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347 RE-Power 1996 Limited AWD

As things are getting closer and closer thought I would update.

Started late last year, reading posts and asking questions. I decided to go ahead to drop in a built 347 into my 1996 explorer which has over 300,000km (almost 190,000 miles) on it. The truck still runs great BTW, and has been in the family since new and its been in my hands since last Oct.

First impulse was a cheap 1996 complete 1996 5.0L Explorer motor on fleabay. Shipped it to the engine builder to use as a donor.

It is a 347 built by Fordstrokers with a custom cam from Camshaft Innovations.

- Scat rotating assembly
- Mahle pistons
-Trick flow fast as cast 190cc heads
- comp gold rockers
- trick flow Track Heat intake.
- Torque Monster Headers built with the correct exhaust flange.

Other items of note
- 1" phenolic spacer
- 70mm accufab throttle body with modified throttle arm
- 30lb injectors
- 255lbs/hr fuel pump
- re-use the explorer intake elbow 70mm dia.
- black trick flow valve covers
- utilize some of my MAC intake

Supporting items
- 75mm Prom M MAF (Henson Performance)
- Wideband 02 sensor (Henson Performance)
- tuning (Henson)

Other to-do's
- exhaust will be re-done from the headers to cat back with mandrel bent tubing and new cats. Larger mandrel bent intake tubing to match larger diameter of MAF and TB.




This motor is being bolted to a Lentech 4R70W with 2600RPM 11.5" stall converter.

I'd like to thank many people for advice and tips but especially Don - CDW6212R for pointing me in the right direction with Fordstrokers and equally important was providing me with a custom made 28oz balancer with the explorer timing ring machined and pinned on there.

2010man for selling me his 1994 Mustang Cobra OEM crank pulley. This part is not made by ford anymore and has the same diameter of the explorer pulley but bolts to the custom 28oz balancer that Don sent me.

Also Turdle and tmsoko for answering some questions.

here it is at the engine builder


here it is at my shop, patiently waiting. mocked up driver's side header and intake.


Here is a used 70mm accufab throttle body next to a stock explorer 65mm TB. I modified the arm on the TB to match the location of the stock explorer linkage so both the throttle and cruise cables/linkages with match up.


I will post more updates as they come.:thumbsup:
 



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Yes Dale I am and have been checking my email often.

I spoke with James and he's really under the weather right now, so he's a bit behind unfortunately.

Does anyone know about a direct replacement high volume fuel pump?

I will find out soon with James and the tuning, but do you think a factory fuel pump can handle a NA 347 ?
 



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Congrats on getting it running, I would be willing to bet you have the fastest N/A explorer on the site right now. Personally I would rather see 1/4 mile times over dyno charts, but if you do want to go you can just remove your front driveshaft. I ran mine back to back at the track with and without the driveshaft and there was no change in et or mph telling me that there is very little power lost through the front output of the transfer case.
 












Excellent news Brad, congratulations on a lot of long hard work. Take your time with tuning it, be easy on it for a short while. Enjoy driving it again and give it a good cleaning and wax job before it gets really cold. Regards,
 






Thanks everyone..

James is the man. Just got a new tune! too bad i'm working, trying to make some money to pay for this. Or else i'd be out there right now uploading the new tune and flogging the truck.

Actually I will do that as soon as I can get home. I need to remind myself to take it easy.

Just looked at the website for the local track and it appears that the Friday night secret street is finished for the year. Looks like I will be waiting until next spring.:(
 












Short Video Clip of start-up

Went home, loaded up the new tune. Went for a drive and it was much better. I need to get James more datalogging with the proper PID's selected so he can do his thing.

Had some periods of slippage in the trans?? Seemed to go back to normal after a few shifts...

Anyway here is a video of start-up tonight.

th_IMG_0751.jpg
 






well done :thumbsup:
 






Now that the truck is tuned better I felt it was time to put on the 347 emblems. Dataglogging process is working and the driveability is coming along nicely. I think soon we are going to do some WOT datalogging.

I could have a big problem with the transmission as i am getting slippage in 4th gear some of the time. For now i'm getting the tuning done and staying out of 4th. When the tuning is done, i'll re-visit that slippage problem.

Worst case scenario is I will have to pull the tranny, send it back to be repaired. Could be the OD band.....

picture.php


picture.php


I'll work on getting some videos of this beast.

I gotta say that its really fun to drive. Can't wait till next spring when the track opens again.
 






It looks great, I love the Limited's. I bought the V8 AWD stickers like you have(96-97), and I'll just use those. I have one on in place of the 98-01 V8 emblems, and they are easier to clean around. I'm being picky but I like to surprise also. It's no sleeper once you hit the gas.;)
 






I really like the limited front look myself. Just wish It was a different color...... maybe some day.

I hear you on the surprise of thing. I debated for a while on that, should I put emblems on or not. I have noticed a few people double take when they hear my truck because it has a distinct sound, especially when I "flash" it. But how many vehicles have loud exhaust or a good rumble but maybe don't back it up.

Maybe my opinion will change on the matter, but its subtle enough that people who don't know about cars won't notice and others that do know what a 347 is may appreciate it or give a thumbs up especially at the next light when they catch up.

Its still a sleeper because people will look at it and have no idea....
 






It's great either way, I'm just wishing I could get my trans done and get started with the engine. The Summer was so hot I put off everything, house stuff and just regular maintenance. The nice weather isn't going to last long enough, we'll see.

Have you worked with James on the trans pressures etc yet? Maybe that will help a good bit with the shifting. Good luck on that.

Now go drive it.
 






Don you need to get working on your stuff. You inspired me to do what I did. Can't wait to see your engine/trans project get put together.

James did increase trans pressure on the last file he sent. I've been staying out of 4th gear for now and everything is working great. Besides the regular short commute I went for a good drive last night after the family went to bed and did some more datalogging.
 






Havn't had much to add lately. Winter came and put a damper on the WOT (wide open throttle) datalogging.

In anycase the good news is that the engine is running good and i'm driving this thing everyday. James from Henson is great to work with as everyone has always said. Each tune got better and better.

The bad news is I have transmission issues. So the tranny is coming out this weekend and the stock one is going back in for the time being. I have to send it back to where I bought it (across the country basically) and they will fix it.

So I really havn't had a chance to drive this thing really hard because the tranny issues, but it will pull hard from a stop till about 60mph. After that it does wierd stuff.

What did I learn in hindsight..... A) if you can deal locally on stuff. ie. tranmission. DO IT as it may save you time/money/frustration in the future. B) hindsight is 20/20

Also the truck is almost too loud for longer drives. With the rumble of the 347 and torque monsters and high flow cats the truck sounds really "good". I sat the in back seat while someone else was driving and its even louder back there, so for the kids its gotta be really annoying. They are too young to complain. So i'm looking at other muffler choices, something more mellow.

Anyone have an opinion on a more mellow muffler than the MAC dual in single out that I have currently?

An option one guy suggested was maybe run two smaller magnaflows and run them into a "Y" and keep the single out tail pipe. Keep in mind I want to do this and re-use some of the stuff I have in place already such as the mandrel bent 3" tailpipe.
 






Did you slap him in the face and tell him that would counter productive in a motor that you had built for power? and not corking the exhaust?

Please don't single it to a Y pipe. Why don't you try using 2 magnflow round mufflers? They came in all shapes and sizes and sound good too. That's what I used on a really short dual side exhaust and it worked fine.....and with shorter exhaust, the louder it gets. Look into that first.
 






I agree the y pipe sounded bad.

I'm going to thumb through my summit racing catalogue to see if there are any dual in/dual out and dual in/single out options. I will also consider running a true dual system with seperate mufflers like your system Nate.

The tranny is a big set-back. And I don't feel like dropping lots more $ right now.
 






If you want to maxamize output then you would use 3" and go dual right back, this could be done with alot of bending and 2 mufflers placed at different lengths to fit. you could do side exit and dump infront of rear tires too, this is what I did. Dual in and dual out would be your best bet if you can 3", you easily have a big enough motor that require dual 3". if you can't afford or fit the 3" the way you want, then dual 2.5" of course but nothing smaller.

That sucks about the tranny though, can't wait to see some numbers. I actually just sold my explorer because gas was killing me driving 800km every weekend so I picked up a ford focus for now. I'm sure I'll get an explorer again but in the mean time I have my 85GT to keep me occupied.

Again sweet freaken explorer you got there. Can't wait to hear what it does at the track!
 






I hear what you are saying. I may just live with the sound for now. I do have a steel roll pan that's going on someday, perhaps when that goes on I will look at the exhaust more at that time.

Winter is a bummer though, so numbers will have to wait until next spring. By then it will be tuned and tranny problems resolved. Maybe even have the exhaust changed by then.

Sorry to hear about selling your explorer. Where are you driving every weekend?

I'm sure your mustang is fun though. Do you have any pics of it somewhere?

I just picked up a 2011 Flex with Ecoboost. Posted about it on the forum as well. Its pretty fast as is.
 






Yea winter does suck. I have no garage to stick my car in save a portable one to keep it protected for the winter. I didn't get to finish tuning the new carb and in the process the middle ARP! head bolt snapped off. I'm assuming it was from mass detonations.....Thank god for forged internals!

A new Ecoboost though eh? Nice! it's the 3.5L right? They have some serious potential! The new SHO runs 13.8 stock.....with a tune they run 12.8!!! Get a tune in that flex haha. What color is it?

I don't have many pics of my car as I got it this year and never took it out for nice pics at all.

IMG00078-20100731-1315.jpg

IMG00081-20100731-1323.jpg


Here's with the new cowl
IMG00095-20100804-2000.jpg


Once I get some sticky tires and some practise (after I get it tuned) I'm hoping to break 10s with a stock shortblock......if I don't break the tranny....Might granny shift and aim for mid 11s since 1st gear is on it's way out. It's my summer DD and gets around 25mpg highway. No idea how much power yet. Ran a 12.2 on street tires spinning to 3rd with an untuned 650 holley, 2.5" exhaust, crappy short runner intake and a broken motor haha. Now has full 3" exhaust, 750 Holley, Ported Vic jr intake and not a broken motor haha. Previous owner was pissed off when I bought a $400 stocker and in one day had it running when he spent $1300 on a 306 that broke 1st time at the track. With the previous setup the previous owner raced a forum member that has a 600rwhp notchback and it only lost by 3 car lengths on it at the end of 4th. Thank you Jay Allen is all I have to say. Man know what he's doing! How else can you get 25mpg in a carbed car and daily drive, then with the incorrect setup that Jay specified, run 12.2 on street tires with a broken shortblock or race a 600rwhp fox and only fall behind 3 car lengths?

Like I said before, your explorer is gonna freaken ROCK! Can't wait to see the results. I'm more excited for your truck then getting my carb tuned and going to the dyno haha
 



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