supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

hi everyone, my name is tim . i live in selkirk, manitoba, canada and as if this date that i am posting this, i am 36 years old.

i bought my sport in jan 05 from a local ford dealer. it had 111,000KM's on it. this is the second sport i have owned. it was sitting on the lot for about 8 months before i came along. i am the third owner (i was able to track down the person that traded it in, and they got it from a friend, who bought it new in 98).

i started to do a few things to it after i first got it, then i found this site, and all hell broke lose! i've never been satisfied with something the everyone else has, so i started to tinker with it even more.

mods include

interior

installed factory tilt, cruise, overhead console, auto dimming mirror, full length console, with a message center (it didn't have these from factory).

white face with blue flames indigo gauge covers (they light up blue)
blue l.e.d. everything
white l.e.d. interior lights
Kenwood DDX392 Touch Screen Head Unit
alpine 4 channel amp (all four speakers)
boston acoustic front and rear speakers
alpine mono amp (for sub)
2 12 inch jl audio subs
rockford fosgate cap
passenger side one touch window down mod.
custom transfer case shifter
tripple a pillar gauge pod, housing autometer boost, Innovate LC-1 wideband, and oil pressure gauge
12v power inverter with 120v plug in a 2 usb plugs built into the center console

exterior

BMW E46 projectors, mounted into stock housings using clear lens
6000K HID head lights
angel eye "driving" lights, with 8000k h.i.d.'s
clear parking/corner lights
billet grill (powder coated by Turdle)
blacked out ford emblems
custom front steel 95-98 bumper, with 4 inch round tubes welded in for driving lights
shaved radio antenna
shaved roof rack
black euro tall lights
l.e.d. license plate lights
smoked out 3rd break light
lund rear tailgate spoiler/wing (formally from the truck "blackjack" owned by EF member Spas)
hand made roll pan (made from 3 1/2 rear bumpers, with 1/4 inch diamond plate on the top, and it is removable)
aluminum T/A differential griddle/cover (powder coated by Turdle)
Motegi Mr107 20' rims
goodyear wrangler hp p245/50 r20
1 1/4 wheel spacer in the rear, 3/8 in front
and most noticeable, black with blue pearl paint, and blue true fire (ground effects are black with blue pearl as well)

Suspension

2 inch lowering blocks in the rear, reverse TT in the front (2 inch as well)
Explorer Express rear sway bar
4 door leaf springs
rancho rs9000 adjustable rear shocks
03-05 sport trac spindles with drilled and slotted rotors

performance

5L swap
347 stroker
TFS twisted wedge alum heads
comp gold 1.6 rockers
comp cams CCA-35-556-8 nitro cam
heavily modified edelbrock victor jr air gap intake (which serves as a valley pan now)
eaton m122 supercharger (metco 2.70 pulley, and ASP 8 rib 7 1/4 crank pulley) with custom made mount with bell intercooler core
8 rib serpentine belt conversion using pulleys from a 7.3 powerstroke
custom made 3 1/2 inch throttle body elbow
accufab 75mm throttle body
4 inch intake pipe
PMASS MH90 90mm Universal 3000 KG/HR MAF
amsoil cone filter
F.A.S.T. 60lb injectors
edelbrock fuel rails, trick flow specialties fuel pressure regulator with summit racing fuel pressure gauge
walbro 255lph fuel pump
1/2 inch steel braided fuel pressure line from tank to rail using 8AN fittings
torque monster headers
2 1/2 duel pipes with flowpro duel in and out 2 1/2 single muffler
accel extreme 9000 ceramic 45 degree plug wires with boot protectors
4R70W w/2600 stall with J mod
tuff stuff 200a alternator
tuning made possible with sct pro-racer package, and tuned with major help from member [MENTION=102869]Dono[/MENTION] and [MENTION=81804]4pointslow[/MENTION]
flex a lite duel 12 inch electric fans
big 3 upgrade (4 gauge wires)
meziere innercooler water pump
2 froozenboost innercooler rads

Transfer case

4406 manual shift from a 97 F150
modified stock trans cross member to accept 93 mustang 5L polyurethane tans mount
double cardan rear drive shaft

because of all the "fun" i had doing the bodywork, and some other things to my truck, i have nick named it "evil dora" or if you like, just plane "evil"!
and now the thank yous

my buddy gord leiss, who let this thing sit in his garage for 3 months while i did the body work to it. he also gave me a hand with some of the prep work, and painted it for me

kevin willson for doing the true fire http://affordableairbrushing.ca/

Joe Bukoski for letting me do the 5L/4406 swap in his garage

now people from this site, weather they knew it or not, they helped

BIG THANKS to tara a.k.a. explorersport77 for pictures of her truck. wouldn't been able to build the roll pan with out them!

ExplorerSport77's X "Hotness"

jon a.k.a. Turdle for selling me some real swanky rear shackles, as well as powder coating the diff cover and sending them up to canada. as well as much needed info on v8, and 4406 swaps as well as doing the grill and showing me how its done.

don aka dono for the help with the tuning, and wideband, as well as the supercharger

andy aka ahodges for some parts, and any help i needed for all the go faster goodies

5.0 swap - w/ 4406

jad2411 for finding me a link for my hidden antenna

ryan a.k.a. MustangP51 for doing his write up on making l.e.d.'s for interior lights, and how to make projectors

P51's HID Headlight (Projector) and Fog Conversion (PICS)

and N3ELZ cardomain page for L.E.D. switch and cruise pod mods

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-6
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-12
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/296394/2002-ford-ranger-regular-cab/page-23

bob a.k.a. rwenzing for showing me speedhut's sit for the gauges

Gauges, Custom Gauges, Tachometers, Speedometers, Shift Light, Pod

Buzz4x4 for his write up on blacking out ford emblems

How to Make Your Own Custom Ford Emblems

the late aldive for his write up on one touch down passengers window mod

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141027&highlight=touch+passengers+window+mod

BIG COUNTRY, for his write up on how to install a auto dimming mirror

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=84968

BIG COUNTRY, 98formulaLS1, and Ryon40 for there write ups on how to install a message center

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=225017&highlight=BIG+COUNTRY
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=80670&highlight=message+center
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245085&highlight=Ryon40

MountaineerGreen for his 4406 swap write up and "Custom" Driveshaft for a 4406 and 4" Superlift on the Cheap " (even tho its lowered

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166726&highlight=awd+4x4+swap
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=185232

Simon, aka blueka for his "pickle" thread, and help anytime i picked the phone up the phone on the 5L swap

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=271813

Jon, aka 4pointslow for any MAJOR technical advice i have needed

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219092

i wish i could find who did the write up on the overhead console install, but here is the link

http://www.explorer4x4.com/overhead.htm

Russ aka NICE59FORDF100 for his help on the wiring, and what to watch out for electronically.

hopefully one day, i will be able to help people on here just as much as the people that i have mentioned above!

plus you know you have done something right when.....

your truck (as well as corkey) wins truck of the month

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums//showthread.php?t=296023

is the feature truck on the fun hump day radio show (starts roughly around the 30 min mark)

http://explorerforum.podbean.com/2011/03/23/19-vroom-zoomboom/

and you drive 26 hours ONE WAY to the carlisle all ford nationals in june 2010 and 2011, and grab second place in the s.u.v. all category!

then in 2014 you go back to the same show you have been to 5 years in a row (nothing by most, but its one hell of a long drive) and take first!

 

[Dono]

Maybe it will be warmer next weekend Tim. Even if your coming to the city and want to drop the stuff off one day so when were ready to go the block, hoist, etc. will be warm when I warm up the garage.
Sorry to hear about the header. although I know a guy that has one that's reasonably local to you. lol.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

thanks don. not in a huge rush, but need to do it before your motor comes back. header is good, the gasket took a dump however

 

[Dono]

I don't see my motor getting done any time to soon. It will be plenty warm (maybe even with mosquitoes) the way this is going.

 

[Dono]

Taking Evil for another drive Tim? Looks like Sunday is the day.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

HA! maybe a drive where your heading. been saying to myself, "wounder if don can fit me into his carry on..."

 

[gmanpaint]

F-a bunch of that!! Brrrr !!!!

I'm surprised, you all don't live/exist underground by now.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

It has warmed up to Speedo weather

 

[vroomzoomboom]

And if you want to know something that is completely insane I work outside

 

[gmanpaint]

 

[ahodges]

It is a cold one this year. We aren't that cold though. Wednesday and Thursday this week are highs of around -1 F.

 

[shucker1]

I'm not greedy about that snow stuff...

You can have mine!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

mmmmmmmkay. so. today was the moment i was dreading. dono went away on a nice warm tropic vacation and got back (that isnt the moment i was dreading btw) while up here we all froze to the point more then the balls fell off the brass monkey. he got back a couple of days ago and i was going to use his truck to see how well (or bad) the blower would fit because his motor is out and it would be easy to put my mock up block (his old block) in and drop the blower on to see what i would have to cut, hammer or "massage" to make everything work.
well.....

as unbeleiveable as it sounds, fit with zero clearance problems! i didnt even think i would be able to use the intake elbow that came with it, but with a small amount of cutting, it will slid in like a glove! so here are some pics

one of the vacuum ports hits the windshield wiper motor, but that can be cut, filed and closed with a frost plug

 

[vroomzoomboom]

bottom side looking up at the elbow

back of the blower to the fire wall. with my m112, i can barely get my fingers in behind it

 

[vroomzoomboom]

there is way more room them what i expected. as well as there is plenty of clearance for the hood as well. i thought i was going to have way more issues then this to the point i said to don that i am a little worried because all this is being built for a truck that earned its name, and it is being built using a motor that has a black cloud over it. i wasnt going to use the stock intake elbow at first, but i am now, and will have to wait until everything is in the truck to build off it. granted no wiring was on, but you can move that around. as well as i knew i would have to change the fuel lines and some other things, but this really surprised me just how nice it dropped in. don and i put the valley pan on the motor first, then laid the mount, supercharger and rails down in one shot which was what i was hoping for. i am also going to have to get some studs for where the intake bolts to the heads. the rails wont allow you to put the correct length bolts in an have to be shorter. also with studs in there, you cant miss when you drop it all down.
so i am a pretty dam happy camper at the moment, thats for sure. thanks again don for letting me use your truck for this!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

we are now headed out of "its so cold i saw a polar bear wearing a sweater" weather now. i headed to the gas chamber and did the elbow tonight. forgot to get some before pictures. wanted to get in and out of there as fast as i could with causing minimal brain damage

that should solve the clearance problem Clarence.
i have also been able to find a intercooler that will work. bell has one that is 3.5 tall, 4.5 wide, and 9 inchs long. was going to go 12 inch long. it would fit, but the guy that will be making the tanks and mounting it in said he might have to cut the mount apart for it to work. bell has said that that core is good for at least 450hp, but has said with a good pump it will handle 650hp. i hope they are right.
so that will get done next. that way it is done, and in there. when i get so more cash i will find a pump, lines and fittings. that can be done later.
and if you havent seen the posts in dono's thread, he had his motor run on the dyno and i went with him to see it done. i can say even with this new blower, i ain't catch'n him what so ever. 471 torque at 4400 rpm (hell, it was making 430 at 3200rpm) and 487 hp at 6200rpm....and thats without the turbo! congrates don!

 

[4pointslow]

My intercooler set up works but I have been researching better parts and designs. I plan to upgrade in the future after testing the nitrous.
I am looking to get a 5 gallon tank with large lid and baffles so I can ice it down at the track.
Also looking at going with a rule pump as they seem to flow a heck of a lot more than the setup I am using.

Here is a link to a brand called "Rhodes Race Cars" that can be found on Jeggs.
Rhodes Race Cars Ice/Water Tanks | JEGS

 

[vroomzoomboom]

what i plan on using is a small type of alum rad that dono got years ago when his black truck was still alive. i have it buried in the shed at the moment. will get a picture of it later
also this is the pump i plan on using

JEGS 50952: Remote Electric Water Pump 20 GPM | JEGS

wanted to go with this one, but they said it has a 3 month warranty so that kinda spooked me, as well as it is on backorder and didnt have a release date

Allstar Performance ALL31120: Electric Water Pump Remote Mount | JEGS

 

[vroomzoomboom]

this is what i was planing on hanging out front. this is the rad or whatever you call it that don have me years ago when i was going to try and intercool the m90

i will say its about 2 3/4 deep and 12x12

 

[CDW6212R]

That's a pretty good sized heat exchanger. That should be close to big enough. I learned not long ago it doesn't take near as large of a HE for water/air IC's, compared to air/air IC's. I'm hoping I can find a wide one that fits well behind the bumper opening, assuming the bumper hole is big enough.

 

[Dono]

It's going to take a bit of modifying to get that unit to fit. If I remember correctly, the center hood latch support doesn't need to be cut up.