410Fortune - 96 5.0L XLT refurbish (making 1 great Ex from 2)

[Mutineer]

Yep it will make an EXCELLENT daily driver, trust me!

Daniel

 

[410Fortune]

I bet it feels good to get outside!!!

 

[BigDakota]

It looks *****in' !!!!!!!! I am sure it has a Cadillac ride compaired to the BII Well, kinda sorta!!!!

 

[410Fortune]

Daily Driver

Shes drives great! Lots of power compared to a stock 5.0L AWD for sure.
The powerband is really nice!

First I needed to make brackets to re-locate the bumpers, I had a friend cut these on a CNC Plasma from an Autocad drawing I sent him. Also this is no Mercury its a.....

With some adjusting and creative mounting:

Rear with Hitch:

Yesterday I started off with new exhaust thanks to my buddy Chuck at Discount Muffler in Denver:

First they hacked off the secondary cat converters:

Ran dual 2.5" pipes along the frame back the muffler hangers:

Flo Pro dual 2.5 inlet single 3" outlet

2.5" single pipe over the rear axle and out the side behind the pass rear:

Simple and it sounds MEAN, definatley picked up some low end with this single 2.5" pipe. I wanted a 3" but Chuck knows his stuff and suggested the 2.5", he was correct.

After the exhaust was done I headed up to Midwest Frame and Alignment for a quick front end align, then ran home to meet Elite Auto glass for a new windshield.



More to come.....

 

[bmxking5]

Looks great man. It's nice to know a lot of people with hook-ups at different shops. It's really come together nicely now that you've really gotten a chance to work on it.

 

[MoabB2]

It's got to feel great to finally be driving this thing after all that work! The hard work has all payed off, looks great.

 

[r37ribution]

Dude that air bag was the wrong color???

sorry about that, if you want you can send it back.

VERY Nice work tho!

 

[410Fortune]

Yeah its dark blue, its cool I will get it the correct color, I imagine the green/blue I need is likely hard to find!!!

Thanks for the compliments guys.......I am actually going to drive her around a bit this AM to run some errands, this afternoon I plan to install my shocks, change the oil, and figure out the fan shroud situation. I will also be wiring up my trailer plug and a reverse light then looking into mounting my PIAA fog/driving lights.....

it's nice to have a good daily driver for sure, and this truck has been ALOT of work, which is finally paying off!!!

 

[410Fortune]

Yesterday after work I was in the garage until 11 pm working on this sucker
I removed the upper intake, spacer and gaskets, etc to get to the valve covers.
My rocker studs needed to be re-torqued on the drivers side, I did both sides since I had it apart. The drivers side was making some clatter since day one, this was not contact with the valve cover as I had suspected but a couple of the studs were a bit loose.
While I had the covers off I also ground down the structural ribbing on the underside of the aluminum valve just in case it was making some contact or getting too close.

I re-torqed them all and this am she sounded better then ever, no more clatter.


I have to pass emissions before Sunday so I wanted to get all this buttoned up.
She also has Castrol Syntec oil and a new Motocraft filter, I swapped out a lazy 02 sensor (bank 1 sensor 1) and unfortunately the Accel wires the previous owner had installed are falling apart, so they need to be replaced.

Other then that she is driving wonderfully!
The tires are worn out pretty good, so they will be replaced shortly, I may swap 33's with the BII and put my chrome rims on this truck and the 35's on the BII for good

Froader think you can work some magic? Lets see the 96 with the chrome 5 spokes and some 33's....Heck with your skills I bet you can paint the whole truck the light blue too....Colin can see the future!

Did I mention she sounds mean? I will get some video...

 

[FROADER]

 

[410Fortune]

HELL YES now thats what I am talking about, I waited all day but it was worth it! Thanks Colin.
funny reflective orange Moab dirt in the wheels

 

[410Fortune]

It's official! She passed emissions!!

I was getting two OBD codes since she was first running, P0153 and P1151
P0153 is bank 2 sensor 1 lean (or something?), and P1151 is lack of 02 sensor switching.
I figured these codes were either a small exhaust leak on the d side, something wrong with my valve train, or my custom exhaust setup.
Well Friday after work I rushed to the emissions place, I cleared the codes and had the truck tested. It failed with a reading of high CO limit is .20, truck blew a .23 figures...

So Saturday I got up early and was all ready to tear into the exhaust, but first I checked the 02 sensor itself, these are 4 brand new 02 sensors.
The P1151 code suggested something wrong in the wiring harness, well there was! one of the 4 pins in the 02 harness itself was pushed into the plug.
This is the easiest fix I have ever run into on any truck, what luck!

So Sat morning I ran to the emissions place and she passed no problem! CO reading now was .10
Truck also runs better now.
I towed the boat to the lake with her this weekend, it works great! I spent some time wiring up the trailer wiring harness, this came out really nice, I built my own plug in adapter, I will get details on this later.

I also charged the AC system this weekend, it blows COLD however I have the blend door issue as it only comes out the defrost, I will be fixing this today.

After work today I go get my plates, which is good my 10 day temp tag expires TODAY.

 

[MoabB2]

Its always a big sigh of relief when the emissions dude says that you passed! Great job tracking down that code! That was one of the same codes that I struggled with for months.

How does it tow compared to the Bronco?

 

[Turdle]

Congrats Jamie

When it was all over, did you have the urge for a cigarette? lol

 

[410Fortune]

the Bronco II has more power for towing (4.10 gears, lighter truck) but the Explorer by far handles better with the boat hooked up, the rear end is alot less bouncy and it just feels safer. Of course the tongue of my trailer is also about 12" lower with the Explorer, a stock height hitch compared to a lifted BII with a bumper mounted receiver. So the trailer is level instead of up too high.

The Explorer sag's a bit in the back (what a shock!) I will likely do the F-150 leaf spring mod for towing, but for me to have AC and be able to tow the boat more safely = BINGO! mission accomplished!

 

[410Fortune]

Okay so this is not a blend door issue, DUAH I have both cold AC and heat, but only from the defrost vent, so I have a vacuum issue. Fun times!

Will post what the solution is, the bad news is I noticed a disconnected HVAC hose under the dash when I was building this truck, WHO KNOWS what the previous owner was doing under there. Appears there was an aftermarket alarm wired in here then removed as well....yikes!

 

[Turdle]

Maybe there is water in the globe lol


I'm serious, I had to shake it all out

 

[410Fortune]

No water in mine, I just installed that sucker.

 

[410Fortune]

Okay so apparently the vacuum ball has a one way check valve inside and I had my lines backwards. Now the AC works and so does the vacuum powered vent selector switch and solenoids.

I knew everything worked when I bought this 96, I am so glad it was something simple!


Oh and skip those autozone spark plug wire seperators, any of them within 4" or so of the headers are now shaped like hlaf moons, they melted!
I will get getting some metal ones next time hahaha

 

[Turdle]

now maybe you can see how this added to my confusion
Which line is which?
good job figuring it out

inboard to hvac, outboard vac from engine?