red.EDDIE.4x4's Explorer Registry

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

the upper intake being off helps get the top two in, make sure to bolt the tranny dipstick to the top passenger one!
having the wheel wells off makes the others easier, so does the non-ac box.

im surprised you got it in with the torque convertor on, mine just wouldnt go in, had to bolt it on through the hole laying under the truck.

hoist didnt go high enough or were you hitting the celing? lol

i eventually figured out all of the things you just pointed out! thats the reason why it ended up being pulled out 3 times...:
like you, i had to unbolt the torque converter and bolt it in one by one thru the starter hole. none of my friends showed up like they said they would...so i had to do the whole thing alone. not fun.

and with my hoist...it didnt hit the ceiling...the oil pan would just hit the core support of the truck. i literally only needed 1/2 an inch and i would have cleared it. :sigh:

but its in and the hard part is over. unfortunately i wont have time to work on it at all this weekend... but first thing monday i should have it running.

 

[Xeek]

good to know me and jd werent just retarded and couldnt get it in with the tc on. since you couldnt either
to late now, but to move the flywheel i used a screwdriver on the teeth through the hole. i had one head off so i would say that made it easier to turn. both heads on and fully assembled it may be harder. but it does work. didnt have to turn the crank pulley that way.

your hoist didnt go that high is what youre saying? lol i did mine on stock height so that mayve helped me.


just keep it going, almost done now. stare at it all weekend until you add atleast one bolt

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

well...the arm on the hoist could have gone one more notch out. but when i put it there and started lifting, the arm was bending a lot...and since its not my hoist, i didnt want to break it. so i put the arm one notch back from the very end and had to let air out. i have 5.5 inches of lift on 33s so thats 7.5 inches over stock height.

ill be drooling and fantasizing about it all day tomorrow at work...thanks xeek

 

[Xeek]

ill be drooling and fantasizing about it all day tomorrow at work...thanks xeek

thats what im here for


mightve been best. i think fully assembled its 700ish. my hoist at its furthest is 500lb. but i put mine in without the top end, i used the 500lb hole.
ill prob have to let air out next time tho, suspension is being lifted now

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

ok. well i got some stuff done....this next pic is for you Xeek.
pully should work. belt doesnt seem too tight either.

look at all that room! only thing else that i will be adding is the factory air box with a little mod im doing.

this is my experiment for the cooling system. im using a 4.0 manual trans radiator. only difference is that is a single core design which means the transmission lines that go into the radiator are cut and modified. meaning, that my engine and transmission fluids will no longer be fighting each other to warm up or stay cool. i have two trans coolers in the front.

im surprised someone hasnt tried this already. ill also be using an HHR fan and ill see how that does.


got the motor fully bolted in, wiring harness all plugged in, exhaust Y pipe bolted in and a few other random things.

major items still on the list are the electric fan, my air box mod, electronic accessory wiring

 

[Xeek]

jd has the manual trans radiator in his
but i think his was custom, designed from the manual radiator.

as far as the fan, theres threads debating it. hhr is looking like crap. supposedly the thunderbird is the one thats good. i think its thunderbird. its a name with bird in it i know that much lol

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

took her out on the maiden voyage! and holy !@#$%^ that thing is loud with only the Y pipe! everything seems to be in check, just go easy for 500 miles and change the oil and filter.

as far as a temp goes...i have a 195 degree T stat in there now and temperatures seem to be at 200 exact and the HHR fan seems to be doing just fine. ill eventually knock down to a 180 T stat and see what that brings me. i must say tho, between the intake spacer, 40-50 over bore, and the comp cam, this thing sounds pretty mean!

thanks everybody for your advice and help along the way. i really appreciate it.

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

just got back from the gas station. i went 270 miles on 16 gallons! thats 16.8 MPG! before the rebuild i was getting 11-13. who would have thought bigger pistons and a comp cam would get better gas mileage???

 

[mr cribb]

What did it cost to rebuild the motor? I seen the heads were 500 ish, the cam is atleast 200.... So 1500 or so?

 

[Xeek]

cam is $300, and i spent around $3500. that includes EVERYTHING, down to tubes of rtv needed, etc

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

Let's see... I don't have all the paper work in front of me so this is all just a rough price.
Machine work/pressing pistons on rods: 260
Heads: 500
Cam: 300
Pistons: 175
Rings: 75
Timing chain set: 50
Full gasket set: 140
Water pump:40
Lifters:100
Rocker arms: 130
Push rods:85
Crank/bearings:150
Cam bearings:40
Plugs and wires:70
Oil/filter:20
Radiator: 50
E fan/modual:110
Misc bolts and parts: 50



So... Rough cost would be about 2200-2500 for me. I didn't replace the oil pump (I just rebuilt it), fuel injectors, or the coil pack like I wanted to. So far I can feel a serious improvement over stock ( my cracked heads).

 

[mr cribb]

Wow you had cracked heads on the lil ol lady owned rig? That sucks.

I was trying to get a good figure on a rebuild price for that one day down the road.

I kinda hope to get at least another 48k outta my motor (almost 202k). I could justify a rebuild then... or at least give me enough time to present the idea to the wife so she can release the funds....

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

Hahahaha yes I had one badly cracked head and the other had a hair line crack, more reasons for a rebuild are that the rear main leaked oil and one cylinder burned oil, so between the two I lost about a quart of oil every 6 weeks. It also burnt coolant, due to the cracked head(s). It had that annoying explorer valve/rocker tick. And my final excuse was that the mileage was so bad, on average 12 city and 9-10 highway.

and the story on the cracked heads was that i had overheated my ex twice. once when it was at stock height on stock tires. we thought it would be fun to go out truckin in some sand, i got stuck and overheated the engine AND blew out the transmission at the same time. the other time was when i was in stop/go traffic with the AC on, i guess i was low on coolant and it got pretty dang hot.

and im not really sure how it started burning oil, all i know is that i could smell it.

 

[mr cribb]

Hahahaha yes I had one badly cracked head and the other had a hair line crack, more reasons for a rebuild are that the rear main leaked oil and one cylinder burned oil, so between the two I lost about a quart of oil every 6 weeks. It also burnt coolant, due to the cracked head(s). It had that annoying explorer valve/rocker tick. And my final excuse was that the mileage was so bad, on average 12 city and 9-10 highway.

and the story on the cracked heads was that i had overheated my ex twice. once when it was at stock height on stock tires. we thought it would be fun to go out truckin in some sand, i got stuck and overheated the engine AND blew out the transmission at the same time. the other time was when i was in stop/go traffic with the AC on, i guess i was low on coolant and it got pretty dang hot.

and im not really sure how it started burning oil, all i know is that i could smell it.

Damn the bad luck...at least you fixed it. Mine has the damn awful tick as well when it's cold outside, but I figured out if I let it warm up it goes away.

Which year heads did you get/ use?

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

just OEM replacements. but they are brand new, not reman.
ordered them from a cylinder head company on ebay, "Odessa Cylinder Head"

i got 2 heads and a Felpro head gasket set for about $500. i did have to return my old ones as cores tho, or else they would stick me with $700 instead of $500

i actually ended up with an extra Felpro gasket set...so ill be selling that at some point.

 

[mr cribb]

Any updates?

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

not much to update, but i installed the police light in the A pillar....
motor seems to be running just fine. valve train is a little noisy tho, but i guess thats just what the 4.0 does with aftermarket parts.
my oil pressure seems to be REALLY low. on a cold start my cheapo mechanical gauge tells me its making 50-60 lbs of pressure, not bad. then once it warms up it goes down to about 12 lbs at idle, bad. i cant quite determine if its the gauge or if its the oil pump itself. ill try the gauge first and of course im kicking myself now for NOT changing out the oil pump for an aftermarket one...

ol' Bruce also needs all new shocks and to have rear shock mounts relocated to a better place. Bilstein 5125s are in order since those RC shocks took a dump. but itll have to be awhile since i went over budget on my engine build and im a poor college student. :thumbdwn:

i was planning on throwing a d44 under the front, at some point but that is now at a stand still as well. ive actually been lookin for a decent zuk samurai...dont hate :

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

Slight update...traded a badass Jack Daniels belt buckle for two Rancho 5000 shocks. Threw those upfront with a little custom made shock mount I made. Used the existing sway bar bracket for the lower mount. Here are some pics...

Next ill work on getting those RC shocks outta there...

 

[red.EDDIE.4x4]

WOW adding new and better shocks up front makes a HUGE difference in steering, ride quality, and the "swaying" back and forth while driving. this was well worth the time and effort. why didnt i do this alot sooner???

 

[Xeek]

get better ones to replace the stock location ones and run dual shocks?