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

 

[Chief34]

Finally some pics......

Those hood lifters from explorer express... Definately worth it. Work very well and are easy to install.

Notice the hood pins???

 

[Chief34]

dammit someone (MOD) erase those please?

 

[Chief34]

here is the other

I've got those flexible chorome heater hoses coming too!

 

[huskyfan23]

Beautiful! What's estimated hp & torque?

 

[Chief34]

Hear is my gear shifter I madeit is in fourth gear and that is as close as it gets to the cups or console...

 

[Chief34]

husky fan 23.....
Thank-you, I am not sure exactly on torque but this year engine stock was 225 Hp.
Add the extra torque and Hp of the long tube headers maybe....... 15 Hp?
Add the extra hp from Dual High flow cats and Flowmaster mufflers maybe.....20 hp?
Add the extra hp from the very breathable Conical air filter maybe...... 5-10hp?
9 MM Plug wires.....

You could proably safely say about 270-280HP with a manual tranny which does not lose near as much power to the ground as an auto which is fine for now. I didnt want to change to much at one time which is almost impossible when you do something like this. I wasnt worried about it much since my future plans call for stroking this to a 347ci and supercharging it.

Here is another pic of the whole truck ready to go, (minus from the cat back exaust ) its nice and loud right now... notice the hood pins

 

[Chief34]

here is the header tank and overflow tank for the radiator without a fill cap. I made little brackets from aluminum to hold them....

 

[Chief34]

Fan to water pump clearance.... I am going to get an aluminum fan shroud and dual fan set up from Ron Davis radiators that matches the rad in the near future....

 

[Chief34]

I had to make a 1 inch aluminum spacer for the tranny to get it and the motor in the right position....

Oh and in case anybody noticed... that pass side header is getting cut and re-welded into position. The james duff headers are great but come out at very bad angles. The driver side is fine. So a word of advice to anyone who buys them be sure to test fit them before getting them ceramic coated. Or you will be screwed.

 

[CAC91]

I have followed your posts since the beginning and really like your work. I think your Explorer is very original and is one of the first I had seen using leaves in the front.

The shifter, though, thats quite a reach isn't it?

 

[Chief34]

here is my fuel lines I went with "pipe-An#6" hose ends right down here and ran an inline filter on the feed line. Ran ther braided hoses all the way up to the font and followed the crossmember under the engine pointing up to the bottom of the fuel rail extensions. I cut the extensions off at the bottom of the engine where they face down and added, again "pipe-An#6" hose ends. So up by the intake you still have the ford quick connect fittings for ease of access and it looks factory...

 

[Chief34]

CAC91,

First let me say thank you and sorry for the long wait in the project!
You know I was very carefull when I did this because I wanted to make sure it was perfect. I had both the short shifter from the mustang, which I used, and the long one from the explorer.... Let me just say that it looks like a long reach but it actually isnt at all. It is very comfortable. I wanted the shifter as short as it could be without being uncomfortable so that it would have shorter throws. AlsoI welded it so that it is very close to your leg ... But not too close.This helped on the reach.
The other advantage in using this one was that the mustang shifter knob unscrews and there are tons of aftermarket ones.... Which I already got one coming that is black and round with a chrome cobra snake on top another main thing I was taking care in was not to have any interferance with drinks or the center console. So far it seems right. But I havent got to drive it around really yet so we will see..... If I have to change it I will, shouldnt be TOO big of a deal...

Oh yeah, I am hoping to take it down to the shop tomorrow after work to get the exhaust done, if all goes well, I will try to take an audio/video of it with my camera before and after the exhaust work so you can all see.

 

[CAC91]

Cool. I look forward to seeing more updates.

 

[dreamr]

BY THE GODS THIS IS LIKE A WET DREAM. ONLY YOUR TRUCK IS PRETTIER THAN THE SIRENS IN THE DREAM!!!!!!!!!!

I used to love and adore my five liter mustang, now it's the explorer. You have both all rapped up in one. So very very very envious am I.

 

[Hartman]

Cheif, I have to say that your truck is one of the best all around trucks I've ever seen. Congrats on the buildup.

BTW you really like those hood pins eh?

 

[IAmTodd]

Excellent job!! I love every part of it. Although that shifter does seem a little far to reach, but if you like it, thats all that counts!!!

 

[P51DTUG]

Awesome work Tim!! ? for you..

Have you thought about a custom tranny x-member over modifying the headers?? It looks like there would be enough clearence for a tube style...
Congrats on the conversion..looks great!!

Jim

 

[Chief34]

Thanks everyone, I cant wait to get it out and off road it!

Yeah, I didnt want to have to make a custom crossmember because the stock one is very strong and the frame rails are not parallel at that point they are slanting inward as it goes forward. Also the fraim rail on the passenger side is double lined, so it would be hard to make a new crossmember. On the other hand The header isnt as bad as it looks in the pic. I am going to have it cut off right at the collector then an angled cut, Like a pie shape, Taken out of the pipe then welded back to the collectors. It shouldnt be that big of a deal. The other main draw back in leaving it and building a custom Xmember would be losing some ground clearance. And we all know that I cant have that now....

 

[Chief34]

I drove it to the Offroad shop to get the exhaust done. Everything was going great untill about half way there...... now I got problems.... I am going to have to do a rebuild on this engine!
Let me start from the top....

About half way there The truck had a little back fire not very loud at all..... When I saw a little smoke I pulled over It was running rough. I noticed that that little back pressure popped the pcv valve out along with the rubber grommet that it sets in. So now there is about an 1 1/2 " hole in the intake where air is obviously entering the intake. Thus I am assuming making it run very lean. Plus the O2 sensors arent plugged in keep in mind either. So now I assume I am running lean the rest of the way there until I get around the coner from the shop and It starts to White smoke really bad. It is still running but very rough. So I pull off the road thinking I have a blown head gasket. Checking the coolant and there is hardly any pressure in the coolant system at all the motor is barely even warm. Thanks to my trusty overkill radiator the fan never came on once the whole way there.... anyway... I am looking around for the problem when I notice that there is oil leaking out of the header and on to the ground. Oooops that is not good.So after he gets done with my exhaust I get to pull the motor and rebuild it....Oh yay

Conclusion: May have just happened anyway and might not be my fault, BUT If anybody asks ," Is it ok to run open exhaust without the O2's plugged in?" You might advise against it....
Oh well life goes on and I'll fix it as soon as I get it back and It will all be worth it! Wish me luck....
-Tim

 

[IAmTodd]

That just blows(literally). Hope its nothing real major. Now you can do that 347 a little sooner!!