4.0 rebuild or driveline swap? | Ford Explorer Forums

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4.0 rebuild or driveline swap?

dirtyXplorer

Well-Known Member
Joined
October 1, 2006
Messages
285
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City, State
Arizona and Colorado
Year, Model & Trim Level
93 XLT 4dr
Hi there, Alright, Here is my next big adventure and I need some help/info/oppinions...

-my 1993 X has 198,000 on the clock and I plan on driving it alot...(between Denver CO and northern Arizona) a few times a year.

-either this winter or next summer I am rebuilding a 4.0L V6
-OR-
-swaping a whole driveline engine/trans/t-case or a new engine

My questions (couldnt find in search:( )
-will any newer model (95+) 4.0s bolt right in place of my 93 engine?
-Im trying to keep this cheap.. hopfully below $800, is it possible?
-What all is involved, what should I look for in a replacment or rebuild kit?

As my project goes on I will post the progress...thanks
 



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Ahaha rebuild kit for less then $800, good luck. Any of the Sealed power stuff is fine, but its going to cost more then $800 for a whole kit. With close to 200k on the clock, you probably can get away without new rings and bearings, the cylinders on a well maitnenced 4.0 probably could out-live you and me.

Ill put it to ya like this, if you just wanna freshen the motor up, go with a nice top end rebuild: new pushrods and rocker arms, valve springs, new valve seals, shoot maybe a new set of heads, and you can probably get by under $800. When shopping for gaskets, Dont settle for anything less then FORD gaskets, the felpro stuff is fine for the most part, but atleast get the FORD lower intake gasket and the FORD valve cover gasket: two known problem areas with aftermarket stuff. Now, if you want to go a little crazier, maybe a cam (?), you probably want to look into a full motor rebuild: complete with a balanced crank and bored block. But that that point you are looking upwards $2500 and countless hours building, and countless hours debugging.

Look for a driveline out of a 96-99 explorer with the OHV. It will bolt in, have less miles, and you will get a few extra poines and a stronger tranny.

heres Doug904's notes for bolting a newer OHV in an older explorer

Originally Posted by Doug904
Well, being that it is a OHV to OHV swap it's pretty straight foward like before mentioned but there are a few differences that can confuse a simple guy.

1) The intake studs in the fuel rail are longer because the plastic intake is thicker the the aluminum one, this really doesn't matter except for the front stud, you have to put the nut on the stud before you put the throttle cable bracket back on.

2) The CMP drive and/or sensor. All 95-00 will have this and use it,the 91-94 4.0's either won't have it OR you will have a different style. If you older truck doesn't have it then I wouldn't even take it off the block, it doesnt hurt anything sitting there.

3) All of the sensors, and don't forget the crank sensor in all of this. The temp sensors in the front of the intake must be swapped as well and finally all of the wiring harness from the vehicle it is going in must be used. Like before mentioned their won't be a low oil level sensor on a 98 and newer 4.0 so you'll either have to swap pans or not worry about it and let the wire hang, or tie it up out of the way. I think I would know before the oil level got low enough to trip this light anyway so I wouldn't worry with it.

4) The Exhaust manifolds must be used from the older Explorer but there too they bolt right up. On a 98 and newer there will be exhaust studs that must be removed from the heads, they won't work in the early model exhaust manifolds.

5) Upper intake and possibly fuel rail if your using a 98up returnless system. You can use the new injectors, don't remove them but the rail itself must be changed. Also the 96-up OHV's have a plastic spacer plate below the fuel rail and you must reuse this plate between the lower intake and fuel rail or the injectors will bind up and you'll get an vacuum leak because of the difference in height.

6) Finally the flywheel on a 98up are 8 bolts, you can use the new style flywheel on the old style transmissions no matter whether it's an auto or manual. Now if you have a C4 behind it that's a whole different ball game but I doubt anyone else has ran into this problem, if you do I have a special made flywheel lying around .

That's all I can think of right off hand but it's a very straight foward swap. It's the same basic long block just the heads are different. The exhaust ports on the 98up's will be smaller then your old ones but dont worry with that on a stock setup.

One important thing to remember is you can go late model to early model but you can't go early model to late. The reason being is the number of engine mount bolts on the side of the blocks. They used new castings for new bolt locations every couple of years and it's very specific on that. The way this goes is pretty much...

91-94 used one bolt setup
95-97 another
98-00 the final

You can use the 98-00 on any year model but the 95-97 can only go back, not foward.

Thanks, Doug904
 






wow, that sound like a mess. What are some good rebuild parts suppliers just so I can get more of a feel for prices and parts?
 






Your favorite machine shop can probably get you the cheapest prices around. When i was hunting prices, the cheapest commericalized autoparts sales was actually from Advanced Auto. They sold Clevite and Federal Mogual (Sealed power/felpro) cheaper then anywhere else on the net, atleast at the time. www.rockauto.com has some good prices. Their rebuild kits go upward 1000-1300 for the 4.0.

Obviously the cheapest thing would be buying everything in a kit. Thats what the machine shop is good for, they can usually get everything you need priced as a kit. I actually made out very well when i rebuilt my motor by buying a lot of my parts through the machine shop, i payed $100's less then if i bought all the parts individually. But of course hunt around, EBAY is a great place to look aswell. I made out with lifters from ebay that costed me only $150 compared to like $400 from the machine shop.

I wouldnt use anything from anywhere else, only Clevite and Sealed power for my engine, and FORD of course =)

If you want, find my 4.0 rebuild thread, somewhere in there i listed everything and their price.
 






Thanks Creger for all the info, It sounds like my other option is a driveline out of a 96-99 explorer. I do have a few more questions:
-it sounds like the drive shafts, motor mounts, trans mout, exsaust, will line up but is there anything that doesnt?
-will the 93 "computer" work with a newer engine and trans or will i need to swap that as well?
-Has many people done this swap? I didnt see many threads about it...

Next I need to start looking for a parts truck. Keep ur eyes out:eek:
 






This swap probably hasnt been done a whole lot on this forum. www.rangerpowersports.com is a much better resource when it comes to pushing the limits of the 4.0

Everything should line up, although i've never done the swap. From what i read its about as a direct bolt-in as engine swaps get. I would use the BW1354 transfercase (stock on your 93) for a few reasons. 1) Just incase driveshaft length/flanges dont match up, but im 99% sure they do. 2) The 91-94 speedo is gear driven, the later transfercases dont have this. 3) True 4x4, some of the later stuff is AWD and worse (haha i dont really know).

From what i understand, if you plan on using the newer style automatic, you will need the newer computer. The manual driveline can be ran off the older computer. But in my eyes, thats the main perk about going to 96-99 driveline, the computer!

You do have a few more options

Like the 4.0 SOHC can be ran off the old computer, dont have much info on this, but it has been done: thats 210 hp at the crank.
 






are 96-99 ranger driveline parts the same as the explorer?
 






Not quite sure on that. I'd say so, i know the internal engine parts are the same. The computer probably is tuned differently. I know the rear end is 28 spline on the ranger, compared to 31 spline on the explorer. Unless someone says otherwise, I'd say the driveline's are closely the same. You can even use aerostar parts if your heart so desires. You'll probably find minor differences, like hoses and wiring ran differently, but everything big is most likely the same.
 






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