5.0 Sport Trac Lives

[1998rollover]

Seems to me as if the "easiest" method to have a V8 Sport Trac would be to get an 01 to 03 ST and same year Explorer or Mountaineer then swap *everything*, drivetrain, all suspension, all the wiring, electronics, even the entire dash.

'Course how rare was the 02 and 03 Explorer Sport 2-door? With a V8? Then there's the early/late 01 issue. Late 01 and up has a 2 gallon larger gas tank, 22 gallons.

I'm sort of looking for an 01 ST with an idea of swapping everything but the body and frame from my 98 Mountaineer into it. Putting the front end over too, with custom made fiberglass fender flares to match the ST.

Just a one-off styling exercise Ford never told anyone about, the MountTrac.

 

[CDW6212R]

4 door gas tanks are all 22 gallons, all 2 door tanks are smaller than that, 17 from what I've read.

The suspensions are not dependent on the engine, they are identical for 4WD versus AWD. The only changes are spring rates(springs), or the 95/96 front vacuum diff, disconnect feature.

The wiring is all modular and in separate pieces. The engine bay harness is almost identical for any engine for each year. The door wiring matches the door features. Frame wiring, same thing(features), and same for body harness, dash harness, engine harness, trans harness.

They all plug into each other for any given year, the wires in each just differ based on certain features. So you do not have to change any harnesses, if you research which wires may or may not need to be added or swapped. Swapping the engine and trans harness is the main part of these engine swaps. By getting those along with a donor engine and trans, you take care of 90% or more of the wiring issues. The few things that differ in the dash harness are not difficult to handle, and the body harness should work for any 4.0/5.0 engine used.

The main issues are covered well in these threads, don't over think these things and assume everybody else missed something.

 

[ttbit]

Seems to me as if the "easiest" method to have a V8 Sport Trac would be to get an 01 to 03 ST and same year Explorer or Mountaineer then swap *everything*, drivetrain, all suspension, all the wiring, electronics, even the entire dash.

Explorer and ST's are different in wiring no matter what year. I really got lucky having a '96 Exp EEC and drivetrain as it was easy to get the vss wired into the 2001 ST. You just need a schematic from both years. Even the alternator harness to main harness is different and if you don't check...poooof!

Speaking of...it's about that time to have mine be the daily driver again. I switch to the Mustang in the summer months.

 

[OffTrac]

'Course how rare was the 02 and 03 Explorer Sport 2-door? With a V8?

Considering Ford never made one, rare is one way to describe them.

The Sport Trac has a 21 gallon fuel tank in the 2001 and I think went up to a 23 at some point.

 

[matth]

The repinning was necessary, as a few wires are in the wrong spot, others need to be deleted. Extending was not really needed, as i had mine running before I extended it, but i didn't like how it was pulled tight against the intake. In my first startup video, you can see the 42 pin harness is pulled tight across the intake near the brake booster. For instance, the altenator charge wire goes through the 42 pin plug in the v8, the trac goes through a 12 pin plug under the abs pump. This is just one circuit that needs to be re wired. The trans shift cable can be reused. But the throttle cable is not long enough, and needs to come from the donor. Same with the cruise control cable and module...

SVT

Do you have anymore info on the repinning?

 

[RangerSVT]

Sure, but I'll have to dig em up. I'll post up when I find my notes...

SVT

 

[matth]

"I separated the VSS signal at the main engine harness as the 96 EEC wants the transfer case signal and the rest of the car wants the signal from the ABS system."


"The 2001 harness does not have a ground run for the VSS. The hole is blank. I grounded the correct wire and all errors gone. Datalogging shows vehicle speed from all OBD II locations now. So separating the VSS at the engine harness connector was the correct answer to keeping both systems happy."


Can someone clear this up for me. Which wire needs to be grounded, which wire needs to be removed?

 

[ttbit]

Can someone clear this up for me. Which wire needs to be grounded, which wire needs to be removed?

Sorry...It has been some years since I have done this. I believe I needed to ground the - vss signal. There was no wire at the harness so I had to ground it where I could get to it. This may have been at the main ecm harness.

The + vss from the '96 ECM should not go back into the rest of the 2001 vss signals. These should remain separated. I may be able to look this up in the schematics for you, if you need me to.

 

[CDW6212R]

Thanks Don again for your project, and this thread which is helping others to figure out different swaps.

It seems that the 98-01 PCM systems have potential issues to deal with, due to the handling of the VSS signal. In 96 and 97 it's a simple system, while 98-01's involve the ABS pump and the g-force transducer.

We need to identify which models had that special VSS/ABS processing, and which vehicles use that ABS pump.

Any other vehicles that receive the Explorer 302 system would do better to only install the 96/97 system, if they can. That would apply to the members having Sport Tracs, Volvos, Bronco II's, my Mark VII etc.

 

[Dan95-5.0]

having the power of a V8 would be great but how does it feel with the 4r70w compared to the 5R55E because of the one less gear?

what kind of RPM are you guys seeing at a certain speed for comparison?

Which driveshafts are people using ?

The mountaineer wasnt offerd up here in canada so looking for a 2001 explorer with a 5.0 V8 is not the easiest. hoping to tackle this next year.

 

[RangerSVT]

At 60 mph I'm at 2k with 410s and 32" shoes (275/55/20). The 4r70w shifts good, but I've got mine tuned for firmer shifts. The 4r70w has wide ratio gears (hence the "w") so you won't feel much a difference in the one less gear...


SVT

 

[matth]

I went manual trans and have 3 55s. Feels good on hwy but still wrkn on speedo.

 

[MyTrac]

any video on this beast??

 

[Dan95-5.0]

At 60 mph I'm at 2k with 410s and 32" shoes (275/55/20). The 4r70w shifts good, but I've got mine tuned for firmer shifts. The 4r70w has wide ratio gears (hence the "w") so you won't feel much a difference in the one less gear...


SVT

thats pretty good. that sounds close to what i was doing stock. i have 3.73's and 32's right now.
I would J-mod the 4r70w tranny for sure before it would go in

 

[matth]

any video on this beast??

Nope. Just took a few pics along the way. Had trouble with the wiring had a custom chip burned and had to build a cross member. Other then that just like everyone else says.

 

[CDW6212R]

thats pretty good. that sounds close to what i was doing stock. i have 3.73's and 32's right now.
I would J-mod the 4r70w tranny for sure before it would go in

The 4R70W is a great trans, but do be careful with the truck version. Don't do a "J Mod" to anything but a car 4R valve body. The truck VB is different, and those common things don't work right in a truck VB.

I have a car VB to build my 99 4R trans, including the "J Mod".

Stock tires were 29-30", with 3.73 gears. If you go bigger like a 32" tire, a 4.10 or so may be a better choice. If you add more low grunt, like with boost, then the gears don't need to be that steep.

 

[Dan95-5.0]

i like my 32's with 3.73's actually.

thanks for the info. thats strange the j-mod wont work on the truck 4r70w. i could go with a transgo like i did on the mustang.

 

[RangerSVT]

...If you add more low grunt, like with boost....

I'm working on that as we speak

SVT

 

[CDW6212R]

i like my 32's with 3.73's actually.

thanks for the info. thats strange the j-mod wont work on the truck 4r70w. i could go with a transgo like i did on the mustang.

The TransGo kits are great for any 4R70W except for use with high power. So you should be fine. I learned these details from Alan of Dirty Dog Performance.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm working on that as we speak

SVT

I look forward to seeing how that turns out for you.

If you make the kind of power I believe you will, then stay away from the TransGo kits if you have a truck VB. Find a VB from a Mustang, Crown Vic etc, and do the "J Mod" to that.