Dreaming of one mean 4.0: The Build up - Creager's 1992 Sport

[Ronin8002]

Pm'd you

 

[r37ribution]

read the whole thread...I blew a head gasket last Saturday while I was in Florida. Needless to say the 1200 mile trip home was VERY scary. At one point I was loosing 2.5 gallons of coolant every 12 miles.

I was initially looking into new cast iron heads from Alabama but after reading this I'm considering a rebuild on my 200k 4.0L OHV motor.

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[EMG7895]

If you do rebuild it make sure you post pics, it would be very interesting to see the condition of the internals after 200k.

 

[Creager]

EMG, if you look a couple pages back i got a few pics of my cylinder walls after 200k miles! Prestine is the only word to describe it! If you change the oil every 3-4k miles on these things, the bottom end will keep going, and going!

i should of gotton some pictures of my old bearings, i dont know why i didnt. If i get them back (i left them in the block and bearing caps when i dropped them off at machinest), ill post pics of them. They didnt look as good as the cylinders/rings, but they definatly could of gone another 200k.

Most guys at 200k could probably get away with a re-ring kit (new bearings included) and not have to touch the block, rods or the crank.

I should have the fresh block in by early next week! Stay tuned! Borla headers, flaming river shaft have been paid for and are in the mail as we speak! I also bidded on a set of NEW OEM lifters on EBAY, fresh in bags, never been opened! I hope i win! If not ill go the rebuilt route...

 

[Creager]

I got my Flaming-River Easy-shaft installed today. WOW is all I can say, heheh and I haven’t actually got to drive the truck around yet to really tell! So far, I can tell all the looseness is gone, and the steering wheel is more responsive. No more knots, kinks, and dinks in the steering, completely smooth, BETTER then stock. I tested this by pushing the truck up the driveway (about 30’), and rolling back down into the garage, steers incredibly.

For all those who might be interested in this shaft, the one I used was 14". When I used Flaming-River's formula to determine what length of shaft I would need, I found that I would have needed a 15.5" shaft. I almost went with the 16" shaft (flaming river doesn’t make a 15" shaft). But I realized 16" would have been too long if I wanted to remove the body lift. As it turns out, the 14" shaft actually fits perfectly at full extension from the steering column to gear. There is a 3" slip in the shaft, so this shaft has plenty of space to slip for when I remove the body lift, the slip on the 16" shaft would have already been maxed out. One of the best $270 I’ve spent so far.

These are the yoke dimensions from flaming river; these should be identical for all explorers 91-94.

Column's end shaft is a 1"DD, (not sure what DD means, obviously it has something to with the interesting shape of the column end shaft, these numbers were provided by flaming-rivers tech support, they should know what it means)

The gear input shaft is 3/4X36 splined shaft.

Bada Bing bada boom, for once I actually have DECENT steering! I am almost more excited to see how it steers then I am about the engine! Haha, my steering has been completely trash, utterly unsafe since I've installed the body lift. Now it’s more responsive then stock.

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Thanks again MaximumViolence for the crank installation guide, im going to be studying that thing! haha. Once i get to working on the engine, ill definatly get some info (and pics) on what goes on down there.

 

[Ronin8002]

How is the assembly of the new motor going?

 

[Creager]

Havent gotten it back yet... taking longer then expected. I talked to the machinest on friday, he said the first of this week... I guess he means monday, so we'll see!

 

[Creager]

Eye candy!

Couple shots of that new, sexy steering shaft

and... Oops, looks like i missed a spot with the ol rattle can there

And the new Borla Headers...

 

[Creager]

... just had to get new headlights!

 

[Creager]

Heres a picture of all the recent additions to the collection, notice the *new* (not rebuilt!) lifters.

When i opened the bag with the lifters, i found one of them had their little cap come unclipped from the top of of the lifter body. I popped back on, and fits nice an snug. Is this anything is should worry about? Buying a new $30 lifter wont be that big of a deal if i should need to replace it.

 

[bmxking5]

Looks good. How much did those Borlas run ya? Where'd you get them? I'd like to get a set for mine (I know that I won't gain much/if any power but I mainly want them for the sound)

 

[Ronin8002]

Is that shaft necessary if you do a suspension lift....or for body lifts only? Are you replacing/have you replaced your steering gear box?

 

[bmxking5]

Body lifts, cause with those, you're making a larger gap between the steering wheel and frame (steering box obviously bolted to frame). Suspension wouldn't affect this.

 

[Ronin8002]

ok gotcha. So there would be no improvement in the steering quality by installing this if you have no body lift?

 

[Creager]

There probably wouldnt be really any improvment over stock; unless your stock one is shod, which mine pretty much was after a few years of the greater steering angle caused by the body lift. Like what BMX stated, a suspention lift wouldnt have this issue. The only thing with the steering that needs to be changed with a suspention lift is the pitman arm, which needs to be dropped, or made longer, which is after the steering geer.

I bought the headers directly from borla at their web page. Costed me like a little under $400 after shipping.

 

[MEANEXPLODER]

Those Headers Look Good- I Wanna Rebuild My Old 4.0 For My Bronco 2 Prerunner, Its Gonna Be A Good Summer

 

[410Fortune]

Bronco 2 prerunner? Yikes the wheelbase of a BII is a bit short for high speed desert driving. Lets see it!!

 

[Turdle]

That steering shaft is cool !!!
Who fabbed it and how much $$

 

[Creager]

hahah the shaft was a tad pricey, but under the circumstances i was very glad to fork out the $270 (after shipping) for it. Flaming-River fabbed it up.

Engine isnt back yet. Machinest said monday when i talked to him last friday, or 'the first of the week' as he put it. Come friday ill give him another call just to let him know im still out there, ya know. Im guessing im not going to have to worry about his work =) Plastiguage will help us make sure.

 

[410Fortune]

$270??? Ouch! What if I order 2 at the same time? hahaha

I think I will have to weld something up then......