up the chasis and raise the COG, but at the same time you are adding a much softer/and or tuned suspension and hopefully some increased track width (wheels, custom a arms, etc) to counteract that. With the BL there is no counteracting the raised COG without removing a bunch of weight from the body.


I want it all dammit!

I really want a Gen II Ex to Sport track fiberglass conversion kit, If I went that route then she would be begging for suspension.
 






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