CHIEF Is Almost a 302!!!!!! 91 XLT SAS In the process of 302 and T-5 Swap!!

Hello Everyone!
It's Chief here, Aka: Tim. I started with this pitifull excuse of a motor called a V6 and even more of a dissapointment This POS A4LD tranny! This will all be a nightmare that ended real soon

 

[410Fortune]

Thank you very much mr Chief for doing such a clean conversion
Mayne next time I am in Cali (this summer hopefully) you will join me and some of the So Cal guys on a run? Big Bear? Thaven?

 

[Chief34]

410 Fortune,
Sorry I have been slow on the replies... I have been swamped with work. Anyway, I would definately like to go on a run soon, just let me know when and If my truck permits me to go at the time , I will go.

If anyone has been wondering, The only thing I never finished on this swap was getting the final smog inspection. When I first saw the smog referee... My truck passed the emmissions test without any problems. Only thing is being here in Cali I failed the visual test.

Here is whhat he nailed me on, Starting with the biggest ones (expensive)
-Custom headers arent teqnically legal since Im in this *hithole State.
-Inlet adapter is from ford motorsport... "SVO" stamped on top. Look it up
in the catolouge and it has the inevitable "Not for sale or use on
pollution controlled vehicles in California"
-need one more catalitic converter because the explorer came stock with
two.
-re-install air tube to the rear of the heads for egr to actually work
correctly.

Here are my solutions....
-Purchased stock explorer V8 headers off of Ebay.... 115.00 shipped.
-Purchased "Trick Flow" inlet adapter from Summit. 100.00 Shipped.
-Purchased one more Catalitic converter from magnaflow. 95.00 Shipped.
-Re-installed air tube to back off heads.

So I already re-installed the air tube to the back of heads. It is all plumbed up. I installed the trick flow inlet adapter, which let me tell you is really nice and alot better than the SVO inlet piece. It is also Powdercoated Silver too. I recieved the CAT in the mail and I am just waiting on the headers to arrive, which should be any day here. When I get those, I am going to take my truck back to the Place that Made all of my Custom *****en exhaust and have them install the Cat and headers. I am going to have him make another "Y-Pipe" to go from the lame stock V8 explorer headers to the Great exhuast he made for me. Then I am going to the Smog ref again. After he passes me I will just Put my Custom headers and "Y-pipe" Back on and Be rolling legal!!!!!!!

Anyway , with a little luck in no more than say two more weeks this whole adventure will have come an end!

Then of course a new project will emerge...."HINT"
-Tim

 

[hazardiz]

damn...that was a long 24 page read...lots of good info...question on the motor mounts...i thought i read somewhere that the james duff ones were pretty much just stock mustang mounts swapped left to right and vise versa...is this true? and if not...what mount is a good one? kaufmann mounts any better than the L&L ones? i just started building my 5L for my rig...gonna give it a c6...it sucks for all you guys having to run egr and smog control...here in canada everything is WAY more relaxed...only in the big cities do you need emissions control...i live in a bit of a smaller city and we don't need any of that...no cat...no smog pump...nothing...awesome build and i'll be contacting brett about a harness soon...link to my rig... http://www.trailmonster.com/MonsterRides/DisplayMonsterRide.aspx?ID=88

 

[410Fortune]

Albert,

Kauffman mounts are no longer made, in fact kauffman no longer exists.
The Duff mounts are Mustang mounts.
Duff sells Advance Adapter parts

L&L mounts are good units, however they could use some improvement, Cheif broke one of his (I hear hes hard on his truck hahaha) basically when you get them they are bolted together, welding the plates together instead will make them bulletproof.

Alot of guys use convertible Mustang mounts and drill for them.

You can research alot of things you will need right here:
engine mounts, oil filter re-location, cooling system, etc etc...
www.rangerpowersports.com

 

[hazardiz]

thanks for the link...new page to me...right on...time to do more reading...

 

[Chief34]

About the mounts,
You might not want to weld the L&L mounts together. This would create more strength, but you would virtually have a solid motor mount. The L&L mounts are weak though. I broke two of them actually, and both times on the driver side. That is the side where the torque is twisting UP on the mount instead of down towards it. The reason they break is because the two plates are basically glued together. There is one bolt going through them but it is not structural, more just for a little shear strength while still allowing vertical movement.
I just custom made some. It was fairly simple. I used stainless steel. I used 1" thick by I think 1 3/4" wide SS stock and welded a pice of thick wall tube to it. I inserted Polyurathane bushings into the tube for the bolt to go through. This gives great strength, and a moderately "solid" motor mount while still having dampening from the poly bushings for vibration relief. I basically got the idea from the picture of the "Kaufmann" motor mounts. They work great and have not broke one yet.

410fortune,
Just curious... who gave you the idea I was hard on my truck? heh..

 

[410Fortune]

Sorry I dont mean weld the two pieces of the mounts together (the engine to the crossmemeber) I mean weld the mount around the two plates that bolt onto the engine block, so make that piece solid (instead of glue?)


There have been rumors of you "jumping" and "hauling ass" in your explorer hahaha
oh aand possibly the two broken mounts
I hardly have any vibrations from the 5.0L and solid mounts, I actually kinda like it!

 

[Chief34]

410 fortune,
Yeah I knew what you meant. I was just saying that welding it together eliminates the use of the rubber in between the plates. it would be solid mounted without any dampening. Just an observation though... My mount only has a poly-urethane bushing and it doesent bother me a bit. One thing is for sure , I am definately in favor of a strong mount because having your motor mounts break sucks hard core.
-Tim

 

[hazardiz]

thanks for the help guys...the question i would like answered is...are the duff mounts simply mustang mounts moved from right to left and left to right or not? cause the distributer for L&L here in Canada said that L&L is out right now and would have to make some and then it would be 8 weeks before i might see them...and i want something sooner than that...and i would like to keep it non solid mount...or is someone selling a set of mounts?

 

[410Fortune]

The Duff mounts are a rip off, yes they are factory Mustang mounts.

My solid mounts do transmit some vibrations but not enough to be concerned IMO even with a daily driver. If the 5.0L had a radical cam in it it might get annoying at stop lights, but other then that its fine.

James Duff does not make any 5.0l conversion parts, they sell Advance Adapter parts.

Alot of guys use convertible Mustang mounts and drill the frame.
I used the L&L mounts and they worked perfect.
I have an AutoFab transmission mount, it uses a urethane bushing.

 

[hazardiz]

thanks for answering the question...cause i asked because the dealer here in BC for L&L said it would be about 9 weeks before i saw a set...and it'd cost me 290 can for them...so i was like naww...i'll figure something else out...and ya...the mounts have to be decent cause its gonna bea 332 stroker with a cam...so i'm thinking of using the 4L isolators and a make a plate to mount to the block and making those bolt together...another question...i'm trying to decide on a tranny...either c4 or c6....and i've heard you can build a c4 as strong as a c6 internal wise...but supposedly the case won't hold the power from a motor and i'd hafta get some sort of girdle...what tranny would be better for the motor i'm building...right now i'm leaning towards c6...any input?

 

[Chief34]

Well.... Thats gonna be a matter of opinion im sure... I cant really say a whole lot because I went for a manual tranny. I do believe that the C6 has alot bigger bell housing and will give you more trouble with clearance, but it is nothing that will stop you. I would have to say that the C6 is gonna be stronger and handle more of that stroker motor. Again, this is just an opinion.
-Tim H.

 

[full foot notch]

since im still working on my beast, and pretty much gonna be just a little bit bigger than your truck chief34 , how much would you figure this swap has set you back $$ wise , im contimplating it, but im estimating around $3k after everything is said and done, and thats including a basic 302 motor, auto tranny and Tcase , and how long did it take you to do it, i know there is a searce button, but its one of those i did not get the answers i was looking for

 

[Chief34]

Full Foot Notch......

Tough questions to answer. Your budget of about $3000 will probably hold up depending on what you decide to do.
I can tell you something, that I wish I would have known before I started, and that is go with whatever tranny and T-case combo you want. I wanted a 5 speed manual so I used the T-5 tranny and got the Advance adapter to put it all in. The idea is that you wont have to modify your drivelines.... That is all wrong! you will still have to modify the drivelines and that only costs about 150 or so the advanace adapter costs about a grand. So basically you can use any tranny and T-case combo you want. Just try not to use an Advanace adapter because it costs alot! You will either have to use the stock V-8 style explorer headers or get custom ones made. Nothing else will fit, trust me I tried them.
I probably spent about a good 5500 on my swap and sold some of my original equipment for about 1500 so I probably ended up about 4000 for the swap. Some of that cost was because I wanted things done a certain way and spent extra to accomplish it and other things were because of Califonia's buerocratic bull;hit and other things were spent like a new Rebuilt engine and trans....
Timeframe is dependent entirely on your expense and availability of it. I just got my smog Referee Sticker about a week ago So teqnically from start to finish It took about a two years to complete. About a 8 months of that time was due to California's Smog ;hit. (I passed emmissions all three trips to the Referee but failed visual twice) 6 months or so I didnt work on it from frustration and lack of available funds. The other 8 months of jacking with it trying to make it the way I wanted it and pouring money into it.
Sorry for the long post, I had alot more to say but Ill save it!
I will answer any questions you might have though to help, just ask! Good Luck! -Tim H.

 

[full foot notch]

well i know about hte truck being down, my front D30 F'd up in march, and i got new axles underneath (14bolt and chevy D44), well i said F it and just bought a ford '78 HP D60, so ill have a 1 ton drivetrain explorer, so that leads to my next mod once this $2800 gets payed off , of wanting to do a 302 full drivetrain swap, and maybe if money has/had to allow, a nice little supercharger , but now that i see that i have to do a bodylift, or mod stuff, i may reconsider, cause i dont want to really lift anymore, hell with suspension alone (with no bodylift) i can clear 44's with room to spare so its one of those, i dont want to raise the COG anymore

 

[Chief34]

Full Foot Notch...
You can do the swap without putting a body lift on it. I only put a body lift on it because I wanted to mount the engine as far back and as low as possible. You can definately do it without a body lift... It just makes fitment a little easier.

 

[full foot notch]

yeah, but im a lazy ******* and dont feel like cutting the AC box or folding the seam lip back like i have read before

 

[Chief34]

heh, well if your that lazy... I can tell you right now, Dont even Attempt a
V-8 conversion

 

[410Fortune]

Even with a body lift you will still need to modify here and there, Chief is correct.

I dont have a body lift and I did the conversion, the AC box modifications was one of the easiest projects to do when compared to some of the hoops you have to jump through during the conversion.

Sounds like you have already put alot of work into that truck, why are you scared of the easy pinch weld and AC box mods????

 

[GPRACING]

Chief34,How is that T-5 holding up???