302 Conversion in a 94 Explorer

RFR2212 · October 16, 2000

Wow Rob, the decision was made? Well, good luck to ya and I wanna see the pics as the project moves along!
Pete

FMExplorer · October 16, 2000

Rob,
Definitely keep us posted. (BTW - sorry for the abscence over the past few months). I have a mechanic's shop listed for sale and will get about 5k worth of mods for free - the V-8 conversion may be the choice. Anyhow - keep us posted

Brian1 · October 16, 2000

Nice choice Rob. When everything is finished I bet you will still spend money on the engine. There is so much aftermarket stuff for the 302. I am actually looking for a 302 for my J**p. Where did you get yours from?

Paul Gagnon · October 16, 2000

Don't get an AOD, you need an A4LD but '94 and up. Much better transmission with a lower first gear.

Gofast · October 16, 2000

302 Choices....

Hey Brian,

I went to this link http://www.corral.net/ and sent an e-mail to "Jim,the Stang". It was about the best deal around. He has several motors to choose from. You can add and delete options too.

The local salvage yards wanted thier money plus interest for the next 10 years on thier used motors.

I still need to purchase Power steering pump, and the Altenator and starter plus the radiator. Also, need the computer & intake for the throttle body. A lot of little pieces.

This isn't a cheap thing to do, but I'll have a new motor and tranny when I'm done, plus all the mods I can stand. Can't wait to hear the exhaust either.

Let the fun begin!

PS. Looking for a part time second job in the Dallas area, let me know if you hear of anything...

RFR2212 · October 16, 2000

Rob, for the alternator, I've bought a high output one from
http://www.mechman.com. It was expensive for my alternator but it's excellent. I'm very impressed with it. Just saying this cause now that you're goin all out into replacing this, I could only assume that you want the best of every thing and these guys make great alternators.
Thanks,
Pete.

Gimp · October 16, 2000

Just posting so that I can get e-mails on the updates. I'm looking forward to hearing how it all turns out.
Robert

bluethunder · October 16, 2000

Gofast

what year is your explorer? make sure to keep us posted,
im excited about seeing how this all comes together!

Gofast · October 17, 2000

Nothing New...

Paul, Keep the A4LD? That's the whole reason behind this. I can't find any tranny shop that will an A4LD behind a 300HP motor. Not to mention bigger tires. No adapters available either. Yes, the first gear is lower, but I'll be adding 5.13 gears and an Atlas II next year. So gearing isn't a big concern.

My truck is a 94 model. I paln on documenting this pretty well and taking lot's of pictures. I'm going to package this set-up and offer it to others through the "Speed Shop".

I'll give out lot's of details, but will offer it to those who don't want to mess with the wrenching part.

I'm in waiting right now. 3 to 4 weeks on the tranny and about 5 weeks on the motor. I'm also looking for a cheap POS to drive until my truck is ready. I want a $500 something....

Thanks Rob

Trckmagik · October 17, 2000

Hey Gofast! Maybe you and I can work something out and you can use one of my vehicles temporarily. My lifted explorer would be okay it just needs to be inspected and registered. 58.00 registration and 15.00 for inspection. Let me know and I will see about getting these things done, then we can work out something.

Paul Gagnon · October 17, 2000

Ooops

Brain Fart!

I meant 4R70W not A4LD. Sorry about that!

Gofast · October 17, 2000

All Faith has been restored!

I was worried about you for a minute Paul.

Yep the 4R70 is better, but still really tough to get adapters for a 302 and that tranny.

Looks like my Banf vacation is out now too.

rpenner54 · October 18, 2000

Wrench

Rob if you have not already considered this here is another wrench you could throw in your project. Have you considered a Dana 20 from an EB? They may or may not bolt right up to the AOD but I am sure that Advanced Adapters has something that would work to do this conversion. PLUS you can get a 4 to 1 kit for this Transfercase AND its gear drivin AND its done by sticks on the floor instead of buttons on the dash.

Just another thing to consider.

Gofast · October 18, 2000

Small update!

Located a computer for the 302 from a fellow board member. Still looking at wiring harnesses. Have a local contact that can get them for roughly $150 or so. Also will be installing 5.13 gears.

There are a ton of "little things" you need for this project. Anyone doing this next, start looking for a good donar 302 & tranny now. There getting a little scarce. Best years to use are 89 to 93 mustang.

Ryan, I plan on going to the Atlas II once my t-case goes.
I looked at the Dana 20 route but after adding in the cost of the 4:1 kit and buying a Dana 20 and having the kit installed it didn't seem like I was spending that much more for the Atlas II. Maybe $800? ( doesn't sound bad after this mod )

More later

Perry · October 18, 2000

Gofast,
Are you planning on doing most of the work yourself??
It is always nice to be able to say;"yes I put that in."
I was planning on doing that to ours, but since we got one with lower miles then I thought, we decided to wait.
Looking forward to seeing it a Moab or CCR2001
Good Luck!!

XtremeMarine · October 19, 2000

Rob, the old 4.0L may find a New, more

I want to get in here so I can keep informed on your progress.
Now ya want the rest of the story...

The 86 2.9L EFI I was about to pull out, cause I KNEW I KILLED IT about a month ago....

I'll give ya a little history on the truck.
First saw the truck in '90 when it came into my shop after being oil starved from a stopped-up p/u screen. 107,000 miles on a diet of 8-12,000mi oil changes. Rebuilt the engine A-Z bored/honed/heads w/5 angle, 3 on seat, two on valves. Guides worked & honed, Clean-up on bowls etc, and so on. The only outside work was the crankshaft turn & polish. Every Spec. to Min. factory tolerence, at that time the only things aftermarket were pistons & gaskets. Lifters, O/P, Cam, Timing Set, and I think bearings came from Ford via W/Germany... Parts, my cost then 900+. OUCH.

In '94 I buy the truck for 600, with a serious flooding addiction, after serious time and effort I weaned it to about 15-30sec of flooding after start-up, every start-up.
SO... it stayed running, alot, I MEAN ALOT, Texas heat and I'd leave it run... A/C on... if I was going to be back in it anytime soon, next hour or so... I do alot of service calls for marine work also. In 94 it had 250,000+ on the truck 150,000 or so on the motor, 325,000 or so total miles now.
It dumped all, ALL the belts while sitting in front of the marina about a month ago. I was inside 15-20min. came out, it had blowed the heater core, cab full of steam, temp gauge was pegged !
I hopped in, turned heater on full, and drove 7.5 miles home... No Belts. I figured it was dead, but IT didn't know that at the marina. It died when I got home, so I said farewell and transfered to the Explorer.

Now today, getting ready to put it in the shop, I checked it out expecting h2o in the pan, from the heads at least. No water, in the oil that is, or anywhere else either. It turned over... IT STARTED... IT HELD WATER !! (except H/C)

I think H/C, belts, lower hose, & V/C gaskets this poor abused Ranger may live again... WITHOUT a heart transplant...

I feel a BLOWER 4.0L OHV build coming on....

Any estimates on how much Power can be squeezed out of a BBK blown & tweeked '94 OHV 4.0L ?

Not that I am in any hurry, my '93 Limited hit 27,777 miles as I rolled in the driveway tonite.

JACKPOT !!!

Gofast · October 19, 2000

Who's doing the work......

Perry, I'm doing a lot of it but not all. I'm having someone else build the motor. I'm putting the F.I. and of course computer and wiring harness togather. This is all stuff I could do and have done before, but my wife was pretty adament about how much time I had to do this myself. She's right, I have to many things going on.

Anyway, Tranny is being built by a local shop using the Advance Adapters kit to mate it to my BW T-fer case.

I have a mechanic actually pulling the old motor & tranny and dropping in the new one. He has a speedshop and will co-ordinate all the tuning afterwards. No chip on this one, Dyno tuning is the plan.

I'm real excited about this project. I should put about 275 HP at the crank with an RV cam. Torque is the main objective.

Larry, unbelievable amount of abuse the old Ranger is taking and still running!

Tate Myrick · October 19, 2000

What about the cooling system? What kind of radiator are you using and are you going to use an electric fan? Let us know how the project goes.

Gofast · October 19, 2000

COOLing system.....

Great question on cooling. I will use an Aluminumn 4 core radiator. I have two choices.

1 is the radiator offered by Advanced Adapters for close to $400 I think. It mounts basically where the condensor mounts now. Kinda under the front radiator support brace. The filler is relocated off to the side and you have to mover the condensor forward of it's current location. This gives you more room for a mechanical fan.

I'm going with a custom Aluminumnmmmnmn ( Love that word ) 4 core radiator built for a late model mustang. I'll fab mounts. I will also use an electric fan assembly from a 98 Cobra ( I think, may be an earlier year ) It pulls 1000+ cfm. It keeps a lot of the stroker high horse motors cool on those stop and go 100 degree plus days here in Dallas.

I'm going to mount "A" pillar pods in my truck and put a trans temp, oil temp, and a water temp gauge in them.

My goal is to keep my cool.
( and maybe win a burnout contest )

302 Conversion in a 94 Explorer

Typing Police

the original tramp

Poseur SUV

Moderator Emeritus

Typing Police

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Moderator Emeritus

Ole Bag

Poseur SUV

Moderator Emeritus

Moderator Emeritus

Moderator Emeritus

Elite Explorer

New Member

Moderator Emeritus

Active Member

Moderator Emeritus

Featured images

Featured images

Similar Threads