2000 AWD Xploder from Turbo back to NA

After getting an estimate on how much it would run me to fix up my Xploder with all new exhaust, cold side piping, and a bunch of other stuff done up the "right" way... I've decided to convert my Xploder back to NA form so that I can actually ENJOY the truck before I die of old age.

Anyways... To start it off I ordered up a MAC cold air intake (I do not have the stock intake) and sold my FMS headers on ebay.

I plan on buying a set of torque monster headers in the next week or so but am still up in the air on how I should run my exhaust from a performance "speed" perspective. I do not plan on doing much, if any, off road driving, so am looking for a setup that improves take off and speed for spirited pavement driving that sounds good.

I already have the spare tire removed (and will be keeping it off, I have free towing anyways lol)... What would an optimal setup be with the above in mind and no worry of a spare tire being in the way? True duals (straight pipe off of each header, thru separate mufflers, and out the sides), or a dual exhaust both going into a 2 in 2 out "H" pipe style muffler and then out the sides? Or something else? In all cases I won't be running any cats.

I also plan to re-tune my car since currently it is tuned for the turbo setup which obviously will no longer apply once I rip everything out.

Thank you for any input!

 

[willzilla]

I hope your wife recovers well, do what you have to and keep her happy.

Thanks man!! She's doing well... Had a procedure on a duct off of her pancreas... So far she seems much improved than before she had the procedure done so it's been great!

I put in some new yellow fog light bulbs in the Xploder today and ordered up a new upper radiator hose (mine is a bit corroded and funky looking), new thermostat housing gasket, new thermostat (taking it all apart so why not?), a new bypass hose (melted looking). Hope to get the minor leak taken care of and the Xploder back up ASAP!

Also had a little time to put on new SVT emblems on my SVTf (the ford portion of my rear emblem somehow came off of actual emblem lol).. Replaced the front, rear, and steering wheel emblems with SVT emblems, put an SVT rear brake light overlay on, replaced rear wiper with the wiper setup from a Ford Edge (cleaner), and pulled my rear driver's side brake pad off the car and filed the tabs a bit more as the pad was making a bit of noise and sticking a bit. Hope the noise is taken care of now! Lol. Also put on some new back tires.. Old ones finally fell apart completely :-O

 

[CDW6212R]

Keep at it with this super weather. I've working on the normal Spring yard work etc, and trying to find time to get my new 98 Limited driveable. I've rented the fan clutch tools to get the front engine stuff off. I know it has a coolant leak from a drop hanging on the balancer, hopefully the water pump. There is a ton of buildup around LF that I hope is just the front seal. So I have to get the WP and balancer off. That means replacing as much there as possible.

 

[willzilla]

Yeah.. I finish up some undergrad course design work I'm doing (designing an entirely new undergrad college course) and teaching 2 undergrad courses in 2 weeks so hopefully my free time will increase afterwards! Money has been awesome from the extra work which has helped fund some of my car work projects haha but the time it takes has been enormous!

Hope once I finish this final stretch the weather is still good (and not super hot) and I can finish everything up!

Yeah.. WP seems a common issue... I had almost given up on the electric WP and then saw the standard pumps are so cheap I was amazed lol.

I hope my harmonic balancer being corroded looking isn't a problem lol.. Looks pretty bad (as seen in previous photos).

 

[CDW6212R]

The balancers are reliable, except for the rare times that the outer ring slips from the rubber letting go. Only the surface where the oil seal is precious, if it doesn't groove then it can last forever.

This has been our best Spring weather I can remember ever, so far. It's been just right, not too hot and warm enough to work out in.

 

[willzilla]

Yanked off the upper radiator hose, bypass hose, thermostat housing, and thermostat. Cleaned everything up nice and installed a new thermostat, new gasket, new red rtv on everything, installed new upper radiator hose and bypass hose, and when I vac checked the coolant system it seemed to hold and didn't hear any audible air escaping as I did before.

Vac filled system with WATER to test everything and saw no leak under the thermostat housing this time so that's a plus.. heat cycled and added more water to radiator and it sounds like pump still flowing so... All seems to be good. Will check again tomorrrow and if still good... Drain and fill with coolant!

 

[Dono]

This is an odd issue, for sure. Lets hope you nailed it this time.

 

[willzilla]

This is an odd issue, for sure. Lets hope you nailed it this time.

Yeah.. Will test tomorrow and see if still all is well or not haha. If so... Coolant time... And a few other things.

 

[willzilla]

More leaks.. Looks like from here? No clue what this is or how to fix.. UGH.

 

[Dono]

Is that the passenger side at the starter, just under the exhaust manifold at the back?

My first guess would be the connectors at your heater core/hoses/pipes in that area.

Is there coolant laying on your lower intake manifold on that side?
Don't stress.

 

[willzilla]

Passenger side.. Looks like it's coming from around the bolt almost?

I initially turned on waterpump and it's hard to actually tell if it's flowing anything when system is full.. checked under thermostat where it was leaking before.. Dry.. Good... Then.. Drip drip... Stop waterpump and it looked like maybe a tiny bit of coolant coming from behind the waterpump... Figured after waterpump install it was a while before heat cycling which ive done a cpl times over past week or so finally and maybe had to tighten bolts so.. Tightened them a bit (what I could)... Turned on waterpump (truck still off)... Can't hear anything flowing but I figure I probably wouldn't with system full but no leaks..

Started truck up... ran for a minute or so... LEAK LEAK LEAK... dripping down 1/3 way back onto exhaust... Shut car off... Looked like coming from around that bolt area in photo :-/

I couldn't see anything on lower IM, hard to see but... looked like almost coming right from bolt area where u see that "white" stuff (coolant residue from leaking a bit a while back??).

 

[Dono]

I'm still betting its one of the heater core hoses.
If its not that, it gets uglier from there.

I know its tight there, but there is no easy way here except to climb up and start feeling for coolant. Its coming from the top and gravity is doing its thing.

 

[willzilla]

I'll have to wait until next week to dick with it.. To much work to do today and the next few days to spend monkeying with it.. Is it usual to "fix" one leak and BOOM the next leak? Or is this a sign the pump not working right or something else?

 

[willzilla]

And the cylinder looking thing the coolant is leaking onto? the bolt is the starter then?

 

[willzilla]

Crawled under the truck... reached around.. Couldn't find the source.. Just the trail from around that bolt.. Nothing leaks while it's not running... Crawled up on top and looked all around and saw nothing leaked on the lower intake manifold that I could see... Will dick with it extensively this coming weekend.. Finishing up designing an undergrad course and I have a Wed deadline so scrambling to finish that and have to grade final papers for a couple cyber security courses I'm teaching so has been a busy past few weeks :-/ Just want to get the Xploder FINISHED

Only "pipe" or "tube" looking thing I saw around the cylinder object (starter? was a black tube that went into some gray looking box that is kind of square and flat behind the oil pan, the tube goes from the top of that and up over the starter and into out of sight land.

 

[Dono]

I'f I had a motor in my truck, I'd take pictures and circle stuff to look at.
My engine bay is pretty bare, and my clock is still at the machine shop.

 

[willzilla]

I'f I had a motor in my truck, I'd take pictures and circle stuff to look at.
My engine bay is pretty bare, and my clock is still at the machine shop.

Well... hoping it's the heater core or related hoses... And not something even crazier! :-/

 

[CDW6212R]

How old are the heater hoses? It might be time to replace them from age. I bought them for my "new" 98 Limited, but haven't decided if I'll do it now or later. They weren't bad from Rock Auto, I got the lower radiator hose last week for about $8.

 

[willzilla]

How old are the heater hoses? It might be time to replace them from age. I bought them for my "new" 98 Limited, but haven't decided if I'll do it now or later. They weren't bad from Rock Auto, I got the lower radiator hose last week for about $8.

My guess is that they are... 16 years old now? LOL.

Looking at rock auto.. What all hoses would I need? See a bunch of variations... Is it two hoses total? Plus maybe replace the heater coil thing as well while at it maybe?

 

[CDW6212R]

I believe I got the two well known curved heater hoses, I forgot about the short piece and the heater control valve. Mine shows a hint of wetness at the HCV pivot shaft area. I have a new one on my Mountaineer from trying to fix that AC. So I have a good used one someplace in a box.

I'd say do all of the hoses at once so you don't have to keep draining the system or having to save and reuse it. You have a leak somewhere so I'd bet on it being something there around the rear heater hoses.

I just changed my AC blower motor controller yesterday. It's down low in the blower motor area, and mine with the EATC made it $73. I had no air flow at all before, so I guessed right for once.

 

[willzilla]

I'm tempted to just replace all... Now to figure out what "ALL" is. Lol. How do you access all of that stuff? Saw a video and it looked like from passenger side interior?