$200 V8 Project

[donalds]

I have a 96 EB V8 AWD Parts truck. Its from Burnsville, NC - definitely up in the mountains of NC. In the Appalachian mountain area/roads, NC uses brine as well as salt. It ate this truck up so badly. The bumpers have rusted through the chrome and are falling off, the brake lines are holey, the fuel lines are rotted - hose clamps and rubber hose are the replacement. Rockers are gone. Running boards you can't step on anymore,.

Yet door bottoms, tailgate, and fenders, and wheel arches are fine...

Wow I live in stem near Durham nc
And my truck has no rust at all
In the mountains there is snow huh
In the seven years I have lived here I only seen like three in of snow
But I do have a 2Wd so it's not driven in the snow
We don't see to much brine and no salt
We are to far out of the city

 

[RandomNerd2000]

My parts Mountaineer has no rockers, no shackles, only skins of them, rotted over the arches. Bottom of all the doors and the hatch have rust, but the brake lines are perfect, and the support in the front is perfect, plus the bumpers outside of staining are perfect, as are all the bolts. Not sure how these things rust so differently, my 2000 has a SOLID frame and everywhere but the right rear arch has a pimple showing and the support is starting to rot, and the rear brake line is also replaced.

 

[donalds]

You should see NY trucks lol

 

[RandomNerd2000]

That Mountaineer is one, parked in 2011, looks like it was driven to a point and then abandoned suddenly, I'm working towards why, the motor seems good, and at 124K miles I'd hope so. It doesn't even leak at the rear main, the bell housing is CLEAN.

My 2000 has been in every northern state there is, it was oil undercoated several times which preserved it except now it's NASTY underneath, I've given it several pressure washings underneath to make it bearable.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Alright, so, following a rather busy spell, then Florence coming along, I haven't touched either truck until today. Today's quest was attempt to start the Mounty. I found the theft system, it was hooked into 4 wires, removed that, and it cranks. It was cranking really slowly though, which I attributed to having sat since winter 2011 (reason coming up), so I borrow a BIG group 65 battery, commercial class. Now it cranks some better, even has oil pressure. So, I realize there's no fuel pump running, and after beating the tank 20 minutes I decided there wasn't gonna be. I didn't even drop the tank to get fuel pressure though, I had a plan. So, I get fuel pressure and it actually cranks up, runs bad, and cuts off and spells like HOT rubber. Turns out some bug or rust or something decided to live in the alternator, and then fell out without me seeing? Someone also borrowed several vacuum lines and the AC doesn't work but is charged, compressor turns fine though so that's all I care about.

Anyhow, all that took several hours but it runs great, drives forwards and backwards really well, doesn't overheat, made zero blue smoke, and didn't even make any puddles underneath itself, which is an actual accomplishment. Miles are 124,388. It's the only 5.0 V8 Explorer I've ever seen with NO rear main leak, it's bone dry. Frame is GONE though, it's BAD.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Another update, man I'm on a roll. Anyhow, I got the Mountaineer off the trailer it's been on and drove it around a field, nice truck, shifted to 2nd really NICE, like the nicest 4R70W I've seen to date. It's loud with no exhaust though, like more than sorta loud, it's got a throat though. Still doesn't show any noticeable issues, it runs better now, it's strong and smooth. What a shame. AWD even works without binding. Ah well, can't win them all. What I hate right now is that I made my AWD 2000 a 2WD truck in April following a trans swap...

I did however take the good white hood and fender off it I got in the deal (traded Mountaineer panels for ones for my 2000) and got them on the 2000 today, gave it a good bath, and am going to wax it in the morning. It looks great, the big tires look great on it, I'm happy with the truck. I'll likely be updating a good bit in the coming days as well as building the Eddie Bauer.

I'll have a parts list up soon of what I want to get rid of, if that clears the moderators or if I need to go Elite?

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So, more work. Upon inspection, front tires had camber wear, and are due to be replaced, which is proving difficult for use tires.

DS Upper ball joint is worn and began clunking noticeably. which explained that side, the other side though just had camber, everything was nice and snug though. So, time to do a TT.

The TT consisted of remove the camber, and level the front. The drivers side did sit lower than the passengers by a fair amount, always has. However, now it's level on both sides of the front within quarter of an inch, with no camber. Question though now, my front ride height is 2" higher than the rear height, is that about normal for the sag in the back?

Reason for asking, it's my theory to "fix" the sag the PO had someone LOWER the front, creating the camber issue.

 

[CDW6212R]

Lowering the front does increase the negative camber, so there's a limit to how far it can go and keep good tire wear.
Maybe you need a little stronger rear shocks. The higher end shocks with more gas pressure in them will raise the back a little, maybe 1/2" at most. beyond that you might have to do something with the leafs, or use a rear shock with a coil on it.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Yeah, I noticed the wear since I've had these tires a good while, so jacked it up to check for play and it wasn't loose, so I just tightened the keys. The bolts turned really easy, which tells me they weren't doing much. They might've backed up, as loose as they seemed to be? I'll need to monitor that.

It barely isn't level, it's on the stock shocks still, I need to change them, the rears don't look hard, but the fronts have no threads left, so I'm sure that's gonna be a miserable job. That makes no sense considering my Mounty has perfect looking front shocks that are also OEM, but it's far more rotten. It needs shocks though, shows in how it rides.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So, new alignment with the keys cranked and man it drives nice, reminds me of my Eddie Bauer now. (ETA Christmas on that project). Had the left front tire replaced since the boot is off the UBJ and gotta replace that arm, which isn't fun by any means but I actually love how it's turning out and how it drives. Beats the heck out driving it beat all to pieces, that Mountaineer was worth the $400. The new motor might go in over the winter, haven't decided. Part of me wants to just see how far this motor will actually go. I'll go Elite in a day or two and attach the before and after pictures I have.

What I've got to do now is still the manifold on the right side, replace the battery, the AC compressor is making some noise, that UCA on the driver's side it also shifts firm sometimes from 1st to 2nd and it's probably the accumulator spring. Sounds like a lot but it's not. I'm going to be a really happy person with both trucks, I know that much. I've decided to keep both trucks long term.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

So now I'm on to the drivers window, which since I've owned the truck, the glass hasn't been hooked up to anything. So I got to looking, and the door is actually complete, which was nice. What I did discover is both tracks inside the door are bent towards the inside? Severely bent, and whoever glued the glass before I bought it used wood putty, which didn't go well. I took a razor, shaved the glass, and took out the brackets since they bolt in, and have them curing with silicone right now since best I could tell, that's how it came from the factory. Hope that fixes it. What's the best method to align the tracks inside the door though? They're both in need of replacement due to being warped. My money is the truck was hit in the side at one point and repaired young in life.

 

[CDW6212R]

Your best bet is to buy another window guide, or both. the one at the back is very short and easily comes out with one bolt. The other guide section is big and long, it runs along the entire top of the door and down the front side. That one is what you need to make sure is not rusted internally(behind the rubber/channel). Any rust up inside it will make the window bind as it moves, mine was minor like that but it would stop while going down. Just find another truck with a nice condition guide set etc.

 

[Turdle]

I don't know how she manages to do it but right now makes 2 times my wife drives the Mounty and driver window un-clocks. Coincidence?

I hope it just jumped the track, last time the left side retainer had pulled off and I had to replace the window.

 

[CDW6212R]

The guides are really important. My 93 Limited I was worried about for years until I bought the new main window channel. It was about $140 back then, but the window has been flawless since. That's the door(91 model) in my 99 now, and I have a used door to replace the rusty 91. I think I'll save that channel and reuse it.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

Okay so, attempt number one at fixing the window seems to be going well. The front guide is in there, didn't seem bent once I got where I could look in the door at it, and the window is operating smoothly. The rear one that comes out with one bolt? It's a C shaped item now and I'm not overly sure how that happens. I'll just get the one out my Mountaineer since the door on it is fully working.

I'm still pondering the whole bent channel thing, as well as the bottom edge of the door isn't rusty like the other 3 doors, but the VIN matches the truck and title. Hmm. Don't matter I suppose, as long as it works and looks decent.

But heck, once that's done, which doesn't look to hard as long as the silicone holds I used, or gasket maker, I'll throw the rear channel in, if it goes well I'll probably go ahead and get the windows tinted in the front, since my Eddie Bauer is tinted dark and I miss that bit.

 

[koda2000]

The lower part of the rear channel clips to the upper part and there's a single bolt that holds it on.

What can happen is that there are 2 small spot-welds that hold the bracket to on the lower piece of the rear channel. The welds tend to break from slamming the door too hard. I've seen this happen on multiple vehicles, then the lower channel falls into the bottom of the door. I've repaired them with 2 very small sheet metal screws.

 

[CDW6212R]

The rear window guide bolt is the lowest at the back edge, the gold one, 11mm I think.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

It clips in? Huh, when I got the truck it wasn't clipped in either. Man the stuff you learn. Anyhow, it's not broken, it's just warped from the outside of the door towards the inside of the door rather severely, enough to bind it easily. I do think the bolt is 12mm? It's not a 10mm I know that for sure, I hate that bolt.

Anyhow, that said, so far even though the rear guide isn't installed, I lubed the front track and upper half the rear track and I've got a smooth fully functional window now, which is a very NICE upgrade for the once every six months I go through a drive through.

 

[koda2000]

What I've learned about front side windows:
If you look at the top of the rear-lower channel piece it should have a spring-metal clip on it. It just slides onto the end of the upper rear channel and the 12MM bolt holds it in place.

The window will still operate will the lower channel off, but then the glass isn't supported properly when the window is down. IIRC the wire(s) for the lock actuator switch on the latch are also kept out of the way by a plastic x-mass tree clip which goes into a hole on the lower channel bracket.

Anytime I have a door apart and have to remove the channels, I reinstall them by making sure the bolts that hold them in place go back in the same place they were in by using the witness marks left in the paint. The channel alignment isn't super critical, just leave it a bit loose and run the glass up/down to make sure it doesn't bind. I like to spray Liquid Wrench brand foaming silicon spray into the channels about once a year to flush out dirt/dust and keep the glass moving smoothly (try not to get silicon on the glass as it's hard to get off). I find if you don't do this the glass can **** in the channels and that can pull the mounting tabs off the glass and/or bend the arms of the regulator. I've bought Explorers whose front windows would not got down w/out help, but after lubing the channels with silicon the windows work like new.

 

[RandomNerd2000]

The windows seems to have held and is the best window in the whole truck, it's fastest by far, I've come to think that's my favorite fix or upgrade I've done. Anyhow, it rolled 275K actual miles, well on the way to 300K. Gonna be interesting stepping into a low mile truck again soon.

I was gonna get a 97 for cheap that needed a trans that was lower mile but I traded for a 94 Camry last week for some work I did for a friend, runs and drives but it doesn't like reverse, it'll go but generally has to roll forwards first, but the brakes are sticking so I'm hopeful it's that. Clean car though.