supercharged 5.0 true fire 98 explorer sport

[Dono]

Beautiful!

 

[4pointslow]

Good job investigating! Glad you found your oil leak and that it is not the seals in the rotor pack.
I was getting worried that of I ever get my supercharged sport running right again that it would loose all its supercharger oil. lol
Plug that hole up and get that supercharger back in!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

im calling victory.......but with a pucker moment.
so yesterday i buttoned it all back together. i also pulled number 4 and 8 plugs because i figured they would be fouled.
they were. but i only changed those two.
dumped oil into the snout, then started it up and let it idle for a bit, then checked the oil again. here is where my brain fart occurred . while it was running, i added a little bit more oil, then went for a drive. im glad i did this at the time i did it because none of my neighbors were home. i fogged the street out.....again.....and the main street. discussed i turned back and came home. pulled the plug out, and oil came oozing out. by adding oil when it was running i over filled it. so i let it drain out for a few mins, and left it for today. i started it up, but this time didnt let it idle long, then took it for a drive. zero smoke.
went for a 15-20 drive around, came home pooped the plug, and had a little oil come out of the fill hole! yay! a 25 cent frost plug solved that problem. which also brings me to another problem i was having. the belt was jumping over 2 ribs to the front. i would move it back, and it would happen again. i had bought a gates belt when i was trying to get it running, but i also bought a continental one as well if i had a problem. lesson learned, i will never buy a gates again if i can help it. that belt jumped and squealed like mad. the Continental stayed put, and never made a sound.
speaking of belts, a few times i stomped on it, i watched the boost go up to 10, then drop down to 7 and slowed came back up. knew this was going to happen, so over winter now that i dont have to get a rotor pack rebuilt i will get the crank, and power steering 8 rib made, and start looking for other 8 rip pulleys i will need.

 

[donalds]

Sweet let the burnouts began

 

[vroomzoomboom]

not much going on lately other then gathering parts once again. its very handy when you work at a scrap yard. its even more handy when you're the only guy on afternoon shift that can process any autos that come into the yard, and do it with a lift!
this weeks score (not pictured) was a 410 front diff, hubs, brakes, and dust shields. why? free!
ive also started collection parts for the 8 rib belt conversion that i will do in the spring. got a a/c clutch, alt and smooth pulleys from a 99 f150 that had a 5.4.

i had to look at 5 trucks at work before i found one (and i almost didnt bother with it either). rock auto and ford will tell you any v8 from 97-03 f150 has a 8 rib belt. WRONG. i was losing hope finding one. they were all 6 rib. we had a couple of f250's there but one of they guys there wanted it for parts for his truck. was able to pull a couple of pulleys off them, but the problem with all of them was the bearings in the pulleys were shot. i just about excepted defeat, when i had a brain wave one night. new pulleys would set me back close to 200, but i should be able to buy just the bearings no?

a trip to a little place in town that sells all sorts of industrial stuff said, yes (to the point years back when we got don's 4406 case rebuilt, all the bearings for it came to $40 compared to $40 just one at a auto parts store with the same numbers). $15 and three bearings later as well as some spray paint and i have new pulleys to put on.

there was one pulley i couldnt find and thats one ribbed idler so i will have to buy that new. i am hoping shortly after new years i can get my crank and power steering pump pulleys ordered and on their way as well.

also had to make a order to rock auto for some other stuff and figured i would stock up on plugs

don, we can foul a few plugs now and be back up in running in no time! lol
and i am also still looking for a alum 4.6 explorer motor for you, but still to this day nothing has come in!

 

[Dono]

Thanks Tim! I knew you were keeping an eye out for that all elusive 4.6 aluminum block for my mustang, lol. I see a guy on kijiji (Or facebook marketplace, or something like that) has one for $600.00. Its a stripped block, but has crank and pistons (Which I'd go forged rods and pistons, undecided about crank yet). I really hope we don't need to use those plugs, lol.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

going back to the "safety" part of things, one other thing that has been gnawing at me for some time is the blocks i have in the rear.

lets just say the way i have them, if there was a picture of them, there would be a red circle with a line drawn through them.....

to help solve vibration, i had to put a 4 degree shim in them to get the pinion angle back where it was happy. the problem with that was the pin for the leaf springs now wasnt long enough to go into the hole in the diff. what i ended up doing is flipping the pin upside down and having the bolt end go into the diff.

major no no at the power this thing is kicking out now. ok if your just driving around, but not so smart when you dont hook up until you reach 60mph.

so for the last while i have been trying to find some lowering blocks with a taper on them. i found some but either wrong degree or too tall. it finally dawned on me to buy a set of taller ones, and just get them cut down and to the size i need.

View attachment 325938

luck had it a shop locally had a used set kicking around so i was able to get them for next to nothing. sent them out to get chopped (because hey, i have had to modify everything else lately....).
got them back this morning.

View attachment 325939

then my ocd kicked in....

View attachment 325940

after all, there may be a slight chance you will see them under the truck so i just had to clean them up.
so when spring comes those will be swapped in, and the old diff kicker outters will be taken out. thank god.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

monthly winter bump.
ASP pulleys came today!

8 rib p/s pulley, and 8 rib, 7 1/4 crank pulley. hopefully this will stop the belt slippage, or keep it to a min. forgot how huge the crank pulley looks when you compare it to a stock pulley. now have to wait till it warms up and snow melts, which should be forever and a day now.

 

[ahodges]

How are you going about mounting that crank pulley? Are you buying a new balancer as well? This is what I've always been wanting to do.

Are you putting a larger pulling on the blower as well to compensate for the larger crank pulley?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

the balancer thats on the motor, came with the motor. its a 28oz mustang balancer, with a explorer trigger wheel pinned to it. how? i really wished i knew because i would love to go to a fluid damper. with it being a mustang balancer, the pulley bolts to it, which allows me to change crank pulleys
you would want to go smaller on the blower if your after more boost, and i have the smallest one metco makes which is a 2.7.
im trying to remember if your pulley was as small as the one i had when i had my m90.
if i also remember, your motor is internally balanced, correct? meaning no weight on the balancer. im wondering if you can also get a mustang balancer, shave the weight off it and use the hub. if so, then you would also be able to put a larger crank pulley on it

 

[CDW6212R]

I love the quality of the ASP pulleys, I have those also. I began to mount the PS pulley, but the size was tight and I didn't finish filing the PS hub down as needed, before needing the truck up and running again. It was close in original form, my PS pump hub I hope was just a bit corroded, like an axle shaft that a rotor is tight going onto.

I haven't looked hard for a better balancer, which can be modified like the OEM 28oz version. I wish I had made time, I'd like to get that done too. It will take a balancer that has an even weight on the backside, not one with a large weight where the trigger wheel has to go, or with nothing back there. Most aftermarket balancers are like that, either too much material there, or nothing to mount the trigger wheel onto. if you look at the back of the stock 28oz balancers, the modified ones, there is just a very small ring of steel fabricated to fit onto the back, with the trigger wheel on that.

 

[ahodges]

Yes mine is internally balanced. I know I have options, although they are probably fairly expensive. My current balancer is the stock Explorer balancer shaved down. I was asking about your pulley sizes to see how much boost you are going for. The pulley on my blower is the same diameter as the snout itself, and I believe I'm maxed out on allowable blower speed on the M90.

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i didnt put the stock size on with this blower and pulley. i think i had it on once with the m112. boost shouldnt change much with this pulley because its the same size as i have on now, only a 8 rib. i was noticing boost would wick up to 10 or 11lbs, then start to fall to around 6, then slowly come back up. belt was new and so was the tensioner so i knew the belt was slipping on the supercharger.

 

[ahodges]

Gotcha. I forgot that you already have a larger 6 rib crank pulley. I can't wait to see the results. You've put a lot of work into this thing!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

you are correct, and the bank account reflects the work put in!

 

[vroomzoomboom]

i'll leave this here.
evils newest mod.

 

[ahodges]

That Explorer looks eerily familiar...

 

[vroomzoomboom]

That Explorer looks eerily familiar...

It should, you have talked to him serval time here! Lol

 

[ahodges]

Does it happen to have a turbo under the rear?

 

[vroomzoomboom]

Does it happen to have a turbo under the rear?

At the moment, yes