5.0 Engine Swap Question

[CDW6212R]

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NEW SCAT STROKER CAST STEEL CRANKSHAFT
NEW I BEAM STEEL CONNECTING RODS AND 190,000 PSI ARP BOLTS
HYPEREUTECTIC PISTONS 9.75 TO 1 COMPRESSION
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3 PIECE STEEL ROLLER STYLE TIMING CHAIN
ROLLER H.O AWESOME TORQUER CAMSHAFT
HIGH VOLUME OIL PUMP AND SCREEN
NEW WORLD CAST IRON CYLINDER HEADS 64 CC COMBUSTION CHAMBERS
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ROLLER TIP ROCKERS
NEW HEAVY DUTY BLACK OXIDE PUSH RODS
NEW REAR SUMP OIL PAN, ALUMINUM TIMING COVER
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EDELBROCK PERFORMER RPM DUAL PLANE INTAKE MANIFOLD
NEW 750 CFM EDELBROCK CARBURETOR & ELECT. CHOKE ASSY.
HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRONIC DISTRIBUTOR
NEW CHAMPION SPARK PLUGS AND 8 MM WIRES
NEW CHROME THERMOSTAT HOUSING
NEW FUEL AND WATER PUMP
NEW DIPSTICK AND TUBE
NEW EDELBROCK AIR CLEANER AND PCV SYSTEM
NEW FUEL LINES AND GAS FILTER
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IGNITION TIMING AND CARBURETOR FULLY ADJUSTED
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Look at these parts left from your crate engine list. All of those are either lesser or unnecessary parts compared with my 347 engine plans. Add the cost of those, and that is a lot of waste for an engine going into an Explorer.

Others here have said it well, the factory PCM, fuel injection etc. is far superior to any older engine management. We can do anything that the 86-95 Mustang guys do, without about $2000 of add on aftermarket parts. It only requires the proper PCM programming of these 95+ systems to control any engine combination.

I agree, find a donor truck of 96 or 97 years, the under hood wiring harnesses changed a bunch in 1998, plus 1998 has PATS and other big changes. With the complete set of stock donor parts(outside of the engine), you can put together almost any 302, and it can run fine(with PCM tuning). Contact James about that, he is a great source of advice on the process.

My 347 I have in the works has better crank, rods, pistons, heads, intake, timing chain, rockers, and pushrods, than that crate engine listed above. I'll have near $4500 in the total engine, more than I had originally planned. But it will take 10psi or more depending on compression. That crate engine above with the cheap pistons can't handle 10psi reliably.

You should work backwards from the budget, that it a great first step. Knowing what you have to spend, reduce that by tuning costs, donor costs, and trans build costs. Then you will have a much smaller figure, and that is still leaving out some things. Think through your goals carefully, and work hard on the support costs, those will be as much as the engine alone. Regards,

 

[scruff]

X I hope you've taken all this on board, convert your truck to V8 with a donor BEFORE you go nuts building one up, or at least get the donor and build the engine up around this.
There is a lot of very experienced people on here, and what could be simple and cheap, could turn into a very long, very expensive never ending story.

 

[X~FACTOR]

Thanks for everyone's advise. Its very much appreciated. My initial goal of getting a bigger better engine under the hood got me no where. Finding the engine I'd be happy with was not the problem. The problem was finding a performance shop willing to do it for me. NOONE was up to the task. I just ended up getting a new SOHC engine. Yep, all 205 HP of it. I guess I'll just concentrate on other things on my truck for now. Its a shame. This could've been a perfect opportunity to upgrade.