351W swap into 95-01 explorer?

[pufferfish]

question is, will the stock intake and throttle body allow the AFR's do better than Edelbrocks? spending $300 on better heads is ok with me, but if i need to spend $800 more on a better intake and TB to make my first $300 work, its not worth it.

 

[Cobraguy]

With a 347, you will be taxing the flow of the stock intake. But it IS a very good intake and will serve you very well. Throttle bodies are cheap if you do your shopping. But here's the proof in the pudding. Take a look at the area under the curve with the AFR heads. Look at the 185's, no larger. That would be a mistake. In fact, the 165's would work well. But in this case, I would recommend the 185's. You will see that these things flow extremely well at reasonable valve lifts. The heads are CNC machined for optimum port matching and configuration, as well as combustion chambers. In other words, these things don't need a ton of air to show remarkable improvements and are outstanding street heads...not just a top end race engine.

As far as Edelbrocks...don't waste your money. Seriously, in my opinion, their small block Ford heads are the very worst ones out there. Let's see...I think it might have been the last Car Craft or Hot Rod. They put the entire matched Edelbrock system on a small block Ford...heads, cam, and intake. Something like $2600. They realized a whopping 54 hp increase!! Are you kidding me??? 54hp from all that? Edelbrock feeds these mags, so they had to be careful what they said, but even they admitted they were expecting more. Vic Edelbrock must be dying of embarrassment. I would expect somewhere around 75 hp in your application with the AFR heads alone over the GT40P heads.

 

[pufferfish]

ok, so spending the $300 on the AFR's is worth it. in thinking about it, i might be sticking with the stock intake stuff now, but that doesn't mean i will stay happy with it that way forever. if i do decide to upgrade, i want the heads to be able to work with better stuff on top of them.

as far is i have seen, there is no throttle body made for the explorer's unique setup. although, i have seen the thread on modifying the lever to work.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm working on a 75mm Accufab TB, I have whittled on the TPS sensor to make it work. I just need to cut up an old OEM TB to get the arm to bolt onto the new TB. The stock upper intake needs a little help to flow well for a 347, $125 will get it ported some(TMoss).

Did you see the dyno sheet I posted a link to? Can you find an Edelbrock or AFR head to make that 399hp at 6000rpm in a 331? I'd spend the same money on the better head.

 

[Cobraguy]

I think I can show you AFR heads on 347's that are supporting almost twice that hp naturally aspirated. True...not a street engine, but let's be realistic. 400 hp out of a 331 is nothing spectacular. GM's factory LSx engines are doing that and are almost the same cid. Your link requires a log in, so I don't know if that is 400 rwhp or flywheel hp. rwhp would be decent. Flywheel not so much. There are a ton of good heads out there. Well, I would never use Edelbrock 5.0 heads. But there are many...the ones you mentioned included...I would be happy with. The reason I like the AFR's so much is they are CNC machined, can be had emissions legal, available in many different sizes and configurations to meet your needs, and they just flat work as advertised. Oh yea...the price per hp is hard to beat too.

 

[CDW6212R]

I know how many other heads are out there, and the variety that most manufacturers have. I'm sorry to hear that a link to SBFtech requires joining, it's really the best tech site for knowledge about Ford V8's. That chart will only save for me as a PHP file, whatever that is. I couldn't convert it to post it here another way. The 331 I referenced is a 91 Mustang 5-speed with 399RWHP at 6000-6500rpm, carbureted I believe. That is an excellent street example, not a race car or a max rpm engine.

There has been another engine in the last year there that made 600+hp at 6000rpm, and about 730hp at 7000rpm, not finely tuned(carb). That was a race car, a Mustang with a 302 based 368ish cubic inch engine. Race cars can make better use of the high flow heads available. The head versions that they use are not wise to stick in a street engine.

I suggested the Canfields because they were the most recently developed versions of the well known TFS high port heads. They are available like AFR's in several configurations, all CNC'd, cost the same as AFR's, yet make more power in comparable engines. The high port head design of those three mentioned heads create more power due to the better valve and port locations. Like any engine at that level you must have an engine builder coordinate the heads with the pistons, match all valvetrain parts etc. For that kind of money the extra care and high end engine builder is what makes the big power possible. Please don't anyone think that all that is needed is to buy all the "magic" parts you can read about, and bolt them together.

For a $1500 engine, feel free to mix and match, drop in a "guess" cam, and hope for the best. If a $4000 engine or more is the plan, start by finding real high end engine builders and custom cam makers. The design and knowledge skills of those people are invaluable. Regards,

 

[ekimmai]

hey im posting on this thread for a little bit of help and it seems everyone on here seems to know a lot about this swap.... i have a 2000 ford ranger with a 3.0l that i am wanting to swap over to a 351 automatic and i would like to see pictures of it done and some advice on doing this swap like prices and links so i know exactly what im getting into it doesnt look or sound too hard just expensive thank you

 

[Elessar65]

I have a 351w, c6, and 205 in my 95 Ranger. To be honest thought the only thing Ranger about it is the body and the frame. Anything is possible, just depends on how much custom stuff you can do, or are willing to pay for. Check out my registry.

 

[ekimmai]

thanks well a friend of mine is doing my frame work..... you have almost the exact same thing mine is just minus the 205 tcase... im keeping mine 2wd and its going in my bagged ranger about how long did it take you to do this swap and about how much fab did it take

 

[Elessar65]

Well, I bought mine like this. But its basically the same as putting a 5.0 in. They are almost the same, the Windsor is just a little taller. You will have some clearance issues with the heater box. If you look at my pics you can see that I don't even have one there anymore. The transmission cross-member is the main thing. You are going to have to fab one for the c6. Its pretty easy though, I mean its really just a bar between the frame rails supporting the transmission. You'll need a custom drive-shaft too. I would check out some of the Ranger forums. Ranger Powersports, Ranger Forums, The Ranger Station, etc.

 

[Cobraguy]

Why wouldn't you go to an AODE or 4R70W? Overdrive would be nice! Choice of gear ratios even nicer. And these things can easily be built to handle all the hp that 351 can throw at it.