Hi everyone. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here. Sold my 2000 explorer in 2014. But October 1st I picked up a 98 with a 5.0. 2wd, and a 3.73 T-loc rear for $500. The poor truck was a real mess. I live in Las Vegas so luckily there was no rust. Worst that happens here is the paint gets burned off. But the last owner or two showed the EX no love at all. I’m building this truck up for my oldest daughter who just had a baby and needs something bigger that her 98 Lincoln Mark 8.
First thing it needed was to replace the PATS module and new keys.
I replaced the fuel pump and filter, I removed all of the interior. I threw out the carpet it was so nasty. Pulled better carpet from the junk yard and scrubbed and pressure washed that. I pulled some decent cloth seat covers from the yard as well. The original leather is ruined. Everything inside was really really dirty. I recovered the headliner. A good buddy of mine loves to clean stuff and he went about sanitizing all the interior plastics. He’s done a fantastic job. The plastics look about as new as they can for their age.
Once I got it running it ran rough, and wouldn’t idle unless the MAF was unplugged. Did some digging and found that the fuse for the oxygen sensors was blown. Replaced that and she idled pretty nice. But had a touch of a misfire you could hear from the exhaust pipe. At this point it’s worth noting that there were clearly a boat load of vacuum leaks on and around the plenum. So we decided to pull the plenum and freshen up as much as we can. All the hoses under the plenum were a hodgepodge of whatever someone could find. So all that has to go. Replaced the pcv with a motor craft unit. Also put a new pcv grommet in. The original one was hard as a rock. The spark plugs were just horrible. Plug wires original 1998. The AC system had no r134 in it, so living in Vegas it’s getting complete replacement. The next step was to remove the AC box from the engine compartment. I installed a new evaporator for good measure. While that’s out I’m doing the valve seals and the valve cover gaskets. Some of the valve cover bolts were already loose. Removed them with my fingers. Luckily there is no sludge on the heads or rockers. Not bad for 253,000 miles. I put a bore scope in the cylinders and there is still cross hatch on the cylinder walls. So once the valve seal job is done and the tune up complete I believe this will run very nicely. I have a new set of fuel injectors going in as well.
For the small things and the details. I replaced the third brake light. Did all the lift support shocks, rear glass hinges. New speakers. New grill and front Ford emblem. New fog light assemblies. Found nicer bumper trim at the junk yard. Picked up some 15x7 1989 Ranger wheels. They need a good cleaning, but I think they’ll be nice. I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
Things I haven’t gotten to yet are the upper control arms, lower ball joints, new shocks, rear wheel bearings and diff service. And whatever else I come across.
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