347 RE-Power 1996 Limited AWD

As things are getting closer and closer thought I would update.

Started late last year, reading posts and asking questions. I decided to go ahead to drop in a built 347 into my 1996 explorer which has over 300,000km (almost 190,000 miles) on it. The truck still runs great BTW, and has been in the family since new and its been in my hands since last Oct.

First impulse was a cheap 1996 complete 1996 5.0L Explorer motor on fleabay. Shipped it to the engine builder to use as a donor.

It is a 347 built by Fordstrokers with a custom cam from Camshaft Innovations.

- Scat rotating assembly
- Mahle pistons
-Trick flow fast as cast 190cc heads
- comp gold rockers
- trick flow Track Heat intake.
- Torque Monster Headers built with the correct exhaust flange.

Other items of note
- 1" phenolic spacer
- 70mm accufab throttle body with modified throttle arm
- 30lb injectors
- 255lbs/hr fuel pump
- re-use the explorer intake elbow 70mm dia.
- black trick flow valve covers
- utilize some of my MAC intake

Supporting items
- 75mm Prom M MAF (Henson Performance)
- Wideband 02 sensor (Henson Performance)
- tuning (Henson)

Other to-do's
- exhaust will be re-done from the headers to cat back with mandrel bent tubing and new cats. Larger mandrel bent intake tubing to match larger diameter of MAF and TB.




This motor is being bolted to a Lentech 4R70W with 2600RPM 11.5" stall converter.

I'd like to thank many people for advice and tips but especially Don - CDW6212R for pointing me in the right direction with Fordstrokers and equally important was providing me with a custom made 28oz balancer with the explorer timing ring machined and pinned on there.

2010man for selling me his 1994 Mustang Cobra OEM crank pulley. This part is not made by ford anymore and has the same diameter of the explorer pulley but bolts to the custom 28oz balancer that Don sent me.

Also Turdle and tmsoko for answering some questions.

here it is at the engine builder


here it is at my shop, patiently waiting. mocked up driver's side header and intake.


Here is a used 70mm accufab throttle body next to a stock explorer 65mm TB. I modified the arm on the TB to match the location of the stock explorer linkage so both the throttle and cruise cables/linkages with match up.


I will post more updates as they come.

 

[ford99_1979]

Nate, nice car man! Very quick for a stock shortblock!! Keep us updated on your progress next year with it. I like to hear your testimonial with the Jay Allen cam and I can see why you are so stoked to see my truck run with one of his cams in my 347. Its bittersweet though because I really havn't been able to fully enjoy my truck with the tranny FUBAR and it being winter where roads are sloppy, wet, and/or icy.

Ya the Flex is 3.5L twin turbo direct injection. I have seen youtube vids of Taurus SHO's running down everything from mustangs to Chargers with just a tune. I promised myself and my wife that I would not mess with the flex like I do to everything else. Besides its fast enough as is and my daily driver/toy/Explorer is the one I have latitude with.

Here is the flex as posted in another post. I just snapped a pic when I picked it up from the dealer with my phone. Its wearing the blizzaks on winter alloy wheels in this picture. Since then I got clear film on the front with two front windows tinted. I have no more good pics because its dirty and I can't wash it yet and also my wife drives it, so by the time I get home its dark.

 

[Nate_V8]

Sweet deal! White looks good on them. So you promised not to mess with it? oh well....for now...haha

Those are just winter alloys? They look sharp for sure.

Yes I've decided that winter sucks. but then again its supposed to give you time to work on the things you want to fix or change.....except I don't have a garage, oh well for now.

I'd like a winter DD like the flex or SHO or S60R. I'm kinda upset that the new explorer doesn't look as good and the engine line up sucks with no V8 or even Ecoboost.

Well looks like we both have the spring to look forward too! and yes Jay is the man. I've seen a 408 setup with a mild cam from in a fox run 9s and he daily drives it. So yes I can't to see what yours does and hear about you running down SRT jeeps haha

 

[CDW6212R]

It's great to read these last posts. I'm sorry to hear that the trans isn't quite right, I have to get started on mine before I forget what goes where.

Nate, it's also good to hear you have had experience with Jay Allen and his expertise. I pray for him and his family that he gets back healthy again. He does really know more about Ford engines and cams than anyone I've ever heard of. We need to cherish that kind of knowledge and pass it on.

Brad, your exhaust is going to be loud with that Mac kind of muffler, and a single will be louder than two mufflers. I know they aren't cheap but the Cherry Bomb Vortex I bought are thin enough to mount together and fit in place of the stock one. They were about $95 each and just over 4" thick. They make them with 3" in and out, but I chose the slightly longer versions with dual 2.5" inlets. Keep your nice 3" tailpipe, try to get another one made to work with it. Regards,

 

[Limited02]

I'd look into a Flowmaster 70 if you want to quiet it down a little. I have one on my Explorer and I am very happy! It would sound sick through your setup too! I have some sound clips if you want to hear it.

 

[ford99_1979]

It's great to read these last posts. I'm sorry to hear that the trans isn't quite right, I have to get started on mine before I forget what goes where.

Nate, it's also good to hear you have had experience with Jay Allen and his expertise. I pray for him and his family that he gets back healthy again. He does really know more about Ford engines and cams than anyone I've ever heard of. We need to cherish that kind of knowledge and pass it on.

Brad, your exhaust is going to be loud with that Mac kind of muffler, and a single will be louder than two mufflers. I know they aren't cheap but the Cherry Bomb Vortex I bought are thin enough to mount together and fit in place of the stock one. They were about $95 each and just over 4" thick. They make them with 3" in and out, but I chose the slightly longer versions with dual 2.5" inlets. Keep your nice 3" tailpipe, try to get another one made to work with it. Regards,

Get on that tranny Don!
I know the Mac is loud and I hear it everyday. hahaha I will look into that Vortex.

Sweet deal! White looks good on them. So you promised not to mess with it? oh well....for now...haha

Those are just winter alloys? They look sharp for sure.

Yes I've decided that winter sucks. but then again its supposed to give you time to work on the things you want to fix or change.....except I don't have a garage, oh well for now.

I'd like a winter DD like the flex or SHO or S60R. I'm kinda upset that the new explorer doesn't look as good and the engine line up sucks with no V8 or even Ecoboost.

Well looks like we both have the spring to look forward too! and yes Jay is the man. I've seen a 408 setup with a mild cam from in a fox run 9s and he daily drives it. So yes I can't to see what yours does and hear about you running down SRT jeeps haha

Ya those are cool winter rims and my wife picked them out. 17" and were only $122 at Tirerack.com . It came with 19" factory chrome wheels standard. Didn't want the $600 optional 20" painted wheels, I think the 19" looked better and would stand up better than the optional painted rims.

If you get a garage, then you may find other reasons not to use it properly.

Focus is a good car, we used to have one. But if you do want to upgrade your DD. I highly recommend the flex or SHO or any other Ford product. I strayed away with a Grand Cherokee for a bit, but now i'm back to ALL Ford's in my driveway.

I'd look into a Flowmaster 70 if you want to quiet it down a little. I have one on my Explorer and I am very happy! It would sound sick through your setup too! I have some sound clips if you want to hear it.

I'd like to hear your sound clips if you don't mind. I'm keeping my mind open to all choices at this point.

I also gotta say your signature is the best i've seen. I can relate to it.....

 

[Limited02]

Yours will sound a little deeper than mine. My setup is 3rd cat gone, single 2.5" exhaust through a FM70. There's no drone on the hwy, just makes noise when you're WOT

 

[ford99_1979]

thanks for the sounds clips!

 

[blk mk8]

nice EB flex my brother special ordered his, but i am kinda sad he is going to keep it stock when there are so many goodies like off road pipes and full exhaust for them.

 

[Heath]

I really wanted a flex for my wife. Sadly it was out of our price range. Maybe a used one in a few years though. Nice ride.

 

[ford99_1979]

Thanks guys.

The more I drive the Flex the more I like it.

There are certainly intake, exhaust and tuner options already out there. With those 3 things guys are running well into the 13 second range in the quarter mile. Again, I'm not going to be touching this one in that respect.

 

[celly]

Very cool, Brad. Nice early Xmas present for the missus. I really liked that Flex I drove in S'toon. The Ecoboost sounds very cool (and fast).

Enjoy.

Brad2
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[ford99_1979]

Thanks Celly. We must meet up some time again. Maybe race city speedway in the spring. Your in the south anyway aren't you.

 

[celly]

Thanks Celly. We must meet up some time again. Maybe race city speedway in the spring. Your in the south anyway aren't you.

There is many a summer night when I can hear Race City from my house. I'm that close. 3-4 minute drive tops.

I'm in.

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

u plan on modding out the flex or leaving it stock

 

[ford99_1979]

u plan on modding out the flex or leaving it stock

Ha, ha no not going to mess with it. There is lots of potential there but its the wife's car and its good as is. We also went with the extended warranty and pre-paid service plan from ford. So for the next 6 yrs the whole vehicle is covered for ALL maintenance and service. I don't want to give them any reason to deny me any of those services/warranty problems.

Ford is betting that they made a good vehicle, i'm betting on there may be a problem at some point.

 

[Mountaineer1113]

Ford is betting that they made a good vehicle, i'm betting on there may be a problem at some point.

**** or tires... problems are inevitable

 

[blk mk8]

my brother flex has random problems with kicking down a gear and shuddering. it is the baby hauler so i can mod it but i have done off road pipes for the ecoboost motor and full exhaust already.

the dam flex is nice but is also soaking up money that i could be using to make the explorer faster.

 

[ford99_1979]

Hope you get the tranny problems figured out.

Do you happen to have any pictures of the exhaust system you built for the Flex?

Have you guys done anything else to it?

 

[Highroller]

Here is an idea for your exhaust that I used on my 98' AWD X: Magnaflow SS Stamped 2.5" X-Pipe ( http://images.magnaflow.com/02product/parts/10791.jpg ), Magnaflow SS Dual 2.5" in/out muffler ( http://images.magnaflow.com/02product/parts/12468.jpg ) and Magnaflow SS Dual 2.5" in / Single 3" out Y-Pipe ( http://images.magnaflow.com/02product/parts/10778.jpg ). I have the x-pipe after the cats sweep over to the passenger side, then the muffler and then the y-pipe after the muffler. I used quality SS flanges and hangers from Vibrant Performance, my cats for now are the Magnaflow SS replacements. The balance of exhaust after the y-pipe is all 3" SS that I had built and the tip comes out in the stock location. From how you said it was built you could use the cat pipes already fabbed up and the rest of the MAC system after the mufflers. The hardest part on mine was the 3" stuff after the muffler, but you already have that. You could get a 2-bolt SS flange for after the y-pipe and have a matching steel one welded to the remaining MAC. I built mine in 4 sections; the 2 cats pipes, the "mid" section (X, Muffler & Y) and then the tailpipe section that extends over the axle to tip. I will post pictures if needed and I built this exhaust to quiet everything down and reduce drone. I previously had a spintech narrow x-pipe, 40 series flows and turn downs. That set-up had a wonderful sound, but that exhaust was for my younger years.

Charles

 

[ford99_1979]

Hey Charles, I like that idea.

I'm guessing the sound would be more mellow and have a better note with that magnaflow muffler and X pipe. It would also allow me to utilize the 3" mandrel bent MAC tailpipe that I already have.

It would be nice to hear it before you build it, but as we know it is not possible. On paper it seems like a better set-up.

Perhaps in the new year I can look at something like that.