'92 X 302 Swap and more...

[minelson17]

'92 X with lots of fun stuff

Hello All,

Well, I recently started a new job and without boring you with all the details...I've got alot more spare $$'s these days.

So...that could only mean one thing, some serious upgrades to the Ex!!

Current configuration:

1992 XLS 4 Dr 4x4
4" Rough Country Suspension Lift
33 x 9.5 BFG All Terrains
4.0L stock
5-Speed Manual Transmission stock
K&N Cold Air Intake
3" Aluminum straight pipe with Flowmaster 44 Exhaust
4.88 Yukon gears in front and rear axle
IFS stock front axle
8.8 stock rear axle

Upcoming "Investments"....(not really a good investment by any means, but what can I do, I got the bug)...within the next 3 to 4 months:

In Order...

Carburated 302 rebuild and Swap, looking to put aluminum heads and a new cam...I got a really good engine guy who did my gear swap (he's got a fastback running 9's at the track, and its still street legal) who has already found me a 302 and is excited to tear into this thing. I trust him to do a great job in "nutting" this thing out, but any suggestions from the experts regarding what brands and how big on the cam and heads?

Also, does Ford have a conversion kit for the 302 so it can bolt up to my stock tranny? Or will I have to/want to get a different transmission?

Headers, once again going back to the guy who did my custom exhaust, this baby should be growling...

UPDATE: HAVEN'T DONE THIS, NOT SURE I WANT TO ANYMORE, WILL MAKE THE CALL WHEN CURRENT V6 GOES BELLY UP.

5.5 suspension lift, SOA in rear, sticking 35's under her. Will need new wheels, brakelines, steering stablizer, etc. I also will be putting dual shocks in the front (don't want to punch another hole in the top of my front diff, rough night for the Ex). Question, can the aftermarket leaf springs that I got with the 4" lift work with the SOA in the rear? I'm hoping so...stiffer suspension with a little more rake to the rig.

UPDATE: COMPLETE

Also, I don't want to put the regular shocks that come with the lift kit, I'm looking for a little more performance, any suggestions?

Custom brush guard and front bumper with built in winch. Found a great guy locally on the interenet who has worked on rangers and ex's. Question is, how big do I go with the winch, any suggestions?

UPDATE: COMPLETE, WENT WITH 8,000LB WARN W/WIRELESS CONTROL

Custom rear bumper with swinging tire mount. Same place as above, seen his work on some bronco's and tb's...pretty nice.

UPDATE: COMPLETE

Roof rack with shovel, highjack, and headlight mounts. I have been looking at the Lund system with the extension in the middle. I want something that will be low profle but with good stength.

UPDATE: COMPELTE

Other stuff includes some cosmetics, looking into a hood scoop (functional), maybe a sun visor, black nerf bars, cb, gps interface, some 6 x 9's mounted in the side walls of the cargo area, and a 6 channel amp to push all the speakers (no subs this time, I'll have some more interesting things to listen too).

UPDATE: HOOD SCOOP AND SUN VISOR CANCELLED, KEEPING IT STOCK LOOKING WHERE POSSIBLE. STEREO COMPLETE.

Should be a fun process, I'll be taking a lot of pictures and keeping everyone posted on the progress. Any help to the questions I asked would be much appreciated!

Also, if you know of some great threads already posted on some of this stuff, the directions would also be appreciated as I'm sure there is already some good stuff on here...

 

[410Fortune]

carbed 302 conversion! sweet! take lots of pictures!

No you cannot keep your current transmission with the V8

custom headers = $$$$$$ again take pics!! there are conversion headers on the market and mustang headers that can be made to work...

4" leaf springs with a spring over axle conversion will gain you about 7" of lift in the rear end with stock shackles... that is alot of rake!! especially with a winch and v8 up front!!

the drop bracket in your current lift kit is what punched a hole in your diff, not the shocks... dual shocks up front are nice but not necessary... I like Bilsteins new 5100 series of shocks for good performance

8000-9000# winch is plenty for a 4 door ex

threads for this stuff are all over this forum. I put a 98 5.0L drivetrain into my 88 which already had a 93 drivetrain... might find some useful info there... but mine is not a carbed 302 swap... its a bit different..


good luck! oh and double your budget or trippe, trust us

 

[IZwack]

I dunno what the purpose of the vehicle is but if its for off road (think verticals), why carb? IMO, I'd much rather spend the money for the headers on a fuel injection setup (the 5.0L has plenty of torque already, especially with 4.88 R&P).

 

[minelson17]

Optimal Tranny? & Carb v Fuel injection

Thanks for quick answers, I'm sure I'll be bouncing a lot of ideas of everyone as this beast come to life.

This project will be done in cooperation with my little bro, he's much more of a gear head than I...he's the brains, I'm the money ....and the owner haha.

Yeah, as far as tranny's I was kind of assuming that. I've been doing as much research as I can on here to what people have done. This 302 is coming from another explorer, but it's an automatic, there in lies the problem....I like my manual with a baseball for a shifter nob.

As for the rake, we'll see how it looks. Stock springs are pretty easy to come by if it's too much.

Yes, the drop down bracket was the culpret with the front dif dammage. For anyone planning on wheeling hard with that size lift, I'd suggest shaving that knuckle down if you have the means.

As far as the budget goes...we've set the mark at 9k for now...with wiggle room of an extra 1k...so we'll see how it goes.

Ahh yes, the Carb vs Fuel Injection discussion. We were having this debate ourselves. Here's the thing, we do take this baby off road quite a bit. It will not be a daily driver for too much longer. But, I still want to be able to clean her up nice and show up on the streets from time to time. There are off road carb kits that work very well from what I understand. So we're still not completely sold on the idea. Though I hear Carbed rigs can be easier to work on and have less that can go wrong.

Pros and Cons of the Carb anyone?

 

[IZwack]

Ahh yes, the Carb vs Fuel Injection discussion. We were having this debate ourselves. Here's the thing, we do take this baby off road quite a bit. It will not be a daily driver for too much longer. But, I still want to be able to clean her up nice and show up on the streets from time to time. There are off road carb kits that work very well from what I understand. So we're still not completely sold on the idea. Though I hear Carbed rigs can be easier to work on and have less that can go wrong.

Pros and Cons of the Carb anyone?

91% chose FI, 9% chose carb:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12775

 

[minelson17]

91% chose FI, 9% chose carb:
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12775

Well,

After seeing your posts and looking into it further on this site, looks like (as expected) a lot of support for the FI for those planning on wheeling. My question is, how well do these offroad carburetors work? Is anyone that has or is running them got some feeback for me? I would love to hear how they perform, any altitude issues? Thanks!

 

[minelson17]

Offroad Carb Performance

I bumped this thread becuase I'm really interested to hear what folks have to say...

I know by reading through the forum that people prefer the the fuel injection set up for offroad use for obvious reasons. But I am really curious what those have to say that are running "offroad" carbs.

We're looking at putting a Holley Truck Avenger 4 Barrel Carburetor 650 or 670on our 302. Holley advertises "Extreme Angles Allowing for 40 Degree Climbing, 30 Degree Side Hill Maneuvers and Nose–Down Descents to Avoid Hesitations, Stalling and Flooding Typically Associated with Carbs in an Off Road Environment" performance wise. I just wonder if anyone is running this or something similar? Any truth to that statement?

 

[410Fortune]

if your 302 is coming from an Explorer donor then FORGET THE CARB, this block doesnt even have a distributor.... and the automatic is awesome

for offroading EFI and automatic are usually preferred.

If you want carb and a 5 speed, then the explorer 5.0L is likely not the best choice to start with

 

[91ROKKRAWLER]

Go FI you won't regret it. maybe you can simplify the wiring but for the performance, i'd rather have the injection.

 

[94explorerEB]

Could check out the holley truck avenger carbs...

I just saw someone mentioned the same thing

 

[minelson17]

Automatics vs Manuals

if your 302 is coming from an Explorer donor then FORGET THE CARB, this block doesnt even have a distributor.... and the automatic is awesome

for offroading EFI and automatic are usually preferred.

If you want carb and a 5 speed, then the explorer 5.0L is likely not the best choice to start with

Thanks again on the feedback, we kind of have our heart set on Carb, and 5 speed is a must.

??? Why is everyone so dead set on automatics on this site for wheeling? I know terrain and climate is much different for most posting on this forum then for me up here in the northwest. But in my experience, a manual can rock itself out of mud and snow way easier than an auto can any day of the week (foward to reverse and back again)....shoot I pull autos out left and right on the trail....I'm interested to hear what guys have to say. Remember, I'm NOT a rock crawler.

Also, given my preferences, what V8 would you recommend? Mustang, F-150, Bronco, Ex?

 

[IZwack]

Remember, I'm NOT a rock crawler.
Also, given my preferences, what V8 would you recommend? Mustang, F-150, Bronco, Ex?

I personally dont think power is really what you want because you always have the LO range option in the transfer case. And building horsepower will also mean more stress on the rest of the drivetrain - which includes the TTB front axle shafts. If you are swapping in stronger axles, then power is fine. But otherwise, it will probably just lead to more problems in the long run. And axle shaft strength doesnt just apply to rock crawlers...

 

[minelson17]

Manual Transmission 183 @ 57.55%
Automatic Transmission 135 @ 42.45%

Poll taken from this very site. I'm glad I'm with the majority on this one, Manual all the way!! Except maybe in stop and go traffic, fortunately my X doesn't see much of that these days ;-). Mine's a 92, never had a single issue with the tranny, and she's taken some pretty hard beatings...

 

[410Fortune]

auto is prefferred because of its holding ability on hills and rocks, its that simple

 

[minelson17]

Yeah, I can see how the auto would be more convenient in spots like that, especially if you're not the most skilled with a manual. I think it really comes down to preference, and like I said before, it has a lot to do with the type of terrain in your area where you're wheelin'.

Thanks for your input, can't wait to get this project underway.....actually.....scratch that, can't wait to be able to drive this bad boy!

 

[410Fortune]

oh plenty of people wheel just fine with the 5 speed, a hand throttle can fix the fancy footwork required sometimes to get the truck moving forward again LOL
I can always tell the 5 speed trucks.... always running those starters hahaha

dont be afraid of the EFI, its really not all that difficult to wire up and you are not the first to go this route so the info is all over the web

 

[minelson17]

Finally....

Well, work has finally slowed down enough to pay some attention to the Ex. Plus the snow started falling around here last week so it gave me the itch...

Just ordered the following parts:

2 x Skyjacker extended radius arms
2 x Skyjacker 6" coil springs
2 x Radius arm bushings
4 x Small tie rod bushings
1 x axle pivot bushing
1 x steering stabilizer (hydro) w/ brackets
2 x front dual shock mounting kits
6 x Skyjacker (nitro) shocks
1 x Pitman arm
1 x Sway bar brackets
1 x U-bolt kit
1 x set of stainless steel brake lines
2 x radius arm drop brackets
1 x center pivot drop brackets
1 x rear axle flip kit (SOA)

...also got to get to the junk yard this week and measure out some F-150 rear springs.

I'm currently looking at 4 x BFG KM2 MT's for the tires (35 x 12.5 R15), still looking to see if I can find a better deal out there, but it's probably what I'll end up with.

302 is still in the works...currently weighing my options, but first things first, this puppy needs to be ready for snow season....

I'll keep ya'll posted as this develops, and make sure to take some pictures along the way.

 

[minelson17]

Parts are coming in...

Got the majority of the Lift Kit parts in earlier this week.

Forgot to mention that the steering stabilizer I got was actually a dual steering stabilizer.

Just waiting on the Nitro Shocks and Dual Shock mounts.

All the Surco Cargo rack stuff came in yesterday also. Included the following:

1 x Surco Cargo Rack (45 x 60)
1 x CH100 Surco Adapter Kit
1 x Hi Jack Lift Mount
1 x Hi Jack Lift
1 x Shovel and Ax Mount
2 x Auxiliary Light Mounts

Got to get myself to the junk yard this weekend to spec out some F-150 rear leaf springs.

....this puppy is coming together....

 

[minelson17]

8 Inch Suspension Lift Completed

Well...it wasn't exactly pretty, but we got everything on just fine. Ended up using the rear leaf springs from the 4" leaf under set up. We did the axle flip, this gave us some searious rake, and about a 8 to 9" lift in the back. The rake looked fantastic, but we had room to spare, and the tires in the front were rubbing with the 35 x 12.5 R 15, so we decided to add 2" coil spring spacers in the front as well. Those plus the extended radius arms, 6" drop down brackets and new springs, gave us about 8 inches of lift in the front total. This of course required another alignment/camber adjustment, and longer brake lines. WE ALSO WERE FORCED TO GET DRIVELINES EXTENDED. We got everything finished...started to drive home...and WOOPS.....the rear driveline slipped apart at the splines. The rig is currently in the shop over the weekend getting a wheel bearing fixed and the camber adjusted. The EX should be rocking and rolling by Monday afternoon. VERY happy with the lift, the steering stablizer helped ALOT, and the duel shocks up front make for a great ride. Now for the pics...

 

[minelson17]

A Couple more pics...

Here is a couple more pics from the project. First one is us stranded on the road...not really stranded, we were able to drive back to the shop in 4WD. The second is another look while still in the shop.