Progress on the 2002 Explorer Sport Trac

[allmyEXes]

This winter I was picking several of you members brains about converting an ST to V-8. A poor college student had his Grandmother's 1988 Crown Victoria and wanted to have the drivetrain installed in a 1st Gen Explorer ST. After the brain picking, and determining that the accesories on the engine would stick to far forward and the AOD being shorter than what would be needed, I encouraged him to keep the '88 CV complete and use it to finish college. It was clean and low mileage. Maybe looked a little outdated for a 2022 College Campus but who is looking anyway. He had tied up some tuition money in the ST and got to the point that he would have to sell it for what he had in it. Now I said that wasn't going to purchase anymore Explorers or vehicles for that matter, because I already have too many. When my wife saw it and how clean it was, she just had to have it. I offered to fix it if she paid for the truck with her own money. She bought it. Even though the 4.0 SOHC needs to come all of the way out to fix it, the truck has a nearly brand new set of Firestone tires on it and had a good brake job done on it and a new fuel pump installed. A few hundred miles later, the timing chain guides did their thing and the Ford dealer in the town of the driving PO was quoted ~ $6000- to replace the engine. That is when the poor College student spent $1000- of his tuition money to buy it.

I remember when these were new and i said "What is that?" We haven't settled on a name however "Big Bird" and "The Yellow Submarine"
are the top two names that have been discussed. The Beatles "Yellow Submarine"
I'm not sure if it is a 2002 or 2003. Here is a picture of the VIN plate.

It was built the 8th month of 2002. That is so late in the model year that I don't know if it is the last of the 2002s or the first of the 2003s.
I need to get what is left of the fuel out of it for now, and I have not seen a Schrader valve on the fuel rail under the hood. I'm not going to drop the tank here on the ground so the fuel will have to be pumped out possibly with its on pump. Also, me and the wife are prepping to get a 20x20 carport to have a spot to start working on it. I have 25 yards or tons of crushed limestone to get moved around before we can get the structure.

Below is a picture of one of the new Firestones. How much do a set of these cost mounted and balanced?

 

[Josh P]

Somewhere in the post, I was waiting for you to say you had an 88 crown Vic that you were pulling the motor on and it would be perfect for this ST. It is a beautiful car, I'll be following your posts on it

 

[410Fortune]

You so lucky!!
Nicely done, got your hands on a sport trac!!
Yellow one too they look good in yellow
I have a thread for converting one of these to a explorer 5.0, same as you late 02

It is basically a Ranger underneath when it comes to the drivetrain, dash and wiring, it is just like a 02+ ranger

the sport tracs are the best because 4 full doors and the rear window goes down. I will be building up a white one

Are you sticking with the sohc?

 

[allmyEXes]

I'm still working on a plan. Maybe temporarily 5.0 while the 4.0 is out for repair. If we would end up selling it later, I would put the 4.0 back in, however with the 5.0 in it we would probably want to keep it.
Edited: We will keep if the wife will not say again "I want one of those" I already told her that we will have to sell the blue '97 so that we can buy the carport then I will take over her white '97 when she moves into the yellow 2002 ST. I hope that I can get her to stop smoking before driving the yellow ST. The white '97 smelled pretty bad when I got in it Wednesday to pop the hood and check the fluids.

 

[allmyEXes]

Back in Jan/Feb I had located a last year 5.0 Explorer for $800 that ran but was wrecked so hard that one of the rear axle hubs sheared off. I told the WD that I wanted to hear it run and then he told me that he cut the converters off. I politely declined. I want a"COMPLETE" donor vehicle.

 

[429CJ-3X2]

The title will tell you what year it is, assuming you have it. My '02 also has an 08/02 Build Date. The ETIS report says it was built on Aug 1. I don't know when they switched from '02s to '03s. '02s had an analog dash while '03s had the digital dash. The Sport Trac emblem on the tailgate in '01 & '02 had a red background with white letters, while the '03-05s had a silver/chrome background with black letters. '01 & 02s had rear drum brakes. 03-05 had rear discs. Those differences might not mean much if they mixed parts during the transition.

 

[410Fortune]

if he only cut the secondary cats then the primaries are still in the downpipes, that would work...you dont need secondary cats anyways

 

[allmyEXes]

@410Fortune I think that the wheeler dealer sold it already and the other thing that I wasn't comfortable about was he didn't have the title. Also, as far as 5.0s go, I have either a 1994 or 1995 engine at my disposal.
@429CJ-3X2 Look at my VIN tag in the picture above and tell me which digit in the VIN says what year it is. I have had several Alabama titles that have had mistakes that surprise me. The most surprising was one that the VIN had one digit different than the vehicle. It was really hard to convince the officials to correct the title disinformation.

 

[allmyEXes]

OK. I must have a 2002. It has the red tailgate emblem.
The big issue at the moment is, where is the Schrader valve on the fuel rail or where is the fuel line up near the engine?

 

[429CJ-3X2]

I don't know how to read the VIN, but a quick internet search confirms it's a 2002. 1FMZU67E32UD***** VIN lookup for 2002 FORD EXPLORER SPORT TRAC

Despite my truck also being built in 08/02, our VINs are way off, but maybe because mine is 4WD and yours is 2WD?
Side note - my dad and grandpa bought used Allis Chalmers D17 tractors at different times and places, and the serial #s were something like 15 apart.

 

[410Fortune]

Does the fuel line come up the spine of the transmission?

 

[allmyEXes]

I'm not sure. I haven't slid up under it. It is a 2002 if that matters. Here in about an hour I'm gonna get my "country creeper", cardboard, and look for that and to see if it has rear drum or disc.
I did a google search and found the ford-rangers,com thread where you were helping James finish up his 2002. Below is the link for others. Do you have another one that you have done the 5.0 conversion to?
Jamie & James 2002 ST 5.0 conversion

 

[410Fortune]

that is the 02 sport trac I did
That sucker is AWD, he still drives it daily!!

That is the only trac I have done yet....sorda. I started to build one a few years back but then cancelled it and yanked the engine and put it in the 07 LOL
Once I finish the 07 then I will be back on that truck. The white sport trac I have sits with no drivetrain in it currently. I have a 306 I have been saving for years, it has 18K miles on it. I already installed the Comp cam and refreshed the long block to use. Then I found another black sport trac I had to own....get this it already has a 5.0 in it and a 5 speed!! along with 4406m, OBX headers, side exit exhaust, etc etc but it has a S title and the frame has been welded in two spots....so I am building my self (and the wife) a new truck! Using two sport tracs to build one........ 5.0, m5odR2, 4406m....... later once the 07 is done. Now my BII can retire and get a frame off resto. My sport trac will be a little different I am planning to use a dana 44 ttb

So I have a few ranger to 5.0 threads on that forum, very similar to sport trac

Somewhere between 02 and 04 Ford stopped installing the Schrader valve and ran the fuel line up the spine of the transmission? I guess it was late 02 since your sohc does not have one. That is why I asked if the fuel line is up the rear of the trans

 

[allmyEXes]

@410Fortune Here is a better picture of the intake

 

[Mbrooks420]

Don’t the later 4.0s not have the fuel
Rail shrader?

 

[Fix4Dirt]

Don’t the later 4.0s not have the fuel
Rail shrader?

im probably wrong but i think ST didnt have one. also after 05 maybe around they were deleted from the 4drs too. they had pressure read to the computer, not you reading pressure iirc.

 

[410Fortune]

that engine should have a shrader valve, I am sure it was after 04 when it went away and the fuel line moved to the spine of the trans
Look near the drivers shock tower, should be a single fuel line over there

 

[allmyEXes]

OK. I finally can see a single fuel line under the driver's fender and it has a quick disconnect on it behind the PS pump. I can hook a hose on there to get the fuel out of the tank. It seems like I could possibly hot wire the fuel pump at the inertia switch. Possibly. From the quick disconnect up to the fuel rail is a single line with no Schrader valve. But I don't need a Schrader valve now that I see the quick disconnect. Thanks to all of you helping! These 2002 Explorer Sport Trac 4 door vehicles are new to me and Jamie, didn't you say they are like a 2002 Ranger chassis/frame?, More or less?

 

[410Fortune]

well they are wired more like a Ranger then a late Gen II explorer
but the rear springs are still under the axle like an explorer, so it is not 100% Ranger, but very close

You can hot wire the fuel pump at the fuel pump relay (jumper wire) to power the pump and get the fuel out
I just did this yesterday on a 1989 F350 460 truck, we replaced both fuel tanks, jumper wire at the FPR and pumped out tanks till they were nearly dry

 

[allmyEXes]

OK. Great tip Jamie and other info. When I get the fuel out of this one I will feel a lot better.