Beginning of a beautiful journey, 2000 Explorer SOHC

[donalds]

So happy I now live in NC no salt the polar opposite to buffalo NY where I grew up. A nice thin layer of red clay and no rust now lol

 

[Pekka]

Are you planning to sand blast the underside of the car? (the car probably has been marinaded by road salt for a while).

I am going to regret this later but... no.

I don't have access to sandblasting equipment. Only a wirewheel attached to an angle grinder, some rust converter and a lot of happy thoughts

 

[Pekka]

It's finished!

Not the engine swap, hell no.

But I took the front part of the car apart. I finally managed to remove the engine mounts, they're a bit... hard to access. I'm either refurbishing or replacing almost everything.

Now it's time to make some measurements and try to fit the V8 inside!

 

[Hacra]

I wish i'd have place to do the same (eventually will have).

But, following your project with great interest.

 

[Pekka]

Winter is coming! I bought a garage tent so I can protect the car from the weather while it's waiting for magically repair itself... too much work.

I decided not to swap lower ball joints and lower control arm bushings by myself and took the contol arms to a nearby repair shop. They called me a couple of hours ago and told me that I had bought wrong bushings..

Now I know that the two bushings on control arm are not identical.

 

[Pekka]

I don't understand.

I have the correct lower control arm bushings, Moog K8705.
They don't fit right. Rear bushing is too small and won't sit tight in the control arm.

 

[Hacra]

I wonder if there are differences to euro models of the car, i had bit of bushing size issue with my rear sway bar, made thread about it while ago.

Also, if you take measurements, can you buy universal poly bushings? or pour with DIY kit if you can't find correct ones? And with front uppers be prepared to go insane with installing driver side.

Been tempted to buy the moog problem solver kit to front, even though i have nearly all parts replaced from front.

Perhaps someone of the elder (more experienced) folk have experience in this? did different trims \ engine sizes have different front driveline parts?

 

[donalds]

I just bought new control arms slapped them in

 

[Hacra]

I just bought new control arms slapped them in

This, they're pretty cheap.

 

[donalds]

This, they're pretty cheap.

Yep very reasonable prices

All the time fixing it and paying a shop $_ it's cheaper in the long run imo

2000 FORD EXPLORER 4.0L V6 SOHC Control Arm | RockAuto

 

[CDW6212R]

I've bought the entire control arms for mine since about 1988. R&Ring the bushings is a dangerous task, I won't do those again, and it is much easier to buy the whole arm than take them to a shop etc. The uppers run about $60 or so for higher end units, and the lowers are still $120 or more. I pass on the cheap brands.

 

[Pekka]

I didn't forget this project, had just something else to do. A lot of something else.

This is something of a "bite more than you can chew, still chew it" project.

Since I have completely disassembled the frame I'm going to do a full rebuild of my Ex.

Things done already:
- Modified engine mounts
- Modified transmission mount
- Front drive shaft from 2002 Ex
- Adaptor plate for rear drive shaft.

Things to do next:
- Sandblasting and repainting the frame
- New fuel and brake lines
- Rust work on body

Issues not yet solved:
- Original A/C compressor does NOT fit on its place. I'll either modify the A/C compressor mount position with an adaptor plate OR I'll just use an electric compressor from Volvo or Toyota.
- I actually don't have a clue how much material I have to remove from the firewall to fit the engine. I'll figure it out eventually..
- Original exhaust manifolds don't seem to fit.

 

[Pekka]

Oh my, time sure does fly.

I've sandblasted and repainted the frame. Next I'll start slapping the parts back together.

 

[Pekka]

I have a few days free before I have to go back to my wage cage, so I'm finally having time to reassemble the frame.

I did an oopsie with springs. I first installed them and then started to wonder how on Earth am I going to fit the rear axle in there, this isn't SOA

This is a two steps forward one step back kind of thing

Anyhow, man the frame is BEAUTIFUL when repainted! Also I love the fact that I'm finally installing the new parts I've been hoarding in my barn for so long.

 

[fast_dave]

Anyhow, man the frame is BEAUTIFUL when repainted!

Pull out your Nokia and take some pics of that beautiful frame!

 

[Pekka]

Progress is SLOW. But slow is better than nothing!

Axle shaft damper was DOA, gotta get a new one. I'll contact Rockauto and ask if they're willing to compensate for selling me a dead unit... over an year ago

One of the new camber bolts had also bad threads but I was able to force it shut. It's going to be a blast when I'm adjusting camber.

Brakes are rusted and seized, I already cleaned and repainted one, I need new pads and caliper slide pins.

Rear is done. I installed new springs, new shocks (thanks hacra!) and new leaf spring shackles. I'm thinking of getting also helper springs for extra load capacity. Maybe.

I managed to install lower front control arms wrong way on the first time, took me a moment to understand why the front looked so weird

 

[CDW6212R]

Good progress, this heat some of us are in makes any work outside rough.

For the brakes, try hard to never remove the slide pins or bolts, the type with a rubber boot which seals the grease inside. Those should not be separated, which exposes the grease and pins to contamination, unless you know the grease is very old.

Simply remove the two main caliper mounting bolts, not the little ones which hold the sliding pin bolts in. Remove the whole assembly, clean everything, push the calipers in, and then install the new pads, the rotor, and last the caliper.

Those sliding pins inside of rubber boots with grease, are the main caliper wear item. They don't wear much at all over many years, but if the boots are removed and any dirt etc, gets inside, then the will wear much faster, even with new grease. The grease in those is capable of lasting 10-15 years, the pins along with it. Try very hard to never remove those slider pin bolts.

Do them at a certain age, say every ten years, or when you suspect they have been opened up by accident and the grease may be compromised. At that time the whole area around and in those slider parts needs to be cleaned really carefully, well, and filled with the proper caliper grease. Most people when doing brakes are in a fairly big hurry, and that's a bad time to be rushing with the critical grease parts, that must not get any debris inside with the grease.

The brake job is also faster and easier when you leave the slider pin bolts in place.

 

[Blackout2017]

Pull out your Nokia and take some pics of that beautiful frame!

I am emotionally invested in this build. Pics would help me cope.

 

[Pekka]

Good progress, this heat some of us are in makes any work outside rough.

For the brakes, try hard to never remove the slide pins or bolts, the type with a rubber boot which seals the grease inside. Those should not be separated, which exposes the grease and pins to contamination, unless you know the grease is very old.

Simply remove the two main caliper mounting bolts, not the little ones which hold the sliding pin bolts in. Remove the whole assembly, clean everything, push the calipers in, and then install the new pads, the rotor, and last the caliper.

Those sliding pins inside of rubber boots with grease, are the main caliper wear item. They don't wear much at all over many years, but if the boots are removed and any dirt etc, gets inside, then the will wear much faster, even with new grease. The grease in those is capable of lasting 10-15 years, the pins along with it. Try very hard to never remove those slider pin bolts.

Do them at a certain age, say every ten years, or when you suspect they have been opened up by accident and the grease may be compromised. At that time the whole area around and in those slider parts needs to be cleaned really carefully, well, and filled with the proper caliper grease. Most people when doing brakes are in a fairly big hurry, and that's a bad time to be rushing with the critical grease parts, that must not get any debris inside with the grease.

The brake job is also faster and easier when you leave the slider pin bolts in place.

Slide pins were so seized that I had to hammer them out of the caliper. Both pins had fine red dust instead of grease on them

I took a bore brush and attached it to a drill and removed the rust from inside the caliper. Slide pins are so rusted that the rubber boot won't give good seal, that's why I'll replace them.

 

[CDW6212R]

That's the way to handle it, replace the hardware whenever there is a problem like that. If the calipers wear too much inside the slide pin bores, the whole caliper will shift or wobble some, the pad wear will be uneven too. Try to keep your original calipers in good shape, rebuilt caliper are often turned in due to excessive wear.