1992 Explorer, 1996/7 Mustang, anything interchangeable?

[Kiliona]

I have a manual 1992 explorer

AND in my garage I have two SN95 manual mustang GTs (1996 and 1997, the 96 has a smashed front end and all it's goodies are destined to go into the 97)

After all the good bits get thrown together to make my project stang, i'll have PLENTY of stuff left over. A 4.6L engine, tranny, most other things as well.

My question is is there anything on the mustang that could be moved to the explorer? the engine is the biggest thing. Right now i love my explorers power in lower rpms and while offroading, but once i hit the freeway and if i try to tow the power is too little for me. Would it be possible to swap in the mustang engine and possibly tranny? if so would it even give me the towing capabilities i want? I'll have a couple extra performance parts i could put on the explorer as well such as an intake and exhaust.

What about other things, i have 3.73 ford racing gears and 4.10s, in the mustangs, the explorer has stock 3.73, would it work to swap the 3.73 ford racing gears into the explorer or are the diffs completely different?

What about brakes, are those in any way compatible so i could upgrade the explorers brakes? Am i lucky enough that it's possible to swap my rear drums for the mustangs discs? OR is the mustang rear end decent enough to swap the whole thing, gears, brakes, and all to the explorer or is the explorers much beefier? (i'm guessing this is the case).

OR would all of this require extensive modification and wouldn't be worth it? I'm willing to modify engine mounts and tranny mounts and everything, of course. With the engine and tranny i'm more concerned if they could handle towing and offroading, if not it wouldn't be worth the swap.

I've never heard of people swapping things from 4.6L mustangs to 4L explorers, i've heard of plenty of 5.0 to 5.0 part interchangeability and such, but my situation is kinda unique. Any info is appreciated I obviously don't know much about how these cars compare.

 

[Kiliona]

The main point of this thread is to ask about the engine, if there is another thread or website about it please direct me there. Every time i try and search all i get is 4.6L explorer engine swaps not mustang, and i'm not sure how similar these two engines are.

And also about if that engine / tranny would even give me what I want in terms of towing and still having low end power for offroading. Thanks for reading!

 

[arco777]

The 4.6 manual trannies will not mate to your transfer case, so you would lose 4WD. Expect to need a transmission or modification to adapt the 4.6. I believe an adapter is available (though not recommended) to fit a 5.0 to the A4LD, but not the 4.6. You might be able to use a later transmission from a 3rd generation Explorer 4WD but this would require a complete PCM and wiring harness swap. In the end you'd have an easier time using a donor 3rd gen Explorer with a blown up 4.6. Additionally, the 1996/1997 motor is not going to be ideal. They weren't making that much power those years before the PI heads and intake, so it's a ton of work for very little power gain. A nightmare in short... if you did all that work, you'd still wish you had the extra cubes (and pushrod instant torque) of a warmed up 5.0. I would keep the 4.0 and rebuild it or do a few minor mods (throttle body shaft, porting, exhaust, etc) to pep it up. Do a 5.0 swap if you are unhappy with the results.

The 8.8 is the same basic axle design in both Explorer and Mustang. However the width may vary and the suspension setup will for sure. Not a direct swap. The gears may interchange but check the axle shaft spline count. 4.10s will be an improvement for towing and such, but keep in mind if you change the rear gears you'll have to change the front D35 TTB gears or keep it in 2WD mode.

Some of the brake components can swap, do a search on that. However I personally don't see much point unless you're towing a heavy enough trailer to need improved braking. Consider a swap using a 2nd gen rear axle. It is not too hard, I've done it.

 

[Kiliona]

The 4.6 manual trannies will not mate to your transfer case, so you would lose 4WD. Expect to need a transmission or modification to adapt the 4.6. I believe an adapter is available (though not recommended) to fit a 5.0 to the A4LD, but not the 4.6. You might be able to use a later transmission from a 3rd generation Explorer 4WD but this would require a complete PCM and wiring harness swap. In the end you'd have an easier time using a donor 3rd gen Explorer with a blown up 4.6. Additionally, the 1996/1997 motor is not going to be ideal. They weren't making that much power those years before the PI heads and intake, so it's a ton of work for very little power gain. A nightmare in short... if you did all that work, you'd still wish you had the extra cubes (and pushrod instant torque) of a warmed up 5.0. I would keep the 4.0 and rebuild it or do a few minor mods (throttle body shaft, porting, exhaust, etc) to pep it up. Do a 5.0 swap if you are unhappy with the results.

The 8.8 is the same basic axle design in both Explorer and Mustang. However the width may vary and the suspension setup will for sure. Not a direct swap. The gears may interchange but check the axle shaft spline count. 4.10s will be an improvement for towing and such, but keep in mind if you change the rear gears you'll have to change the front D35 TTB gears or keep it in 2WD mode.

Some of the brake components can swap, do a search on that. However I personally don't see much point unless you're towing a heavy enough trailer to need improved braking. Consider a swap using a 2nd gen rear axle. It is not too hard, I've done it.

Alright so the only realistic thing would be to steal the 3.73 ford racing gears (aren't as worn as my 3.73s and i'm sure the LSD works better on it, i'll check it next time i lift the rear off the ground) and MAYBE the brakes? I think better brakes would be worth it because mine suck terribly at the moment, after i put on 31s they don't stop me well enough when deer and dumb drivers jump out. I'll do some research on if it'd even be much of an upgrade though.

That's a bummer about the engine, i figured i'd get around most of the modifying it my mating it to the mustang tranny, but the transfer case didn't cross my mind. Since i have the engine laying around, and the engine makes something like 75 more horsepower (its 215-225 stock, probably a bit more with the few mods i have, isn't explorer like... 140? 20 years ago haha) i figured it might be an effective swap rather than going out and buying a donor 5.0 or rebuilding the 4.0. I'm sure the explorer has lost a few horses, and the mustangs gained a few, so honestly it might be a 100 horsepower gain... BUT the mustang engine gets it's powerband at like... 3200-4500 revs? the explorer has a much nicer (for an explorer) powerband at like.. 1500-2500. BUT the mustang engine will rev 2-3000 higher. YET I feel like the 4.6 probably makes even more power and torque at every rpm regardless that it isn't meant for lower revs so that'd make up for it's powerband.

The mustang tranny obviously isn't made for towing or anything, BUT it can stand (optimistically) like 400 ft/lbs of torque, so It's a rather robust tranny. If only i could get around that damn transfer case and keep it xD
I'll do some more research, but if there was anyway to get around the transfer case that'd make for a fun project and in the end I think i'd be happy with the 225-240 horsepower and 290 or so foot pounds of torque.

Plus the main reason, most of the parts are in my garage x D

The computer, explorer is obd1 eec iv, mustang obd2, how much of a pain would it be to swap the explorer to obd2? would it just be plug and play and find a place to run the wires? (assuming i put the 4.6 in it)

 

[Kiliona]

Oh, and I doubt there's anyway to get the 4.6 to mate to the Mazda manual in the explorer? I doubt it but if there were I could simply beef up that tranny a touch and be good to go

 

[mr cribb]

You really wouldn't want to mate the m5od to anything other than the 4.0, it is kind of a turd, but not near as bad as the a4ld auto.

I know the manual trans route if you wanted to go 5.0 is the 5 speed from the 4.2 v6 f150 years 97-03.

Take a look at your id tag on the rear diff and see what you have. you will see some numbers then 88 then 3 73 (open diff) or 3L73 (trac lock rear) NOTE: I'm using 373 as a reference point.

Don't be surprised if you see 327 ratio being a 92 that's what mine has. I believe options in 91-92 models were 3.27, 3.73, and 4.10 (all avail as open diff or limited slip).

 

[Kiliona]

You really wouldn't want to mate the m5od to anything other than the 4.0, it is kind of a turd, but not near as bad as the a4ld auto.

I know the manual trans route if you wanted to go 5.0 is the 5 speed from the 4.2 v6 f150 years 97-03.

Take a look at your id tag on the rear diff and see what you have. you will see some numbers then 88 then 3 73 (open diff) or 3L73 (trac lock rear) NOTE: I'm using 373 as a reference point.

Don't be surprised if you see 327 ratio being a 92 that's what mine has. I believe options in 91-92 models were 3.27, 3.73, and 4.10 (all avail as open diff or limited slip).

I thought I replied to this 9 days ago but i guess it didn't post.

My explorer has 3.73 with LSD, that was the first thing I checked before I bought it. Also just in case anyone else is reading this, checking the door is generally easier (assuming your stickers still there) to find axle codes/ dif. The undercarriage is rusty and ID tags are prone to falling away .

If I could find/make an adapter to fit my t45 to the explorer transfer case then I'm definitely going to try the engine/tranny swap (after my mustangs finished of course so down the road). I think I would be very happy with it, I love those modular engines, plus they're very upgradeable, and I'd have almost 300 ft/lbs of torque compared to the 220 of the explorer (20 years ago).

And the best part, again, It's basically a free swap for me. The only thing I'd have to purchase would be to modify the engine mounts, some sort of adapter if i can find one, and possibly a new driveshaft.

 

[arco777]

if i could find/make an adapter to fit my t45 to the explorer transfer case then i'm definitely going to try the engine/tranny swap (after my mustangs finished of course so down the road). I think i would be very happy with it, i love those modular engines, plus they're very upgradeable, and i'd have almost 300 ft/lbs of torque compared to the 220 of the explorer (20 years ago).

And the best part, again, it's basically a free swap for me. The only thing i'd have to purchase would be to modify the engine mounts, some sort of adapter if i can find one, and possibly a new driveshaft.

 

[Kiliona]

I found 2 different write-ups on 4.6 swaps on rangers, finally just what I've been looking for!

It doesn't seem impossible, or expensive, just a lot of fabbing but not THAT much more than a 5.0 swap or wahtever.

Expect a "4.6 on a 4wd first gen" thread sometime next year or the following

Oh and for everyone who's going to say "buy a 5.0 and get it over with" I love the modular engines and I love my explorer, the swap will be a labor of love and will totally be worth it for me, I DO understand a 5.0 swap would be easier and result in more power.

 

[arco777]

Good luck! I hope you get it done successfully and post the results here. The community would definitely benefit from the knowledge.

 

[Jason94sport]

So do I.....This site has been full of dreamers that think they can & never do it cause it becomes a expensive headache & never runs right.

 

[Kiliona]

worst case scenario I lose 4wd, which would partially ruin the point of the swap, but i'm pretty certain I could ATLEAST get the swap done with 2wd. the 4wd is the hard part, the 2wd has been done plenty of times it seems (in rangers).

But I guess we'll see once i finish my current project. down the road this is definitely going to happen though, but like I said it may be 2 years until I start.

Thanks for the responses guys!

 

[mr cribb]

Good luck. It would be a nice thread to watch. Powerblock did a build with the DOHC 4.6 and a blower in a ranger, so I know it can be done.

I suggested the diff id tag because 1) I forgot about the door sticker, 2) my door sticker doesn't match my truck.

But it is all good, you know the ratio.

 

[Kiliona]

Good luck. It would be a nice thread to watch. Powerblock did a build with the DOHC 4.6 and a blower in a ranger, so I know it can be done.

I suggested the diff id tag because 1) I forgot about the door sticker, 2) my door sticker doesn't match my truck.

But it is all good, you know the ratio.

Ooh I just looked it up, project rolling thunder I think they called it. I'll have to watch all that when I get a chance, it looks interesting. Somebody on a mustang forum mentioned people might even make a kit to do this swap after some heavy searching this swap seems much more common (on rangers) than I thought. it's just hard to weed out all of the 4.6 swaps in second/third gens and what-not when I'm searching.

The only issues I've seen so far is the steering shaft needs a little modification, maybe the heater box, and as already mentioned the transfer case.